Legopolis

The Uttarakhand State Licensing Authority recently apologised before the Supreme Court for its unsatisfactory action against Patanjali Ayurved for the misleading advertisements published by the latter against evidence-based medicine.  In the affidavit, the Uttarakhand body mentioned that it has filed a criminal complaint against Patanjali Ayurveda and its founders Baba Ramdev and Acharya Balkrishna for violating the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act. The affidavit was lodged through Advocate Vanshaja Shukla on Saturday. The affidavit stated that the State Licensing Authority has been vigilant in its duties and has taken appropriate steps to ensure due compliance under the said Acts and Rules. It added that the State Licensing Authority also has a family to look after and therefore any observations made by the court will have a detrimental effect on his career. It further maintained that the authority herein is completely aware of the gravity of the situ...

The Supreme Court on Monday came down heavily on the West Bengal government why it was opposing an investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation into Trinamool Congress leader Shahjahan Sheikh in the Sandeshkhali case. The Bench of Justice BR Gavai and Justice Sandeep Mehta made the query to Senior Advocate Dr Abhishek Manu Singhvi, eho appeared for the West Bengal government and requested two to three weeks to place some more information in the matter. The Bench asked why the State should file SLP against CBI looking into allegations against a private person? The Bench observed that it would be more conducive to hear the matter after elections and adjourned the same to July after Singhvi stated that the pendency of the case before the Supreme Court won’t be cited in cases before the Calcutta High Court. Singhvi made the statement after Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta expressed apprehension regarding the same. The Supreme Court was hearing a petition filed by the State...

The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice on a petition filed by former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren challenging his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The order was passed by the Bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Dipankar Datta, which posted the matter next week for further hearing. The Apex Court observed that the High Court was open to pronounce judgment in the reserved case till then. Soren was represented by Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal. The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) highlighted before the Apex Court the delay by the Jharkhand High Court in delivering its order in his petition challenging his arrest. Earlier, he had moved the top court of the country under Article 32 challenging his arrest, but the Apex Court had refused to entertain the same and directed him to approach the Jharkhand High Court first. Soren had stepped down as Chief Minister of Jharkhand on January 31 in the wake of ...

The Supreme Court recently stayed a November 2023 order passed by Karnataka High Court that had granted conditional bail to Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru, pontiff of Murugha Rajendra Bruhanmath of Chitradurga. The Karnataka seer was arrested under POCSO on charges of sexually assaulting minor girls in the mutt-run hostel.  While staying the bail order, a division bench comprising Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Prashanth Kumar Mishra ordered the seer to surrender before the Chitradurga court hearing the case within a week. The order was passed in a criminal special leave to appeal by the minor girl’s father against Karnataka High Court’s decision.  Seer Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru was accused of sexually assaulting minor girls and was arrested under POCSO Act. Notably, the appellant’s case was that he is an affluent and influential person, and if allowed to remain on bail, he was likely to adversely influence the victims and other witnesses. The apex court prima facie vi...

The Madras High Court disposed of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed to strictly implement the rules prescribed under the policy formulated by the National Transport Development Policy Committee (NTDPC) with respect to parking of vehicles in public spaces in the City of Chennai. The petitioner also seeks directions against the respondents to formulate rules to enable local bodies/authorities to enforce action against vehicles and owners of such vehicles parked illegally on public spaces apart from charging penalties. The Additional Secretary to Government, Housing and Urban Development Department, has filed a status report. The affidavit states that the Greater Chennai Corporation has prepared a draft parking policy and a meeting was held on 3.4.2023 under the Chairmanship of the Chief Secretary to Government with the stakeholder departments and various decisions, as enumerated therein, are taken.   It is further submitted that the Chennai Unified Metropolitan Trans...

A Delhi court on Saturday granted bail to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Amanatullah Khan in connection with a complaint registered by the Enforcement Directorate against him for allegedly not complying with the summons in the Delhi Waqf Board money laundering case. The order was passed by Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Divya Malhotra of Rouse Avenue Court after Khan appeared before it. The ACMM granted him bail on a personal bond of Rs 15,000 and one surety of the like amount. The federal agency had recently moved a complaint against Khan under Section 174 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860, read with Section 63 (4) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act for non-attendance in compliance of Section 50 of PMLA, 2002. The complaint alleged that despite being issued in the case related to the alleged irregularities in the appointment in Delhi Waqf Board and leasing of its properties, Khan neither appeared before ED nor joined the probe. from India Legal https://if...

The Delhi High Court has directed the Central government to decide within eight weeks on a petition seeking the inclusion of women candidates for recruitment in the Indian Military Academy, Indian Naval Academy and Air Force Academy through the Combined Defence Services (CDS) Examination. The order was passed by the Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet PS Arora. Disposing of the petition filed by Kush Kakra, the High Court directed the Ministry of Defence to decide on the representation, in accordance with the law. The petition challenged the notification issued by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on December 20, 2023 regarding recruitment in the Indian Military Academy (IMA), the Indian Naval Academy (INA), the Air Force Academy of the Indian Armed Forces (IAF), and the Officers Training Academy (OTA) through the Combined Defence Services (CDS) Examination to be held on April 21. The petitioner contended that the impugned notification unju...

The Allahabad High Court has allowed an appeal filed against the order passed by Commercial Court, Lucknow whereby the petition filed by the appellant under Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 has been dismissed for failure to pre-deposit the amount to the extent of 75% in terms of provisions of Section 19 of the Micro Small and Medium Enterprises Development Act, 2006. The Division Bench of Chief Justice Arun Bhansali and Justice Jaspreet Singh passed this order while hearing an appeal filed by M/S Docket Care Systems Thru Partner Pankaj Kumar Agarwal. The appellant aggrieved of the award dated 07th October, 2023 passed by the MSME Council, filed petition under Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 before the Commercial Court, Lucknow. Along with the petition, an application seeking waiver of pre-deposit as required under Section 19 of the Act of 2006 was filed. The application seeking waiver came to be dismissed by order dated 19th February...

The Supreme Court today issued notice on a plea seeking a direction that an election must be declared as null and void if maximum votes from the constituency are polled for None of The Above (NOTA) and a fresh election should be held for the constituency. The plea also sought a direction that the same candidates, who lost to NOTA, should be barred from contesting the by-election which was held after the cancellation of the first election where NOTA got majority votes. In addition, there should be proper publicity for NOTA as a fictional candidate. The petitioner further sought directions to the Election Commission of India (ECI) to frame appropriate rules in this regard. A bench of CJI DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra agreed to consider the issues raised by petitioner Shiv Khera. The NOTA was introduced in the EVMs (Electronic Voting Machines) following a direction issued by the Supreme Court in 2013 in a plea filed by the Peoples Union for Civil Libertie...

The Delhi High Court recently delayed a hearing scheduled for Friday on a plea seeking the disqualification of Prime Minister Narendra Modi from contesting elections for violating the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) during a campaign event in Uttar Pradesh’s Pilibhit earlier this month. The court will hear the plea seeking disqualification of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for six years for allegedly seeking votes for the BJP in the name of Hindu, Sikh deities and place of worship on April 29. The plea was moved by lawyer Anand S Jondhale. Notably, Justice Sachin Datta, who had to hear the matter, was not holding court today as he was sitting in the UAPA tribunal. The petitioner sought a direction from the Election Commission of India (ECI) to disqualify the Prime Minister from elections for six years under Representation of Peoples Act. He also sought direction to restrain him from seeking votes in the name of religious deities and places of worship. The petitioner was aggrieved by PM M...

The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed all the petitions seeking 100 percent cross-verification of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) data with Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) records. As the country went for the second phase of Lok Sabha elections 2024, the Bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Dipankar Datta authored separate, yet concurring judgments on the matter. The pleas were earlier reserved for orders on April 18, but they were listed again on April 24 after the Apex Court sought technical clarifications from the Election Commission of India. The Bench delivered the verdict today after taking into consideration the answers given by the EC. The Apex Court ruled that after referring to the protocol in place, the technical aspects and the data on record, it has rejected the prayers seeking complete EVM-VVPAT verification, directions to go back to ballot paper voting, and giving VVPAT slips to voters to put them in the ballot box. The Bench further directed tha...

A PIL has sought direction from the Delhi High Court for the Election Commission of India (ECI) to develop a mechanism, which can allow the arrested political leaders to campaign through video-conferencing for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections 2024. Filed by Amarjeet Gupta, a final year law student and moved through Advocate Md. Imran Ahmad, the petition further sought direction for the Central government to provide information about the arrest of a political leader or a candidate immediately to the Election Commission of India. The petitioner contended that he was aggrieved by the timing of the arrest of politicians after the announcement of Model Code of Conduct by ECI, particularly Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, national convener of Aam Aadmi Party. He submitted that the electors were deprived of their fundamental right to get information under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India from the said politicians by way of being spectators and listeners of election campa...

Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud on Thursday announced that the Supreme Court will start sharing information relating to cause lists, and filing and listing of cases to advocates through WhatsApp messages. The aforesaid announcement was made by the Chief Justice before a nine-judge bench that commenced the hearing on a vexed legal question arising from the petitions whether private properties can be considered material resources of the community under Article 39(b) of the Constitution, which is a part of the Directive Principles of State Policy (DPSP). Speaking about the initiative, Chief Justice DY Chandrachud said that in the 75th year, the Supreme Court launched the initiative to strengthen access to justice by integration of WhatsApp messages with the IT services of the Supreme Court. He added that now, the advocates will receive automated messages about filing the cases. He further mentioned that the members of the bar will also get the cause lists, as and when they are p...

The Allahabad High Court while allowing the petition held that Section 33C(2) of the Act, 1947, envisages a situation where a workman is entitled to receive money from his employer or any benefit which is capable of being computed in terms of money and if any question arises as to the amount of money then such question be decided by Labour Court as specified by appropriate Government. A Single Bench of Justice Rohit Ranjan Agarwal passed this order while hearing a petition filed by Executive Engineer Electricity Transmission Division. The petition has been filed questioning the legality of order dated 02.05.2012 passed by the Labour Court, Agra in proceedings under Section 33C(2) of Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, on the ground that the Labour Court was not competent to award interest in the said proceedings. Facts leading to filing of writ petition are that opposite party no 1, Mahesh Chandra was appointed as Assistant Store Keeper on 01.05.1966 by U.P State Electricity Commission ...

The Patna High Court imposed a cost of Rs 15,000/- on the Petitioner and dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed seeking a direction to the respondent authorities of the National Highway Authority of India to construct a temple with two deities in a site provided by the villagers of Mansapur.  It is alleged that the respondent authorities, specifically the officials of the NHAI, had given an undertaking which they are now resiling from. The villagers had provided an identified site for construction of temple and the cost of construction was to be borne by the NHAI. Though the same was agreed upon, the NHAI later backed out. The Division Bench of Chief Justice K. Vinod Chandran and Justice Harish Kumar noted that there is nothing produced in the  petition to establish an undertaking given by the NHAI or even an indication of the site in which the NHAI had agreed to construct the temple. The documents produced are all representations and estimates; which are not pr...

The Delhi High Court recently issued notice on a plea filed by Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) against an order passed by the Lokpal of India directing the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to investigate two properties which are under the party’s name. A single judge bench of Justice Subramonium Prasad ordered that no further steps be taken by the Lokpal of India in the matter till May 10, which is the next date of hearing. The JMM challenged Lokpal’s order passed on March 4 vide which Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was directed to investigate as to whether the two properties belong to public servants or the political party. The judgment was passed on a complaint filed by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey against Rajya Sabha MP Shibu Soren. The Lokpal had ordered the CBI to investigate the alleged properties linked to Soren within six months. Appearing for Shibu Soren, Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal contended that the two properties in question belong to JMM and not Soren. Furthermore,...

The Kerala High Court today dismissed a PIL (Public Interest Litigation) alleging that no action has been taken on the complaint that a false affidavit has been filed along with the nomination paper by BJP leader and Union Minister Rajeev Chandrashekar. A bench of Justice V G Arun and Justice S. Manu denied invoke the writ jurisdiction and said its hands are tied as the election process has already commenced. The court observed that whether the Returning Officer should have considered the complaint and pass reasoned order cannot be considered at this stage. It added that the remedy of the petitioners if they are aggrieved by the affidavit filed by a candidate is to file an election petition. The plea alleged that BJP leader Chandrasekhar deliberately omitted his assets including his properties, luxury cars and private jets and also grossly undervalued his shares in various companies. The petition moved by advocate and Indian National Congress leader Avani Bansal and Renjith Thomas ...

Biju Janata Dal leader Pinaki Misra has filed a defamation suit against Advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai for levelling corruption allegations against him and for calling the BJD MP “Canning Lane”, “Odia Babu” and “Dalal of Puri”. The defamation suit sought an apology from Dehadrai, apart from damages. It further sought directions to restrain the lawyer from making defamatory allegations against Misra, along with orders to take down the derogatory content available on X (formerly Twitter), and on the platforms of news organisations such as PTI and ANI. The suit alleged that Misra, an MP from Odisha’s Puri constituency, shared a close friendship with Dehadrai’s former partner and Trinamool Congress leader Mahua Moitra. As per the suit, Misra became acquainted with Dehadrai through common friends and social circles, and had limited interactions with him. It said that after Dehadrai and Moitra separated, the lawyer made various allegations of bribery and corruption against Moita. Dehadrai ...

Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud on Saturday said the country was set for a significant overhaul of its criminal justice system with the upcoming implementation of three new criminal laws. He said these laws signified a watershed moment for the society because no law affected the day-to-day conduct of the society like the criminal law. He added that criminal law directed the moral arc of a nation and had the ability of depriving people of their cherished liberties. The underlying justification for the substantive provisions was the age-old harm principle which is best summarised in the saying, ‘Your right to swing your arms ends just where the other man’s nose begins.’ As per the CJI, the procedural law which governed crimes from the state of setting the criminal process in motion to the conviction for the commission of the offence ensured that no person was charged and subsequently convicted for offences without following the due process of law.  The traditional harm pri...

The Madras High Court disposed of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed seeking direction to the respondents to take appropriate steps to recognize Carpenter, Blacksmith, Sculptor, Goldsmith and Artisans as Viswakarmas and to issue ID card and certificate under P.M.Viswakarma Yojana project scheme by following orders of the Government of India issued in 1993 by the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pension (Department of Personal and Training). The PIL is filed by an Advocate. Earlier, the association had  filed the petition. In the said  petition, the High Court had observed that if an individual comes before the Court , the Court will consider the case of the individual. In case an Artisan files a petition, the Court will consider the case of the Artisan independently or the Artisan could also file a petition on behalf of other Artisans as public interest litigation. In that event, the Court will consider the grievance of those persons.    With t...

The Supreme Court refused to interfere with the Gujarat High Court order that directed the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC), Surat to auction the land allegedly misappropriated for the construction and running of a 5-star hotel. The Bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justice JB Pardiwala passed the order on Friday on a batch of SLPs filed by APMC and Hotel Shilpi Private Limited challenging an interim order of the High Court. The Bench observed that the High Court was correct in directing such an auction for the land allotted to be utilised for making a district market yard. It asked, how could the Agriculture Produce Market Committee construct a five-star hotel on the land meant for constructing market yards for agricultural products? Calling it a ‘scam,’ in which the government may be a willing accomplice, the Apex Court thanked God for the intervention of the High Court. The matter pertained to a Public Interest Litigation filed before the Gujarat H...

The Supreme Court recently ruled that in the absence of the designation of a special court by the state government, the Sessions Court would have the jurisdiction to try offences under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (UAPA). The bench of Justice BR Gavai and Justice Sandeep Mehta stated that a bare perusal of sub-section (3) of Section 22 of NIA Act would make it clear that until a Special Court is constituted by the state government under sub-Section (1) of Section 22, in case of registration of any offence punishable under UAPA, the Court of Sessions of the division, where the offence has been committed, would have the jurisdiction as conferred by the Act on a Special Court and a fortiori, it would have all the powers to follow the procedure provided under Chapter IV of the NIA Act. The order passed by Justice Sandeep Mehta upheld the UAPA proceedings initiated by the Sessions Courts when there was no designation of the special court by the state government. The ini...

The Supreme Court recently imposed costs of Rs 5 lakh on the Telangana government for filing incorrect affidavits in a case. A bench comprising Justice MM Sundresh and Justice SVN Bhatti clarified that the state is free to enquire into and recover the money from the officers responsible for the lapse. Notably, the lapse in question was with regard to the stand taken by a district collector on whether a property embroiled in a suit was forest land or not. The Supreme Court remarked that they are dealing with a case where an instrumentality of the state, despite a categorical finding of the suit property being a forest land, took different stands, but ultimately rectified by way of an affidavit before this Court. The bench mentioned that as a result of the erroneous position taken by the state official, a private party was earlier awarded title to certain land despite it being notified as non-transferable forest land. The court underlined that this act of taking different stands res...

A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Delhi High Court seeking an ‘extraordinary’ interim bail for Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in all criminal cases till either he completed his tenure in office or till the time the trials in all cases filed against him were completed. The petitioner has filed the plea in the name of “We The People of India” arguing that he is not using his name because he does not want any publicity. Filed through Advocate Karan Pal Singh, the petition argued that Kejriwal represented the residents of Delhi. Some people were trying to crush his reputation by circulating false news on social media and since his arrest, the entire functioning of the Delhi government has come to a standstill. It said the reputation of the Government of NCT of Delhi as well as the state of Delhi was going down in the eyes of the whole world due to the confinement of Respondent No. 5 (the Chief Minister of the NCT of Delhi) in jail. Even the judges cannot r...

The Bombay High Court issued notice on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed raising concern about the ill effects of excessive use of artificial lights on the trees and other organisms and asserts that such excessive artificial lights are causing light pollution. The High Court comprising Division Bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Arif S. Doctor whose  attention has been drawn to a study conducted by the Department of Botany, School of Life Sciences, Guru Ghasidas Vishwavidyalaya, C. G. Bilaspur, India, which is published in a Research Journal, viz., Biological Rhythm Research.  According to the said study, the biological world including trees and other organisms are being affected by excessive use of artificial lights, which are put up during festive seasons and on other occasions. The Counsel for the Petitioner has also referred to a Circular dated 03rd December 2015 issued by the Department of Forests and Wildlife, Government of National Ca...

The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to look into the allegation that during a mock election in Kerala, extra votes were recorded in favour of the BJP in the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).  A bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Dipankar Datta passed the verbal direction when a report regarding the EVM issue was brought to its attention. The bench was hearing the EVM-VVPAT case.  Appearing for the petitioner, Advocate Prashant Bhushan noted a news report about the complaints raised regarding the mock election carried out on the EVMs in the Kasargod constituency in Kerala. The report said a complaint has also been lodged by LDF candidate and CPM leader M V Balakrishnan with the District Collector Inbasekar K, designated as the District Election Officer. Furthermore, the UDF candidate Rajmohan Unnithan’s agent Muhammed Nasar Cherkalam Abdulla has also urged the assistant returning officer (ARO) in Kasaragod Lok Sabha constitu...

A Delhi Court reserved its order on framing of charges against former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) President and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Singh in the sexual harassment case lodged by the women wrestlers. Priyanka Rajpoot, Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) of Rouse Avenue Courts deferred the order after Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh moved an application for making further submissions on framing of charges in the case. ACMM Priyanka Rajpoot said that the order will be pronounced on April 26. The former WFI chief has sought a direction on the Delhi Police to investigate regarding his presence at WFI office on September 7, 2022, the alleged date of incident. He claimed that he was not in India on the date in question. The recent application also sought a direction on the Delhi Police to place on record the CDR. Appearing for the Delhi Police, APP Atul Srivastava opposed the application and contended that it has been filed at a belated stage. He added that there has to...