Legopolis

The Meghalaya High Court has recently observed that immediate steps should be taken to dispose of the previously mined coal so that freshly mined coal cannot be mixed with the previous coal and an excuse proffered that freshly mined coal was also a part of the previously mined coal. The three-judge bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee,  Justice H. S. Thangkhiew and Justice W. Diengdoh heard a suo motu public interest litigation (PIL) on the issue of  Illegal Mining of Coal in the State of Meghalaya. The State has filed a report by way of an affidavit affirmed on June 20, 2022 by the Commissioner in the Mining and Geology Department. Justice B.P. Katakey (Retd), who has been appointed by the High Court to oversee and ensure that all the directions issued by the Supreme Court and the National Green Tribunal pertaining to coal-mining in the State are implemented, has filed the first interim report dated June 20, 2022. Justice Katakey’s report includes a detailed chart indica...

The Himachal Pradesh High Court has dismissed a petition holding that a prisoner/convict cannot be granted extension of parole while exercising jurisdiction under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. A single bench of Justice Vivek Singh Thakur passed this order while hearing a Criminal Misc petition filed by Mohd Margoob. This petition, invoking provision of Section 482 CrPC, has been filed for extension of term of parole granted to petitioner on medical grounds. Grant of parole to a convict/prisoner is governed by provision of HP Good Conduct Prisoners (Temporary Release), Act, 1968 and Rules framed thereunder. “Omission or commission on the part of concerned authority in granting or rejecting the claim of a prisoner under HP Good Conduct Prisoners (Temporary Release) Rules, 1968 is an administrative action, but not an action governed by provisions of Code of Criminal Procedure or any other Criminal Law and therefore, I am of considered opinion that in such a cas...

The Supreme Court on Friday refused to grant anticipatory bail to Ali Ahmed, son of former MP Atique Ahmed, stating that despite being a student of law, he himself was not following it. The Apex Court, however, said that it will take up the matter in the second week of July. The Allahabad High Court had earlier refused anticipatory bail to Ali Ahmed for demanding extortion money of Rs five crore and in a murder case. Ali challenged this decision in the Supreme Court. According to the allegations levelled against Ali, on December 31 last year, the law student, along with his associates, had pointed a gun at the temple of one Zeeshan and asked him to pay Rs five crore. Ali further directed him to transfer the property at Ainuddinpur in the name of Atique’s wife and threatened that if Zeeshan did not do as directed, he would be killed. He further told Zeeshan to talk to Atique on phone, which Zeeshan refused to do. On his refusal, Ali and his associates beat up Zeeshan and his relat...

The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear on June 27, a petition filed by the father of Amir Magrey, who was killed with three others during an encounter at Hyderpora in Srinagar in 2021, against the stay by Jammu and Kashmir High Court on exhumation of his son’s body. A Vacation Bench comprising Justice C.T. Ravikumar and Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia listed the matter for Monday, after Senior Advocate Anand Grover mentioned it. On June 3, a Division Bench of the Jammmu and Kashmir High Court had stayed the May 27 verdict of a single-Judge of the High Court, directing the government authorities to exhume the body of Magrey. The Single-Judge had earlier ruled that the right to life as guaranteed by Article 21 of the Constitution of India included the right to live with human dignity and decency and would extend to treat the dead body of a deceased person with respect. He had directed the respondents to make arrangements for the exhumation of body/remains of Magrey from the Wadder Paye...

The Madras High Court imposed a cost of Rs 15,000 on the petitioner and dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed seeking a direction on respondents to remove the illegal encroachment and construction of building in Survey No.658 of Pallikaranai Village, Sholinganallur Taluk. The PIL has been filed by one V.Prabhu. V. Jayaprakash, counsel for the petitioner, submits that even after making a representation, the respondents failed to take action in the matter and allowed the private respondent to continue the construction of the building. A reference was made to the application dated 14.10.2021 calling for a copy of the survey report pursuant to the order of the court. The relevant paragraph of the same is quoted hereunder: “As per the order of the Court the Tahsildar of Velachery and Tahsildar of Sholinganallur have surveyed the land above jointly. It is requested under the Right to Information Act 2005 to give the copy of the Authenticity report of the land survey done at t...

In the wake of the recent political upheaval in Maharashtra, an application has been filed in the Supreme Court, seeking urgent directions in a pending case, leading to a five-year ban on the Legislators, who have either resigned or declared disqualified from the Legislative Assembly, from contesting elections up to five years. Filed by Jaya Thakur, a Congress leader from Madhya Pradesh, the application was filed in an already pending petition filed by the same person in January, 2021, in which the Apex Court had issued notice to the Central government. In her earlier petition, Thakur had alleged that political parties in the country have developed a new trend to render the provisions of Xth Schedule redundant and otiose by making the ruling party MLAs resign from the House, leading to the fall of the government. The MLAs who resign, are then given ministerial posts by the new government and also given tickets to re-contest the by-elections, she had said. A Bench comprising then C...

The Supreme Court on Friday pronounced its verdict on the plea of Zakia Jafri, who challenged the clean chit given by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi and several others in the 2002 Gujarat riots. The court has dismissed her plea and said that they uphold the decision of the Magistrate in accepting the closure report submitted by the SIT in the larger conspiracy probe in the Gujarat riots in 2002. The bench said that they do not countenance the contention of the petitioner regarding the infraction of rule of law in the investigation. The judgement was pronounced by the bench of Justices AM Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheshwari and CT Ravikumar. The SC also said that the appeal of Zakia Jafri is devoid of merits and deserves to be dismissed. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta was grateful after the pronouncement of the verdict in Zakia Jafri’s petition. A bench comprising Justices AM Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheshwari and CT Ravikumar had reserved t...