Legopolis

The High Court of Telangana has directed the entire district judiciary in the state not to celebrate or organise any kind of religious functions or ceremonies inside the court premises. In a circular issued last week, the Registrar General of the High Court said that it was recently brought to the notice of the High Court that religious functions and ceremonies were being organised in the premises of district courts. Citing the circulars issued on May 20, 1987 and May 14, 2020, the Registrar General said the judicial officers and even the Judges in the state have time and again been instructed to restrain from using the court premises for holding religious functions or events, even if the same were being organised by either the Advocates, Bar Associations, or even the courts themselves. The circular instructed all Unit Heads in the state to direct the judicial officers working under them to ensure that no religious functions or ceremonies were held...

The High Court of Bombay on Tuesday dismissed the petition filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), seeking stay on the bail order of former state home minister Anil Deshmukh in a corruption case. The Single-Judge Vacation Bench of Santosh Chapalgaonkar told CBI that the regular Bench of the High Court had, earlier this month, made it clear that no further request of extension would be entertained under any circumstance.  On December 21, the Single-Judge Bench of Justice M.S. Karnik had stayed the bail order of Deshmukh till December 27. The High Court had given 10 days time to CBI to challenge its order before the Apex Court.  As the Supreme Court closed for Winter vacations on December 19, the national agency moved the High Court against the bail order. The top court of the country will reopen on January 2. The bail order of NCP leader will become effective from December 28. The former Maharashtra Home Minister is likely to be released from ja...

The Allahabad High Court, while observing that Uttar Pradesh was yet to fulfill the Triple Test Formality, as laid down by the Supreme Court, directed the state government to conduct the Municipal Elections without OBC reservation. The Division Bench of Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Saurabh Lavania passed this Judgement on the bunch of Petitions  raising  alleged  grievance arising out of a notification dated 05.12.2022 issued by the State Government in the Department of Urban Development which is a draft order in terms of section 9-A (5)(3) of Uttar Pradesh Municipalities Act, 1916, inviting objections to the proposed determination of number of offices of the Chairpersons of different Municipal Bodies to be reserved for the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, Backward Classes and Women. Challenge, however, is confined to the proposed determination for providing reservation to the Backward Class of citizens in respect of seats and offices of Cha...

The Delhi High Court has upheld the termination of Siddharth Rao, former Secretary of the Delhi Legislative Assembly on the grounds that the appointment of the petitioner was not being carried out by the appropriate Appointing Authority. The High Court observed that the petitioner was appointed on as Officer on Special Duty (OSD), a non-existent post. After completion of the probation period as OSD, he was immediately absorbed into the post of Joint Secretary and within a year, was given the charge of Secretary with all upgradations in pay scales. No approval was taken from the competent authority for such deputation as OSD, absorption to Joint Secretary and promotion to Secretary, which made it illegal, added the High Court. The Single-Judge Bench of Justice Chandra Dhari Singh further noticed that the Legislative Assembly of Delhi has no separate secretarial cadre, which made it becomes difficult for the Speaker or any authority to make appointments to the House Secretariat. As ...

The Rajasthan High Court has dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL), which sought the status of Municipality to Gram Panchayat of Tinwari and all consequential status and benefits available under the Rajasthan Municipalities Act, 2009. The Division Bench of Justice Sandeep Mehta and Justice Kuldeep Mathur dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed seeking the following reliefs:  (a) the respondents may kindly be directed to exercise the powers available under Rajasthan Municipalities Act, 2009 and to upgrade the Gram Panchayat, Tinwari as Municipal Board in view of the resolution of the Gram Panchayat so also the report submitted by the Tehsildar, Tinwari. (b) by an appropriate writ, order or direction, the respondents may kindly be directed to give the status of Municipality to Gram Panchayat, Tinwari and all consequential status and benefits available under the Rajasthan Municipalities Act, 2009. While considering the PIL, the Court observed that Part IXA of th...

The Bombay High Court has received a petition seeking deferment of the IIT JEE Mains examination, scheduled to be held in January 2023. The petitioner, who is an activist Anubha Srivastava Sahai, has prayed that the exam be postponed to April 2023. The plea has also asked for relaxation of the 75% score in the higher secondary examination which is the eligibility criterion for giving the IIT exam. The plea, has also challenged a notification issued in this regard by the National Testing Agency (NTA) on December 15. As per the information in the notification, JEE Mains is scheduled to be conducted between January 24 to 31, 2023. The PIL said Taft the schedule was given at a very short notice and it is clashing with 12th grade board examinations, pre-board examinations, viva-voce of CBSE, ICSE and several other State board examinations. As per the PIL, most of the State boards have their pre board exams scheduled in the first week of January 2023,making it difficult for tejm to ap...

The Allahabad High Court has allowed the bail application saying that the Deputy Superintendent of Police Railway cannot be treated to be an independent officer and, therefore, the search conducted in his presence after calling him to the place where the accused persons had been apprehended, does not appear to be in accordance with the statutory mandate laid down under Section 50 of the Act. A Single Bench of Justice Subhash Vidyarthi passed this order while hearing a Criminal Misc Bail Application filed by Ahsan Ahmad. The application has been filed seeking release of the applicant on bail in Case under Sections 8/22 Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, Police Station GRP Junction, District Bareilly. The aforesaid case has been registered on the basis of a first information report lodged by an Inspector In-charge on 27.02.2022 alleging that on 26.02.2022, at about 19:09 hours, when he was involved in routine patrolling along with some other police personnel, he re...