SC Collegium clears 68 names for HC judges

  • The top Court’s Collegium, led by Chief justice of India N.V. Ramana, has recommended 68 names in one stroke for elevation as judges of various High Courts.
  • The Collegium, in back-to-back meetings on August 5 and September 1, considered 112 candidates for High Court appointments.
  • 68 of 112 names have been recommended for 12 High Courts. Of the 68, there are 44 from the Bar and 24 from judicial service.
  • The 12 High Courts for which the names have been recommended are Allahabad, Rajasthan, Calcutta, Jharkhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Madras, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Punjab and Haryana, Kerala, Chhattisgarh and Assam.
  • Scripting history in gender representation, in the judiciary yet again, the Collegium recommended 10 women including one judicial officer belonging to Scheduled Tribes, Marli Vankung, as a judge of the Gauhati High Court. On acceptance of the recommendation, by the government, she would be the first ever High Court judge from the State of Mizoram.
NGT forms panel to probe ‘operation of slaughterhouse’

  • Following a plea seeking action against the operation of a slaughterhouse in Ghazipur, the National Green Tribunal constituted a committee of officials from the Central Pollution Control ?Board (CPCB), Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC), East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) and district authorities to submit a report on the same.
  • A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel said the DPCC and CPCB will be the nodal agencies for coordination and compliance with the order.
  • The Bench directed the committee to convene its first meeting within two weeks, conduct an inspection of the site, interact with stakeholders and furnish a report within three months.
HC grants bail to five persons in north- east Delhi riots case

  • Justice Subramonium Prasad granted bail to Tabassum, a married woman arrested in October 2020. The High Court also granted bail to Suvaleen, Furkan, Mohd Arif and Shabad Ahmed, who were arrested between March and May 2020.
  • All the five persons arraigned as accused in connection with the death of a Head Constable Ratan Lal in North- East Delhi riots.
  • Justice Prasad said, “ there cannot be an umbrella assumption of guilt on behalf of every accused by the Court, and every decision must be based on careful consideration of the facts and circumstances in the matter”.
  • Justice Prasad also contended that ,” when there is a crowd involved, at the juncture of grant or denial of bail, the court must hesitate before arriving at the conclusion that every member inhabits common intention to accomplish the unlawful common object” .
  • Justice Prasad, however remarked, “The applicability of Section 149 IPC (unlawful assembly), specifically read with Section 302 (murder), cannot be done on the basis of vague evidence and general allegations”.
  • It was mentioned that, “ it is egregious and against the principles enshrined in our Constitution to allow an accused to remain languishing behind bars during the pendency of the trial, Justice Prasad said, adding, “Bail is the rule and jail is the exception”
  • The Delhi High Court on Friday held that, “The right to protest and express dissent is a right, which occupies a fundamental stature in a democratic polity and the sole act of protesting should not be employed as a weapon to justify the incarceration of those who are exercising the right.
Reduce number of refugees protesting outside UNHCR: HC

  • The High Court’s observation came while hearing a petition by Vasant Vihar Welfare Association, which stated that the foreign nationals have gathered outside the office of the UNHCR at   B Block in South Delhi’s Vasant Vihar since August 15, including lanes and parks adjoining it and residents are facing difficulties to this..
  • The Delhi High Court on Friday directed the Delhi government and the police to reduce the number of Afghan nationals protesting outside the United Nations High Commissioner of Refugees (UNHCR) office, and that they strictly follow COVID -19  protocol. The court made it clear that law is the same for everybody and cautioned the government that if the matter was not resolved by then, it will be constrained to pass certain orders
  • Justice Rekha Palli remarked, “Nobody is stopping them from protesting. Firstly they are at the wrong place. It is not a designated protest site. Plus, as per the COVID -19 guidelines, more than 100 people cannot gather”.
Police response sought on bail plea in Jantar Mantar case

  • The Delhi High Court on Friday sought response from Delhi Police on the bail application of one of the organizers of an event near Jantar Mantar where allegedly communal slogans were raised last month.
  • Justice Mukta Gupta issued notice on Preet Singh’s bail application who is accused of creating enmity between different groups and directed the police to file its status.
Supreme Court rejects Bengal’s petition on DGP appointments

  • The State’s plea came at a time when the CBI has written to the West Bengal DGP office for information about the alleged incidents of murder and rape in the post- poll violence in the State.
  • In its application, West Bengal said the 2006 judgment was “not in consonance with extant constitutional and legal framework”. The State government  has the autonomy to select the DGP, it said.
  • In one of the seven directives of the Prakash Singh judgment in 2007 was that the Chief Minister has to choose from among the three most senior officers empanelled by the UPSC and these officers should have a guaranteed tenure as DGP for minimum two years. The judgment of 2007 was a conscious reformative step to thwart attempts by State governments to appoint pliant officers at the top.
  • The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain a West Bengal plea questioning the authority of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) to shortlist the names for Director of Police (DGPs) based on a judgment of the court.
Justice Manjula Chellur (retd.) to monitor probe into post- poll violence

  • The Calcutta High Court on Friday appointed former Chief Justice of the High Court Manjula Chellur to monitor the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe into the post – poll violence in West Bengal
  • The High Court , in its August 19 order, a five – judge bench, had directed that the SIT be headed by a retired Supreme Court judge.
  • The High Court , in its order on August 19, had deputed three senior officers Soumen Mitra, Suman Bala Sahoo, and Ranvir Kumar to look into cases of post-poll violence. Subsequently, ten more IPS officers have been assigned to the SIT.
HC rejects plea against chanting of mantras in Tamil in temples

  • The Madras High Court on Friday rejected a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition which sought a direction to the Tamil Nadu government to withdraw the ‘Annai Tamil Archanai’ scheme, which lets devotees opt for the chanting of hymns by priests in Tamil, instead of Sanskrit, while performing puja in the sanctum sanctorum of temples.
  • Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice P.D. Audikesavalu refused to entertain the petition since the issue was not res integra (an unsettled question of law) anymore. They said another Division Bench of Justices Elipe Dharma Rao and K. Chandru (both retired)had, in March 2008, dismissed a batch of cases filed in 1998 and held that the Agama Sastras do not prohibit chanting of mantras in Tamil.
  • Holding that the choice of wanting the mantras to be recited either in Sanskrit or in Tamil vests with the devotees, that Bench had criticized the litigants for making it seem as if God could understand only Sanskrit and not Tamil
  • Authoring the verdict, Justice Chandru had said that, if the litigants were allowed to have their way, while referring to former President Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan’s book “ The Hindu view of Life”  which said, “To many Hinduisms seems to be a name without any content. Is it a museum of beliefs, a medley of rites, or a mere gap, a geographical expression?”, his  fears might become true.
Madras HDC directs police to respond to plea to examine ex-CM, Sasikala

  • The Madras High Court on Friday directed the Sholurmattam police in the Nilgiris district to file its reply to a plea by three accused in the 2017 Kodanad Estate heist-cum-murder case, to summon and examine former CM Jayalalithaa’s close aide V. K.Sasikala and others, before the trial court.
  • Justice M. Nirmal Kumar directed State Public Prosecutor Hasan Mohammed Jinnah to ensure that the reply was filed by September 27.
  • Revision Petition against the refusal of the trial court to summon the former CM and others was filed by accused D. Deepu, M.S. Satheesan, and A. Santhosh Samy.
  • Justice Kumar told the counsel for the accused that they had not listed out the reasons to summon certain people for examination as defence witnesses and he asked the counsel to be prepared with reasons during the next hearing.
Respond to pleas of NDTV promoters: SC

  • The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to file its response to the petitions of NDTV promoters Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy, which sought that the penalty proceedings against them, related to the alleged violation of securities norms by concealing information from shareholders on loan agreements, be kept in abeyance.
  • The promoters have sought that the market regulator’s order imposing the penalty be kept in abeyance Tribunal (SAT) decided their appeals.
  • A Bench headed by Chief Justice N.V. Ramana took note of the statement by Solicitor- General Tushar Mehta, appearing for SEBI, that the market regulator would not take coercive action against the promoters in the meantime and said a response to their pleas may be filed in two weeks.
1984 riots: SC refuses interim bail to ex- MP

  • The Supreme Court on Friday refused to grant interim bail sought on health grounds to former Congress leader Sajjan Kumar,who is serving life imprisonment in an 1984 anti- Sikh riots case, stating that his condition was stable and improving as per the medical records.
  • According to the submission advanced by Kumar’s counsel, MP be allowed to undergo treatment at a private hospital at his own cost.
  • The Bench of Justices Sanjay Krishan Kaul and M.M. Sundresh stated that he is not the only patient in the country to be treated as some kind of a super VIP patient.
Supreme Court stays Kerala plan to hold Class XI exams

  • A Bench led by Justice A.M. Khanwilkar, the Supreme Court on Friday stayed a Kerala government order to conduct physical exams  which were scheduled to start on September 6 for Class XI students owing to the “alarming” spread of COVID-19 in the State. 
  • Mr. Padmanabhan submitted that around three lakh students were scheduled to take the exam from September 6 to 27.
  • The Court noted that about 30,000 cases were being reported everyday in Kerala. The State accounts for nearly 70% of the COVID-19 cases nationally.

Extracted & Compiled by- Amrita Biswas, BA- LLB (Hon.) Student, Surendranath Law Colleg

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