High Courts Weekly Round-Up

Bombay High Court

In a huge relief to LLM students from Mumbai University who did not get time to prepare for their semester examinations since there was only a few days between their admission and the first semester exam, the Bombay High Court allowed them to take the first semester exams along with the second semester exams.

Quashing an order passed by a joint civil judge junior division, Pune, the High Court held that under Section 15 of the Hindu Succession Act, any property inherited by a female Hindu from her father or mother, will devolve upon the heirs of her father/mother, if she dies without any children of her own, and not upon her husband.

The High Court on Wednesday struck down the media gag order passed by Special CBI judge SJ Sharma presiding over the alleged fake encounter case of Sohrabuddin Sheikh, Tulsiram Prajapati and Kausar Bi, and held that trial court had no power whatsoever to impose such a condition on the press.

Delhi high Court

The Delhi High Court recently rapped the railway authorities for denying medical benefits to a mother-daughter duo, and held that making entitlement of such benefits dependent on declaration from the husband/ father would be unconstitutional.

The High Court on Wednesday refused to stay the disqualification of AAP MLAs for holding ‘Office of Profit’ but told the Election Commission of India (ECI)  not to “precipitate” the situation by announcing fresh bypolls till January 29, when it will hear the matter further.

The High Court was on Wednesday also informed that no settlement could be arrived at between the airlines – IndiGo, SpiceJet and GoAir – and the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation and DIAL on the issue of part shifting of operations from Terminal 1 to Terminal 2 of the Indira Gandhi International Airport.

The High Court on Tuesday held that the sitting for an examination by a student in the successive academic year, by reason of his inability to write the examination as per the schedule of the curriculum on account of circumstances beyond his control, shall still qualify as the student’s ‘first attempt’. The High Court also observed that the University could not deprive the student of the award for achieving the highest score in the batch on the ground that he took the examination in respect of two papers in the following year.

Gujarat High Court

Gujarat High Court Judge Justice JB Pardiwala observed that modern marriages fixed on Facebook are bound to fail. Justice Pardiwala made this comment while hearing a petition filed under Section 482 of Criminal Procedure Code for quashing FIR filed under Sections 498A, 323, 504 read with Section 114 of the Indian Penal Code and under Sections 3 and 5 of the Dowry Prohibition Act.

Kerala High Court

The High Court of Kerala held that the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) has the power to re-examine a certified film, and to prohibit public exhibition of the film till such re-examination, in order to ascertain whether the film was complying with the conditions of certification. The decision was rendered in the writ petition filed by the makers of film S Durga , against the order passed by the CBFC on 28 November 2017, stating that film should not be publicly exhibited as it required re-examination.

Madhya Pradesh High Court

The Madhya Pradesh High Court directed the Centre and the State to refrain from using the term ‘Dalit’ for members belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

The High Court recently reiterated that the incompetence of a lawyer cannot be a ground for recalling witnesses under Section 311 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

Madras High Court

In the latest development, the Madras High Court allowed a couple booked in a criminal case under the Emigration Act to travel to Oman after giving an undertaking that they would be served summons via e-mail and would not dispute the service of summons by such means.

Recognising that “Conjugal visits of the spouse of the prisoners is also the right of the prisoner”, the High Court allowed a 40-year-old lifer detained at Palayamkottai Central prison to proceed on a leave for two weeks for assisting his wife in infertility treatment.

The High Court apologised to an 89-year-old freedom fighter, V Gandhi, who waited “patiently” for freedom fighter pension for 37 long years before moving the court.