High Courts Weekly Round-Up

Bombay High Court

The Bombay High Court recently dismissed an appeal filed by a man seeking a decree of nullity of his marriage with his wife that took place on February 14, 2009. The appeal was against an order of the family court dated September 10, 2012, wherein the wife’s counterclaim seeking a decree for restitution of conjugal rights was allowed.

The High Court dismissed a writ petition filed by one Girish Gosavi who is a probationer Civil Judge Junior Division and Judicial Magistrate First Class at Ulhasnagar and was dismissed from service for being unsuitable. He had challenged his discharge communicated to him on November 18, 2013, by Justice KK Sonawane of the high court, who was at the time the Principal District Judge, Thane.

The High Court observed that the provisions of Domestic Violence Act cannot be invoked simply for claiming maintenance unless the party alleges an act of domestic violence and approach the court in the capacity as an “aggrieved person”.

The High Court held Courts, while dealing with their employees or acting in other matters purely in administrative capacity, fall within the definition of State within the meaning of Article 12 of the Constitution of India.

The High Court recently set up a committee to examine the drug procurement system of the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai and suggest ways to make it foolproof. The committee will also devise a mechanism in order to keep the medical staff apprised of the patient’s medical history so that any further adverse drug reaction (ADR) can be avoided.

The High Court held that recovery of money after retrospective pay revision after retirement or superannuation is not permissible in law and granted relief to a retired teacher of a municipal school.

The High Court recently rapped police officials for terming as civil disputes allegations of cheating against developers and thereby, turning away complainants.

Calcutta High Court

The Calcutta High Court observed that no road/street must be completely blocked and made inaccessible to pedestrians or to motor traffic by reason of holding of a meeting/rally/procession and a reasonable part of every road/street must be kept free of blockage and open to pedestrians and motor traffic.

Delhi High Court

In a major decision, the Delhi High Court on Monday dismissed the Centre’s plea against telecom giant Vodafone initiating two tax arbitrations – one under the India-Netherlands Bilateral Investment Protection Agreement (BIPA) and other under the India-UK BIPA – over a retrospective tax liability imposed on the company for its Rs.11,000-crore acquisition of Hutchison Telecom.

The High Court recently granted divorce to a man holding that his estranged wife’s false allegation of illicit relation between him and his widowed sister-in-law amounted to cruelty.

On Thursday, the High Court dismissed a habeas corpus Petition challenging the arrest of one Mr. Aadil Hussain Teeli, who was arrested by the cyber cell of Delhi Police for allegedly hacking several Indian websites.

The High Court on Thursday, also granted bail to Advocate Rohit Tandon who was arrested in connection with an alleged money laundering case post demonetization.

The High Court ordered an enquiry into the allegations of an HIV positive man who said he was abused and denied treatment at two hospitals in Delhi after he met with an accident last year for alleged non-disclosure of his HIV status.

The High Court stayed the publication and sale of book on yoga guru Ramdev titled Godman to Tycoon: The Untold Story of Baba Ramdev, authored by Priyanka Pathak Narain and published by M/s Juggernaut Books.

The High Court on Thursday quashed a Trial Court order convicting two men for raping a minor girl, but directed the duo to pay compensation for maintenance of child born to the prosecutrix.

In a major development, the High Court on Friday said students from open school can also take the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) while upholding the CBSE’s upper age limit of 25 and 30 years for general and reserved categories, respectively, to apply for the pre-Medical test considering the limited number of seats and large number of aspirants in India.

Coming to the rescue of over 200 students of Delhi University’s (DU) law faculty, the High Court on Friday quashed a 2017 ordinance that had abolished the supplementary exam for third-year students insofar as it applied to students who had taken admission prior to the academic year 2017-18.

Gujarat High Court

The Gujarat High Court issued notice to the Centre, Gujarat government and the Goods and Service Tax Council on a petition moved by two chartered accountants challenging the constitution of the National and State GST Appellate Tribunal which they said was “plenary illegal” with just one judicial member.

The High Court issued notice to the Government of Gujarat and the Municipal Commissioner on a petition filed by a social worker against the illegal collection of parking fee at the malls and other commercial establishments in Surat.

The High Court upheld the conviction of 19 Accused persons in the post-Godhra riots in Oad, a Muslim dominated village in Anand District of Gujarat where 23 people including women and children were burnt alive by a mob in March 2002.

Jammu & Kashmir High Court

The Jammu and Kashmir High Court directed the state government to consider amending the provisions of the Jammu and Kashmir Juvenile Justice (Care & Protection of Children) Act, 2013, to reduce the age of juvenility from 18 years to 16 years.

Jharkhand High Court

The Jharkhand High Court on Friday granted provisional bail for six-week to RJD supremo Lalu Prasad on medical grounds. Lalu, who is in judicial custody after his sentencing in fodder scam cases, had applied for provisional bail for getting his ailment treated in an advanced medical center.

 Karnataka High Court

Upholding a single bench order that directed the Speaker of Karnataka Legislative Assembly to decide the disqualification petition against JD(s) MLAs, a division bench of the Karnataka High Court observed that it has power to request the Speaker to dispose of the disqualification petition at the earliest in the interest of justice and to maintain majesty of the office of the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly.

Kerala High Court

The Kerala High Court took unto itself the bounden duty of the parents to name their child, as they were busy fighting.

The High Court, in a judgment delivered last month, observed that a person cannot be implicated as a terrorist, merely because he has seen certain videos and speeches.

Madhya Pradesh High Court

While confirming death sentence to two men accused of rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl, the Madhya Pradesh High Court observed that it is immensely appalled by the alarming increase in the recent incidents of child rapes and also being aware of the rising anger of the society over rape incidents of children across the country, therefore, it considers death sentence as a measure of social necessity and also a mean of deterring other potential offenders.

Madras High Court

A full bench of the Madras High Court recently opined that the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) cover granted to the High Court campus should gradually be extended to the Small Causes and City Civil Court Campus as well.

While rejecting anticipatory bail plea of journalist turned BJP leader S Ve Shekher who allegedly shared a derogatory Facebook post on women journalists, the Madras High Court observed that sharing or forwarding a message in social media is equal to accepting and endorsing the message.