Kerala High Court Asks NHAI To Produce Contractual Timeline For NH-544 Work After Reports Of Delay In Construction

The Kerala High Court on Tuesday (02 December) directed the National Highways Authority of India to report the time period prescribed in its agreement with the Contractor for the completion of National Highway stretch in NH-544. The division bench comprising Justice A Muhamed Mustaque and Justice Harisankar V Menon were considering the writ petition regarding traffic congestion...

Karnataka High Court Quashes Complaint Against Minister KJ George, BESCOM Officials Over Alleged Irregularities In Smart Meter Procurement

The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday (December 2) quashed a private complaint by BJP leaders against State Energy Minister KJ George and BESCOM officials, alleging irregularities in the issuance of tender regarding procurement and installation of smart electric meters in the State.Allowing George's plea Justice M I Arun said “Petitions are allowed. Consequently the proceedings pending before...

Jammu & Kashmir Deputy CM Files Defamation Suit Before Delhi High Court Seeking Removal Of Objectionable Content

Surinder Kumar Choudhary, Deputy Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, has filed a defamation suit before the Delhi High Court seeking removal of objectionable content against him on social media. The matter was heard briefly on Tuesday (December 2) by Justice Amit Bansal who asked Choudhary to implead the uploaders of the content as defendants in his suit. Choudhary's counsel informed the...

Delhi High Court Upholds Rejection Of Patent For Amylin and AstraZeneca's Sustained-Release Diabetes Injection

The Delhi High Court has upheld the Patent Office's refusal to grant Amylin Pharmaceuticals and AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals a patent for their sustained-release exenatide injection for diabetes, ruling that the formulation was 'obvious' from existing science and lacked the inventive step required for protection. A single bench of Justice Tejas Karia in an order dated November 24 said that...

SEBI Acted With 'Due Care And Caution' In Clearing WeWork India IPO: Bombay High Court

The Bombay High Court on Monday observed that SEBI had exercised “due care and caution” in clearing the WeWork India IPO, while dismissing two petitions that alleged the regulator failed to act on complaints of inadequate disclosures in the offer documents of the Indian arm of global co-working space brand. A division bench of Justice RI Chagla and Farhan P Dubash said it was...

Police Lack Power To Probe Food Adulteration Under FSS Act: Rajasthan High Court Quashes FIR, Says Only Food Safety Officers Can Proceed

The Rajasthan High Court has reiterated that the police, appointed under the Police Act, does not have powers to investigate offences in relation to food adulteration punishable under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 (“the Act”).The bench of Justice Anoop Kumar Dhand was hearing a petition seeking quashing of offences against the petitioner under Section 272, 273 and 420 of IPC,...

No Sexual Overtone: Gauhati High Court Quashes S.354 IPC Charge Against MLA Jignesh Mevani Accused Of Outraging Woman Cop's Modesty

The Gauhati High Court has discharged Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani from the charge of outraging the modesty of a woman police officer, holding that the materials collected during investigation did not reveal any act carrying a sexual overtone capable of attracting Section 354 IPC. The court however retained the charged against Mevani under IPC Section 352 (Punishment for assault or criminal...

Delhi High Court Pulls Up GST Authority For Issuing Personal Hearing Notice Saying Assessee's Attendance Not Needed

The Delhi High Court recently criticised the GST Authorities for issuing a “strange” personal hearing notice to an assessee, which said that the assessee need not attend the hearing as the notice is issued only for the purpose of uploading final order.“The personal hearing notice is also quite strange to say the least that no personal hearing was granted before the Commissioner Appeals...

Contingency Driver Not Entitled To Seek Regularisation Or Promotion Against Direct Recruitment: Gauhati High Court

The Gauhati High Court has held that a contingency driver cannot claim either regularisation or promotion into a vacancy that is earmarked for direct recruitment under the applicable Recruitment Rules and the post-based roster. Presiding over the case, Justice Manish Choudhury, observed, “Though a right to be considered for promotion is a fundamental right but such right to be considered...

Further Probe Under S.173(8) CrPC Permissible Only By Agency Which Conducted Original Investigation: Kerala High Court

The Kerala High Court has reaffirmed that further investigation under Section 173 (8) CrPC must be conducted by the same agency that has conducted the original investigation and not a different agency.Justice C Pratheep Kumar was delivering the judgment in a writ petition filed by the accused in pending before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Pathanamthitta.The petitioner, accused of offences...

MP High Court Rejects Journalist's Plea To Quash FIR Over WhatsApp Message Claiming Beef Consumption Essential For Being Good Hindu

The Madhya Pradesh High Court has dismissed a journalist's plea seeking quashing of an FIR for allegedly forwarding a seven-page message in a WhatsApp group claiming that beef consumption is essential for being a good Hindu. The bench of Justice Milind Ramesh Phadke observed that the matter involves allegations of publication or circulation of material capable of hurting religious sentiments...

Allahabad HC Revives 1988 Episode Of SP 'Threatening' To Drag Judge To Police Station; Seeks His Whereabouts, Details On Action Taken

In an uncommon order, the Allahabad High Court recently sought to revive a 37-year-old issue involving a former Superintendent of Police (SP) who allegedly threatened to 'drag' a sitting Sessions Judge to police station during the trial of the case. Taking a serious view of the 'damning' remarks recorded by the presiding officer in the decades-old judgment, a Bench of Justice JJ Munir...