High Courts Weekly Round-Up

Bombay High CourtThe Bombay High Court recently held that formulations containing less than 135 mg of dextropropoxyphene cannot be classified as a ‘narcotic’ or a ‘narcotic drug’ within the meaning of Section 2(h) of the Medicinal and Toilet Preparations (Excise Duties) Act, 1955 [M & TP Act] and hence are not liable for state excise duty.In a matter between Pratibha Industries vs Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM), the High Court recalled an earlier order passed on June 27, 2017, appointing Justice VM Kanade (retd) as sole arbitrator disposing off an arbitration petition.The High Court ordered attachment of properties of a developer who failed to pay transit rent to almost 100 tenants while the building concerned was being redeveloped.The High Court granted anticipatory bail to a woman booked under Section 3 (x)(xi) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, as it was found that the FIR was registered against her by people against whom she had filed a case of assault five months earlier.The High Court recently allowed a habeas corpus petition challenging an order dated March 20, 2017, passed by the Commissioner of Police, Solapur, sanctioning preventive arrest of one Taufiq Ismail Shaikh under Section 3(1) of the Maharashtra Prevention of Dangerous Activities of Slumlords, Bootleggers, Drug Offenders, Dangerous Persons, Video Pirates, Sand Smugglers and Persons engaged in Black-marketing of Essential Commodities Act, 1981.In a huge relief to telecom giants, Vodafone India, Idea Cellular and Bharti Airtel Limited, the High Court quashed and set aside an order of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) which directed a probe into the ‘cartelisation’ charge leveled against them by new market player Reliance Jio.Calcutta High CourtThe Calcutta High Court on Thursday lifted restriction on Durga idol immersion imposed by the West Bengal government citing threat to law and order situation.Delhi High CourtThe Delhi High Court, on Monday, took it upon itself to weed out mediocrity from the legal profession, while dealing with Petitioners who had claimed to have been “let down by their earlier advocate”.On Monday, the High Court also refused to permit an Appellant Company to shift the blame on its Counsel for the delay in challenging an ex-parte judgment and shared the Trial Court’s concerns on employment of such measures.The High Court recently decreed a suit for passing off against defendants residing outside India, noting that they offer their services through apps and websites which are accessible from Delhi.The High Court directed the CBI to consider the application of an RTI activist seeking information about corruption within the central investigating body and action taken into allegations made by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal of shady probe into the coalgate scam pursuant to a news report.The High Court invited inputs from all accredited journalists covering its proceedings on whether accreditation be made mandatory for court reporting and if accreditation should make way for journalists to carry phone/ electronic communication device to the court or to engage in live text messaging/ communication/ online publications from the court.The Court directed all judicial officers to return record of any case requisitioned by them to the trial court concerned to enable it to proceed with the disposal of the case.On Thursday, the High Court directed the Jawaharlal Nehru University to maintain status quo on the sealing of the office of its Gender Sensitization Committee Against Sexual Harassment (GSCASH).Marks awarded to candidates in the interview round of the Delhi Higher Judicial Service Examination are not confidential, but public information, the Delhi High Court said.The High Court recently issued a direction to the Ministry of Law and Justice to add more contents to the new India Code website, which is being developed by the Legislative Department of the ministry.Gujarat High CourtThe Gujarat High Court recently rapped a lower Court for sending a juvenile delinquent to jail and treating him as an adult under the law, despite having been apprised of the fact of him being a juvenile.Jammu & Kashmir The High Court of Jammu and Kashmir ruled that a law graduate pursuing higher studies in the field of law would be treated in actual practice.Kerala High CourtThe Full Bench of Justices V. Chitambaresh, Shaji P Chaly and Sathish Ninan of the Kerala High court held that employee entitled to gratuity over & above statutory limit if gratuity insurance availed of by employer yields higher amountMadhya Pradesh High CourtThe Madhya Pradesh High Court stayed the proceedings of criminal complaint pending against former Director General of Police Swaraj Puri at a CJM court in Bhopal, accusing him and former district collector of releasing main accused Warren Anderson in Bhopal gas tragedy case.The High Court asked the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to...

High Courts Weekly Round-Up

Ashok K.M

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