High Courts Weekly Round-Up

Allahabad High CourtThe Allahabad High Court came to the aid of a railway employee, who suffered decline in his eyesight due to strenuous round-the-clock job only to be decategorized medically and moved to another post at a much lower pay scale and then being dragged into unnecessary litigation by the Railways.While acquitting a man who was in jail for 21 years for a murder crime that happened in 1996, the High Court observed that delay in disposal of criminal appeals pending in the high court is matter of serious concern to all those involved in the administration of criminal justice.Bombay High CourtThe Bombay High Court reiterated the law set out in the recent case of Kartik Gangadhar Bhat vs Nirmala Namdeo Wagh, and said under the Evidence Act, there is no provision to seek leave for leading secondary evidence and directed the circulation of the judgment to every ‘civil judge in the State of Maharashtra’.The High Court upheld the decision of a sessions court in Latur to allow home food to be served to an under-trial currently lodged at Latur jail.While hearing an appeal in a fight of guardianship of an 8-year-old girl between her two grandmothers (paternal and maternal), the High Court held that welfare of a child is paramount when deciding custody cases and to be innocent itself is a fundamental right of the child.Chhattisgarh High CourtThe Chhattisgarh High Court observed that the existence of roads in reasonable condition is embraced in the citizens’ right to life and the lack of financial resources cannot be the ground for a municipality not to perform the statutory obligations and duties.Delhi High CourtThe Delhi High Court, on Monday, quashed an order directing admission of a thalassaemic student to MBBS course at Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University.Amidst rising cases of snatching where victims not only lose their articles, but also their lives, the Delhi High Court on Tuesday issued notices to the Centre, the Delhi government and the city police on a PIL highlighting how snatchers in Delhi are booked under trivial penal provisions treating snatching as petty theft.On Tuesday, the high court permitted the Arbitral Tribunal to decide an issue which involved lifting of the corporate veil, noting that the facts of the case did not point towards fraud.On Wednesday, the High Court issued notice to the Delhi government on a PIL praying that checking of age of consumer/ buyer be made mandatory at the point of sale of liquor after a survey revealed that the youth below the age of 25, the legal age of drinking, have easy access to alcohol in the city.In a case of its kind, the High Court on Wednesday directed that a 4-year-old girl studying in LKG be allowed to repeat the class and not promoted to the next higher class as her parents said she is a slow learner with delayed cognitive development and requires more time to cope up with other children of her age and promoting her to next level would be of no good.The High Court recently reiterated the principle that a spouse cannot be exempted from contributing towards maintenance of a minor child even if the other spouse, with whom the child stays, earns sufficiently well.Bringing an end to the uncertainty surrounding a minor, who awaited a no-objection certificate from the Central Adoption Resource Authority to be able to unite with his adoptive parents in Germany, the Delhi High Court directed that the same be issued to the adoptive parents in two weeks after which the minor be issued passport to travel to his new home.The High Court, on Thursday, directed a woman to return to the United States with her child, opining that her decision to stay in India in view of her disputes with her husband was taken without keeping the best interest of the child in mind.The High Court recently quashed the notice issued by Meghalaya Women Commission to summon the Secretary of Delhi Golf Club in an incident which involved the alleged ouster of a tribal woman from the dining room of the Club.The Delhi High Court, on Friday, directed creation of a standing unit or cell, which would be tasked with the formulation of effective land management policies.Gujarat High CourtAfter realizing that a bail applicant was actually sentenced to death by trial court, and not just life imprisonment, the Gujarat High Court modified its earlier order, imposing stringent conditions.Himachal Pradesh High CourtThe Himachal Pradesh High Court reiterated that a person who does not belongs to a Scheduled Tribe or a Scheduled Caste category by birth, simply by virtue of marrying a person belonging thereto cannot gain the status of that particular caste or tribe.Kerala High CourtA division bench of the High Court of Kerala, comprising Justice PN Ravindran and Justice Devan Ramachandran, held that a minister cannot invoke writ jurisdiction against his own government or its functionaries. The bench arrived at such a judicial analysis through two separate but concurring judgments. It observed that ...

High Courts Weekly Round-Up

Ashok K.M

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