High Courts Weekly Round-Up

Bombay High Court

The Bombay High Court on Monday reiterated the Supreme Court’s orders and asked Special NIA Judge Vinod Padalkar, presiding over the trial in the 2008 Malegaon blast case that killed six and injured over a 100 people, to expedite the trial and conduct it on a day-to-day basis.

On Wednesday, the High Court set aside a Pune court order that had granted more time to the police for filing a charge sheet against lawyer Surendra Gadling and some other activists arrested in connection with the violence at Koregaon Bhima village in the state.

The High Court held that information relating to salary details of the husband cannot be disclosed in an RTI application filed by wife’s lawyer.

The High Court on Friday granted relief to human rights activist Gautam Navlakha, civil rights activist and writer Anand Teltumbde, tribal rights activist Father Stan Swamy. Court however did not grant relief to activists Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves.

In a significant relief to 63 Moons Technologies Limited, the High Court recently stayed notifications by the state government declaring attachment of assets owned by 63 Moons, the erstwhile Financial Technologies (India) Limited (FTIL).

 Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday restrained the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) from taking any coercive action against CBI Special Director Rakesh Asthana, ordering maintenance of status quo until the next hearing date, October 29. It, however, clarified that the ongoing probe in the matter will continue, and issued notice to CBI and Alok Verma, the CBI Director.

The High Court quashed the circular issued by the Delhi government that empowered Registrars to cancel or recall a registered deed on receipt of any complaint that the same has been registered by practicing fraud.

Appreciating how big the heart of a woman is to forgive her estranged husband who created fake online accounts in the name of his estranged wife seeking companionship, the Delhi High Court quashed an FIR registered against the man subject to him depositing cost of Rs 1 lakh with the Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund.

Karnataka High Court

The Karnataka High Court held that when an issue of valuation and/or court fees is raised in a civil suit on the objection of the defendant, the same is not invariably required to be tried as a preliminary issue and before taking evidence on other issues

 Kerala High Court

A single bench of the High Court of Kerala warned the various heads of Local Self Government institutions to ensure the removal of all illegal flex boards /banners/hoardings/flags before October 30 in due compliance with its earlier orders. The court had earlier issued guidelines to ensure prompt removal of such flex boards and the government in compliance with that order had formulated a circular to implement the same.

The High Court directed the recovery of 100% value of minerals extracted without obtaining prior Environmental Clearance(EC), by following the Supreme Court judgment in Common Cause case which held that extraction of any mineral without EC would amount to illegal or unlawful mining attracting the provisions of Section 21(5) of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act 1957.

The High court held that remarriage of the spouse who obtained an ex parte decree of divorce, after the filing of the application for setting aside the ex parte decree by the opposite spouse, would not render such application infructuous.

 Madras High Court

The Madras High Court closed the suo moto contempt proceedings against BJP national secretary H Raja for his alleged derogatory remarks against judiciary, after he tendered his unconditional apology in the Court on Monday.

The High Court recently dismissed public interest litigation filed by a ‘magazine editor’ who sought regulations on filing and registration of PILs and withdrawal of the same.

The High Court upheld the decision of Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker to disqaulify 18 MLAs of AIADMK. The decision was upheld by Justice M. Sathyanarayanan, who was appointed by the Supreme Court to decide the issue following the split verdict delivered by a Division Bench of the HC.

Punjab & Haryana High Court

The Punjab and Haryana High Court ruled that while granting bail, criminal courts cannot place the condition for the accused to surrender their passport. Justice Daya Chaudhary asserted that while Section 104 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) allows the court to impound any document or thing produced before it, the impounding of a passport can only be undertaken by the passport authority under Section 10(3) of the Passports Act.

Rajasthan High Court

The Rajasthan high Court recently slapped ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company with penal costs of Rs. 10 lakhs for impleading several judges of District Judges Cadre as parties to a petition filed by it.