High Courts Weekly Round-Up

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4 Nov 2018 3:19 PM GMT

  • High Courts Weekly Round-Up

    Allahabad High CourtThe Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court on Thursday ordered CBI probe into the entire process of selection initiated for the recruitment of 68,500 assistant teachers in primary schools in Uttar Pradesh after the Yogi Adityanath government submitted that it was not ready to hand over the probe to the CBI despite its three-member inquiry committee coming under question...

    Allahabad High Court

    The Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court on Thursday ordered CBI probe into the entire process of selection initiated for the recruitment of 68,500 assistant teachers in primary schools in Uttar Pradesh after the Yogi Adityanath government submitted that it was not ready to hand over the probe to the CBI despite its three-member inquiry committee coming under question for sitting over evidence of corruption.

    Bombay High Court

    The Bombay High Court on Monday yet again refused to defer framing of charges against Lt. Col. Prasad Purohit, one of the main accused in 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case that killed six and injured over a 100 people.

    The High Court on Monday passed an 18-page judgment in a criminal public interest litigation filed by former journalist Ketan Tirodkar in 2017.

    The High Court on Friday dismissed the PIL filed by Bombay Lawyer’s Association seeking a writ of mandamus to be issued directing the CBI to challenge BJP president Amit Shah’s discharge in the alleged fake encounter case of Sohrabuddin Shaikh.

    Delhi High Court

    The Delhi High Court on Monday, ordered the CBI to maintain status quo till November 1 on proceedings against its Special Director Rakesh Asthana, who was sent on leave by the government.

    The High Court on Monday also issued contempt notice to the editor of a Chennai-based, Tamil news magazine for his tweets against Justice S Muralidhar. A bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Yogesh Khanna initiated contempt proceedings and sought response of Swaminathan Gurumurthy, the editor of the weekly ‘Thuglak’ magazine, and listed the matter for further hearing on December 11.

    The High Court issued notice to the Centre, the Delhi government and the School Games Federation of India (SGFI) on a petition seeking inquiry into the death of Nitisha Negi, the teenage footballer from Delhi who drowned at Gelnelg beach in Adelaide, Australia, where she was on a tour as part of a 120-member Indian contingent participating in the Pacific School Games.

    The High Court amended its Rules (Original Side) to bring in features such as ‘Hot-Tubbing’ and ‘Confidentiality Club’ besides various other amendments which will come into effect from November 1.

    The High Court on Thursday stayed the notice of eviction issued to the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund (JNMF), a charitable trust chaired by Congress leader Sonia Gandhi by which it was asked to vacate its premises at Teen Murti Bhavan, once the residence of India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

    The High Court has set aside the trial court judgement that had acquitted 16 Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) officials in the 1987 Hashimpura mass murder case. The Court convicted all the accused and sentenced them to life imprisonment.

    The High Court stayed the recruitment of 2,000 nursing officers at various centres of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on a petition moved by an acid attack victim alleging discrimination in the eligibility criterion for the recruitment process.

    The High Court issued a series of directions to ensure that the provisions of Sections 107 and 151 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 are not abused or misused by the Special Executive Magistrates and Police.

    The High Court dismissed a petition seeking an end to gender-discriminatory practices in all faiths and make acts of discrimination a penal offence. A bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and VK Rao refused to entertain the plea saying it lacked “territorial jurisdiction”.

    In an important judgment dealing with the violation of trade mark rights by e-commerce platforms and the extent of protection/exemption enjoyed them; the High Court held that when an e-commerce company claims exemption under Section 79 of the Information Technology Act, it ought to ensure that it does not have an active participation in the selling process.

    Jammu & Kashmir High Court

    The Jammu and Kashmir High Court recently pulled up a law publisher for incorporating misleading and incorrect provision regarding an amendment of Section 167 of Jammu and Kashmir Code of Criminal Procedure.

    Karnataka High Court

    The Karnataka High Court held that merely because a reassessment order is passed under the Value Added Tax law after coming into force of the GST regime, it would not make that reassessment order void in the eyes of law.

     Kerala High Court

    While considering a petition seeking to restrict entry of non-Hindus in Sabarimala temple, the High Court of Kerala orally observed that Sabarimala belonged to all and not just Hindus. The petition filed by T G Mohandas, Convenor of BJP State Intellectual Cell, contended that non-Hindus and non-idol worshippers cannot be permitted entry on the basis of SC judgment in Indian Young Lawyers’ Association case.

    On Thursday, the High Court admitted a petition challenging the participation of judicial officers of subordinate judiciary in direct recruitment for district judges

    Waiving ‘cooling-off’ time for divorce for a Christian couple, the High Court of Kerala observed that divorce by mutual consent is a secular concept and there can be no discrimination on the ground of religion against persons who want divorce by mutual consent.

    The Full Bench of the High Court of Kerala clarified that once the insurer shows that it has intimated the cancellation of insurance policy to the insured through post addressed to him, then the burden to show that the intimation was not received shifts to the insured. The Court was considering third party insurance policy under the Motor Vehicles Act.

    The Kerala High Court called upon the State Police to bring out a good practice guide for digital evidence to tackle cybercrimes and also to impart training to police officers to tackle the criminal misuse of current and emerging technologies.

    Madhya Pradesh High Court

    The Madhya Pradesh High Court yet again commuted a death sentence awarded under newly-introduced Section 376AB IPC to a man accused of raping a three-year-old girl.

    Madras High Court

    The Madars High Court stayed the online sale of medicines by passing an interim order in a petition filed by Tamil Nadu Chemists and Drugs Association.

    The High Court on Tuesday allowed compounding of offences against 21 students of Dr. Ambedkar Law College who were sentenced to three years imprisonment in connection with a clash in its campus in 2008.

    Punjab & Haryana High Court

    The Punjab and Haryana High Court upheld the conviction of former supervisor of Bal Niketan, Manish Arora, who had been accused of molesting inmates back in 2014. In doing so, Justice Anita Chaudhry ruled that the testimonies of two child witnesses in the case cannot be discarded just because other inmates did not come forward against the accused.

    Telangana & Andhra Pradesh High Court

    The Telangana and Andhra Pradesh High Court quashed disciplinary proceedings against a court-stenographer allegedly for her illicit sexual relationship with a judicial officer who was acquitted by the high court in a rape case filed by her. The bench comprising Justice V Ramasubramanian and Justice J Uma Devi criticized the observations against the ‘victim’ stenographer in the high court judgment acquitting the judicial officer, and also the initiation of disciplinary proceedings against her, and observed that the least that is expected from institutions is not to victimise the survivors, even if support services are not provided.

    Uttarakhand High Court

    While considering a plea of a murder convict who could not perform last rites and rituals of his father as he was denied parole, the Uttarakhand High Court observed that when a detainee seeks parole or custody parole to perform ‘last rituals’, it should not be denied.

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