High Courts Weekly Round-Up

Allahabad High Court

Acting on its earlier warnings, Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court recently slapped Rs. 5000 as costs on a doctor of Bahraich District Hospital for writing a post-mortem report in illegible handwriting. Justice Anant Kumar opined that Dr. Rama Shankar Gupta “cannot be excused”, and ordered the amount to be deducted from his salary. The amount is expected to be deposited in the Oundh Bar Association library fund.

The High Court, on Monday, came down heavily on a lawyer, Ranjana Agnihotri, who, it said, was making orchestrated attempts at maligning the judges of the bench hearing her matter.

 Bombay High Court

The Bombay High Court recently gave the benefit of doubt to a man convicted for offences punishable under Sections 498-A and 306 of the Indian Penal Code by Additional Sessions Judge, Kolhapur, in a judgment dated April 29, 2017, and acquitted him of the abetment to suicide charge.

The High Court on Monday granted a temporary injunction against an actress in a suit filed by casting director Vicky Sadana against an actress[YYY] who had accused him of sexually assaulting her in 2013 when she came to Mumbai for an audition. She is the defendant in this suit along with the Bennet Coleman Group and others.

The High Court on Tuesday granted anticipatory bail to Intekhab Munshi, the man accused of giving instant talaq or talaq-e-biddat to his wife of 17 years. On September 19, the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights of Marriage) Ordinance, 2018, was promulgated which criminalised instant talaq.

The High Court on Wednesday refused to stay the suit filed by Raymond Limited against Vijaypat Singhania, company’s former chairman and managing director, in a Thane court seeking an injunction against the latter’s autobiography which is tentatively titled ‘The Incomplete Man’.

The High Court directed New India Assurance (NIA) to pay a sum of Rs 4.56 crore as compensation to the family of deceased Ravindra Kulkarni, who was the CEO of Tata Precision Industries, Singapore.

Spelling more legal tussle over Bollywood film Kedarnath, the High Court issued notice to the Police Commissioner, Mumbai, on a petition moved by producer Vashu Bhagnani’s Pooja Film Company and Pooja Entertainment and Films Limited over police inaction on its complaint against producer Ronny Screwvala, director Abhishek Kapoor and others for criminal breach of trust and cheating in passing theatrical rights of the film, thereby, causing to it a wrongful loss of Rs 15 crores.

Chhattisgarh High Court

The Chhattisgarh High Court held that if a wife opts for a job at a place far away from her matrimonial home, it cannot be said that she is guilty of desertion. Justice Goutam Bhaduri observed that if the wife opted to join the job at a different place, she cannot be otherwise forced at the behest of the husband or his family members to remain at her matrimonial home alone.

 Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court recently granted visitation rights to the father of a four-year-old girl, despite the fact that the settlement agreement between the girl’s parents did not allow for any contact between her and her father.

The High Court held that jurisdiction to execute foreign arbitration award continues with the High Court, despite the change in pecuniary jurisdiction as per 2015 amendment to Delhi High Court Act.

The High Court asked the Delhi government to show cause why rule nisi be not issued against it for its failure to take effective steps to fill up vacancies, adopting summary procedures and providing infrastructure in the various consumer forums to ensure speedy disposal of consumer complaints under the Consumer Protection Act, which is a beneficial legislation.

The High Court on Wednesday while hearing the contempt petition filed by the Delhi High Court Bar Association against S. Gurumurthy, editor of a Chennai-based news magazine said that “if he is remorseful about what he said regarding the sitting judge, then he should come forward and record an unconditional, unequivocal and clear apology.”

The High Court allowed a 16-year-old rape survivor, who was 22 weeks pregnant, to terminate her pregnancy, owing to the distress that she was going through because of the same. The order was passed by Justice Vibhu Bakhru on a petition filed by the girl through her father, praying that the respondent authorities be directed to carry out medical termination of her pregnancy.

If a public authority has a right and is entitled to access information from a private body under any other law, it is “information” as defined in Section 2 (f) of the RTI Act and the public authority is under an obligation to get that information from the private body and furnish the same to the RTI Applicant, the Delhi High Court held.

 Gauhati High Court

The Gauhati High Court, on Thursday, issued notice on a petition demanding inclusion of the transgender community as beneficiaries under Centre’s Ayushmaan Bharat Scheme.

Karnataka High Court

The High Court of Karnataka held that borrower has no right of hearing in proceedings under Section 14 of the SARFAESI Act. The ruling was delivered by a Division Bench of Chief Justice Dinesh Maheshwari and Justice R Devdas, setting aside the general directions issued by a Single Judge that borrowers have the right to be heard in proceedings under Section 14.

Kerala High Court

A PIL filed by BJP leader Shobha Surendran questioning police measures in Sabarimala was dismissed by the High Court of Kerala  on Tuesday by imposing cost of ₹ 25,000. The Division Bench of Chief Justice Hrishikesh Roy and Justice A K Jayasankaran Nambiar observed that the petition was filed with mischievous intentions and for cheap publicity.

The High Court held that jurisdiction of the civil court is not barred if the plea is that the plaint schedule property is not the secured asset in respect of which a security interest is created.

The High Court of Kerala granted conditional bail to BJP leader K Surendran, who is accused of hatching the criminal conspiracy which allegedly led to attack on a woman at Sabarimala on November 6.

The High Court declared that no gender-based restrictions can be imposed in the annual trek permitted by Forest Department to Agastyaroodam peak in Thiruvananthapuram district.

The High Court dismissed challenge against eligibility criteria for prospective adoptive parents as contained in Regulation 5 of the Adoption Regulations, 2017, with regard to the maximum composite age of prospective adoptive parents for the purpose of adoption of child up to four years of age.

Madras High Court

The Madras High Court ordered the Directorate of Indian Medicine and Homeopathy to permit a 16-year-old student to take part in the counselling for the B.A.M.S course.

Meghalaya High Court

The Meghalaya High Court come to the rescue of a law student, a resident of remote area of Arunachal Pradesh, who missed the date for filling up the examination form. Directing the authorities to allow the student to write the examination, the court clarified that this case shall not be open to be quoted as a precedent.

Punjab & Haryana High Court

The Punjab and Haryana High Court issued notice to the Centre, the Goods and Service Tax (GST) Council, and the States of Punjab and Haryana on a petition challenging Section 96 and 99 of the GST Act which provides for constitution of Authority of Advance Ruling (AAR) and the Appellate Authority of Advance Ruling (AAAR) and the amendments brought in the constitution of these authorities in Haryana and Punjab.

The High Court, on Thursday, abolished the practice of keeping death row inmates in solitary confinement in Haryana jails, ruling that it violated Articles 20 and 21 of the Constitution of India.

Uttarakhand High Court

The Uttarakhand High Court, on Thursday, refused to order deletion of certain scenes from the movie “Kedarnath”, leaving it for the state authorities to take a decision in the matter.