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'Speculative; Highly Irresponsible': 'Federation Of Indian Pilots' Sends Legal Notices To Reuters, WSJ Over Air India 171 Crash Coverage
The Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP), a registered society representing over 5,000 professional pilots and aviation personnel in India, has sent a strongly worded legal notice to 'Reuters' and 'The Wall Street Journal (WSJ)' over what it terms a "highly irresponsible" and "speculative" news reports attributing unverified fault to the pilots of Air India Flight 171, which crashed...
The Jurisprudence Of Gratuity: Deconstructing The Minimum "Continuous Service" Requirement For Payment Of Gratuity
The Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 (referred to as 'PGA' hereinafter), serves as a cornerstone of social security legislation in India, providing a lump sum payment to employees as a token of appreciation for long and meritorious service. A central tenet of this Act is the requirement of "continuous service" for gratuity eligibility. However, even the most seasoned HR professionals...
NDPS Act | S.32B Doesn't Restrict Trial Court's Power To Impose Sentence Higher Than Statutory Minimum: Supreme Court
The Supreme Court, on 17 July, clarified that Section 32B(factors to be taken into account for imposing higher than the minimum punishment) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 ("NDPS Act") does not restrict the trial court's power in awarding a sentence higher than the minimum of ten years. To state briefly, the Appellant was convicted along with another accused by...
Supreme Court Directs Personal Appearance Of Investigating Officer With CCTV Footage In Uttarakhand Murder Case
While considering a plea to cancel the bail granted to an accused in the case related to the murder of a young man in Uttarakhand last year, the Supreme Court directed the Investigating Officer to remain personally present on the next date of hearing, along with the case documents and the CCTV footage of the crime.The case relates to the murder of a youth in Raipur in Dehradun District...
Why Women Committing Crimes Due To Societal Constraints Need To Be Seen From A Reformative Approach: Supreme Court Explains
The Supreme Court, in a recent decision, observed that a reformative approach has to be adopted towards women who commit crimes under social circumstances, especially in cases of marriage against their will. The Court also emphasised how gendered inequalities and societal norms may alienate a woman and restrain her from pursuing her freedom, which in turn may lead her to commit defiant...
'How Many Times High Courts Are To Be Reminded?' : Supreme Court Anguished At HC Not Quashing FIR Over Civil Dispute
The Supreme Court criticised the Allahabad High Court for directing a film producer to pay Rs. 25 lakh to a complainant as a precondition for referring a dispute to mediation while dealing with a plea for quashing of a cheating FIR, despite the dispute being civil in nature.A bench of Justice J.B. Pardiwala and Justice R. Mahadevan observed that the High Court seems to have forgotten...
Make Rule Mandating Disclosure Of Antecedents & Earlier Pleas In Bail Applications : Supreme Court To High Courts
The Supreme Court on Friday (July 18) suggested to all High Courts to incorporate a rule that accused persons should mandatorily mention in their bail applications the earlier bail applications, if any, filed by them, and also their criminal antecedents.The Court cited a provision of the Punjab and Haryana High Court Rules as an example. The said Rule, Rule 5 of Chapter 1-A(b) Volume-V of...
Supreme Court Asks BCI If AIBE Registration Fees Can Be Relaxed For Poor Law Graduates
The Supreme Court on July 18 asked the Bar Council of India to consider having a policy for fee exemption for those candidates who cannot pay the All India Bar Examination fees.The bench of Justice PS Narasimha and Justice AS Chandukar was hearing a writ petition over the exorbitant fees of Rs. 3500/- charged for All India Bar Examinations which is contrary to the Court's earlier decision on...
Campus Suicides : Supreme Court Issues Directions To Smoothen NTF's Functioning
The Supreme Court on July 14 passed certain directions for the National Task Force ("NTF"), instituted by the Court to investigate the increasing suicide rates in college students, to carry out its work efficiently. It has also passed orders seeking an update on the investigations in connection with the suicide of two IIT Delhi students, one IIT Kharagpur student, and one case in...
'Mere Cash Discovery Doesn't Establish Guilt': Justice Yashwant Varma In Supreme Court Petition
In his writ petition before the Supreme Court, Justice Yashwant Varma has contended that the mere recovery of cash from the outhouse of his official residence does not establish his culpability, as the in-house inquiry committee has not determined the ownership of the cash or how it was removed from the premises.He questioned the in-house committee's findings by contending that they were...
Russian Woman Seems To Be In India; Russian Embassy Assisting In Search: Centre Tells Supreme Court In Indian Man's Child Custody Case
In the case where the Supreme Court ordered authorities to immediately trace a Russian woman who has seemingly gone missing with her child during pendency of a custody battle with her Indian husband, Union government informed the Court today that the woman does not seem to have left the country, at least through legal channels.A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi was given...