Jharkhand HC Drops Contempt Case Against MLA Subject To Payment Of 2.5 Lakhs To Kerala Flood Relief Fund [Read Order]

The Jharkhand High Court last week agreed to drop contempt proceedings initiated against Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD) MLA Bhola Yadav for his comments on the fodder scam verdict, which had sentenced RJD president Lalu Prasad to 14 years in jail, with a fine of Rs. 60 lakh.The Bench comprising Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice Ratnaker Bhengra accepted his unconditional and unqualified...

Uttarakhand HC Bans Allotment Of River Lands, Directs State To Cancel All Such Allotments

Coming to the aid of rivers flowing through the state, the Uttarakhand High Court has restrained government agencies from allotting lands comprising the river bed or those covered under water.It held that if any land was allotted in the river bed, it was bound to impede the flow of the river and would lead to illegal mining activities in the river bed. The high court also observed that...

NGT Slaps 46.14 Lakh Fine On U’khand’s Ex-DGP For Felling 25 Trees [Read Judgment]

Uttarakhand’s former Director General of Police BS Sidhu’s desire to have a house in the forest has not gone down well with the National Green Tribunal which held him guilty of illegally purchasing land in the reserve forest area near Dehradun Mussoorie highway and asked him to cough up Rs 46.14 lakh for felling 25 saal trees.“…once any provision of law is violated, the offence...

Now CJI Can Grant Accreditation For SC Journalists Without Law Degree At His Discretion

The Supreme Court has amended the accreditation norms to confer discretion on the Chief Justice of India to waive the condition that a journalist should possess law degree for regular accreditation.The Chief Justice can exercise discretion to waive the condition of having law degree in appropriate cases, in case of working journalist/correspondent.The amendment made as per meeting of...

Chhattisgarh HC Quashes Extension Of Tenure Of Vice-Chancellor Of Hidayatullah National Law University [Read Judgment]

The Chhattisgarh High Court has quashed and set aside the order of extension of tenure of Vice-Chancellor of Hidayatullah University, Prof. (Dr) Sukhpal Singh.The division bench of Justice Goutam Bhaduri and Justice Sanjay Aggarwal concluded that the Executive Council’s recommendation for extension of tenure was not sustainable as the council failed to apprise the Chancellor of the...

Disabled Man Says Estranged Wife May Harm Him, Delhi HC Asks Police To Give Protection, Counsel Wife To Not Take Law In Her Hands [Read Order]

The Delhi High Court has directed the city police to provide due protection to a disabled man, a school teacher, who apprehended threat to his life from his estranged wife, who he claimed has been harassing their son too.Justice Najmi Waziri directed the Station House Officer of the area concerned to assess the threat faced by the petitioner and accord him due protection.That is not all.The...

Jharkhand HC Quashes Ban On Popular Front Of India (PFI) [Read Judgment]

The Jharkhand High Court on Monday quashed the State Government’s notification passed under section 16 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1908 declaring the Popular Front of India (PFI) unlawful.Justice Rongon Mukhopadhyay opined that the notification seemed to have been issued in “haste and in an imprudent manner being totally oblivious to the absence of congealed materials to declare...

State Seeks To Withdraw Counsel Not Included In Its Revised List Of AGPs From A 45-Yr-Old Suit, Bombay HC Refuses [Read Order]

Justice GS Patel of the Bombay High Court refused to allow the state government to discontinue an advocate’s services from a 45-year-old suit that he has been appearing in since 2016.Government Pleader Poornima Kantharia informed the court that Advocate Amar Mishra’s name was not included in the revised list of Additional Government Pleaders (AGP) notified by the state recently...

Godhra Train Burning Case: 2 Accused Get Life Sentence, 3 Acquitted

Two accused were awarded life imprisonment by a special SIT court here today in the 2002 Godhra train carnage case in which 59 'karsevaks' were burnt alive in two coaches of the Sabarmati Express.Three others were acquitted in the case.Special judge H.C Vora convicted Farooq Bhana and Imran Sheru and awarded them life sentence after the prosecution established their role as conspirators in...

Requiring Judicial Aspirants To Know Sufficient Marathi Not Violative Of Article 14 Of The Constitution Of India: Bombay HC [Read Judgment]

The Bombay High Court on Friday ruled as constitutional the prescription for prospective judges to have sufficient knowledge of Marathi to practice in subordinate courts in Maharashtra.The Bench comprising Justice RM Savant and Justice Revati Mohite Dere upheld Rule 5(3)(d) of the Maharashtra Judicial Service Rules, 2008, which mandates that the candidate must have “sufficient knowledge...

Growing Trend Of “Judges Bashing” Has To Be Stopped And Dealt With An Iron Fist: HP HC Orders 1 Month Jail, Deletion Of FB Account Of Lawyer Who Posted ‘Contemptuous’ Comment [Read Judgment]

‘None can be permitted to intimidate or terrorize Judges by making scandalous unwarranted and baseless imputations against them in the discharge of their judicial functions so as to secure orders which the litigant “wants”.’The Himachal Pradesh High Court has sentenced a lawyer to one-month imprisonment for his contemptuous comment against judges on his Facebook page.The bench of...

Editors Guild Protests Patna HC Gag Order In Muzaffarpur Case

The Editors Guild of India has issued a statement protesting the gag order passed by Patna High Court against media reportage of the investigation in Muzaffarpur shelter home case.On August 23, the Patna High Court restrained all print and electronic media from reporting anything with respect to Muzaffarpur shelter home case, particularly the investigation of the case, citing the reason...