Restricting Civil Partnerships Only to Same-Sex Couples Discriminatory: UK Supreme Court [Read Judgment]

The United Kingdom Supreme Court on Wednesday declared that restricting civil partnerships to only same-sex couples is “discriminatory”, and is incompatible with Articles 14 and 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).Article 14 of the ECHR provides that the enjoyment of the rights and freedoms set forth in the Convention shall be secured without discrimination on any of...

Justice Meenakshi Madan Rai Appointed Acting Chief Justice Of Sikkim High Court [Read Notification]

The Centre, on Friday, appointed Justice Meenakshi Madan Rai as the Acting Chief Justice of Sikkim High Court, with effect from 1 July. The notification was issued in view of the retirement of current Chief Justice Satish Kumar Agnihotri.Justice Rai did her LLB from Campus Law Centre, Delhi University, and enrolled in the Bar Association of Delhi in 1990. She was appointed as the...

Cannot Compel Pro-Life Pregnancy Centers To Promote Abortion: SCOTUS Stays California Law [Read Judgment]

The Supreme Court of the United States of America (SCOTUS) on Tuesday ruled in favour of a preliminary injunction against a California law that required all pregnancy centers, including pro-life ones, to post referrals to state-funded abortion providers and birth control resources, forcing them to promote services that violate their beliefs.The Court, with a 5-4 majority, ruled that...

Lok Adalat Doesn’t Have Power To ‘Hear’ Parties To Adjudicate Cases As A Court Does: Chhattisgarh HC [Read Order]

‘When the Legal Services Authorities Act refers to 'determination' by the Lok Adalat and 'award' by the Lok Adalat, the said Act does not contemplate nor require an adjudicatory judicial determination, but a non-adjudicatory determination based on a compromise or settlement, arrived at by the parties, with guidance and assistance from the Lok Adalat.’The Chhattisgarh High Court, in...

TN AG Issues Show Cause Notice To Disqualified MLA On Initiation Of Contempt Proceedings

Advocate General for the State of Tamil Nadu Mr. Vijay Narayan has issued a show-cause notice to disqualified AIADMK MLA Thanga Tamilselvan, seeking an explanation as to why consent should not be granted to a woman lawyer who wanted to initiate criminal contempt of court proceedings against him for having made “scurrilous and derogatory” remarks against Madras High Court Chief Justice...

Calcutta HC Orders Compensation To Trafficking Victim; Says Rehabilitation Not Dependent On Pace Of Investigation Or Trial [Read Order]

The Calcutta High Court on Monday directed the State to pay compensation to a child trafficking survivor, rejecting the State’s assertion that she was not entitled to the same because the twin conditions of the accused not having been identified and the trial not having commenced were not satisfied in the case at hand.The petitioner, originally from West Bengal, had been trafficked to Pune,...

Any Citizen Can Approach Subordinate Court Concerned Seeking ‘Contempt’ Reference: Kerala HC Dismisses Adv BA Aloor’s Plea Against Contempt Proceedings Against Him [Read Judgment]

‘It is explicit, the reference court should make clear findings in respect to the nature of contempt. Therefore, the findings are prima facie opinion of the Sessions Court during the course of adjudication to decide, the nature of the proceedings to be referred as per Sec.15(2) of Act, 1971.’The Kerala High Court, dismissing plea of advocate Biju Antony Aloor, has observed that any citizen...

Delhi HC Grants Parole To Ajay Chautala To Appear In PG Diploma Exam [Read Order]

The Delhi High Court on Friday granted parole to former MP and Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) leader Ajay Singh Chautala, who is in Tihar jail serving 10-year jail term in the Junior Basic Teachers (JBT) recruitment scam, to enable him to appear in a PG Diploma exam in Sirsa, Haryana.Justice Vinod Goel directed that Chautala be released on parole today itself to be able to appear in the...

Forgetting Something Is Not Memory Loss, Nor Alzheimer’s - Otherwise Bulk Of This Court’s Bar & Bench Would Be Said To Suffer From Alzheimer’s : Justice GS Patel

“ Alzheimer’s is not word to be bandied about like this. It is a clinical condition with a pathology. All memory loss is not indicative of Alzheimer’s. Forgetting something is not a memory loss, nor Alzheimer’s — otherwise the bulk of this Court’s bar and bench would be said to suffer from Alzheimer’s”, observed Bombay High Court Judge Justice Gautam Patel while rebuking...

Now Costs Imposed By Court Can Help Save Environment As Madras HC Orders Creation of ‘Environment Fund’ [Read Order]

In a landmark judgment, the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court has ordered the creation of an ‘ Environment Fund ’ which can be considered for payment of costs being imposed in various matters and the amount so collected will then be used for plantation, cleaning of water bodies etc.Justice D Krishnakumar so ordered while disposing of a matter where the parties had arrived at a...

Self-Serving Statements Claiming To Be ‘Social Workers’ Not Sufficient To Invoke PIL Jurisdiction: Madhya Pradesh HC [Read Order]

‘A practice in the cases before this Court is to make a statement that the petitioners are social workers and they are spending the money including the lawyer’s fee from their own pocket. That by itself does not satisfy the test of a locus standi to file public interest litigation.’The Madhya Pradesh High Court has held that, to invoke public interest writ jurisdiction, simple...

Complete Autistic Child's Passport Procedure & Interview At His Home: Bombay HC To Authorities [Read Order]

The Bombay High Court recently permitted a US national to adopt a 12-year-old autistic boy and directed the passport office to complete the travel document formalities at his residence, noting that he may have difficulty in travelling and waiting for the same at the Passport Office.The Court was hearing a foreign adoption petition filed by a 59 year old American national, Debbie Jean Childs,...