High Courts Weekly Round-Up

Allahabad High CourtIn a recent judgment, the Allahabad High Court held that land belonging to religious bodies can be acquired by the government for achieving a larger public purpose.The Allahabad High Court in Sankalp Institute of Education vs. State of UP, has held that minority self-financed institutions imparting professional or technical education cannot admit students of their choice...

Huge Relief To MySpace As Delhi HC Vacates Interim Injunction [Read Order]

A Division Bench of the Delhi High Court comprising of Justices Ravindra Bhat & Deepa Sharma in an interlocutory appeal wherein the order, on application by “SCIL” or popularly known as T Series, for interim injunction was granted and the appellant “MySpace” was restrained from hosting on its website all of SCIL‟s works including future works, reversed the single judge...

Aadhaar Card Is Not Proof Of Citizenship: Calcutta HC [Read Judgment]

Aadhaar card is not a proof of Indian citizenship, the Calcutta High Court has ruled, while rejecting a claim of citizenship on the ground that the accused possessed Aadhaar card.Justice Joymalya Bagchi was considering bail plea of a person who was booked under Section 14F of the Indian Foreigners Act, who had contended that she is an Indian citizen and that the Aadhaar card was issued in view...

Media Must Apologize To Acquitted Innocents: ‘Peoples’ Tribunal On Innocent Acquitted’ Suggests Legislative & Policy Changes [Read Report]

BackgroundThe Innocence Network organized its first Peoples’ Tribunal on Acquitted Innocents on 2nd October 2016 at Delhi. The Jury comprised of Justice (Retd.) A.P. Shah (Chairman), Mr. Saeed Akhtar Mirza, Prof. (Dr.) G.S. Bajpai, Ms. Neena Vyas, Ms. Nandini Sundar, Mr. Abdul Shaban, Mr. Vinod Sharma and Ms. Monica Sakhrani.It heard testimonies of those who had been charged with terror...

Plea Before ECI To Put Rider On Tax Exemption For Political Parties [Read Representation]

In a representation submitted to Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi, former RSS leader KN Govindacharya on Friday sought denial of tax exemption to political parties if these fail to share details of cash deposits exceeding Rs.20,000.The representation was endorsed by PV Rajagopal of the Ekta Parishad and Sushri Rajshree Chowdhary (great granddaughter of Netaji Subhash Chandra...

President Clears Enemy Property (Amendment And Validation) Ordinance For Fifth Time

President Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday re-promulgated the Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Fifth Ordinance, 2016, which is a nearly 50-year old law to guard against claims of succession or transfer of properties left by the people who migrated to Pakistan and China after the wars.The amendments aim to plug the loopholes in the principal Act to ensure that the enemy properties...

Exemption From Quarrying Permit For Building Construction Ultra Vires: Kerala HC [Read Judgment]

In a significant judgment, the High Court of Kerala has struck down Rule 14(2) of Kerala Minor Mineral Concession Rules 2015, which exempted the activity of extraction of ordinary earth in connection with construction of buildings on the strength of prior valid building permits issued by Local Self Government Institutions from the requirement of obtaining mining permit.The Court noted that...

Forcing Husband To Stay Away From His Parents Amounts To Cruelty: Bombay HC [Read Judgment]

HC says it is bound by the SC dictum in Narendra vs K MeenaThe Bombay High Court in Chitra Sachin Mapara vs Sachin Kumar Mapara has held that any pressure on part of the wife on the husband to stay away from his parents without any justifiable cause amounts to cruelty.Justice RD Dhanuka, while dismissing a second appeal preferred by the wife, observed that it is bound by the Supreme...

Release Of Water For Religious Purposes In Violation Of State Water Policy: Bombay HC [Read Order]

A division bench of Justices AS Oka and AA Sayed of the Bombay High Court has held the Maharashtra government in violation of it’s own water policy of 2003. The state government had decided to release water from the Gangapur Dam Complex in  Godavari river, for the purpose of shai snan at Kumbh Mela  in 2015. Apart from the legislation (State Water Policy 2003), a government resolution...

Removal Of Prisoner’s Name From Remission Register Doesn’t Amount To ‘Double Jeopardy’ : Bombay HC

The removal of a prisoner’s name from ‘Remission Register’ after registering a case against him for not reporting back in time after being released on parole does not amount to double jeopardy, the Bombay High Court has ruled.A division bench comprising Justice VK Tahilramani and Justice AM Badar observed that the action taken against the prisoner of removing his name from the...

Applying For Passport Made Easy: Read Significant Changes Brought In Passport Application Process

Aadhar as DoB, self-attestation and relief for single parents, divorcees, adopted children and orphans are the significant changesIn order to ‘streamline, liberalise and ease the process of issue of passport’, the Ministry of External Affairs has simplified passport application rules.Notifications reflecting these changes are yet to be published in gazette, but the ministry has...

I-T Dept Identifies 67.54 Lakh Potential Non-Filers In 2015-16

Further tightening the noose on tax evaders, the Income Tax Department has revealed that an additional 67.54 lakh potential non-filers in the assessment year 2015-16 had been identified.The analysis carried out by the Non-filers Monitoring System (NMS) has  identified people who have carried out high value transactions in the financial year 2014-15 but did not file return of income for...