Yale Law School Recognizes Justice Gita Mittal's 2013 Judgment On Court Fees (Delhi Amendment) Act

The Indian judicial system can boast of many landmark judgments that have served society at large. Of these judgments, one recently attracted eyeballs from the global audience to have served social change by protecting judicial independence and questioning legislative authority of the state.A Delhi High Court judgment of 2013 penned down by Justice Gita Mittal has been included in Yale...

Prof. Sivakumar Appointed As New Law Commission Member

S. Sivakumar, professor at Indian Law Institute (ILI), has been appointed as full-time member of the 21st Law Commission of India.The professor confirmed this via an e-mail. Earlier Indian Express had reported that Rajkot-based lawyer Abhay Bhardwaj, who had represented the accused in the 2002 Gulbarg Society Massacre case, had been selected as part-time member of the 21st Law Commission...

Acquittal In Dowry Demand Case No Ground For Denying Maintenance To Wife: Punjab & Haryana HC [Read Judgment]

Acquittal of the petitioner and his family members in dowry demand case is no ground to deny maintenance to the wife and the child. The petitioner cannot be absolved of his liability to maintain the wife and the child on this score. The case in hand is required to be decided on the preponderance of probabilities and no strict standard of proof is required to be proved. The Punjab...

PIO Of Hyderabad EFLU Fined For Denying Information On Admission [Read Order]

The Central Information Commissioner (CIC) has imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 on the Public Information Officer (PIO) of the English & Foreign Language University (EFLU), Hyderabad, for denial of information sought under the RTI Act. The commission also warned the public authority of the university to deal with RTI issues only through the PIO without involving consultants in...

Overstay Of Furlough: Bombay HC Reduces Prison Term On Humanitarian Grounds [Read Judgment]

In a recent judgment, the Bombay High Court preferred humanitarian ground to reduce the prison punishment for a prisoner who overstayed his furlough.The judgment passed by Justices VK Tahilramani and Mridula Bhatkar held that petitioner Takku Singh's prison punishment ought to be reduced on his explanation of overstay due to his wife's ill-health.Petitioner Takku Singh was released on furlough...

Offence Under SC/ST Act Not To Be Attracted Merely Because Victim Belongs To The Community: Allahabad HC [Read Judgment]

The provision of Section 3(1)(x) of the SC/ST Act is applicable only when a person commits such offence against a person belonging to the SC/ST community on the ground that such a person/victim is a member of SC/ST community. The Allahabad High Court (Lucknow Bench) in Shiv Mohan Tiwari vs. State of U.P., has decided that an offence under the SC/ST Act will not be attracted merely because...

Simultaneous Proceedings Against Associations, Office Bearers Permissible Under Competition Act: Kerala HC [Read Judgment]

The guilt, if any, of the persons who come under Section 48 of the Act also needs to be examined simultaneous to the guilt of the opposite parties, the court held.Dismissing a challenge against show cause notice issued by the Competition Commission of India against office bearers of the Film Employees Federation of Kerala (FEFKA) and its affiliated trade unions, the High Court of Kerala has...

NCDRC Imposes Rs 50-Lakh Compensation On School For Negligence [Read Order]

The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) has imposed a compensation of Rs 50 lakh on B.N.M. Educational Institutions in Bengaluru, holding it vicariously liable for negligence on the part of teachers accompanying a student who suffered brain inflammation during an educational tour in North India.The NCDRC was hearing a challenge against a State Commission order, which...

If Robbery, Murder Takes Place Together, It May Be Presumed Same Accused Did Both Crimes: Madras HC [Read Judgment]

The Madras High Court recently observed that if robbery and murder take place in one and the same occurrence, the presumption is that the same accused must have committed both the offences. The Bench further held that it is a rebuttable presumption.The Division Bench comprising Justices S Nagamuthu and MV Muralidharan made the observation while hearing an appeal filed by one Veeramani against...

PIL In SC Seeks Probe On Chhattisgarh’s VIP Chopper Deal [Read Petition]

A fresh PIL has been filed in the Supreme Court by NGO Swaraj Abhiyan and Ajit Anand Degwekar, a social activist from Chhattisgarh, against the Union of India, State of Chhattisgarh and Directorate of Aviation, Chhattisgarh. It alleges the Chhattisgarh Government of issuing a pre-decided tender inviting bid for the purchase of specific model of a specific brand of helicopter for VIP...

Claim Of Juvenility Can Be Raised Even After Case Disposal: Allahabad HC [Read Judgment]

The Allahabad High Court in Sher Singh @ Sheru vs. State of UP dealt with the issue of claim of juvenility raised by the accused when proceedings were underway.The Bench comprising Justice VK Shukla, Justice Ramesh Sinha and Justice Bharat Bhushan decided that the right of an accused to raise the issue of juvenility cannot be denied by dismissing the writ petition as infructuous and, in case...

Appeal Against Acquittals To Be Disposed Of On Merits By Passing A Reasoned Order, SC Tells Allahabad HC [Read Order]

High Court has not even stated facts and nature of evidence so as to make out that the conclusion of the trial court was not perverse, the Bench observed.Disposing of an appeal against a ‘cryptic’ order passed by a high court in a government appeal against the acquittal of an accused by a trial court in Uttar Pradesh, the Supreme Court has observed that while examining an appeal filed...