Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Bill passed by Lok Sabha

The Lok Sabha yesterday passed the Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Bill. The Bill simplifies the law relating to cheque bouncing and makes if convenient for payees if the cheque bounces.The Bill proposes to inserts a new sub-clause to the existing Section 142 [sub-clause (2)]. It reads as follows,"(2) The offence under Section 138 shall be inquired into and tried only by a court within...

Supreme Court orders organizers of festival coordination committee to ensure no cruelty is meted out to elephants engaged in festival activities

Hearing a petition filed by Wildlife Rescue And Rehabilitation Centre, the Supreme Court today ordered that no cruelty should me meted out to elephants that are engaged in festival activities.The Bench consisting of Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Prafulla C Pant said, “all the organizers, owners of the elephants and the festival coordination committee are directed to see that any elephant...

Supreme Court allows Centre to appoint CVC and VCs

The Supreme Court today allowed government to fill up the post of Chief Vigilance Commissioner and Vigilance Commissioner in accordance with the CVC Act. It also directed the government to submit the entire record of appointment process to the court in July.Accordingly, the Apex Court also lifted the stay it had imposed on the appointments after NGO, Centre for Integrity, Governance and...

Justice Karnan stirs up new controversy; directs CBI to probe fellow judge’s educational qualifications

A day after the Supreme Court restrained him from interfering with the process of selection of civil judges initiated by the Chief Justice of the Madras High Court, Justice C S Karnan of the Madras High Court ignited a new controversy by directing the CBI to inquire into the educational qualifications of fellow judge of the Madras High Court, Justice V Dhanapalan.He had earlier initiated suo...

Maharashtra state cabinet decides to give approval to circuit bench of Bombay HC at Kolhapur

The Maharashtra state cabinet has decided to give its approval to setting up of a circuit bench of the Bombay High Court at Kolhapur.  The setting up of the circuit bench will benefit litigants across western Maharashtra including Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts.PWD minister Chandrakant Patil, also the guardian minister for Kolhapur said that there are more than 25,000 cases from the...

Bombay HC denies enhancement of maintenance to wealthy woman [Read the Judgment]

A Division Bench of the Bombay High Court consisting of Justice AK Menon and Justice AS Oka rejected an application seeking enhancement in amount of maintenance, which was filed by a resident of Nariman Point saying that “we do not find there is any case for enhancement of maintenance given the financial background of the respondent and the facade that she has no income of her own.”The...

Officers of CBDT dealing with International Taxes have been advised not to take any Coercive action against FIIs

The Union Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley, while responding to the discussions on the Finance Bill in Rajya Sabha on 7th May, 2015, had announced the constitution of a Committee headed by Justice A.P. Shah to look into, inter alia, the issue of Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT) on FIIs. The Committee is expected to give its report on this issue expeditiously.In the light of the Finance...

Disclose travel bills of Chief and members, CIC orders NGT

Refusing to accept the National Green Tribunal’s contention that it does not have adequate infrastructure to deal with RTI applications, the Central Information Commission has ordered that the tribunal must disclose the travel and tour expenses incurred for its chairman and other members. The Commission also issued a show cause notice to the officer in the Tribunal and asked why the...

UP Government gets rebuked by SC but Court accepts road map for tree planting in Taj Zone

The Supreme Court came down heavily on Government of Uttar Pradesh regarding the planting of trees around Taj Trapezium Zone (TTZ) and asked, "Why have you been sleeping for more than 10 years? Till the time we were driven to direct CBI probe nothing was done."The Bench consisting of T S Thakur and C Nagappan however accepted the road map that the State of UP offered to the Court. As per...

DHCBA calls for abstention from work on May 8th and 11th, protests against passing of Delhi High Court Act (Amendment) Bill, 2014 in isolation in RajyaSabha

Though a resolution passed by the Delhi High Court Bar Association, the Association has called upon its members to abstain from working on May 8th and 11th to protest against the passing of Delhi High Court Act (Amendment) Bill, 2014 in isolation in RajyaSabha, without the Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of Courts and Commercial Courts Bill 2015.The Association has...

Delhi HC expresses concerns over intellectual property rights surrender by Government

The Delhi High Court today issued notice to the Centre to explain the legality of agreements that it has entered with social media companies. The Division Bench consisting of Justices B.D. Ahmed & Sanjeev Sachdeva also asked the Centre whether Government Authorities are not aware about legality of usages of technology which is developing very fast and whether the is government not able...

Juvenile Justice Bill passed in Lokha Sabha

After the Cabinet gave its approval to the Juvenile Justice Bill, 2014 in April this year, the Lok Sabha today passed the Bill. The Bill provides for trial of juveniles aged between 16 and 18 years to be tried as adults for heinous crimes.However, the Bill was passed only after the government agreed to delete clause 7, which stated that "any person, who is apprehended after completing the age...