Supreme Court gives RIL 6 weeks to respond on Gas Pricing

The Supreme Court on 16th January gives 6 weeks time to Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Limited to respond to the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) report on the gas pricing from the KG basin.A bench headed by Justice T S Thakur also allowed Dasgupta and other petitioners to file their response to the NDA government's fresh guidelines which would "supersede" the earlier...

Writ Petition filed in Kerala High Court challenging the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act [Read the Petition]

The Writ Petition has been filed by Adv. Baisil Attipetty of the Kerala High Court, challenging the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act, 2014, on the ground that it is violative of Article 50 of the Constitution of India.It further submits that the enactment would infringe the constitutional right to have an independent judiciary free from the clutches of Legislature and Executive,...

Supreme Court stays TarunTejpal’s trial for three weeks

The bench headed by Chief Justice of India HL Dattu yesterday ordered that the trial in the TarunTejpal case be stayed for three weeks. It also ordered that the trial judge should see that the prosecution gives all the relevant documents and materials to Tejpal within three weeks.Mr.Tejpal’s counsel had submitted to the Supreme Court that the trial judge while passing an order on December...

RTI not for running counter inquiry: CIC

The Central Information Commissioner Sridhar Acharyulu held that RTI cannot be used to run counter or parallel inquiry against inquiring officials. Appellant Mukesh Sharma sought 8 point information about Sh. B.P Nigam viz. in which depot he has been appointed as a Dy Manager in 1985, 1988, 1991, 1992, 2003 & 2007; how many employees have been suspended by him, wherever he has been a DM,...

Supreme Court Questions Centre and NHAI for the delay in Expressway Project around Delhi

On 16 January Supreme Court rap heavily on the government and the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) for delay in the construction of Eastern and Western Peripheral Expressway around Delhi. Further the apex court said that more children would get hospitalized because of the increase of pollution in the city.The bench comprising of Justices Arun Kumar Mishra and Adarsh Kumar Goel...

Apex Court expresses displeasure over slow progress in rehabilitation of Reang Tribes

The Supreme Court today ordered the Centre to consult with states of Mizoram and Tripura and file a fresh affidavit before it, giving a time bound action plan regarding rehabilitation of Reang Tribes. Members of Reang tribes are native of Mizoram, but were forced to migrate to Tripura.The Social Justice Bench of the Court ordered that the affidavit be filed within four weeks and that the...

‘Law Commission to examine all aspects of Criminal Law’, Section 437A CrPC remains on the statute book

"Recommendation in regard to amendments in the CrPC is pending before the Law Commission of India and it has been requested to examine and give its findings on all aspects of criminal law...," submitted the Additional Solicitor General Mr. Sanjay Jain to the Delhi High Court which was hearing a petition pertaining to a provision, i.e. Section 437A of Criminal Procedure Code provision...

Establish a good RTI wing in NGT: CIC

The Central Information Commission to overhaul the RTI wing in NGT. He directed the First Appellate Authority of National Green Tribunal to explain his illegal orders in Subhash Chandra Agrawal cases, and recommended Ministry of Environment to look into the administrative problems of NGT regarding RTI. Deciding Complaints and Second Appeals the CIC M Sridhar Acharyulu observed that PIO's...

Bombay High Court says there is no law that prevents a wife from using surname of the husband even after divorce [Read the Judgment]

Hearing a petition filed by a 67 year old lady who was divorced from her husband in 2003, the Bombay High Court has taken a view that "There is no law which prevents a wife from using her name adopted after the marriage containing the name and surname of her husband even after a decree of divorce is passed by a Court of competent jurisdiction."The lady had applied for renewal of her...

Centre not yet decided on date of implementation of the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act 2014

The Centre has not decided  the date from which the Constitution 99th Amendment Act 2014 regarding the  National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act 2014 would come into force.Additional Solicitor General (ASG) G. Rajagopalan told the Madras High Court Bench, at Madurai, that though the NJAC had received the President’s assent and had been published in the official gazette, the...

Government Promulgates the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) (Amendment) Ordinance, 2015

The Government has promulgated an Ordinance on Monday, the 12th January, 2015 (MMDR Amendment Ordinance, 2015) under Article 123(1) of the Constitution. This amends certain provisions of MMDR Act, 1957.The promulgation of Ordinance became necessary to address the emergent problems in the mining industry. In the last few years, the number of new Mining Leases granted in the country has...

Section 66A of the Information Technology Act would not be used to stifle political dissent, humor that wasn't vulgar and contrarian views: Government to SC

The Government yesterday informed a two-Judge Bench comprising of Justice Chelameswar and Justice R.F. Nariman that Section 66A of the Information Technology Act would not be used to stifle political dissent, humor that wasn't vulgar and contrarian views.The Bench is re-hearing the petitions challenging the law. At the outset, Additional Solicitor General, Tushar Mehta dismissed the...