High Courts Weekly Round-Up

Allahabad High Court

The Allahabad High Court, on Friday, issued notice on a petition challenging the validity of Section 69 of the Information and Technology Act, 2000, which empowers authorities to intercept or monitor information through any computer resource. The order was passed by a bench comprising Chief Justice Govind Mathur and Justice CD Singh on a PIL filed by Saurabh Pandey, an aerospace engineer currently pursuing LLB (Hons.) from IIT Kharagpur.

Bombay High Court

The Bombay High Court recently imposed a cost of Rs 1 lakh on the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, an old Goa-based political party, while dismissing its petition challenging the decision of the Speaker, Goa Assembly, to accept the resignation of two MLAs from the Congress who later joined the ruling BJP.

The High Court recently directed the State of Maharashtra and the Municipal Corporation in Sangli, Maharashtra, to compensate the parents of a 5-year-old boy Tejas, who succumbed to his injuries after being attacked and bitten by a group of 5-6 stray dogs.

The High Court recently observed that a sitting MLA and a Cabinet Minister in the BJP-run state government had influenced the transfer of a government servant. The court made the observation while hearing a writ petition filed by one Balasaheb Tidke, a 45-year-old sub-divisional officer, Thane.

The High Court recently allowed a surrogate mother to abort her 24-week foetus, as the foetus had numerous heart abnormalities and was expected to require multiple surgeries if born.

Calcutta High Court

The Calcutta High Court ordered to give 20 additional marks to a NEET candidate whose answers got wrong due to incorrect translation of questions.

Jharkhand High Court

The Jharkhand High Court on Friday reserved its order on bail petitions of RJD supremo Lalu Prasad in fodder scam cases related to fraudulent withdrawal of money from Dumka, Deoghar and Chaibasa treasuries.

Kerala High Court

The High Court of Kerala allowed a second appeal on the principle that a worshipper cannot maintain a suit for recover of possession of property dedicated to a temple. The judgment was delivered by Justice P B Sureshkumar, in a second appeal filed by defendants in a suit against the concurrent decrees of lower Courts.

The High Court reiterated that maternity benefits cannot be denied to women employees just because they are contractual employees. The judgment was passed by Justice A. Muhamed Mustaque. The court was hearing a petition filed by one Ms. Rasitha CH, who had been working as an Assistant Professor in Medical Microbiology on contract basis at the School of Health Sciences, in Calicut University.

The High Court of Kerala dismissed public interest litigation seeking a direction to the Travancore Devaswom Board to take over Thiruvabharanam belonging to Lord Ayyappa from the Royal Family of Pandalam.

The High Court of Kerala gave relief to a school teacher by quashing a criminal case initiated against him for punishing a student. "Parents, teachers and other persons in loco parentis are entitled as a disciplinary measure to apply a reasonable degree of force to their children or pupil old enough to understand the purpose to which the act was done. Section 79 and 80 of the IPC would come to his/her rescue, in those cases", observed Justice Raja Vijayaraghavan while quashing the proceedings..

Madhya Pradesh High Court

The Madhya Pradesh High Court on Friday dismissed public interest litigation filed by a lawyer against a government order to waive off short-term agricultural loans to the extent of Rs 2 lakhs advanced to farmers.

The High Court refused to interfere with the decision of the high court scrutiny committee to reject the candidature for judgeship of two candidates because they had been tried in two criminal cases. The judgment was passed by a Bench comprising Chief Justice SK Seth and Justice Vijay Kumar Shukla, on two petitions filed by Deep Narayan Tiwari and Nand Kishore Sahu.

Madras High Court

The Madras High Court Wednesday stayed until further orders a single judge's order banning online sale of medicines, saying patients would be affected if it was prohibited all of a sudden. A division bench of Justice M Sathyanarayanan and Justice P Rajamanickam granted the interim stay, allowing miscellaneous petitions filed by a batch of traders involved in online sale of medicines.

The High Court recently dissolved marriage between a man and his wife while disposing of a habeas corpus petition filed by the former. The bench comprising of Justice N. Kirubakaran and Justice Abdul Quddhose interacted with the 'wife', who told the bench that her marriage with the petitioner was forced and that the child was not born to him. The man then told the bench that he was ready for the divorce.

Rajasthan High Court

The Rajasthan High Court terminated the mandate of an arbitrator for charging exorbitant fee beyond the prescribed limit. The fee demanded by the arbitrator, a retired HC judge, was in excess of the fee prescribed as per Schedule IV of the Arbitration & Conciliation Act.

Tripura High Court

The Tripura High Court on Wednesday 'discharged' (acquitted) a former MLA who was convicted for 'defaming' former Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, as the it was found that there was no valid sanction order to prosecute the accused, who was an MLA.