High Courts Weekly Round Up

• Held that in case of a court-executed public auction of an immovable property, before confirming the sale, the Prothonotary and Senior Master of the High Court will obtain the applicable valuation of the property and send an authenticated copy to the office of Deputy Sherriff/Collector along with the sale certificate.
• Held that Sessions Court and High Court to consider anticipatory bail application in cases registered under Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, even after 2018 amendment of the Act introducing Section 18A.
• Directed the State to assume parental responsibility in relation to such children who are born despite attempts at medical termination of pregnancy as per orders of the High court.
• Held that a court, under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, can entertain and grant any interim or ad-interim relief in an application under Section 9 of the said Act when a document containing arbitration clause is unstamped or insufficiently stamped.
• Imposed a cost of Rs.20,000 on advocate Arvind Waghmare, who along with four others levelled allegations against sitting judges of the High Court and when suo motu contempt proceedings were started against them, they filed a contempt appeal.
• Passed landmark directions after hearing three petitions filed by women seeking permission to medically terminate their pregnancy. The length of their respective pregnancies had exceeded 20 weeks.

Delhi High Court

• Held that the Recovery of Debts and Bankruptcy Act, SARFAESI Act and Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code does not prevail over the provisions of Prevention of Money-Laundering Act.
• Dismissed the writ petitions filed by Stelling Technologies, which owns and manages the online portal 'railyatri.in' providing service related to rail journeys.

Gauhati High Court

• Held that even a private entity has also a duty to ensure that its facilities are friendly to the differently abled. Justice Ujjal Bhuyan also directed the Government to issue General circulars to all Government and private establishments highlighting the salient features of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, and to ensure that public buildings and public facilities and services are accessible by persons with disabilities.

Jharkhand High Court

• Commuted death penalty awarded to accused in two different rape and murder cases. The bench comprising Justice HC Mishra and Justice Ratnaker Bhengra delivered the judgment in both the cases on 25th March 2019, affirming the conviction orders of the Trial Court.'

Karnataka High Court

• Issued a direction to the Principal Secretary of the Education Department to make provisions for changing name and gender of transgender persons in accordance with the judgment of the Supreme Court in NALSA case.

Kerala High Court

• Quashed 'Arbitrary' selection process of temporary Munsiff-Magistrates. It dismissed the appeal holding that the single bench was right in finding that the process of selection of the Temporary Munsiff-Magistrates was not in accordance with the Rules and hence arbitrary.
• Directed a school clerk who was suspended because of his alcoholic nature, to undergo treatment for de-addiction.
• While considering a writ petition filed by an advocate seeking exemption from wearing black coat while appearing in lower courts during summer season, the High Court passed an interim order, exempting him from wearing gown while appearing in trial courts.

Madhya Pradesh High Court

• Recently commuted death sentence awarded to a 'son' who killed his mother for waking him up. While confirming the conviction recorded by the Trial Court, the bench comprising of Justice Akhil Kumar Srivastava and Justice J.K.Maheshwari observed that one though the accused was not mentally unsound or psychophonic but was mentally disturbed and was not healthy as one should be as a normal human being.

Madras High Court

• Dismissed a PIL seeking a direction to Election Commission of India to mandate all the contesting candidates for Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assembly Election, to submit a separate Election Manifesto, specially designed for his or her contesting constituency.
• Asked the Bar Council to consider prescribing at least 3 years experience in the trial Courts to qualify the Advocates to appear before the High Court and 5 years of experience in the High Courts for appearing before the Supreme Court.
• Sought from the Central and Tamil Nadu Governments the details of fund allotment and utilization for the development of Siddha medicine. The Court was dealing with a Public Interest Litigation which brought to the notice of the Court that the Siddha Medical College at Palayamkottai, Thirunalveli District was not functioning properly.
• Directed the state authorities to prohibit downloading of TikTok Mobile Application. The bench comprising Justice N. Kirubakaran and Justice SS Sundar has also prohibited media from telecasting the videos made using TikTok Mobile App.

Tripura High Court

• In the context of Indian culture, a woman-victim of sexual aggression, would rather suffer silently than falsely implicate someone, said the High Court while upholding conviction of a man accused of sexually assaulting a minor girl. Pramanik Dey was convicted by the POCSO Court under Section 363 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 4 of POCSO Act and sentenced to seven years imprisonment.

Uttarakhand High Court

• A full bench of the High Court held that non-inclusion of "a married daughter" in the definition of a "family", and denying her the opportunity of being considered for compassionate appointment, even though she was dependent on the Government servant at the time of his death, is gender discrimination and thus violative of fundamental rights.