Supreme Court Weekly Round-Up

SC seeks IT dept wealth report of K G Balakrishnan’s relatives in chart formFour months after the Centre gave a clean chit to K G Balakrishnan in a case pertaining to amassing of disproportionate wealth by his kith and kin during his tenure as Chief Justice from January 2007 to May 2010, the Supreme Court on Monday, asked Attorney General MukulRohatgi to submit a detailed chart detailing the assessment made by the Income Tax department against all of them.Centre, states asked to frame rules for intra and inter country adoptionThe Supreme Court on Monday asked the Centre and states to frame rules, regulations and guidelines under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 to make inter and intra country adoptions more transparent.Constitution bench to decide on establishing NCASupreme Court on Tuesday said it will constitute a five judge constitution bench to decide the long pending demand for establishing a National Court of Appeal (NCA) with regional benches in major cities- Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai- to hear appeals against orders of high courts. Plea to amend RTI ActRTI Activist Rakesh Kumar Tewari has reportedly approached the Supreme Court of India, demanding that the Centre be directed to amend the Right to Information Act, 2005, thereby fixing time limit for disposal of appeals by the Central Information Commission and state information panels.Status quo to be maintained on the Satluj Yamuna Link Canal; SCThe Apex Court on Thursday ordered status quo to be maintained on the Satluj Yamuna Link Canal, pursuant to an application filed by the Haryana Government alleging that attempts have been made to alter its use by leveling it. The Canal aims to enable Haryana to draw its share of water from the Ravi and Beas rivers.Arbitrator cannot award PendenteLite Interest, if contract expressly bars the sameAThree Judge Bench of the Apex Court reiterated that if contract expressly bars award of interest pendentelite, the same cannot be awarded by the Arbitrator. The Court also clarified that that the bar in Arbitration Contract to award interest on delayed payment by itself will not be readily inferred as express bar to award interest pendentelite by the Arbitral Tribunal.Photos of Governors, CMs and Cabinet ministers can also be featured in Govt advertisementsModifying its earlier order, the Supreme Court today said photos of Governors, Chief Ministers and cabinet ministers also can feature in advertisements by central and state governments published in print media and shown on electronic media to announce various schemes and greet the public on various occasions.Pleas against AIBE referred to constitution bench Chief Justice T S Thakur-led bench of the Supreme Court on Friday, referred the petition challenging the All India Bar Examination (AIBE) to a constitution bench after it framed three questions with the help of senior lawyer K K Venugopal who was earlier appointed amicus curiae in the contentious matter.Meghalaya HC slammed for taking suomoto cognizance on State Lokayukta and HR commission matterA two Judge Bench of the Supreme Court Today slammed Meghalaya High Court for taking suo motu Cognizance in the matter of ‘appointment of State Lokayukta and failure to constitute Meghalaya State Human Rights Commission’. The Bench also set aside the direction pertaining to the stay of the provisions of the Meghalaya Lokayukta Act, 2014. It is also held that State Human Rights Commission shall become functional by end of June, 2016.On Uphaar caseA Division Bench of the Supreme Court on Thursday reportedly assured the Association of Victims of Uphaar Tragedy (AVUT) that the review petition of its 2015 verdict will be accorded an early open court hearing.Kerala HC seeks permission to fill up Munsiff Magistrate VacanciesKerala High Court has filed an application before the Apex Court seeking permission to fill up the existing vacancies in the cadre of Munsiff-Magistrates.

Supreme Court Weekly Round-Up

Ashok KM

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