President’s Clemency Power is not immune from Judicial Review but limited to certain grounds only;Kerala HC [Read the Judgment]

A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court comprising of Chief Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice A.M. Shaffique, considering the scope of judicial review in the matter of rejection of clemency petition by the President, has following the Supreme Court’s judgment in Epuru Sudhakar's case, held that  although decision of the President or Governor are not immune from the power of judicial...

Appointment of KV Chowdary as CVC the “greatest disaster that will fall on this unfortunate nation” : Ram Jethmalani

Close on the heels of Prashant Bhushan slamming the Government and the main opposition party, Congress, over consideration of former CBDT chief K V Chowdary as the next Chief Vigilance Commissioner, eminent jurist, former Union Law Minister and senior advocate at the Supreme Court, Ram Jethmalani has also come out in the open and taken exception to the proposed appointment of K V Chowdary as...

Government proposes to bring ordinance to enact the Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Act 2015

In order to prevent the piling up of cheque bounce cases, the government is mulling to promulgate an ordinance to make amendment in the governing act of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881. The proposed amendment will provide for filing of such cases in place where the cheque is presented. An amendment bill, already passed in the Loksabha, seeks to overturn a 2014 Supreme Court ruling,...

Supreme Court stays the All-India Pre-Medical Test Results over alleged Paper Leak Scam

The Supreme Court stayed till June 10th, the declaration of results of the All-India Pre-Medical Test conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on May 4th, 2015. The results were supposed to be declared on June 5th as per the schedule.A vacation bench comprising of Justices Prafulla C. Pant and Amitava Roy was hearing petitions that argued for conducting a re-examination...

Father writes to President Mukherjee seeking permission to kill 6 of his 8 children suffering from a rare degenerative neurological disease

In a heartbreaking letter to President Pranab Mukherjee, a 42-year-old man in Agra, Mohd Nazir has pleaded for euthanasia or mercy killing for six of his eight children who are suffering from a rare neurological disease.Mohd Nazir said he wanted to end the suffering of his children, aged between 8 and 18 years old, who have all been diagnosed with Canavan disease.The degenerative...

Additional HC Judges get three months’ term extensions across the nation

As a mitigating tool in the circumstances when the Supreme Court is yet to decide the vires of National Judicial Appointment Commission (NJAC), the Modi government has given three months tenure extension to the incumbent Additional High Court judges. The judges, whose terms are nearing completionis giving incumbent additional high court judges a three-month extension to address the massive...

Calcutta HC strikes down WB Parliamentary Secretaries Appointment Act, 2012 [Read Judgment]

Calcutta High Court on Monday struck down a state legislation appointing 26 parliamentary secretaries to "aid and advice" state ministers. West Bengal Parliamentary Secretaries (Appointment, Salaries, Allowances and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 2012 which came into effect on 2013 was declared "unconstitutional and void" as it violated the Constitutional mandate under Article 164(1) of...

If a woman had sexual relations with a married man who promises to marry her and got pregnant, it is an act of "Promiscuity" not “Rape”; Delhi HC [Read the Judgment]

The Delhi High Court has ruled that if a woman consents to have sexual relations with a married man who promises to marry her, continues the relationship and gets impregnated, then it is an act of "promiscuity" on her part and cannot be said as one induced by a misconception of fact.The court made the observation while acquitting a guitar teacher, who was awarded 10 years of rigorous...

By electing KV Chowdhary as CVC, Government failed to keep the promise given to SC ; Prashant Bhushan

Lawyer Prashant Bhushan has released a statement against the Prime Minister’s (PM) recommendation of former chairperson of the Central Board of Direct Taxes Mr. K V Choudhry as the Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC).Mr.Bhushan had written a letter to the PM and other senior Ministers on May 20th, 2015 asking for disclosure of the names of all shortlisted candidates for the post of CVC....

Job denied for wearing Headscarf – US Supreme Court rules in favour of Muslim Woman [Read the Judgment]

Hearing a plea of Samantha Elauf, a Muslim, who was denied job by Abercrombie & Fitch Stores, Inc as the headscarf that she wore pursuant to her religious obligations conflicted with the company’s employee dress policy. The Supreme Court has ruled in favour of Samantha Elauf by an 8-1 majority.In the opinion of Justice Scalia, the question before the Court was, “Title VII of the...

US Supreme Court Upholds Free Speech Online ;‘Intent Test’ to be preferred over ‘Prudency Test’ in judging the permissible limits [Read the Judgment]

In another milestone towards the free speech era globally, the U.S. Supreme Court in Elonis v. USA, [U.S. Supreme Court, 13-983] yesterday quashed the conviction of a Pennsylvania man who was alleged for making threatening Facebook statements toward his estranged wife and others, while analyzing the permissible limits of virtual world comments. Elonis was convicted of violating a federal law...

One third of Madras HC posts vacant due to NJAC legal battle

The NJAC legal battle is taking its toll on the judicial strength. At least 125 names shortlisted and recommended by collegiums of various High Courts for appointment as Judges are jammed as the Centre is involved in a legal battle over the National Judicial Appointments Commission. Because of the impending litigation, no fresh appointment or even transfer of a judge in the higher judiciary...