NJAC challenge could be withdrawn if Govt accept the Venkatachaliah model : Fali S Nariman to the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court was proposed on tuesday during oral submissions that the controversy over NJAC seeking to replace the existing collegium system for appointment of judges to constitutional courts could be rested if the government wills to accept in letter and spirit the body recommended by former CJI M.N. Venkatachaliah with a preponderance of judicial members.Justice Venkatachaliah, who...

SC orders the release of an accused aged 53 years now, finding that he was a Juvenile at the time incident, occurred 36 years ago

A Two Judge Bench of Supreme Court in Abdul Razzak vs. State of UP has ordered the release of an accused now aged 53, holding that he was a Juvenile at the time of commission of offence (murder). The occurrence happened on 18th of February 1979. The prisoner Abdul Razzak was convicted under Section 302 and sentenced to undergo life imprisonment by the Court of Sessions Judge, Agra in...

Jat Community denied backward status; SC calls them 'self proclaimed socially backward' and 'Politically Organized'

In a notable judgment, a bench of two of the sharpest Supreme Court Judges; Justice Nariman and Justice Gogoi declined to accept that the Jat community can be given a backward status. Right before the epic 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the UPA government had notified reservation to jats as in the Central list of Backward Classes for 9 states on 04/03/2014, namely Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana,...

Supreme Court orders publication of photographs of rape accused in newspapers in rape videos on YouTube case

The Supreme Court of India expressed displeasure over no action taken by the government in two cases where rape videos were uploaded on YouTube. On Friday, the Apex Court directed the CBI to publish the photographs of culprits in newspapers in Bengal, Odisha, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. The Court also came down heavily on the government for failing to track down the persons till date.The...

Witness cannot be added as an accused even if his statements are inculpatory : Supreme Court [Read the Judgment]

In a landmark judgment, a two judge bench of the Supreme Court comprising of Justice J Chelameshwar and Justice C Nagappan has held that a prosecution witness cannot be prosecuted u/s 319 CrPC even though his statements were self incriminatory. The bench speaking through Justice Chelameshwar held that Sec 132 of the Evidence Act drafts a statutory infirmity for the same in consonance with...

Aadhar cannot be made mandatory says Supreme Court, asks Government to abide by the interim order passed

Erasing the sense of doubt about the legitimacy of Aadhaar card for availing benefits given by government, the Supreme Court on Monday affirmed that the Aadhar card is not mandatory, and further, authorities who demand them will be taken to task.A seething  Supreme Court issued a stern warning to the government on discovering that numerous government agencies still demand Aadhaar for...

Collegium has worked efficiently says Justice Mukhopadhaya

Former Supreme Court judge Justice Sudhanshu Jyoti Mukhopadhaya has said that the collegium system has worked efficiently and satisfactorily. He said, “I can tell you one thing that this system (collegium) has worked efficiently. Like the IB can give reports to the judges about the other details of a person, it can only be judges who can evaluate the merits of a lawyer or a high court...

‘You may like laws to be interpreted the way your perception is, but we have an oath to interpret it as per the Constitution” Justice Thakur slams Union Minister

"This country knows that if there is today a movement for the protection of environment it is spearheaded by judiciary and judiciary alone" said Justice TS Thakur. Reportedly, Justice Thakur was replying to Power and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal’s remarks, in which he had said that economic development should not be at the cost of environmental degradation, “However, it is very important...

Sathasivam disgraced Judiciary by accepting Governorship, now he is disgracing Governor post as well; Dushyant Dave

In an article published in Manorma Online, President of the Supreme Court Bar Association, Senior Advocate Mr. Dushyant Dave has criticised the intervention by Kerala Governor, former Chief Justice of India P. Sathasivam in light of recent incidents in the Kerala assembly.In a very strong worded article, Mr. Dave has written, “Sathasivam disgraced judiciary by accepting the Governor’s...

Supreme Court Bar Association will not admit Applicants facing Criminal Proceedings [Updated]

The Executive Committee of Supreme Court Bar Association has resolved that henceforth all fresh applications for Membership must be accompanied by an affidavit that there are no criminal proceedings pending against the applicant, in which charge sheet has been filed in a competent court, for any offence involving moral turpitude. It has further been resolved that all those applicants who...

Supreme Court dismisses PIL seeking to ban strikes by lawyers

The Supreme Court of India on Friday dismissed a public interest litigation that had sought to declare strikes by lawyers as illegal. The Bench headed by Chief Justice of India HL Dattu, which also had Justice S.J. Mukhopadhaya said that a judgment of the Constitution Bench was already there on the issue.The Bench said, “This court has already given a judgment and laid down the procedure to...

Ban on advertisements to a particular Media Group violates freedom of press : Calcutta High Court [Read the Judgment]

In times where the governments (Central, State) seem to be on a spree on banning/restricting anything whimsically, the Calcutta High Court has come forward with striking off one of them. The High Court has ruled that a ban on a media agency for government advertisements violates the constitutional right to freedom of expression of the press. The matter pertained to the decision of the...