Can Executive Tinker Court's Directions Through Ordinance? Supreme Court Asks In Plea Challenging Tribunals Reforms Ordinance

Hearing the challenge to the Tribunals Reforms (Rationalization and Conditions of Service) Ordinance 2021, the Supreme Court on Wednesday asked whether, by passing an Act or Rules or an Ordinance, the Legislature and the Executive can tinker with directions of the court under Article 142; whether, when considering an issue of policy, the Parliament is competent to make a law and deter...

'Solitary Incident Not Justifiable Ground For Transfer': Calcutta High Court Tells CBI In Narada Case

A 5-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday continued its hearing in the Narada case, in which the CBI has sought to transfer the trial and to declare that the hearing in the trial court on May 17 - which led to bail being granted to four TMC leaders - was vitiated on account of mob pressure. Today, Justice Soumen Sen told the Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for...

'Those Who Need It May Not Have The Ability To Pay For It': Supreme Court Slams Centre's Liberalized Policy Of Vaccination By Private Hospitals

The Supreme Court, in its order passed recently, criticized Liberalized Vaccination Policy of vaccination by private hospitals."The present system of allowing only digital registration and booking of appointment on CoWIN, coupled with the current scarcity of vaccines, will ultimately ensure that initially all vaccines, whether free or paid, are first availed by the economically...

'Digital Divide Will Have Serious Implications On Right To Equality & Health': Supreme Court On CoWIN Portal

The Supreme Court has flagged the digital divide afflicting the accessibility to the CoWIN portal in its latest order in the Suo Moto COVID case [In Re Essential Distribution of Essential Supplies and Services During Pandemic], stating that it could have serious implications on right to equality and right to health."A vaccination policy exclusively relying on a digital portal for...

Constitution Doesn't Envisage Courts To Be Silent Spectators When Executive Policies Infringe Citizens' Rights : SC In COVID Vaccine Case

While raising several questions at the Union Government's COVID vaccination policy and making a prima facie observation certain aspects of the policy are "arbitrary and irrational", the Supreme Court has taken efforts to clarify that it is not breaching the principle of separation of powers and that it is only performing a role envisaged by the Constitution."Our Constitution does not...

How Rs 35000 Crores Budget Allocation Spent For Vaccines?Why Can't It Be Used To Vaccinate 18-44 Years Group? SC Asks Centre

The Supreme Court has asked the Union Government to clarify how the sum of Rs 35,000 crores earmarked in the Union Budget for procuring vaccines have been spent so far.Further, the Court has asked why these funds cannot be used for giving free vaccination for those in the age group 18 to 44 years."The Union Budget for Financial Year 2021-2022 had earmarked Rs35000 crores for...

Juhi Chawla 5G Petition: Delhi High Court Warns Of Contempt Notice On Fanboy Singing Songs From Actor's Movies During The Hearing

Things took an ugly turn in the much-awaited hearing in Bollywood actor and environmentalist Juhi Chawla's petition against the roll-out of 5G telecom services in the country, when the virtual hearing was interrupted twice by a fanboy singing songs from the actor's movie during the hearing - prompting the court to issue contempt notice on the man.The virtual hearing before the Delhi High Court...

Centre's Policy Of Paid Vaccination For 18-44 Years Prima Facie Arbitrary & Irrational : Supreme Court

The Supreme Court has made a prima facie observation that the Centre's vaccination policy, which does not provide free vaccination for those in the age-group of 18 to 44 years, as "arbitrary and irrational"."Due to the changing nature of the pandemic, we are now faced with a situation where the18-44 age group also needs to be vaccinated, although priority may be ...

Furnish Complete Data On Vaccine Purchase History; Produce All Documents & File Notings On Vaccination Policy: Supreme Court To Centre

The Supreme Court has directed the Union Government to produce all relevant documents and file-notings which reflected its thinking in the vaccination policy.A 3-judge bench comprising Justices DY Chandrachud, L Nageswara Rao and S Ravindra Bhat passed this direction in the suo moto case on COVID-issues (In Re Distribution of Essential Supplies and Services During Pandemic).During the...

Justice Arun Mishra Takes Over As National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Chairman

Former Supreme Court judge, Justice Arun Kumar Mishra today took over as the Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). Justice Mishra had retired from the Supreme Court in September last year.Earlier, a report of The Hindu had reported (citing Government Sources) that Former Chief Justice of Jammu and Kashmir High Court, Mahesh Mittal Kumar, and former Director of...

NBE FET Exam: Supreme Court Stays Karnataka HC Direction To National Board Of Examination On Student's Medical College Admission

The Supreme Court on 28th May directed for the continuance of the interim order wherein it had stayed Karnataka High Court's order which had allowed a student with rank 15 in the Fellowship Entrance Test (FET) 2020 to be admitted to an institute which had been allotted to a candidate with rank 63.A division bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and Aniruddha Bose further directed for the...

BCI Constitutes Expert Committee To Decide Evaluation Method For Law Students In Intermediate Semesters

The Bar Council of India has constituted a High Level Expert Committee comprising of 12-members to decide the method of evaluation of law students in intermediate semesters, amid the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic. The Committee will be headed by Justice Govind Mathur, former Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court, Convener of the Expert Committee. "Bar Council of...