SC Refuses To Admit PIL Seeking To End Use Of Black Money In Elections; Petitioner Asked To Approach Election Commission [Read Order]

The Supreme Court today disposed of a PIL to curb "appalling effects of black money on free and fair election" asking the petitioner to approach the Election Commission.The PIL had also pointed to "unwillingness" of the Government to reform Election System and demanded that any transaction above Rs 2000 not done through dedicated bank account be shown as unaccounted."We grant liberty to...

[Debate]Immediate Post-Retirement Appointment of Judges : Mutual Bonhomie between Executive And Judiciary?

"The Tribunals should not be heaven for retired persons and appointment process should not result in decisions being influenced if the Government itself is a litigant and appointment authority at the same time. There should be restriction on acceptance of any employment after retirement "- A Bench headed by Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel quoted and broadly approved the Amicus report, in Rojer Mathew v. South Indian Bank Ltd on May 7, 2018.It is timely to revisit the debate regarding the...

Sunanda Pushkar Death Case: Shashi Tharoor Gets Regular Bail, Questions Swamy's Locus

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor was on Saturday granted regular bail by a Delhi court in the Sunanda Pushkar death case in view of the anticipatory bail granted to him by a sessions court earlier this week.Tharoor appeared before the court of Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Samar Vishal in compliance with the summons issued to him as an accused booked for abetting the suicide...

Rajasthan HC Postpones District Judge Cadre Exam Due to PM Modi’s Visit

The Rajasthan High Court on Friday postponed the exam for direct recruitment in the District Judge Cadre, 2017, owing to Prime minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Jaipur and the expected congestion on the roads.The order was issued by Justice Sanjeev Prakash Sharma on a petition filed by Gajendra Singh Rathore and Guruprasad Singh Shekhawat. During the hearing, the counsel for the...

Supreme Court Judgments On Right To Information Act 2005: Wither Transparency?

Transparency activists have always applauded and given credit to the Supreme Court of India for its outstanding role in recognising the fact that the Right to Information to government information is a fundamental right of its citizens under Article 19 (1)(a) of the Constitution of India.The first landmark pronouncement in this respect was made by Justice Mathew in State of Uttar Pradesh v. Raj Narain (1975) 4 SCC 428 wherein he stated, “In a government of responsibility like ours, where all the...

Decades Have Passed Since Ist Petition In MC Mehta On Curbing Pollution In Delhi But Situation Hasn’t Been Salvaged, Rues Delhi HC [Read Order]

Replacing double-storey with multi-storey flats not redevelopment, it saysAs tree lovers in Delhi are all out in support of 16,000 trees which were to be felled for the redevelopment of six colonies in south Delhi, the Delhi High Court has rued how even decades after the first petition was filed by MC Mehta in 1985 (regarding diesel vehicle emissions), the situation does not seem to have...

Revised Norms for Home Buyers Under Insolvency Proceedings Notified [Read Notification]

The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India has notified the revised norms for the resolution of insolvency process and has paved way for home buyers to seek relief as financial creditors, putting in place clear timelines to be followed by resolution professionals and permitting withdrawal of insolvency applications subject to certain conditions.The board has mandated that a...

Maharashtra Govt. To Pay Mukul Rohatgi Rs. 1.21 Crore Fee For Judge Loya Case: RTI Response

The Maharashtra Government has sanctioned the payment of Rs. 1.21 crore to Senior Counsel Mukul Rohatgi for representing the State before the Supreme Court in the petitions seeking independent probe into CBI Special Judge Brijgopal Harkishan Loya’s death.Mr. Rohatgi had been appointed as the Special Prosecutor in the case by the State Government, along with former Solicitor General of...

Sohrabuddin Case: Bombay HC Upholds Trial Court’s Order Rejecting Discharge Plea Of Two Accused Cops [Read Order]

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday rejected a revision application filed by two cops from Rajasthan accused in the case. The two cops are Himanshu Singh Rajawat and Shyam Singh Charan.Both the applicants were sub-inspectors in Rajasthan Police Force. They had challenged an order of the Sessions Court rejecting their discharge applications in the alleged fake encounter case of Sohrabuddin...

A Self Declaration Is Sufficient For Conversion To Hinduism, Registrar Need Not Enquire Into Validity Of Conversion For Marriage: Kerala HC [Read Judgment]

The Kerala High Court has ruled that in the absence of any formal ceremony for conversion to Hinduism, declaration by a person that he is converted to Hindu would be sufficient for the public authorities, the Marriage Registrar in the instant case, to act.Justice A Muhamed Mustaque also laid down that a marriage registrar is only duty bound to conduct the summary enquiry as to the legality of...

Indian American Amul Thapar On Trump’s List Of Supreme Court Nominees

With Justice Anthony M. Kennedy announcing last week that he would retire from the Supreme Court, we’re heading to a showdown for a crucial replacement that is expected to change the course of the highest court of the United States of America for generations to come.Justice Kennedy, 81, has been a critical swing vote on the sharply polarised court for nearly three decades as he embraced...

Dissecting Supreme Court's Protection of Fundamental Rights- In conversation with Jayna Kothari, Editor, Rights in Review

"In 2017, we can see that while Article 19 freedoms were not that strongly prominent, Article 25 Right to Freedom of Religion protection was very strong", Jayna Kothari, Editor, Rights in Review & Director, Centre for Law & Policy Research.'Rights in Review' is an annual review of the decisions of the Supreme Court of India on the protection of fundamental rights, prepared and published by Supreme Court Observer under the aegis of Centre for Law and Public Research. The first review...