SC Order On Justice Karnan A Dangerous Precedent: Indira Jaising

Can contempt powers be used to circumvent the provisions of Article 124 read with Article 217 of the Constitution? Does the removal of judicial functions of a judge not amount to removal of a judge? Does sending a judge to prison not amount to removing him from performance of his duties of office?The order in contempt sets a dangerous precedent where the Supreme Court can remove any judge of a high court or indeed of the Supreme Court in contempt powers and do indirectly what they cannot do...

Government Extends Benefits Of Extended Maternity Leave To Women Already On Such Leave

In another clarification issued by the Ministry of Labour and Employment, the Centre has explained that it is mandatory for employers to extend the benefit of enhanced maternity leave to those women workers who were already on maternity leave on the date of enforcement of the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017 i.e. as on April 1, 2017.The clarification was issued in view of the...

Journey From Civilian Application To Defence Application Of Aadhaar

Citing a letter from Department of Electronics & Information Technology, Ministry of Defence sent an Urgent/Top Priority Circular to Chief of the Naval Staff, Chief of the Army Staff and Chief of the Air Staff asking them to compulsorily ensure that all the employees enrolled for UID/Aadhaar Number. Another letter was sent by Ministry of Personnel, PG & Pensions Department of Personnel & Training to the Secretary Department of Defence Production asking him to introduce Aadhaar...

Justice Karnan "Convicts CJI and Other Seven Judges Under SC/ST Act Orders 5yrs Imprisonment" [Read "Order"]

Justice CS Karnan, who is facing contempt proceedings in Supreme Court, has passed another bizarre order “convicting Chief Justice Of India Justice Khehar and other Six Supreme Court Judges for various offences under Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and sentenced to 5yrs imprisonment and fine”.The Supreme Court has posted the contempt petition for...

Bombay HC Passes Landmark Directions On Judicial Infrastructure [Read Judgment]

The Bombay High Court has passed some landmark directions while hearing a batch of petitions concerning issues of infrastructure of civil and criminal courts in the state, along with co-operative courts, Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal and consumer fora at the state and district levels.Before passing directions in the 220-page judgment, a division bench of Justice AS Oka and Justice AA...

Even A Beggar Can Stand As Surety If He Has Acceptable Residential Proof: Madras HC [Read Judgment]

Simply because a person is poor, who has no property, no money, no job, it cannot be said that he is disqualified to stand as a surety. When the accused executes bail bond, when the surety executes surety bond, the court cannot insist production of property documents, surety need not be a government servant or a blood relative or a local surety, said the court. In a significant judgment on...

SC Backlog Reduces To 60,751; 39 Constitution Bench Matters Pending

The total case backlog in Supreme Court now stood at 60,751 as on May 1, 2017 out of which 39 are constitution bench matters, according to the latest pendency report uploaded on the apex court website.This meant that the apex court under justice J S Khehar as Chief Justice after he took charge of the office on January 3, 2017, disposed off 1,786 cases.As per the report dated January 1, 2017...

The 7 SC Judges Should Resign, Their Services Unfit For India: Justice Karnan [Read Letter]

In a letter addressed to the Medical Board of the Calcutta Parlov Hospital, Calcutta HC Judge Justice Karnan has demanded that the Judges constituting the seven Judge Constitution Bench do the “right thing by resigning their posts”, as he felt that it is “too obvious” that they’re working only for personal gain.The letter further stated that the Supreme Court order directing his...

Approaching ‘Voluntary’ Sex Worker Not A Crime, Says Gujarat HC [Read Judgment]

In a significant ruling, the Gujarat High Court has observed that Section 370 of the Indian Penal Code will have no application in a case wherein sex workers are engaged in prostitution of their own volition and not pursuant to any inducement, force or coercion.Justice JB Pardiwala partly quashed the FIR against a person, holding that the prosecution of the applicant being a customer for...

SC Directs Registration Of All Childcare Institutes Before Year-end [Read Judgment]

If the officers of the state do not ensure that minimum standards of care are followed in the childcare institutions, they could well be guilty of negligence, also perhaps of a violation of the human rights of children, the bench observed.The Supreme Court in Re: Exploitation of Children in Orphanages in the State of Tamil Nadu has issued some significant directives to the Central and...

President Promulgates Banking Regulations Amendment Ordinance To Tackle NPAs [Read The Text]

President Pranab Mukherjee on Friday promulgated the Banking Regulations Amendment Ordinance, in a bid to tackle the NPA crisis facing public sector banks.The Ordinance endows the Central Government with the power to authorize the RBI to issue directions to any banking company to initiate insolvency in respect of a default under the provisions of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code....

Delhi HC Allows Service Of Summons Via WhatsApp, Text message and Email [Read Order]

The High Court of Delhi recently joined ranks with several Courts around the country that are experimenting with the usage of technology in judicial proceedings. Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw has recently allowed the Plaintiff to serve the summons on one of the defendants through Whatsapp, text message and email.“The plaintiffs are permitted to serve the defendant No.9 Ashok Kumar Agarwal by...