Author: NitiRiti Bureau

New Delhi, April 26. The Supreme Court on Friday rejected a plea to do away with the electronic voting system (through Electronic Voting Machines or EVMs) and return to the old paper ballot system. The court also rejected alternate pleas to allow for 100 per cent verification of VVPATs (Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail) to prevent rigging or allow the voter to personally verify his vote. A two-judge of the bench concurred in rejecting an additional demand to ensure that the glass window on the VVPAT was transparent. It was made translucent/tinted in 2017. This deprived the voter from knowing…

puts SBI on notice, says won’t accept wilful disobedience of order New Delhi, March 11. The Supreme Court on Monday asked the State Bank of India to publish all information relating to electoral bonds sold so far, by a day i.e. March 12, 2024. The public sector bank had sought time till June 30, 2024, to publish this information. The bank had claimed that though it had all donor and donee (political party which received it) information with it, these had been maintained in different silos to prevent any potential leaks. Matching the donations to each political party was a…

New Delhi, Feb 4. Elected members of Houses will be liable for prosecution for taking any bribes for voting on the floor of the house, the Supreme Court ruled on Monday. A seven-judge bench led by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud accordingly set aside an earlier 1998 ruling which said that they were immune from prosecution in connection with voting on the floor of any House. “We disagree with and overrule the (1998) judgement,” the court said in a unanimous judgement. The court said that allowing this “error to be perpetuated” would be against public interest, probity in public…

सुप्रीम कोर्ट के वरिष्ठ वकील प्रख्यात वकील फली नरीमन का 21 फरवरी 2024 को निधन हो गया। अपने पूरे जीवन वो संविधान की स्वतंत्रता की वकालत करते रहे। नरीमन संविधान की व्याख्या करने में भारत के सबसे बढ़िया वकीलों में से एक थे। उन्हें पद्म भूषण और पद्म विभूषण से भी सम्मानित किया गया था और राज्यसभा सांसद भी रह चुके थे। वकील के रूप में उनके लंबे, प्रतिष्ठित करियर की मुख्य विशेषताएं आपातकाल का विरोध किया; आपातकाल घोषित होने के एक दिन बाद कानून अधिकारी के पद से इस्तीफा दे दिया। बाद में उन्होंने एक लेख में खुद को…

Highlights of his long, distinguished career as a lawyer Protested against Emergency; resigned as a law officer, a day after Emergency was declared.; he later referred to himself as law officer number 3 in an article. Defended Union Carbide Corporation in the Bhopal gas tragedy case; a decision he lived to regret Argued the Keshavananda Bharti case which placed limitations on Parliament’s amending power by way of stating that the basic structure of the Constitution cannot be changed. Was a key player in three cases which created and established the collegium system in the country – The second judges’ case,…

New Delhi, Feb 15. Right to information of a voter includes the right to information of financial contributions to a political party because of the influence of money in electoral politics and governmental decisions, through a seat at the table and quid pro quo arrangements between the contributor and the political party, the Supreme Court said on Thursday. Information about political funding would enable a voter to assess if there is a correlation between policy making and financial contributions, the court said. For the information on donor contributions to be relevant and essential, it is not necessary that voters have…

Right to freedom of speech, expression covers right to express political beliefs New Delhi, Feb 15. Right to privacy of a citizen would extend to a citizen’s political beliefs and affiliations and the right to freedom of speech and expression would protect a citizen’s right to freely express such beliefs, the Supreme Court said on Thursday. “Forming political beliefs and opinion is the first stage of political expression. The freedom of political expression cannot be exercised freely in the absence of privacy of political affiliation,” a five-judge bench led by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud said. Informational privacy to…

New Delhi, Feb 15. The Supreme Court on Thursday said that the government’s electoral bond scheme was not full-proof and could be used to force people to donate, and suggested electoral trusts as a better alternative. “The electoral bond scheme and the impugned provisions to the extent that they infringe upon the right to information of the voter by anonymizing contributions through electoral bonds are violative of Article 19(1)(a),” a five-judge bench led by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud said. The scheme is also not full proof, it said. “While it is true that the law prescribes anonymity as…

New Delhi, Feb 15. The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down the controversial electoral bonds scheme which allowed political parties to accept unlimited funds from anonymous sources to finance their campaign and poll expenses. The scheme, introduced in 2017 through the Finance Act, was challenged in the top court on the ground that it was skewed in favour of the ruling party and tilts the level playing field in its favour to the detriment of other political parties, especially the Opposition. The 2017 amendments were unconstitutional as they violated the principles of “free and fair elections” and “political equality granted…

New Delhi, Jan 8. The Supreme Court on Monday quashed twin top court and Gujarat government orders which set the stage for releasing 11 gangrape case convicts in the Bilkis Bano case in 2022 and sent them back to jail to complete the rest of their life terms. Bilkis Bano was gangraped and several other members of her family were killed during the 2002 riots. This case was transferred by the apex court to the CBI for an independent probe and trial was held in neighbouring Maharashtra. The Gujarat government released them in 2022 on the basis of a top…