Author: NitiRiti Bureau

New Delhi, Jan 17. The government and the Supreme Court last exchanged views on revising the memorandum of procedure in July 2017, before the Law Minister raked up again recently on the issue of following through on the court’s NJAC ruling. The top court struck down the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act, 2014, on April 13, 2015, and declared that the collegium system, which existed prior to the enforcement of the Constitution (93rd amendment) Act, 2014, was operative. COURT ASKED GOVT TO WORK ON REVISING MOP AFTER NJAC RULING In a subsequent order passed on Dec 16, 2015, the court…

New Delhi, Jan 16. A huge controversy has broken out after it came to light that Law Minister Kiren Rijiju had written to the Chief Justice of India seeking a government say over the process of appointments to the Supreme Court and the High Courts, something that the court has already struck down in the NJAC case. The minister claimed in a war of words with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on twitter that he was “only following up” the court’s ruling suggesting a change in the memorandum of procedure on appointing judges to the higher courts while striking down…

New Delhi, Jan 13. At least two benches of the Supreme Court on Friday spoke out strongly against hate speeches indicating perhaps a pushback of sorts against such speeches by the top court. In one case, a bench led by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, sought a report into the police failure to file an immediate FIR in connection with the hate speeches made at a dharma sansad held in Delhi. He was sitting alongside Justice P.S. Narasimha. “… the case is relating to a serious offence of hate speech. We are told that the FIR was filed after…

New Delhi, Jan 11. Trial in the Lakhimpur Kheri case, in which Union Minister of state for Home Ajay Mishra’s son Ashish Mishra is the key accused, will take five years, the Supreme Court was informed on Wednesday, prompting the top court to seek information on the status of the co-accused in the case before it hears his bail plea. A bench, comprising Justices Surya Kant and V. Ramasubramanian, had sought a report from the trial court on how soon trial in the case can be concluded. In response, the trial court, has informed the bench that it would take…

Photo courtesy: social media New Delhi, Jan 11. Lawyers in the United Kingdom are bound to accept any case that comes to them if their dates are not previously blocked and are free, senior advocate Harish Salve said in the Supreme Court on Wednesday. “Now that I work in a different legal jurisdiction, I should share that lawyers in the UK have to accept any case that comes to them if their diary is not blocked,” Salve told a five-judge bench. So, I may be here but my assistant has to keep my diary there, he said. The bench is…

New Delhi, January 10. The Supreme Court on Tuesday called for the protection of low-rise heritage Corbusian Chandigarh and placed several construction restrictions in the area to prevent single dwelling units from being converted into multiple apartments. Fragmentation, division, bifurcation and apartmentalisation of a residential unit in Phase I is prohibited, it said. Undisputedly, permitting three apartments to be constructed in one dwelling unit would result in increasing the density in population in the Le Corbusier zone. This cannot be done without approval of the heritage committee and the central government, it said. WARNS AGAINST HAPHAZARD URBAN DEVELOPMENT IN THE BACKDROP OF JOSHIMATH The bench also seized the opportunity to warn governments of the environmental…

Photo Courtesy: Social media

New Delhi, Jan 4. Outgoing Supreme Court judge S. Abdul Nazeer came in much praise during his farewell function on Wednesday for being “truly secular” and “always putting the nation first” as demonstrated in course of the Ayodhya ruling. As the only minority face on the bench, Justice Nazeer agreed to delivering a unanimous judgement in the case handing over the land at the disputed Ramjanambhoomi Babri Masjid site for building a Ram temple at the spot. Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud and Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) president Vikas Singh spoke fondly of his simplicity, his congeniality, and…

New Delhi, Jan 3. Juts like ordinary persons, individual ministers are liable to face tort action if their public speeches cause any injury or loss to a citizen, the Supreme Court said on Tuesday, in its most powerful warning yet against hateful, irresponsible speeches. But such individual statements cannot be vicariously be attributed to the cabinet, nor can there be extra curbs on the right of elected representatives to free speech, the court said. The top court was dealing with multiple pleas to rein in elected leaders from speaking out on pending criminal cases et al where an individual’s valuable…

New Delhi, Jan 3. Cinema hall owners and managements can bar patrons from getting food and beverages from outside into their precincts, the Supreme Court on Tuesday. However, they were under an obligation to ensure free drinking water and allow baby food to be carried in, it said. A two-judge bench led by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud accordingly set aside, a 2018 Jammu and Kashmir High court order, disallowing cinema halls from barring customers from getting outside food and beverages into cinema halls. The other judge on the bench was Justice P.S. Narasimha. The High Court had acted…