High Courts Weekly Round Up

• Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court sentenced Additional Chief Secretary Mahesh Kumar Gupta till rising of the court, holding him guilty of contempt of court.

Bombay High Court

• The Nagpur Bench of the High Court refused to suspend the sentence of Professor G N Saibaba, who is undergoing life imprisonment in Nagpur central prison after his conviction in 2017 for offences under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and Indian Penal Code.
• Questioned the Election Commission of India (ECI) as to why no decision had been taken on regulating political ads on social media, especially 48 hours before polling day.
• Refused to set aside the election of Shiv Sena MLA from Kohlapur Rajesh VinayakKshirsagar, holding that failure to mention criminal cases in which charges have not been framed does not amount to suppression of facts in election nomination.
• Questioned the BMC and Central Railways as to why the two agencies do not coordinate with each other and work together. A division bench of Chief Justice Naresh Patil and Justice NitinJamdar questioned both the BMC and Central railways regarding the recent foot-overbridge collapse near CST station in Mumbai that killed six people and injured 31.
• Set aside process issued against R Venkatraman, managing trustee of Tata Trusts, in a defamation complaint filed by ShapoorjiPallonji and Company Pvt Ltd under Section 500 of the Indian Penal Code.
• Questioned the Chief Minister of Maharashtra over the slow progress in the probe regarding the murder of GovindPansare, a CPI member and activist who was shot by assailants riding a motorcycle on February 16, 2015.
• Issued a notice to the Election Commission of India (ECI) seeking its reply to a PIL filed by Satish SugrivGaikwad, national president of the Republican Party of India (I) seeking a stay on the release of the movie PM Narendra Modi.
• Accepted the voluntary code of ethics developed by the Internet & Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and submitted by the Election Commission of India to be followed as an interim arrangement during the upcoming general elections.

Calcutta High Court

• Dismissed a habeas corpus petition holding that Special Court under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act is not exercising magisterial powers while remanding an accused at post-cognizance stage under Section 309 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
• Stayed the criminal proceedings against BJP President and Rajya Sabha MP Amit Shah,in a defamation case against him.

Delhi High Court

• Granting an ex-parte ad-interim injunction against Masala King Exports Trading Private Limited and 11 other companies from exporting products manufactured by Patanjali Ayurved Limited (PAL) in the international market, the High Court ruled in favour of Patanjali. Justice Sanjeev Narula clarified that the defendant companies may continue to sell the plaintiff Patanjali's products in the domestic market and the injunction was restricted to export of products in the international market only.
• Stayed the resolution of the Executive Committee of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) which had barred elected students from attending meetings of various bodies of their Schools/Centres.In doing so, Justice Yogesh Khanna opined that the University cannot allege breach of Lyngdoh Committee Recommendations (LCR) after the elections.
• Dismissed a challenge against stipulations in a circular issued Directorate of Education, Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi, to all the schools under it, to follow the textbooks prescribed by the SCERT, NCERT and CBSE.
• Issued a notice to the Centre, the Bar Council of India and others on a petition challenging the constitutionality of Section 17 of the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act which prohibits legal representation for any party before the Maintenance Tribunal.

Gujarat High Court

• Refused to entertain a petition seeking direction to the State to make appointment to the post of Gujarat Lokayukta which has been lying vacant since December 11, 2018.

KarnatakaHigh Court

• Held that a Sessions Court can only award either life imprisonment or death sentence in a murder case, and has no power to inflict any punishment in between these two punishments. The Division bench comprising Justice K.N. Phaneendra and Justice K. Natarajan was considering a criminal appeal against a Trial Court judgment in which the accused were sentenced to undergo imprisonment for with a direction that they should not be released from the prison for the rest of their life.

Madhya Pradesh High Court

• Held that a juvenile is not entitled to move application under Section 438 of Cr.P.C. for anticipatory bail.The bench of Justice Virender Singh of Indore Bench of High Court observed that a conjoint reading of section 4 and 12 of the Juvenile Act revealed that only a duly constituted Juvenile Justice Board can exercise the powers conferred by the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 in respect of a juvenile offender.

Madras High Court

• Corrupt Judicial Officers are to be declared as Anti Nationals, said Justice SM Subramaniam and called for initiating drastic measures in order to control corruptions in various forms. The judge made this observation while considering a petition challenging suspension of a public servant involved in a criminal offence investigated by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Wing, Erode.

Punjab & Haryana High Court

• Putting an end to a 'colonial legacy' practice of mentioning caste status in criminal proceedings, the High Court observed that caste system is profoundly illogical and is also against the basic tenets of the Constitution.

Sikkim High Court

• Rejected an application of a District Judge who wanted to recuse from a case on the ground that his father who was an Additional Advocate General, had appeared for the State in respect of the same subject matter.

Telengana High Court

• Observed that the use of carbide to ripen fruits and vegetables is totally impermissible. The bench comprising the Chief Justice Thottathil B. Radhakrishnan and Justice A. Rajasheker Reddy observed that use of carbide is to be confined to industrial purposes only.