High Courts Weekly Round Up

• Stayed the May order of the AICTE rejecting the application for extension of approval of the courses run by Hindustan College of Science and Technology, Mathura.

Bombay High Court

• Held that when the rights and title of the litigants is settled in proceedings by the Civil Courts, such verdicts would be binding upon the revenue authorities.
• Issued notice to the State of Maharashtra, the Chief Minister, Governor and the Speaker of Legislative Assembly while hearing a petition seeking quashing of appointment of BalasahebVikhePatil, JayadattaKshirsagar and AvinashMahatekar as ministers.
• Directed Mumbai Port Trust to pay interest on the delayed salary of nearly 30 months, to an employee, who refused to link his Aadhar Card with salary payment.
• Directed the Maharashtra Government to install biometric systems in mortuaries to ensure those post-mortem examinations are conducted only by qualified forensic experts.
• Remanded a rape case to the Trial Court on the ground that evidence of deaf and dumb victim was recorded without considering the provisions of Section 119 Evidence Act.
• Upheld the validity of reservation granted to the Maratha community by the state government under the socially and educationally backward class category (SEBC) in government jobs and educational institutions.
• upheld the reservation for Maratha Community but set aside the quantum of reservation mandated at 16% for the Maratha Community under the new act, even though the State Backward Class Commission had recommended 12% reservation in employment and 13% reservation in educational institutions

Calcutta High Court

• Set aside the conviction of three alleged Maoists, thirteen years after they were sentenced to life imprisonment by trial court on charges of sedition and waging war against India.
• Upheld the conviction and sentence of a man under section 6 of POCSO Act for sexually assaulting a three year old girl, denying the presence of minor contradictions in the statement of victim's mother to vitiate the case of the prosecution. In addition to this, the court directed the state to pay the victim a compensation in tune of Rs 5 lakhs to ensure her proper education and rehabilitation.
• Passed a significant judgment underlying the nature of responsibility that Prosecution carries under section 29 of POCSO Act. The court held that the word "is prosecuted" in the aforesaid provision does not mean that the prosecution has no role to play in establishing and/or probablising primary facts constituting the offence.
• held that a divorced wife who got an order of maintenance and other relief under Domestic Violence Act [DV Act] prior to the decree of divorce is entitled to execute the same if she is unable to maintain herself and she has not remarried and for other reasons.

Delhi High Court

• Refused to grant urgent hearing to a petition seeking directions to appoint Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha.

Karnataka High Court

• Directed the Tree Authority, constituted under the Karnataka Preservation of Trees Act, 1976 and Tree Rules, to inform by July 22, if it has carried out any census of trees in the city of Bengaluru, which is said to have considerably reduced over the years.
• Dismissed a Public Interest Litigation, filed by a defeated member of Zilla Panchayat, Molakalmuru Town, who opposed construction of a hostel building for girl students, belonging to the Schedule Caste, stating it would cause nuisance to him and local residents.
• Stayed till July 11, criminal proceedings initiated against S Jaikanth, administrator of Facebook page, Troll Maga, and directed his immediate release. The police arrested him for allegedly posting abusive and insulting, posts against JD(S) party chief HD DeveGowda, Chief minister HD Kumaraswamy and his son and leader from the party, Nikhil Kumaraswamy.
• Held that the chairman of Karnataka State Administrative Tribunal is not entitled to the salary equivalent to that of the Chief Justice of the High Court.
• Dismissed a Public Interest Litigation seeking direction to the State government to submit a proposal to Union Ministry of Civil Aviation, seeking nod for constructing a greenfield airport in Bhatkal town, under the Udan Scheme.
• Held that the nurses cannot be categorized as medical practitioners practicing medicine and the State Medical Council has no jurisdiction to take action against them.

Kerala High Court

• Held that legitimate stage when the court could take cognizance of offence of perjury invoking Section 344 of the Code is the time of court delivering the judgment or final order terminating the proceeding before it.
• Directed action against makers of 'Unda' and officials for damage to environment during shooting
• Held that Additional Chief judicial Magistrate [ACJM] will have jurisdiction to entertain an application filed under Section 14 of Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002 (SARFAESI).
• Failure to appoint competent persons amounts to miscarriage of justice, remarked the High Court while asking the Government to ensure that competent Advocates are appointed as Government Pleaders and Public Prosecutors at District levels.
• Came down heavily on a person who filed a Public Interest Litigation alleging there are serious lapses by the State Bank of India which resulted in customer data leakage and disruption of online services.
• Passed an order allowing the screening of Anand Patwardhan's documentary "Reason/Vivek" at the International Documentary and Short Film Festival ongoing at Thiruvananthapuram at present.

Madras High Court

• Permitted the South Indian Film Artistes' Association(SIFAA) to hold an election at Ebba's Girls Higher Secondary School on RadhakrishnanSalai at Mylapore on 23.06.19.
• Initiated suo-motu criminal contempt proceedings against Mr.IshariK.Ganesh and Mr.Anantharaman for having tried to influence Justice N. Anand Venkatesh in relation to the South Indian Artistes Association (SIAA), NadigarSangam election.
• Granted permission to NaliniSriharan, a life convict in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, to appear in person on July 5 and argue on her plea for six months ordinary leave to make arrangements for her daughter's wedding.
• Allowed Internet Freedom Foundation(IFF) to intervene in the petitions which seek directions to link Aadhaar with social media accounts.
• Observed that the acquittal in a criminal case does not lead to an automatic inference that there was no negligence on the part of the driver.
• Held that unmarried daughter can claim maintenance from her father by filing a petition under Section 125 of Code of Criminal Procedure.
• Pulled up the State Government and Traffic authorities observing that despite the court order, many of the pillion riders are not wearing helmets.

Uttarakhand High Court

• Issued a notice to Preeti Sudan, Union Health Secretary and also AIIMS Director Dr. RandeepGuleria to show as to why they be not punished for contempt of court for their failure in paying the cost of Rs 25,000 to Chaturvedi.