A weekly round-up of important cases from the Madras High Court Citations: 2023 LiveLaw (Mad) 339 To 2023 LiveLaw (Mad) 349 NOMINAL INDEX Ramar v State (and connected cases), 2023 LiveLaw (Mad) 339 Venu Srinivasan v Rangarajan Narasimhan, 2023 LiveLaw (Mad) 340 The Secretary v Elephant G Rajendran and others, 2023 LiveLaw (Mad) 341 M.Kalpana v The Secretary, 2023...
A weekly round-up of important cases from the Madras High Court
Citations: 2023 LiveLaw (Mad) 339 To 2023 LiveLaw (Mad) 349
NOMINAL INDEX
Ramar v State (and connected cases), 2023 LiveLaw (Mad) 339
Venu Srinivasan v Rangarajan Narasimhan, 2023 LiveLaw (Mad) 340
The Secretary v Elephant G Rajendran and others, 2023 LiveLaw (Mad) 341
M.Kalpana v The Secretary, 2023 LiveLaw (Mad) 342
Mrs Nirosha v Principal Secretary to Government, 2023 LiveLaw (Mad) 343
All India Gaming Federation v State and Others, 2023 LiveLaw (Mad) 344
S Amar Prasad @ Amar Prasad Reddy v Inspector of Police, 2023 LiveLaw (Mad) 345
Thorapadi Urban Co-op Credit Society Limited v Income Tax Officer, 2023 LiveLaw (Mad) 346
Tribhuwan Kumar Tiwari v The Additional Chief Secretary to Government and Others, 2023 LiveLaw (Mad) 347
KR Jayagopi v The Hon’ble Tamil Nadu Lokayukta and Others, 2023 LiveLaw (Mad) 348
R.Revathy Versus ACIT, 2023 LiveLaw (Mad) 349
REPORT
Case Title: Ramar v State (and connected cases)
Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Mad) 339
The Madras High Court recently suggested that special courts be set up to deal with offenses relating to illegal mining and transportation under the Mines and Minerals Act.
The court noted that presently the Principal District and Sessions Court assumed jurisdiction under the Act which was already accumulated with a number of cases besides administrative work. The court thus opined that for better implementation of the provisions of the Act, special courts could be constituted and suggested the Government to look into the same.
Justice KK Ramakrishnan of the Madurai bench made these observations after it was informed by the Director General of Police that from 2015 to May 2023, a total of 59,105 cases were registered under the Act and 63,542 vehicles that were involved in the transportation of illegal minerals had been seized. However, the court was informed that the confiscation proceedings were initiated against only 2,218 vehicles and completed only 385 cases. The court thus remarked that there was a requirement to complete the trial and confiscation proceedings in a timely manner.
Case Title: Venu Srinivasan v Rangarajan Narasimhan
Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Mad) 340
The Madras High Court on Monday recommended a two-week social media detox to a temple activist asking him not to make any posts or comments on social media and imposed a fine of Rs 2000 on him for his distasteful tweets against an industrialist.
The bench of Justice J Nisha Banu and Justice N Mala was hearing a contempt petition filed by industrialist Venu Srinivasan who informed the court that the temple activist, Rangarajan Narasimhan, was continuing to make derogatory comments against him on social media platforms in spite of an earlier order restraining him from making such comments.
Case Title: The Secretary v Elephant G Rajendran and others
Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Mad) 341
A division bench of the Madras High Court has recently set aside an order of a single judge criticizing the Madras Bar Association and its membership policy and imposing a fine of five lakh on the association for denying drinking water to a lawyer.
The bench of Justice S Vaidyanathan and Justice K Rajasekar allowed the appeal preferred by the association against the single judge order.
The single judge had heavily criticized the bylaws of the association and observed that the bylaws were formulated in such a manner that ordinary Advocates found it difficult to get membership thus resulting in class discrimination. The judge had also noted that since the association was functioning inside the court premises and enjoying all the benefits including free electricity, such elitism could not be allowed in a public place using the money.
Case Title: M.Kalpana v The Secretary
Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Mad) 342
Coming to the aid of a candidate whose answer paper was invalidated for writing “Jai Hind” at the end of an essay, the Madras High Court recently observed that writing Jai Hind did not invalidate the essay and it was in fact a patriotic slogan which summarised the essence of the topic.
Justice Battu Devanand of the Madurai bench observed that observed that Jai Hindi which meant victory to India was a commonly uttered slogan whenever patriotic fervour was invoked to the motherland. The court also noted that since the essay was to be on the importance and conservation of natural resources, writing Jai Hind was very relevant and appropriate to the question and it could not be treated as an impertinent remark.
Case Title: Mrs Nirosha v Principal Secretary to Government
Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Mad) 343
The Madras High Court has dismissed a plea filed by the wife of Tamil Nadu BJP functionary Amar Prasad Reddy seeking to forbear the State from detaining him under the Tamil Nadu Detention Act.
Justice G Jayachandran found the plea to be premature after taking note of the Public Prosecutor’s submission that the State police had no proposal, as of now, to detain Amar under any prevention laws.
Amar, who is handling the Sports and Skill Development Cell for the BJP Tamil Nadu, was arrested on October 21 this year in connection with the alleged attacking and damage of a JCB machine brought to remove the illegal and unauthorized flag poles outside the residence of TN BJP Chief K Annamalai.
Amar’s wife Nirosha had approached the High Court with the present plea claiming that Amar was not present at the scene of occurrence and that he was arrested from his residence the following day without following any due process as stipulated under the DK Basu guidelines.
TN Law Regulating Online Games Won't Apply To Games Of Skill Like Poker & Rummy : Madras High Court
Case Title: All India Gaming Federation v State and Others
Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Mad) 344
The Madras High Court on Thursday upheld the validity of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Online Gambling and Regulation of Online Games Act 2022. The court, however, added that the Act would not be applicable to games like rummy and poker, which were games of skill and will be applicable only against games of chance.
The bench of Chief Justice SV Gangapurwala and Justice PD Audikesavalu thus partly allowed an application filed by the online gaming companies challenging the Act. The online gaming companies had challenged the Act, which came into effect on April 21. Earlier, an attempt was made to challenge the ordinance, but the court allowed the parties to withdraw the same as the Act was yet to be notified.
The court said that while it could not allow the prayer to set aside the Act in its entirety, the provisions of the Act should be restricted to games of chance. The court added that games like rummy and poker were games of skill and thus, the provisions of the Act would not be applicable to these games. The court also observed that while the government could regulate the games by restricting the time spent playing the game, setting age-limits etc on both games of skill and chance, it could not totally ban games of skill.
Flagpole Case: Madras High Court Grants Bail To BJP Functionary Amar Prasad Reddy
Case Title: S Amar Prasad @ Amar Prasad Reddy v Inspector of Police
Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Mad) 345
The Madras High Court on Friday granted bail to BJP leader Amar Prasad Reddy arrested in connection with the alleged attacking and damage of a JCB machine brought to remove the illegal and unauthorized flag poles outside the residence of TN BJP Chief K Annamalai.
Justice CV Karthikeyan granted bail to Amar and other accused after recording their undertaking to pay an amount of Rs.12,000 towards the damage caused to the JCB. The court also asked all the accused to submit the undertaking within 3 days of being released on bail.
Interest Income From Co-Operative Bank Entitled To Income Tax Deduction: Madras High Court
Case Title: Thorapadi Urban Co-op Credit Society Limited v Income Tax Officer
Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Mad) 346
The Madras High Court recently clarified that interest income received from a Cooperative bank is also entitled to deduction under Section 80P(2)(d) of the Income Tax Act 1961.
Justice Krishnan Ramasamy observed that as per the Act, a Co-operative society is defined as a co-operative society registered under the Co-operative Societies Act 1912. Thus, even a cooperative bank would come within the meaning of a Co-Operative society and be entitled to deduction.
Case Title: Tribhuwan Kumar Tiwari v The Additional Chief Secretary to Government and Others
Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Mad) 347
The Madras High Court on Friday quashed the detention order passed against Youtuber Manish Kashyap under the National Security Act for allegedl circulating fake videos of migrant workers from Bihar being attacked in the State of Tamil Nadu.
The Madurai bench of Justice M Sundar and Justice R Sakthivel dropped the proceedings against Kashyap under the National Security Act but allowed the proceedings under the Information Technology Act to continue. While quashing the detention, the court observed that the authorities had not followed due procedure while detaining Kashyap under the NSA Act. The court thus directed Kashyap to be set at liberty if he was not needed in connection with any other case.
Case Title: KR Jayagopi v The Hon’ble Tamil Nadu Lokayukta and Others
Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Mad) 348
The Madras High Court has recently set aside an order of the Tamil Nadu Lokayukta rejecting a complaint to enquire into alleged corruption in the procurement of gift hampers for Pongal in the year 2022. The Lokayukta had, while rejecting the complaint, observed that it could not entertain the complaint as it fell within Section 13(1)(c) of the Tamil Nadu Lokayukta Act 2018 read with Rules 24(4) (a) to (d).
Justice N Seshasayee observed that the exception would be applicable only when the issue fell within a contract or working terms of a contract. The court added that the present complaint was one that alleged corruption in the procurement of the gift hampers which would come within the purview of the Lokayukta.
Case Title: R.Revathy Versus ACIT
Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Mad) 349
The Madras High Court has held that income tax adjudication proceedings and criminal prosecution are independent of each other; the pendency of one does not affect the other.
The bench of Justice G.K. Ilanthiraiyan has observed that the adjudication proceedings and the criminal prosecution are independent of each other, and the pendency of any adjudication proceeding is not a bar to proceeding with the prosecution.
OTHER DEVELOPMENTS
Case Title: Edappadi Palaniswami v O Paneerselvam
Case No: OA 787 of 2023 And CS 181 of 2023
The Madras High Court has temporarily restrained former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and expelled AIADMK leader O Paneerselvam from using the party’s name, flag, symbol, and letterhead.
Justice N Satish Kumar allowed the plea for interim injunction filed by the party General Secretary Edappadi Palaniswami. Though Advocate Rajalakshmi, appearing for OPS informed the court that he had moved the Supreme Court challenging the order upholding his expulsion and appointment of EPS as the General Secretary and thus urged the court to grant some time, the court noted that OPS had failed to obtain a favorable order so far.
The Madras High Court on Wednesday asked the Tamil Nadu Sports and Youth Development Minister Udayanidhi Stalin what research he had done to understand 'Sanatana Dharma' before making recent controversial remarks against it.
Justice Anita Sumanth was hearing the Quo Warranto pleas seeking to show under what authority Sports Minister Udayanidhi Stalin, HRCW Minister Sekar Babu, and MP A. Raja are continuing to hold public office in light of their recent remarks on 'Sanatana Dharma'. The court has also directed the Ministers to submit the text of the their speeches.
Case Title: K Balu v Government of India and Others
Case No: WP 86098 of 2022
The Madras High Court recently noted that though the Government had established the National Commission for Backward Classes, it had rendered the commission nonfunctional by not making timely appointments.
The bench of Chief Justice SV Gangapurwala and Justice Bharatha Chakravarthy made the remarks in a plea filed by Advocate K Balu seeking directions to the authorities to constitute and appoint the Chairperson, Vice Chairperson and other members for the commission at the earliest.
While arguing before the Madras High Court in the quo warranto pleas seeking to show under what authority Sports Minister Udayanidhi Stalin, HRCE Minister Sekar Babu, and MP A. Raja are continuing to hold public office in light of their recent remarks on 'Sanatana Dharma', Senior Counsel R Viduthalai, appearing for A Raja submitted that the freedom of speech and expression were placed much above the freedom of religion.
Viduthalai submitted that the freedom of speech and expression also included the right to conscience and the right to criticise abominable religious practices, which is a constitutionally guaranteed principle.