Filing of more than one Mercy Petition is permissible both under Cr.P.C and Constitution ; State of TN to Constitution Bench [Summary of Arguments in Sriharan Day-7]

The arguments today (5th August 2015) were continued by the State of Tamil Nadu through Mr. Rakesh Dwivedi, Senior Advocate.Continuing on the second question referred to the constitution bench, Mr. Dwivedi argued to counter the argument of the Solicitor General that the power of mercy could not be exercised repeatedly. He submitted that the CrPC and the Constitution permitted filing of more...

Bombay High Court amends rules governing PILs ; PILs to turn costly

The Bombay High Court has made an amendment to The Bombay High Court Public Interest Litigation Rules, 2010  which empowers the court, at its discretion, direct the petitioner to deposit a sum, by way of security deposit, in the court, which shall be subject to final or interim order of the court. The notification dated July 10 amended Rule 4, introduced a new rule 7A and added a clause (b)...

Breaking ; Maintainability of Writ under Article 32; Conflicting Judgments of Two SC Benches of Co-equal Strength in two weeks time [Read the Judgment]

In a judgment apparently contradictory to the view taken by another bench of co-equal strength in DM Wayanad Institute of medical sciences vs. Union of India and Another (wherein it was held that the Supreme Court under Article 32 will not interfere with an administrative order where the constitutionality of the statute or the order made thereunder is not challenged on the ground of...

India hires Foreign Lawyers to represent the Country in ITLOS in Enrica Lexie case

India has hired two famous foreign lawyers, Alain Pellet and R Bundy, to represent her in the International tribunal in Hamburg, Germany, to which Italy has moved the issue of two of its marines, accused of killing fishermen off Kerala coast. The Tribunal will hear the case on August 10-11. Additional Solicitor General P L Narasimha and officials from Ministries of External Affairs and...

SC reserves order on transfer of Aadhaar Challenge to Const. Bench; AG says Privacy not a Fundamental Right

Supreme Court had long back declared that privacy was not a Fundamental Right. He said that the judgment of 1964 (Kharak Singh v. State of UP) has been wrongly interpreted for 40 years says AGThe Supreme Court has reserved its verdict for Tuesday regarding the Centre’s plea to transfer the petitions challenging Government’s Aadhaar card project to a Constitution bench as the subject matter...

Appellate Tribunal under SARFAESI Act has power to condone delay in filing appeal : SC [Read the Judgment]

Answering the issue whether the Appellate Tribunal under the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002 (“the SARFAESI Act”) has the power to condone delay in filing an appeal under Section 18(1) of the said Act, the Supreme Court has overruled the contrary view taken by the Madhya Pradesh High Court and upheld the views taken by...

Rape is an assault on Human Rights and individuality of victim: SC [Read the Judgment]

Refusing to reduce the sentence granted to two men convicted for raping a minor, a Supreme Court bench comprising Justice Dipak Misra and Justice P.C. Pant observed, “It has to be borne in mind that an offence of rape is basically an assault on the human rights of a victim. It is an attack on her individuality. It creates an incurable dent in her right and free will and personal...

Delhi Judicial Services Exam, 2014: SC admits Petition, refuses to stay selection

A Supreme Court of India Bench comprising Justice Dipak Misra and Justice P.C. Pant has admitted a Writ Petition against the 2014 Delhi Judicial Service Examination, filed by the Centre for Public Interest Litigation, through Advocate Prashant Bhushan.The Court however refused to grant a stay on the selection process because the District Judge interviews are due to happen in two days from...

Yakub’s petition should have been heard by Constitution Bench: Prof. Upendra Baxi

A lot has been spoken about the execution of Yakub Abdul Razzak Memon, in the morning of July 30, 2015. The most recent to join the debate is Prof. Upendra Baxi.Hailing the fact that the Court sat in the early hours to hear the petition, Prof. Upendra Baxi wrote in an Article published by India Today , “The pre-dawn hearing was heroic and demosprudential (after all justices acted as...

Accused added under Section 319 of the Cr.P.C cannot avail of the remedy of discharge, rules the Supreme Court

In a significant judgment, the Supreme Court of India has held that the accused who has been added under Section 319 of the Cr.P.C cannot avail of the remedy of discharge under Section 227 of the Code of Criminal Procedure as it does not stand to reason that a person who is summoned as an accused to stand trial and added as such to the proceedings on the basis of a stricter standard of...

Adoptions made simpler : New guidelines in place

Adoption procedure is supposed to become simpler as  the new simplified “Guidelines Governing Adoption of Children 2015” notified by the Central Government on 17th July 2015 have come into effect from today. The press release by the Government through PIB states that the new Guidelines are intended to provide for more effective regulation for adoption of orphan, abandoned and...

Prof. Anup Surendranath resigns as Deputy Registrar (Research) in the Supreme Court of India

Portraying great conviction, NLU Delhi faculty and Director of Death Penalty Research Project has resigned from the post of Deputy Registrar (Research) in the Supreme Court of India. According to his Facebook post, the recent execution of Yakub Memon, the lone death row convict in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case was the ‘final nail’.His post says,“I have been contemplating this for a while...