Serving Supreme Court Complex for decades, displaced now in the name of Security [Read the Judgment]

A Supreme Court of India bench of Justice M.Y. Iqbal and Justice C. Nagappan finally dashed the hopes of five  hawkers who lived on Supreme Court Complex for more than four decades by dismissing an appeal filed by one of the tea vendors  Sri. Dharam Chand. He was given hawker’s license (Teh Bazari ) by New Delhi Municipal Council, and was recoginsed as a  street vendor, but due to...

Doctor approaches Supreme Court against striking Lawyers

An  NRI doctor, Kunal Saha approached the Apex Court raising the issue of  ongoing lawyer strike in Calcutta High Court contending that  the advocates have no right to strike or boycott court proceedings to settle their personal grievances. A three-judge bench of Justices T S Thakur and V Gopala Gowda and R Banumath has agreed to hear his plea.The Doctor in his petition claims that he...

SC seeks response of Centre & Delhi Govt to plea seeking metering and pricing of ground water

The Supreme Court of India has sought the response of the Union and Delhi governments in a SLP filed against a judgment passed by the Division Bench Delhi High Court summarily dismissing a public interest litigation seeking metering and pricing of groundwater in the without examination of the public interest issues raised in the petition.According to the petitioner, the writ petition filed by...

Proceedings under the Excise Act to abate with the death of the Assessee: Supreme Court [Read the Judgment]

A bench comprising of Justices A.K. Sikri and Rohinton F. Nariman on Tuesday held that that there is no machinery under the Central Excises and Salt Act, 1944 (The Central Excise Act, 1944 as it stands today)and the rules thereunder to continue assessment proceedings against the legal representatives or estate of an assesse after his death.Late Mr. George Varghese was the sole proprietor of...

After night long judicial action, Yakub Memon executed on his 53rd birthday [Read the Judgment]

Yakub Abdul Razzak Memon was hanged to death in the Nagpur Central Prison, on his 53rd birthday, as a theatrical culmination to the unprecedented legal action last night. He was hanged at 6:43 am.At around 5 am, the Apex Court rejected Memon’s mercy plea, observing that a stay on the death warrant could be a travesty of justice since ample opportunity was provided to Memon, after the...

A Tribute to Former President Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

Former President Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, popularly known as Missile man, passed away after collapsing while delivering a lecture at the Indian Institute of Management, Shillong yesterday. His sudden demise has left a great vacuum in the country which can never be filled up. He was highly respected for his outstanding personality and humanitarian qualities. He graced the Indian Presidency for...

Activist Priya Pillai joins the battle for Decriminalization of Defamation before SC; FMP pleads for Practice Guidelines for defamation Trials

Greenpeace activist Priya Pillai on Tuesday moved the Supreme Court challenging the criminal defamation provisions under the Indian Penal Code. She has challenged the filing of criminal defamation complaint filed against her by Essar Power MP Ltd in a Madhya Pradesh court.The matter was mentioned by Advocate Karuna Nundy and Advocate Avi Singh before a Bench comprising of Justices Dipak Misra...

SC delivers split decision on Yakub Memon’s plea:Three Judge Bench headed by Dipak Mistra will hear Tomorrow [Read the Judgment]

In an interesting twist of events, Justice Anil R. Dave and Justice Kurian Joseph have delivered a split decision on Yakub Memon’s Writ Petition.A new Bench comprising of Justices Justice Dipak Mishra, P C Pant and Amitav Roy will hear the matter Tomorrow in Court No;4 Item No;2Justice Dave has dismissed Yakub Memon’s Writ Petition. He noted that the Memon’s application is pending...

Supreme Court allows 14 year old Rape Survivor to terminate her Pregnancy

A two Judge Bench of the Supreme Court comprising of Justices Anil Dave and Kurian Joseph allowed a 14 year old rape survivor to terminate  her pregnancy if it is necessary to save her life. By allowing her Appeal against the Gujarat High Court Order, Supreme Court had directed that a Panel of Doctors which consisting of Four Gynecologists should examine the girl on July 30.  [Read the...

APJ Abdul Kalam; The Constitutionalist

The article first published on July 25th,2007 in Law and other things.As A.P.J.Abdul Kalam's eventful tenure came to an end, he seems to have generally got a very good press in terms of editorials and commentaries. Pratap Bhanu Mehta, while lauding him for crossing the class barrier, refers to his occassional lapses of Constitutional judgment, which apart from his other such blemishes, did...

IPAB: SC dismisses Govt’s SLP against Madras HC decision striking down key provisions as unconstitutional

In a major development for the Indian IP law, a Supreme Court bench comprising Justice Gogoi and Justice Ramana has dismissed the Governments’ appeal against the Madras High Court decision that had rendered certain provisions of the IPAB unconstitutional.The Apex Court dismissed the Special Leave Petition saying that the there was no reason to interfere with the ruling since the law was...

Union Govt mulls legislative changes to introduce audio-video recording of court proceedings & disclosure of case statistics

The Union Government may consider legislative proposals to introduce audio-video recording of court proceedings, besides making it mandatory for high courts to disclose judicial statistics to bring in more transparency in the functioning of the judiciary.The proposal to bring in relevant amendments in law was discussed at  meeting of the Advisory Council of the National Mission for...