Pay 300 Cr soon or go back to jail: SC to Subrato Roy

Sahara group chief Subrata Roy secured a huge relief from the Supreme Court today when it extended till August 3 the parole granted to him on humantarian grounds following the death of his mother. But there was a rider.There was a strict condition that he will have to deposit the balance of Rs 300 crore, out of the Rs 500 crore promised by him."But you remember you have to deposit balance Rs...

Bombay HC refuses to quash criminal proceedings against ‘Rape’ accused who married the Victim

The Bombay High Court has refused to quash criminal proceedings against a man who married a lady who had accused him of raping her.The lady had accused a man for repeatedly inducing her to have physical relationship with him with a false promise to marriage. The lady had to undergo abortion twice and later she complained to police after he...

Abolish office of profit disqualification

The ‘office of profit’ controversy is back. This time, 21 MLAs of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi are under threat of losing their membership of the State Assembly. These legislators were appointed Parliamentary Secretaries under various ministers. The President of India has returned the Bill, which was passed to save their membership, and now, the Election Commission has asked them...

Junk food to become costlier in Kerala as new budget imposes ‘fat tax’

In a first of its kind, the Kerala Government has introduced a ‘fat tax’ on consumption of Pizzas and Burgers and other junk food sold through restaurant.The first state budget of the new LDF Government in Kerala which was presented by the State Finance Minister Dr. Thomas Issac today has imposed 14.5% tax on branded restaurants selling by items like tacos, pizzas, burgers, sandwiches,...

The statement “inclusive of all taxes” does not mean the assessee admitted charging Sales tax: SC

A market retail price stating that it is inclusive of all taxes could be the starting point, but would not prove and establish that the sales-tax has been collected, the Bench said.The Supreme Court in Deputy Commissioner of Commercial Taxes (Vigilance) Versus M/s Hindustan Lever Limited, has observed that the statement on the packaged product ‘inclusive of all taxes’, means all taxes...

Plea in Kerala HC against Collegium system of Appointment of Judges [Read Petition]

The Appellant had approached the single bench,seeking an order of ad-interim injunction direction, to refrain from proceeding any further with the selection and appointments of judges to the august office of Supreme Court and Various High Courts by means of the “Collegium System” pending finalization of Memorandum of Procedure (MOP) as envisaged in the judgment of the NJAC case.In the...

Kerala HC admits petition seeking to declare contempt of court jurisdiction as unconstitutional [Read Petition]

The Division Bench of High Court of Kerala, comprising of Acting Chief Justice Thottathil B Radhakrishnan and Justice P.V Asha has admitted a writ petition seeking to declare the exercise of contempt of court jurisdiction as unconstitutional.The public interest litigation has been filed by Advocate Mathews J Nedumpara contending that contempt jurisdiction amounted to negation of powers of...

Perumal Murugan and the Judicial Defence of Free Speech

In a welcome decision, Sanjay Kishan Kaul, who as a Judge of the Delhi High Court had once spoken up in defence of the artist M F Hussain, has once again, along with Pushpa Sathyanarayana, J, issued a decision dated July 5, 2016, which defends the right to free speech. It isn’t quite the victory for absolute free speech which it appears to have been made out to be in some quarters: the...

Senior lawyer Ravi Shankar Prasad is the New Law Minister of India

Ravi Shankar Prasad is the New Law Minister of India. In the cabinet reshuffle, Ravi Shankar Prasad replaced Sadananda Gowda who was occupying the post.Ravi Shankar Prasad who did his Law graduation from Patna University has been practising at the Patna High Court since 1980. He was designated senior advocate at the Patna High Court in 1999 and Senior Advocate at the Supreme Court of India...

SC slams Microsoft, Google, Yahoo for hosting sex determination Advts violating PNDT Act [Read the Order]

Supreme Court today accused online search engines Microsoft, Google and Yahoo of violating the law of the country by hosting advertisements pertaining to pre-natal sex determination and directed Centre to remove them at the earliest with help from technical experts.A bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra was acting on a petition filed by Sabu Mathew George who is a member of the...

Mother can also be natural guardian of a minor; do not insist for custody order: Madras HC to Immigration Bureau [Read Order]

The Madras High Court, has asked the Bureau of Immigration to consider the application to register a minor child as “Overseas Citizen of India” and issue certificate without insisting upon custody order of guardianship in the hands of his mother from court of law, who had obtained divorce from his father.A. Aniswar, through his mother approached the High Court when the immigration...

Relative of Complainant wife does not become “relative of the Husband” to attract Section 498A IPC: AP High Court [Read Judgment]

The High Court of Andhra Pradesh has held that relatives of complainant wife does not become ‘Relative of the Husband’ to attract Section 498A IPC.Justice U. Durga Prasad Rao quashed criminal proceedings against sister in law of the complainant (her brother’s wife), observing that she being a relative of the complainant, cannot be said to be the relative of the husband of the...