Calcutta High Court Weekly Round-Up: July 24 - July 30

NOMINAL INDEXAuroma Coke Limited v Coal India Limited and others 2023 LiveLaw (Cal) 192The State of West Bengal & Ors. Vs. M/s. BBM Enterprise 2023 LiveLaw (Cal) 193Tanushree Hazra Vs State of West Bengal And Ors. 2023 LiveLaw (Cal) 194Shreekant Sharma Vs. The State of West Bengal & Anr 2023 LiveLaw (Cal) 195Somnath Gupta Vs. State of West Bengal & Orr 2023 LiveLaw (Cal)...

Calcutta High Court Directs Sentence Review Board To Reconsider Plea For Remission Of Man Who Has Spent 23 Yrs In Jail

The Calcutta High Court has recently directed the West Bengal State Sentence Review Board (“the Board”) to reconsider the plea of a petitioner, who has spent 23 years in incarceration, for remission of sentence, upon noting that the Board which had considered the plea was not only improperly constituted, but had also failed to consider the National Human Rights Commission...

Arbitrator Appeared As Counsel For An ‘Affiliate Company’ Of The Claimant, Award Liable To Be Set Aside : Calcutta HC

The High Court of Calcutta has held that an arbitration award is liable to be set aside for violation of Sections 12(1), 12(2) and 12(5) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 when the arbitrator appeared in court for an ‘affiliate company’ of the claimant during the pendency of the arbitration without disclosing such an engagement to the respondent. The bench of...

Transferring School Teacher Not Violation Of Right To Life, Dignity: Calcutta High Court Upholds Provision Under WBSSC Act

The Calcutta High Court has upheld the constitutional validity of Section 10C of the West Bengal School Service Commission Act, 1997 (“1997 Act”) which was introduced vide an amendment in the year 2017 enabling transfer of a teacher from one school to another.A division-bench of Justice Harish Tandon and Justice Prasenjit Biswas were assigned to decide the common question of...

Court May Permit Award-Holder To Withdraw Security Deposited By Award-Debtor Pending Challenge To Arbitral Award U/S 34: Calcutta High Court

The Calcutta High Court has recently allowed an application filed by the State of West Bengal, as an award-holder in AP 808 of 2022, under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (“1996 Act”) to withdraw a security of Rs 9 crore furnished by BBM Enterprises (“award debtor”) in lieu of the arbitral award, during the pendency of setting aside proceedings on the impugned award,...

Passport | Police Verification Only To Ascertain Genuineness Of Documents, Applicant Cannot Suffer Indefinitely For Its Inaction: Calcutta High Court

The Calcutta High Court has held that during the ‘police verification’ process for the issuance of passport, the responsibility of the police is limited to ascertaining the genuineness of documents produced for verification by the applicant, and that the applicant should not be made to suffer indefinitely for inaction by the police authorities. In allowing a writ-petition, directing...

Continuous Drum Beating Impermissible, No Religious Tenet Says You Do This: Calcutta High Court Issues Directions Ahead Of Muharram

Ahead of Muharram , the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday issued directions to the West Bengal Police and the State's Pollution Control Board to regulate instances of public nuisance caused by alleged drum-beating and open-air kitchens.A division bench of Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharya said the State ought to counterbalance the right to enjoyment of religion...

Can't Order Further Investigation For Second Time If Relevant Materials Already On Record: Calcutta High Court

The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday dismissed the revision petition filed by film director Somnath Gupta against Sessions Court order dismissing his prayer for second further investigation into alleged ‘piracy’ of his film “O-Kay…? At Night in the Forest”.The criminal case was registered in 2015 under various provisions of the IPC and the Indian Copyright Act, 1957. Gupta claimed...

Calcutta HC Orders Suspension Of IO, Inspector-In-Charge For Making Arrest In POCSO Case Without Material, Disclosing Victim's Identity

The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday directed the Commissioner of Police, Bidhannagar, to suspend the Inspector-in-charge and Investigating Officer in a POCSO case, while expressing serious objections over the ‘appalling lack of awareness’ regarding investigation procedure.A division bench of Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Ajay Kumar Gupta held:“The police officers concerned appear...

Calcutta High Court Refuses To Quash POCSO FIR Against ‘Priest’ Grand-Uncle, Says No Time Limit Can Be Prescribed For Filing Such Complaints

The Calcutta High Court has refused to quash the criminal proceedings under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (“POCSO Act”) initiated by a minor girl against her grand-uncle, a priest, accusing him of committing various acts of sexual assault upon her, when she was 15-16 years old. In refuting the contentions raised by the petitioners, including the delay in filing of FIR,...

Calcutta High Court Directs Pollution Control Board To Conduct Surprise Inspection On Rice Mills Allegedly Discharging Toxic Effluents

The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday directed the West Bengal Pollution Control Board (“PCB”), to carry out surprise inspections on certain rice-mills in Arambagh allegedly discharging toxic effluents into a kuchha ‘drain’ along the side of a busy National Highway. Upon noting that the PCB had previously ordered the closure of the aforesaid rice mills due to their illegal and...

Teacher Recruitment Scam: Calcutta High Court Judge Withdraws From Hearing Abhishek Banerjee's Plea After ED's Objection

Update: Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam re-assigned the matter to bench of Justice Tirthankar Ghosh.Justice Tirthankar Ghosh of the Calcutta High Court on Monday released a quashing petition moved by AITC MP Abhishek Banerjee in connection with the West Bengal Teachers Recruitment “cash-for-jobs” scam.The development comes after ED objected to his court hearing the matter. ASG SV Raju...