High Courts Weekly Round-Up

Bombay High Court

The Bombay High Court quashed an FIR filed against Colors TV channel and producers of TV show Big Boss. A bench of Justice Ranjit More and Justice Sadhana Jadhav was hearing a writ petition filed by Endemol India Pvt Limited sought quashing of the FIR dated October 4, 2008, filed by one Sunil K Ahire, President of the Mumbai Pradesh Youth Congress.

The High Court recently rejected an application filed by an accused convicted under provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

The High Court quashed the FIR filed against award winning ceramic artist Vineet Kacker, who was accused of hurting religious sentiments during one of his exhibitions.

In a partial relief to telecom giant Bharti Airtel, the High Court held that local body tax (LBT) cannot be levied on e-recharge, but the court also held that the same can be levied on SIM cards and recharge coupons once those enter within the municipal limits of any part of the state.

The High Court quashed and set aside an order of a metropolitan magistrate rejecting the bail application of a man arrested from the Mumbai international airport pursuant to a red corner notice issued against him, terming it illegal.

Justice GS Patel of the Bombay High Court, who is currently sitting at the Goa bench, repudiated a habitual petitioner for filing a petition that he described as inappropriate in its tone and language, and also disrespectful.

Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court directed the Delhi Government to take urgent steps for auditing of public medical institutions under its control through a third party agency.

Having scorned at frivolous litigation for quite some time now, the High Court recently imposed “actual lawyer’s costs” to the tune of Rs. 2, 00,000 on the dishonest litigants.

Several principles relating to territorial jurisdiction have been discussed and applied by the High Court in its recent decision in Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) vs Electricity Generation Incorporation (EGI) and Others.

The High Court on Monday directed the South Delhi Municipal Corporation to pay token damages to eight artisans, engaged in making effigies for Dussehra, who suffered losses due to the civic body’s anti-encroachment drive at West Delhi’s Titarpur area.

A Division Bench of the High Court upheld an order of a Single Judge dismissing Vodafone’s plea against the consultation process adopted by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) for fixing interconnection usage charges (IUCs) between cellular and fixed line operators.

The High Court on Tuesday refused to grant anticipatory bail to Honeypreet alias Priyanka, the adopted daughter of jailed Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh.

Observing that a retweet brings the contents of original tweet into immediate attention of the followers of the user who retweets, the High Court dismissed the petition of AAP spokesperson Raghav Chadha challenging the summons issued to him in a defamation case filed by Union Minister Arun Jaitley while leaving it to the trial court to decide if retweeting would attract liability under section 499 IPC.

The High Court ordered ‘fair’ probe into the allegations of 47 prisoners that their human rights were violated by the jail authorities who tortured them and beat them up mercilessly and did not care to provide any medical treatment while also barring access to their families to meet them.

The High Court put a stop on the appointment and promotion of guest teachers till October 11 at a time when the Delhi government is getting ready to table a Bill for regularization of guest teachers in the Assembly on October 4.

The High Court clarified that a claim for recovery of rent, mesne profits, etc. relating to an immovable property which was used exclusively for trade or commerce should be treated as a commercial dispute for the purpose of the Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of High Courts Act, 2015.

With the Supreme Court expressing concern over large number of “undated cases”, Delhi High Court Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal directed all judicial officers of the district courts to send data on undated cases pending in each district and update the same once every two weeks.

The High Court recently made interesting observations on the Statute of limitation, while refusing to hear an Appeal which was filed after a delay of 504 days.

The High Court directed the Delhi University to admit 301 students over and above the 2310 students to its three-year LLB course without the cutoff date of August 31 coming in the way in any manner.

The High Court, on Wednesday, issued notice to the Centre on a Petition challenging the Constitutional validity of Sections 375 and 376 of the Indian Penal Code and demanding gender neutral rape provisions.

Gujarat High Court

In a landmark ruling, Justice J.B.Pardiwala of Gujarat High Court held on September 26, that a Hindu daughter can inherit from her father after getting married to a Muslim and embracing Islam.

 Kerala High Court

The Kerala High Court quashed the appointment of five State Information Commissioners (SICs), holding that the entire decision-making process from beginning to the end stood vitiated.

Punjab & Haryana High Court

The Ryan Group CEO and his parents on Thursday were granted interim protection from arrest by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in connection with the murder of 7-year old Pradhyuman Thakur.

Rajasthan High Court

The Rajasthan High Court held that the mere fact of handing over the cheque that was later dishonored would not be enough to make out a case under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instrument Act.