High Courts Weekly Round-up

Allahabad High Court

Allahabad High Court, in a Petition filed by a minor rape Victim, requested the Government to frame suitable legislation in the matter of rehabilitation of rape victims. It also directed the state government to State Government make a fixed deposit of a sum of rupees ten lakhs in the name of Victim. A division bench of Justices ShabihulHasnain and D. K. Upadhyaya also remarked “The question of rehabilitation of a rape victim can best be answered by the people and the masses and not by the courts alone. They should be accepted; not haunted by the society”.

The Court in a special Appeal has very categorically held that appellant is not entitled to the grant of status as a Scheduled Tribe candidate in the State of Uttar Pradesh on the basis that he belongs to the Meena tribe which is designated as a Scheduled Tribe in the State of his origin, namely in the State of Rajasthan.

The High court also quashed a sedition case against Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. Summons issued by Judicial Magistrate taking suomoto cognizance of alleged offences on the basis of an article written by the applicant and posted on hisFacebook page was quashed by Justice YashwantVarma on Friday.

In an order passed by the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court, the Court directed the state government to seek details of foreign trips, air travels, pets, domestic workers, mobile numbers, club memberships, children’s schools and colleges among others of all state government employees against whom any property related complaint is made and inquiry is being done.

Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court asked the Central Government to fill three vacancies of Information Commissioners within six weeks. A Division bench of Chief Justice G.Rohini and Justice R.S. Endlaw, passed this order in a Public Interest Litigation, filed alleging inaction on the part of the Union Government in filling up the vacancies of Chief Information Commissioner and three Information Commissioners in the Central Information Commission and contending that the same has frustrated the very object of the Right to Information Act, 2005.

The High court in the matter of Manisha Sharma V. Commissioner Of Delhi Police rejected a woman’s plea for a temporary licence to sell crackers in the national capital.

A Division Bench of the Delhi High Court comprising of Justice Pradeep Nandrajog and Justice Mukta Gupta in a Reference quashed the reservation of 60 percent seats for children of the central government’s Group-A officers in Sanskriti School run by the Civil Services Society. The court was considering the question whether the Union Government can provide land free of cost to a Society formed with the object of providing school education, with 60% seats reserved for children of Group-A officers of the Union Government; finance the construction of a school building and provide the required infrastructure to run the school. The court took suomotu cognizance of the issue in 2006.

Jharkhand High Court

The High court of Jharkhand has, suomoto directed the Local bodies in the state of Jharkhand to perform regular cleaning exercise in the water bodies of the state during the ensuing Deepawali and Chhat festivities. A division bench comprising of Chief Justice Virender Singh and Justice P.P. Bhatt pursuant to the submission by amicus curiae Mr.Indrajit Sinha, directed the local bodies to ensure cleaning of water bodies on day-to-day basis between 10th November, 2015 to 18th November, 2015.

Kerala High Court

Kerla High court dismissed a Public Interest Litigation seeking quashing of exception to Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code exempt sexual intercourse or sexual acts by a man with his own wife, she not being under 15 years age from the definition of rape.

The High Court upheld the UGC norms prescribing qualifications of University Vice Chancellors. Justice K. VinodChandran dismissed a writ petition which was filed challenging the government prescribing UGC qualifications for the post of Vice Chancellor.

The Court dismissed a Writ Petition filed by ‘The House Surgeons Association’, an association of House Surgeons in the various hospitals across the State, seeking permission to celebrate the Graduation Ceremony with pomp and show in the Government T.D. Medical College Auditorium, Alappuzha. In his Judgement, Justice V. Chitambaresh asserted that“Graduation Ceremony is a formal ceremony to receive the certificates after wearing a prescribed attire for which there need not be any celebration inside the college campus”.

The High Court finally disposed of Writ petitions and Public Interest Litigations on the issue of stray dog menace. The division bench comprising of Chief Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice A. M. Shaffique, in a detailed judgement gave eight point directives to the state and local authorities to address the menace.

A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed challenging the constitutional validity of Sections 3(1), 4(2) and proviso, 4(4), 5, 6, 9(2), 15(2),16(5), 18(b), 19, 20, 32(10), 35 and 38(1) of the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act, 2010 was dismissed by the Division Bench of Kerala High Court comprising of Chief Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice A.M.Shafffique on not being satisfied that the enactment suffers from any infirmity, arbitrariness or violation of fundamental rights.

The Court also quashed the orders of penalty imposed on Flipkart and Myntra under Kerala Value Added Tax Act. Justice A.K. JayasankaranNambiar held that these orders reflect a patent non-application of mind by the authority concerned and also smack of arbitrariness.

Gujarat High Court

Gujarat High Court held that a Muslim cannot be prosecuted for Bigamy [S.494 IPC] in the absence of a Uniform Civil Code.

The High Court dismissed a revision application against the order of Chief Judicial Magistrate dismissing a complaint against Prime Minister NarendraModi. Justice J.B. Pardiwala dismissing the revision plea, filed by original complainant who alleged that Modi violated the Poll code during 2014 General elections, said that order of Magistrate does not suffer from any error.

Meghalaya High Court

Emphasizing on the deteriorating law and order situation in Meghalaya’s Garo Hills region, the full bench of the Meghalaya High Court has asked the Centre to use the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act to bring the situation under control.