High Courts Weekly Round-Up

Bombay High Court

The Bombay High Court held that in the absence of a named legatee, courts can step in and remove an errant executor in order to protect the interests of one Bipin Gupta’s will.

A man has lost his share in his father’s flat for mistreating his step-mother as the Bombay High Court held that it was implied that the father as well his second wife would be looked after by the petitioner and his wife after transfer of 50 percent share in the flat.

The High Court recently accepted service of notice in an execution application through WhatsApp messenger after finding that notice served in the form of a PDF file was not only delivered, but the attachment was opened as well.

 Delhi High Court

Opining that the Delhi Government is “bent upon treating the disabled as non-existent, or, in any case not having any rights”, the Delhi High Court prohibited the Government from purchasing standard floor buses for the Capital, in view of these being inaccessible to persons with disabilities.

The High Court directed AIIMS, country’s premier health institution, to compensate an aspiring medical student, who was not allowed to sit in this year’s MBBS entrance examination just because the QR Code in his Aadhar Card could not be sca...

The High Court recently reduced the sentence of life imprisonment awarded to a man convicted of concealing the fact of his first marriage, and thereby maintaining sexual relations with his “second wife” on that pretext.

The High Court dismissed a Petition seeking a direction to the Delhi University (DU) to conduct the entrance exam for its LLB course in Hindi.

Terming it a “directed invective against the Prime Minister”, the Delhi High Court dismissed a plea moved by AAP leader Sanjay Singh wherein he had sought directions to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attend the Parliament regularly and respond to questions raised in the house.

 Gauhati High Court

The Gauhati High Court took suo moto cognizance of the lynching of two youth — Nilotpal Das and Abhijit Nath – by villagers in Karbi Anglong district and asked the government as well as the police as to what effective measures have been taken to arrest the wrongdoers.

 Gujarat High Court

The Gujarat High Court on Tuesday rejected the State’s revision application against a lower Court order directing payment of Rs. 3 lakh as compensation to a 15-year-old rape survivor from Gir Somnath district.

 Kerala High Court

In another significant win for the LGBTQ community, the Kerala High Court last week refused to allow a habeas corpus petition filed by the mother of a transgender person, asserting that the transgender had “the right to wander about or associate with likeminded people and cannot be compelled to be at his parental home” as demanded by her mother.

The Kerala High Court upheld the Central Government notification that banned the export of shark fins and observed that there cannot be ‘wholesale killing of sharks’ to cater to the needs of negligible consumers.

The High Court, on Tuesday, rejected anticipatory bail plea of five persons apprehending arrests in connection with ‘Facebook Hartal’ to protest Kathua Rape Incident.

The High Court turned down a widow’s plea challenging the constitutionality of Section 33(b) of the Indian Succession Act which provides 50 percent of deceased husband’s property to those who are kindred to him.

The High Court come to the rescue of yet another ‘nameless’ child. Recently, a division bench headed by Acting Chief Justice Hrishikesh Roy upheld a single bench judgment that directed the Registrar to name a 5-year-old boy as ‘Steve’

 Madras High Court

The Madras High Court recently dismissed a plea to stop the release of a movie titled Irumbuthirai which allegedly spread misinformation about the Central Government’s policy of Aadhaar card and Digital India.

The High Court observed that the state is under a bounden duty to prohibit manual scavenging and it cannot avoid its liability to compensate manual scavengers who lose their lives in course of manual scavenging, by reason of the inability of the State to stop manual scavenging.

A Division Bench of the Madras High Court on Thursday delivered a split verdict on the petitions challenging the disqualification of 18 dissident AIADMK MLAs owing allegiance to AMMK leader TTV Dhinakaran.

 Uttarakhand High Court

Taking strong note of the illegal and unscientific disposal of debris in river which in the recent past resulted in flash floods in the state wherein many lives were lost, the Uttarakhand High Court on Monday stayed all construction activities/ widening of roads on the river banks in the state till the time agencies concerned identify muck disposal sites at least 500 metres away from the river banks....

The High Court issued a slew of direction for welfare and protection of rights of senior citizens in the state. A bench of Justice Rajiv Sharma and Justice Lok Pal Singh issued the following directives while disposing of a PIL filed by the Senior Citizen Welfare Organization seeking directions for protecting the rights of the senior citizens as per the provisions of the Maintenance and Welfare of the Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007.