High Courts Weekly Round Up

• The High Court observed that a person enrolled as an advocate ceases to be one as soon as he/she takes a full time salaried employment even if he/she continues to occasionally appear in Court for his/her employer. The Division bench comprising of Justice Pankaj Mithal and Justice Saumitra Dayal Singh observed that occasional appearance of Full Time Salaried employees in Courts/ Tribunals on behalf of their employer can not be taken to mean that they are continuing to be in practice as advocates.
• Asked the Indian National Congress to respond to the Public Interest Litigation filed against its Nyay Scheme.

Bombay High Court

• Directed the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MEIT) to assess and review online game PUBG and take action if any "objectionable content" is found.
• Held that the People's Representation Act, 1950, does not empower the Election Commission (EC) or any of its officers to requisition the services of teaching and non-teaching staff in private aided schools for election duty.
• Recently imposed a cost of Rs.25,000 on GTL Infrastructure Limited, a petitioner challenging demand notices issued with respect to municipal taxes on mobile towers.
• Christmas is celebrated with fervour by all and leads to integration of the nation, remarked High Court while directing the Administrators to declare Good Friday as a gazetted holiday in the Union Territory of Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli. Though Good Friday was included in the list of restricted holidays for these Union Territories, it was not a gazetted holiday.
• Quashed and set aside the decision of the Election Commission of India to fill up a casual vacancy in Katol assembly constituency in Nagpur, Maharashtra, calling it arbitrary, discriminatory, unreasonable and violative of the principle of rule of law.
• Observed that when a person drives his vehicle in a very high speed, in spite of knowing the fact that it is thickly populated and very busy road, it will be one of the shade of driving the vehicle in rash and negligent manner.
• Dismissed writ petition filed by petitioner Amrit Pal Singh Khalsa that asked the court for deletion of reference to Sikh leader Jarnail Singh Bhindrawale as "terrorist" in Class IX History textbooks.
• Dismissed a petition seeking a bailout of Jet Airways by a consortium of banks led by State Bank of India and "emergent funds by the government" for meeting day-to-day expenses. A bench of Chief Justice Pradeep Nandrajog and Justice NM Jamdar was hearing the petition filed by "frequent fliers" of the airline.
• In a relief to journalist Poonam Agarwal, Associate Editor of "The Quint", the High Court quashed the FIR registered against her for abetment of suicide of a jawan who was interviewed by her in a sting video.

Delhi High Court

• While deciding a writ petition, held that an accident while returning to join duty should be held to be construed as an accident while on duty.
• Held that non-appearance in investigation proceedings under Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 is not a valid ground to suspend passport under Section 10(3)(c) of the Passports Act.
• Issued notice to the Government of NCT of Delhi and has asked Registrar General of High Court to submit a detailed status report with respect to the status of fast track courts (FTCs) in Delhi.
• Restrained Justdial from using the registered trademark PVR on its platform and ruled in favour of PVR Cinemas. PVR had filed a suit seeking a permanent injunction against Justdial restraining infringement of trademark as well as copyright, passing off, unfair business practices, damages, etc.

Gujarat High Court

• Held that Model Code of Conduct(MCC) is not applicable to a co-operative society which is not wholly or partially funded by the Government and which is not carrying on development work on behalf of the Government.

Madhya Pradesh High Court

• Personal inconvenience of the parties cannot be a ground to waive the period of 6 months as provided under Section 13-B (2) of the Hindu Marriage Act, the High Court held.

Madras High Court

• Upheld the Election Commission's decision cancelling the election in Tamil Nadu's Vellore Lok Sabha constituency. A bench of justices S Manikumar and Subramonium Prasad dismissed petitions filed by AIADMK-led alliance candidate in the constituency, A C Shanmugham, and an Independent, K Sugumar, seeking to set aside the order cancelling the election which was slated for Thursday.
• While rejecting a plea of a teacher challenging introduction of Aadhaar Enabled Biometric Attendance System in Government Schools, asked her to either get enrolled herself to Aadhaar or to leave the service.
• Observed that the employees of Reserve Bank of India cannot be called as Government employees. The Division bench, comprising of Justice KK Sasidharan and Justice PD Audikesavulu, took a contrary view in the writ appeal filed by Manoj Kumar, observing that column in the application form contain only one service for disclosure viz., "Government service", and thus it would not be possible for a Bank employee to record that he is a Government employee.