Rajasthan High Court Weekly Roundup: June 6 To June 12, 2022

Eptisa Servicios De Ingenieria SL versus Ajmer Smart City Limited 2022 LiveLaw (Raj) 181

Hemant Nahta v. The Honble Speaker, Rajasthan Assembly & Ors. 2022 LiveLaw (Raj) 182

Geetanjali Medical College And Hospital v. The Union of India with other connected matters 2022 LiveLaw (Raj) 183

1. Award Cannot Be Remitted To The Arbitral Tribunal Under Section 34 (4) Of The A&C Act, If No Reasons and Findings Are Recorded: Rajasthan High Court

Case Title: Eptisa Servicios De Ingenieria SL versus Ajmer Smart City Limited

Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Raj) 181

The Rajasthan High Court has ruled that the arbitral award cannot be remitted back to the Arbitral Tribunal under Section 34 (4) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (A&C Act) if there are no findings recorded in the arbitral award on the contentious issues.

The Single Bench of Justice Ashok Kumar Gaur reiterated that discretionary powers under Section 34 (4) of the A&C Act cannot be exercised under the guise of additional reasons or for filling up the gaps in the reasoning. The Court held that in the absence of any findings on the contentious issues in the award, no amount of reasons can cure the defect in the award.

An arbitral award was challenged by the respondent/ award debtor Ajmer Smart City Limited by filing an application under Section 34 of the A&C Act before the Commercial Court. The petitioner/award holder Eptisa Servicios De Ingenieria filed an application under Section 34 (4) of the A&C Act before the Commercial Court. The Commercial Court passed an order dismissing the application of the petitioner. Against this order, the petitioner filed a writ petition before the Rajasthan High Court.

2. BSP MLAs Disqualification: Rajasthan High Court Refuses Interim Stay On Declaration Of Rajya Sabha Election Result; Polling Tomorrow

Case Title: Hemant Nahta v. The Honble Speaker, Rajasthan Assembly & Ors.

Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Raj) 182

The vacation bench of Rajasthan High Court dismissed an application which sought interim stay on declaration of results of Rajya Sabha Elections till the disposal of writ petitions pertaining to disqualification of the six Rajasthan MLAs who originally were elected as Members of Bahujan Samaj Party and were later on considered as Members of the Indian National Congress.

The order passed by the Speaker was challenged by Bahujan Samaj Party and Madan Dilawar, a sitting MLA of Bharatiya Janta Party and their petitions were disposed of by the Single Judge on 24.08.2020. The petitioner informed the court that the challenge against the single Judge's order has been pending before the Apex Court and no interim order has been passed by the Apex Court.

3. Medical Assessment & Rating Board Has Jurisdiction To Stop Admissions But Lacks Authority To Order Its Cancellation: Rajasthan HC Opines Prima Facie

Case Title: Geetanjali Medical College And Hospital v. The Union of India with other connected matters

Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Raj) 183

The Rajasthan High Court, Jodhpur has observed that Medical Assessment & Rating Board (MARB) has jurisdiction to issue directions for stoppage of admissions but prima facie, it lacks the authority to issue cancellation of admission.

Essentially, a batch of writ petitions were filed by medical colleges and its students, challenging the recommendations made by MARB for withdrawal of letter of permission, cancellation of admission in undergraduate and postgraduate courses for the academic year 2021-22 in the petitioner-institutions.

On 28.04.2022, the court had passed an interim order protecting the admissions already granted to the students in various undergraduate or postgraduate courses in the petitioner institutions for the academic session 2021-22.

Other Important Updates

1. Rajasthan High Court Gets Husband-Wife Duo As Judges

The Acting Chief Justice of Rajasthan High Court, Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava administered the oath to two new judges, namely Justice Shubha Mehta and Justice Kuldeep Mathur.

The swearing-in ceremony is noteworthy because this is the first time in the history of the Rajasthan High Court that a husband-wife duo will be sitting at the High Court at the same time. Notably, Justice Shubha Mehta is married to Justice Mahendra Kumar Goyal, who was elevated to the Bench on November 6, 2019 and has been serving as the Rajasthan High Court judge since then.

The Rajasthan High Court has a total sanctioned strength of 50 Judges, which includes 38 permanent and 12 additional judges. Presently, there exist no additionally appointed judge working in the High Court. With the new appointments, the working strength of the High has now increased to 27

Justice Kuldeep Mathur has been appointed from Advocate's quota while Justice Shubha Mehta has been appointed from Judicial service quota.

2. REET Paper Leak | "67 Persons Arrested So Far", State Informs Rajasthan High Court; HC Orders To Investigate Role of Former RBSE Chairman D.P. Jaroli

Case Title: Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (Abvp) v. The State Of Rajasthan with other connected matters

While reviewing the status report of the court monitored Special Operation Group in the matter pertaining to the paper leak of Rajasthan Eligibility Examination for Teacher (REET) 2021, the division bench of Rajasthan High Court has recently ordered to investigate the role of D.P. Jaroli, former Chairman of Board of Secondary Education, Rajasthan (RBSE) and to interrogate him, if necessary.

On perusal of the records, the court observed that the concerned Chairman had engaged all the coordinators which included the disputed coordinators Pradeep Parashar, who is said to be involved in the leakage.

The court noted that presently there is no material except the allegation that Pradeep Parashar's involvement was at the instance of the concerned Chairman. It is submitted before the court that Pradeep Parashar managed to enter into the activity of movement of question papers which were kept in the boxes as the Collector of the concerned District had shared the confidential information with regard to the places where question papers were kept.

3. Child Labour: Rajasthan High Court Seeks Concrete Action Plan In PIL To Institutionalise Rescue & Rehabilitation Mechanism

Case Title: Gopal Singh Bareth v. State Of Rajasthan

While hearing a public interest litigation seeking to institutionalise effective machinery and mechanism for rescue and post rescue rehabilitation of all child labourers in the State of Rajasthan, a division bench of the High Court has observed that a firm and concrete action plan is required from the state to curb child labour activities in the state.

The present public interest litigation is filed by Advocate Gopal Singh Bareth.

Notably, in compliance with the court's previous order on 17.06.2020, the state has formed a high level committee comprising the Secretary, Department of Labour and the Labour Commissioner as Chairman and Secretary of that committee respectively. Further, detailed directions were also issued in the present matter on 28.09.2020 by the court.

4. Rajasthan Advocate Self-Immolates Alleging Harassment By SDM, SHO: HCBA Demands Officials' Arrest & Suspension

A Sikar based Advocate Hansraj Mawaliya died yesterday after setting himself on fire inside the Sub-Divisional Magistrate's office.

In his suicide note, the advocate has alleged that Sikar's Sub-Divisional Magistrate Rakesh Kumar and Khandela Station House Officer Ghasiram Meena had been harassing him for bribe for every hearing in the court.

It was also alleged in the suicide note that the concerned SHO was threatening him for speaking anything against the SDM Rakesh Kumar.

In pursuant to the above development, the Rajasthan High Court Bar Association, Jaipur has condemned the tragic incident and has raised demands from the State government to suspend and arrest the concerned officers and employees with immediate effect.