When Highest Court Of The Country Has Passed An Order, Collector Cannot Await Permission To Implement It : Supreme Court

The Supreme Court has disapproved of the practice of authorities delaying the implementation of the directions by seeking permission from their superior officers. When the highest court of the country has passed a direction, there is no basis in seeking permission to implement it, the Court stated recently.A bench comprising Justices BR Gavai and Vikram Nath passed this observation in an...

How Regionally Representative Is Supreme Court? Delhi, UP Leads The List, North-Eastern States Barring Assam Unrepresented

Amidst the protracted power struggle between the centre and the Supreme Court over judicial appointments, last week, the government notified the elevation to the top court, of five chief justices and puisne judges of high courts, whose names had been cleared by the collegium in December. On Monday, Justices Pankaj Mithal, Sanjay Karol, P.V. Sanjay Kumar, Ahsanuddin Amanullah, and Manoj...

Victoria Gowri’s Elevation Exposes Centre’s Double Standards & Collegium’s Fiasco

A person who has a record of making deeply problematic communal statements is now a High Court judge. The appointment of Victoria Gowri as an additional judge of the Madras High Court will remain an ignoble chapter in the Indian judicial history. It raises troubling questions at the efficacy of the selection process- which boasts of consultations at multiple levels - in picking up the...

BREAKING| 'Virginity Test On Accused Unconstitutional': Delhi High Court Allows Sister Sephy To Seek Compensation

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday held that the virginity test conducted on Sister Sephy in the 1992 Sister Abhaya murder case is unconstitutional. Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma observed that the virginity test conducted on an accused during investigation, whether in judicial or police custody, is unconstitutional as being in violation of Article 21 of Constitution of India. Underscoring...

Victoria Gowri Case : Has Supreme Court Ever Quashed HC Judge's Appointment Before Oath-Taking? Yes, Only Once

In the entire history of the Supreme Court, there is only a single precedent of it quashing an appointment of a High Court judge, after finding that the person recommended was ineligible. That extraordinary action happened in the 1992 case Kumar Padma Prasad vs Union Of India And Ors 1992 2 SCC 428, where the Supreme Court quashed the appointment of one K.N. Srivastava as a judge of the...

BREAKING| Collegium Has Taken Cognisance Of Complaints About Victoria Gowri, Says CJI; Agrees To Hear Plea Against Her Appointment Tomorrow

Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud on Monday made a significant disclosure that the Supreme Court collegium has taken cognizance of the complaints against L Victoria Gowri, who has been recommended for appointment as a judge of the Madras High Court.A section of the Madras High Court bar had last week sent a representation to the CJI seeking recall of the recommendation made for the...

When All India Bar Examination Becomes An Expensive Affair

The All India Bar Examination (AIBE) XVII was conducted on February 5, 2023. This year's AIBE saw a high turnout of aspiring lawyers who were eager to take the examination and move one step closer to their goal of practicing law in India. The written test consisted of 100 multiple-choice questions covering a wide range of legal subjects, including constitutional law, criminal law, family law,...

'Serious Allegations Maligning Entire Judiciary' : Kerala High Court Refuses To Stay FIR Against Advocate Saiby Jose In Bribery Case

The Kerala High Court on Monday refused to stay the FIR registered against the Kerala High Court Advocates Association President, Advocate Saiby Jose Kidangoor, over allegations that he has collected money from clients under the pretext of bribing High Court judges.At the outset, the Court asked him why he has moved the Court in hurry within two days of registering the FIR.A bench of...

OCI Rights: Supreme Court Urges 'Higher Echelons' To Examine 2021 MHA Notification Considering Impact On Indian Diaspora

The Supreme Court, on Friday, upheld the notification issued by the Central Government in 2021 - which took away the rights of Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) category students to apply for general seats and confined their right only to Non-Resident Indians (NRI) category seats, but with prospective effect.Noting that the 2021 notification would have a ‘wide ramification’, a Bench...

Tax Authorities Should Maintain Discipline To Follow Decisions Of Higher Authorities : Supreme Court

The Supreme Court, recently, observed that in order to avoid utter chaos in administration of tax laws, decisions made by higher authorities ought to be adhered to. It noted that if the decisions of higher authorities are not followed, the same would also lead to undue harassment of assessees."Unless the discipline of adhering to decisions made by the higher authorities is maintained, there...

From Beedi Factory Worker In Kerala To Judge In USA: Inspirational Journey Of Surendran K Pattel

Life will always throw challenges your way but what matters is how you come out of it. People who have fought it all and reached the top are always an inspiration to many. One such person is Surendran K Pattel — the 240th Judicial District Court judge in Texas’ Fort Bend County.An Indian by origin, Pattel hails from a remote village in Kerala called Balal and had to face a lot of...

'Democracy Has Nowhere Collapsed Due To Judiciary Overprotecting Human Rights' : Arvind Datar Defends Basic Structure Doctrine

While delivering the 19th Justice P. D. Desai Memorial Lecture on the topic 'Fifty Years of Basic Structure - Judicial Overreach or Constitutional Necessity', Senior Advocate Arvind Datar on Saturday said that the basic structure does not act as a stumbling block or thwart an elected government's proposal for social reform. He also said that the Supreme Court has never come in the way of...