Category: LEGAL NEWS

The Supreme Court heard 593 matters via video-conferencing and delivered judgement in 215 of them in a month during the unprecedented nationwide lockdown.   As COVID-19 infections spread in the country, the Supreme Court shut its doors to litigants and lawyers on March 23, two days before the lockdown came into force, but opened up to a virtual new way of functioning, albeit with a reduced strength. In normal times, the apex court dispose of nearly 3,500 cases on an average a month. Two-three benches have been taking up “urgent”…

Read More

The Delhi High Court has granted two weeks’ time to five schools run by the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) to pay salary arrears to its teachers, some of whom have not been paid since December last year.   A bench of justices Vipin Sanghi and Sangita Dhingra Sehgal said “there can be no justification for non-payment of salaries” when fees were being charged from the students. The schools had contended that the salaries could not be paid as fee arrears from students had accumulated. The bench rejected the…

Read More

The Delhi High Court has expressed satisfaction over measures taken by the Centre and Delhi government to provide treatment to non-COVID-19 patients including those needing chemotherapy, dialysis and pregnant women, despite the enormous pressure due to coronavirus situation.   The court said if a citizen has any grievance related to medical facilities, it can approach competent authorities in the government for appropriate redressal through helplines and dedicated Whatsapp numbers and also asked Centre and Delhi government to give wide publicity to helpline numbers and continue to render medical aid and…

Read More

Death penalty cases and those related to family laws may be listed for hearing through video-conferencing mode, the Supreme Court said on Saturday.   In a notice issued on its website, the apex court said this, however, would be subject to availability of the bench concerned and prior approval of Chief Justice of India S A Bobde. “Take notice that, short category matters, death penalty matters and matters related to family law, which are ready, may be listed for hearing through video-conferencing mode subject to availability of the concerned bench…

Read More

A plea has been moved in the Delhi High Court seeking to restrain Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his administration from classifying some COVID-19 cases as “Tablighi Jamaat” or “Masjid Markaz”, alleging it amounts to religious profiling.   In Delhi, coronavirus has infected around 1,640 and claimed 38 lives. The petition by a lawyer on Thursday alleged that after the Tablighi event, Kejriwal via his tweets “deliberately” classified several affected cases under a separate caption — “Masjid Markaz”. The petitioner, advocate M M Kashyap, claimed that such reporting of the…

Read More

The Supreme Court took note of the Centre’s submission on Wednesday that it was taking steps to implement relief measures to help the poor during the nationwide lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic and disposed of a PIL seeking relief such as financial help and food for them. A bench headed by Justice N V Ramana recorded the statement of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta who explained the steps taken by the centre to address the concerns raised in the petition. The apex court, through video conferencing, was hearing the PIL…

Read More

The Supreme Court took note of the Centre’s submission on Wednesday that it was taking steps to implement relief measures to help the poor during the nationwide lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic and disposed of a PIL seeking relief such as financial help and food for them. A bench headed by Justice N V Ramana recorded the statement of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta who explained the steps taken by the centre to address the concerns raised in the petition. The apex court, through video conferencing, was hearing the PIL…

Read More

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a plea seeking quashing of the decision to set up the PM CARES Fund, where people can donate money, to deal with the situation arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic. A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde described the PIL filed by lawyer M L Sharma as “misconceived” and dismissed it in a hearing conducted through video conferencing. The bench, which also comprised justices L Nageswara Rao and M M Shantanagoudar, did not agree to the contention of the lawyer…

Read More

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a plea seeking quashing of the decision to set up the PM CARES Fund, where people can donate money, to deal with the situation arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic. A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde described the PIL filed by lawyer M L Sharma as “misconceived” and dismissed it in a hearing conducted through video conferencing. The bench, which also comprised justices L Nageswara Rao and M M Shantanagoudar, did not agree to the contention of the lawyer…

Read More

A Congress MP from Kerala has approached the Supreme Court seeking direction to the Centre to establish a specialised team to identify Indian citizens who are stranded in Gulf countries and require immediate evacuation amid the coronavirus pandemic. M K Raghavan, a Member of Parliament (MP) from Kerala’s Kozhikode constituency, has said in his plea that the Centre should also be directed to facilitate the evacuation of Indian citizens who cannot afford to travel back from Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nations — Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar,…

Read More