Category: LEGAL NEWS

Nobody wants a “system of opaqueness” but in the name of transparency the judiciary cannot be destroyed, the Supreme Court said Thursday, while hearing the appeals of its registry against the Delhi High Court order that the CJI’s office falls under the ambit of RTI Act.A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi reserved its verdict on three appeals filed in 2010 by Secretary General of the Supreme Court and the Central Public Information officer of the apex court against the High Court and the CIC’s orders after…

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BSP supremo Mayawati Tuesday defended in the Supreme Court the construction of life-size statues of herself in Uttar Pradesh, saying they represent the “will of the people”. The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister, in an affidavit filed in the apex court, said the memorials and statues of herself and other leaders were “intended to promote values and ideals of various sants, gurus, social reformers and leaders among the public and not intended to promote the symbol of BSP or to glorify” her.Mayawati said in her affidavit that her statues came…

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The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the Election Commission’s March 10 decision notifying Gujarat’s Talala Assembly constituency seat as vacant and declaring bypolls there along with the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi also issued notice to the poll panel on a plea filed by former Congress MLA B D Barad, who had challenged his disqualification as an MLA and the subsequent EC’s decision notifying the seat as vacant.Barad has moved the apex court against the Gujarat High Court’s March 27 verdict dismissing his…

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The Supreme Court Friday asked the Gujarat government to take disciplinary action in two weeks against the erring police officials, including an IPS officer, convicted by the Bombay High Court in the sensational Bilkis Bano gang rape case during the 2002 riots in the state.Besides, Bano in a plea before the top court sought exemplary compensation from the state government, refusing to accept its offer of Rs 5 lakh.A bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna asked the Gujarat government to complete the disciplinary…

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The Supreme Court Wednesday said it would hear after two weeks a plea which has sought to restrict a candidate from contesting from more than one constituency in a general election. The matter was mentioned for early listing of the plea before a bench of Justices S A Bobde, M M Shantanagoudar and S Abdul Nazeer.”List after two weeks before appropriate bench,” the bench said.The Election Commission (EC) in an affidavit filed earlier in the apex court had quoted its 2004 proposals on electoral reforms and said that law should be…

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The Supreme Court Tuesday refused to acknowledge the claim of the TTV Dhinakaran-led outfit over ‘pressure cooker’ as common election symbol.The apex court, however, directed the Election Commission (EC) to consider granting common free election symbol to the candidates of the Dhinakaran-led outfit for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls and assembly by-elections in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi also made it clear that its order asking the EC to consider granting common election symbol would not amount to granting recognition to his outfit as…

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The Supreme Court Monday favoured increasing the random physical verification of VVPAT slips in the upcoming Lok Sabha and assembly polls and told the EC that “no institution should insulate itself from improvement, including the judiciary”.It was not the question of “casting aspersions”, rather a matter of “satisfaction” of the electorate, the top court said.It asked the EC to file response as to whether it can increase the number of sample surveys of VVPAT slips from one in each assembly segment for the upcoming general and assembly elections. The court was…

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The Supreme Court will hear on Monday a fresh plea seeking a direction to authorities not to evict any forest dweller and to set up an SIT to look into alleged illegal acquisition of tribals’ land.A bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Sanjiv Khanna had on March 5 taken cognisance of the plea, filed by Chhattisgarh-based Tarika Tarangini Larka, seeking a direction to the Centre not to allot possession of any forest land belonging to tribals to anyone other than ‘adivasi’ residing in that particular area.The apex court,…

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The Delhi state consumer commission has observed that claimants are made to run from pillar to post to get medical reimbursement from insurance companies and it would be “extremely tenuous” to expect a layman to read each and every clause of an insurance document before signing it.On most occasions, a person who intends to obtain insurance has no choice to say no to a clause in an insurance policy, the commission said.It said medical insurance is primarily obtained for the purpose of unforeseen medical conditions and so long as there…

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The Supreme Court has said that acid attack is an “uncivilised and heartless crime” which does not deserve any clemency.The apex court observed this while asking two convicts, who have already undergone five year jail for throwing acid on a 19-year-old girl in 2004, to pay Rs 1.5 lakh each as additional compensation to the victim.The top court also asked the Himachal Pradesh government to pay compensation to acid attack survivor under the Victim Compensation Scheme.”Indeed, it cannot be ruled out that in the present case the victim had suffered…

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