Category: LEGAL NEWS

 The Supreme Court has scrapped the condition imposed by Maharashtra authorities that limited the number of female and male performers in orchestra bars to four each, saying rules based on gender stereotypes have no place in the society. “While the overall limit of performers in any given performance cannot exceed eight, the composition (i.e., all-female, majority female or male, or vice versa) can be of any combination,” it said in an order. A bench of justices K M Joseph and S Ravindra Bhat, which set aside the Bombay High Court…

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a charge-sheet against 160 more accused, including the chairmen of three medical colleges in Madhya Pradesh, for allegedly rigging the 2013 Pre-Medical Test (PMT) in the multi-crore Vyapam examination and recruitment scam. This took the number of accused who have been charge-sheeted in the case to 650 so far. “The charge-sheet was filed on Thursday in the special CBI court of Nitiraj Singh Sisodia hearing Vyapam-related cases, against 160 new accused, including Pankaj Trivedi, former controller of Madhya Pradesh Vyavasayik Pariksha Mandal…

The Supreme Court on Thursday said it would look into submissions for urgent hearing of the plea related to conducting polls for the ‘Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike’ (BBMP), whose term ended on September 10, 2020. A bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana was told by senior advocate Meenakshi Arora, appearing for some of the candidates for the civic body polls, that elections have not taken place despite the fact that the tenure of the civic body ended in September 2020. The senior lawyer said the poll process has…

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday refused to suspend the seven-year term awarded to real estate barons Sushil and Gopal Ansal in the Uphaar fire tragedy evidence tampering case. As far as Ansal brothers are concerned, I am rejecting their application, said Justice Subramonium Prasad. Last year, Ansals and former court staff Dinesh Chand Sharma and two others — P P Batra and Anoop Singh Karayat – were awarded seven-year jail term by a trial court and the sessions court had refused to suspend the sentence and release them on…

An appeal has been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the direction of the Karnataka High Court that has asked students not to insist on wearing any cloth on campuses of educational institutions which can instigate people, till the matter is resolved. The plea filed by a student has sought a stay on the direction of the high court, which is hearing the hijab issue, as well as the proceedings going on before the three judge bench. The appeal contended that the high court has sought to curtail the fundamental…

Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut has written a letter to Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, claiming he was approached by certain people who asked him to assist in toppling the MVA government in Maharashtra so that the state could be forced into mid-term elections. In the letter to Naidu, who is also chairman of the Rajya Sabha, Raut said central agencies like the Enforcement Directorate (ED) were systematically targeting Shiv Sena leaders, after the party formed government in Maharashtra with the NCP and Congress after severing ties with its old…

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday gave three weeks to the Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP to file their affidavits in response to a PIL challenging the one-day bandh called by the three ruling parties in Maharashtra in October last year. The court also said if the three parties do no file their response, then “consequences will follow”. The public interest litigation (PIL) was filed by four senior citizens, including former Mumbai police commissioner Julio Ribeiro, challenging the one-day bandh called by the three constituents of the Maha Vikas Aghadi…

The Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) on Saturday requested Chief Justice of India N V Ramana that physical hearings in the apex court be resumed to the pre-pandemic level as the COVID-19 situation is in control and stressed that ‘open court hearing’ is both the “convention and constitutional requirement”. In a letter addressed to the CJI, SCBA president Vikas Singh said the positivity rate in the national capital has come down to below four percent and the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) has decided to reopen schools, colleges and gyms…

The Supreme Court has directed the Uttar Pradesh government to re-examine its policy for premature release of life term convicts prescribing a minimum age of 60 years saying prima-facie it does not seem to be sustainable. A bench comprising Justices S K Kaul and M M Sundresh observed this while considering an appeal by a convict seeking a direction for his premature release from prison. As per the policy, all convicts who have completed the age of 60 and have undergone custody of 20 years without remission and 25 years…