GK/Current Affairs for Judiciary (19- 25th April 2020)

  • SC to take up ‘crucial matters’ that need short hearings
    • The Supreme Court will begin hearing crucial matters that require “short hearings” and death penalty cases from next week on the request of advocates.
    • The court will also take up review and curative petitions which do not require oral hearings.
  • CIC upholds EC’s refusal to disclose Lavasa dissent note
    • The Central Information Commissioner has upheld the EC’s refusal.
    • EC had refused to disclose under the RTI Act Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa’s objection to the clean chit given to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former BJP president Amit Shah.
    • They were being given clean chit on charges of violating the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) during the 2019 Lok Sabha election campaign.
    • Lavasa had insisted that his view be incorporated in the full order.
    • He had differed with the majority view in five different complaints of MCC violations against Modi and Shah.
    • The full EC had decided that minority views would remain part of the records, but not its order.
    • The full EC comprises of Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora and members Lavasa and Sushil Chandra.
    • Chief Information Commissioner: Shri Bimal Julka.
  • Health data secrecy: HC seeks report from Kerala
    • The Kerala government made a deal with a US-based firm to share health status details of persons under home quarantine for their suspected exposure to COVID-19.
    • The row over it has come under the scanner of the Kerala High Court.
    • The court raised concerns over the confidentiality of data being transferred to Sprinklr, a software-as-service (SAAS) firm.
    • It observed, “We do not want the COVID epidemic to be substituted as a data epidemic”.
  • Affluent in OBC, SC/ST not letting quota benefits trickle down, review lists: Bench
    • The Supreme Court pointed out concerns within the OBCs and the SC/STs that reservation benefits are not reaching the truly deserving among them.
    • It said the government is “duty-bound” to periodically review the process in order to ensure that the benefits “trickle down and are not usurped by” the affluent in these categories.
    • The court ruled a January 2000 order as of the Governor of erstwhile state of Andhra Pradesh as unconstitutional.
    • That order provided 100 percent reservation to ST candidates in posts of school teachers in Scheduled areas.
  • State can fix sugarcane price higher than Centre, says SC
    • The Supreme Court stated that it was open to both the Centre and states to fix the price of sugarcane.
    • But the states cannot decide on a price lower than the statutory minimum price fixed by the Centre, ruled the Supreme Court.
  • No coercive steps against Arnab for three weeks, says SC
    • The Supreme Court granted Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami protection for three weeks from “coercive steps”.
    • The ruling came after multiple FIRs were filed against him.
    • They were being filed over his alleged derogatory remarks against Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi during a news show.
    • He made the remarks while discussing the lynching of three persons, including two sadhus, in Palghar in Maharashtra.
  • Supreme Court upholds compulsory retirement of R&AW officer
    • In this case, the bench upheld the compulsory retirement of former R&AW officer Nisha Priya Bhatia on the ground of “exposure”.
    • The bench also upheld the constitutional validity of the relevant provision in the Research and Analysis Wing (Recruitment Cadre and Services) Rules, 1975, under which Bhatia was given compulsory retirement.
    • The court awarded her a compensation of Rs 1 lakh.
    • It was given on finding procedural errors in the setting up of the committee under Vishakha guidelines to enquire into her complaint of sexual harassment against two colleagues.
  • NCLT to hear MCA plea on Delhi Gymkhana Club ‘mismanagement’
    • The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) agreed to hear a petition moved by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) alleging “fraudulent and rampant mismanagement of affairs” at Delhi Gymkhana Club.
    • The club’s 16-member governing body has been given time till May 8 to respond to charges levelled by the MCA.
    • The governing body is headed by retired Lieutenant General D.R. Soni.