Legal News for Judiciary (23-29th February, 2020)

  • PM a visionary, versatile genius, says SC judge
    • Supreme Court judge Arun Mishra hailed PM Narendra Modi for his leadership.
    • Justice Mishra said that PM’s leadership led to India emerging as a “responsible and friendly member of the international community”.
    • He also praised Modi as a versatile genius who thinks globally and acts locally.
    • Justice Mishra made these statements at the international judicial conference at New Delhi.
  • Collegiums main culprits for rising vacancies in HCs: Govt
    • The Centre blamed the collegium for not filling up vacancies in high courts.
    • The Centre has told the Supreme Court that HC collegiums were the main culprits as there was inordinate delay on their part in recommending names for judgeship after the vacancy arose.
  • SC slams govt on payment of ad hoc school teachers
    • The Supreme Court on Monday slammed Delhi government for paying a meagre Rs 4,000 per month to ad hoc teachers in schools when the minimum wage for unskilled labourer was fixed at nearly Rs 15,000.
    • The court asked it to come out with a policy to regularise their jobs.
    • The bench was hearing an appeal filed by the government challenging a Delhi high court order directing the department of education to treat the teacher as a regular employee with effect from 2001 and pay him back wages.
  • HC: For case under SC/ST Act, offence must be in public
    • The Allahabad high court set aside an order of summoning under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.
    • It said that for constituting an offence under this Act, the offence must have been committed in public view.
    • If the offence has allegedly been committed behind closed doors — where no witness is present — the SC/ST Act cannot be applied, said Justice R K Gautam.
    • He said so while quoting a Supreme Court ruling and disposing a petition filed by a Sonbhadra residence against the order of Duddhi judicial magistrate in Sonbhadra.
  • Majoritarianism is the antithesis of democracy, says SC’s Justice Gupta
    • Expressing serious concern over a ‘troubling’ trend of branding dissenters anti-national or traitors, Supreme Court’s Justice Deepak Gupta said that in a democracy right to dissent is a precious right and that the government has no right to stifle a peaceful protest.
    • He was delivering a lecture on ‘Democracy and Dissent’ organised by the Supreme Court Bar Association.
    • He said that majoritarianism is antithesis of democracy and criticising the government does not mean one is ‘anti-national’ or is against the country.
  • Weinstein found guilty of sex crimes in #MeToo watershed
    • Harvey Weinstein was found guilty of two felony sex crimes after a trial in which six women testified that he had sexually assaulted them.
    • The jury found Weinstein guilty of rape and criminal sexual act.
    • But the jury acquitted him of three other counts, including the two most serious charges which carried a potential life sentence — that he is a sexual predator.
  • Bihar becomes first NDA state to adopt anti-NRC resolution
    • Bihar became the first state with an NDA government to unanimously adopt a resolution to stick to the old National Population Register (NPR) pro forma.
    • It adopted only the transgender column from the new format recommended by the home ministry.
  • HC pulls up DGCA over Kamra flying ban
    • The Delhi high court questioned aviation regulator DGCA Tuesday for “endorsing” the decision of three airlines other than Indi-Go to ban comedian Kunal Kamra for allegedly heckling a journalist on board.
    • The court asked DGCA to clarify by Thursday why it “certified” the action of other airlines to penalise Kamra without any inquiry by the authorities.
  • Five SC judges catch H1N1, right to religion hearing gets derailed
    • In the past 10 days, Supreme Court judges and thousands of practising lawyers have been spooked by H1N1.
    • Five judges have been kept in isolation on being found infected with the virus.
    • This derailed day to-day hearing by a nine-judge bench to outline the ambit and scope of right to religion.
  • Unnao rape convict Sengar disqualified from UP House
    • Expelled BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar has been disqualified from the membership of the UP assembly, following his conviction in a rape case.
    • The development has necessitated a byelection in Bangarmau assembly seat in Unnao, represented by Sengar.
  • Onus on petitioner to give admissible legacy proof: HC
    • The Gauhati high court has ruled that an individual’s link to her “projected parents” must be supported by “admissible evidence” for her citizenship to be established.
    • It ruled so while acting on a petition challenging an Assam tribunal’s order declaring a woman a “foreigner” despite her submitting eight documents.
    • A bench of justices Manojit Bhuyan and Pathivjyoti Saikia also ruled that oral testimony without any documentary evidence isn’t admissible in this case.
  • SC bar body criticises judge for praising PM
    • The Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) condemned Justice Arun Mishra’s praise for PM Narendra Modi at a recent event.
    • It called on SC judges to maintain judicial independence by refraining from making such statements or show close proximity to the political executive.
  • SC to consider revisiting ‘Hindutva’ definition case
    • The Supreme Court said it would expedite hearing on a pending petition seeking revisiting the court’s earlier definition of ‘Hindutva’ as a way of life
    • It said that it would hear arguments for and against the plea from certain quarters to disqualify candidates if they made use of ‘Hindutva’ to seek votes.
    • A bench headed by Chief Justice S.A. Bobde said it would hear the petition after completion of arguments in the faith versus fundamental rights case arising from pleas seeking review of the SC’s Sabarimala judgment.
  • Protests cannot infringe rights of others, says SC
    • The Supreme Court ruled that one’s right to protest could not infringe upon the rights of others as it upheld the Uttarakhand high court verdict initiating stringent action against lawyers boycotting district court work for years.
    • Uttarakhand lawyers had moved the SC claiming that the HC verdict violated their fundamental right to free speech to go on strike court work to protest against issues concerning them.
    • They said it was a mode of peaceful representation to express grievances of the lawyer community.
  • For second, HC stays Uttarakhand’s definition of ‘forest’
    • Two months after it stayed the definition of ‘deemed forests’ introduced by the state government in November last year, the Uttarakhand high court once again put a stay on the changes made by the administration in February.
    • The HC had on December 10 last year put a stay on the state government’s office order.
    • The order defined deemed forest as “a patch of land of at least 10 hectares and having at least 60 % canopy cover along with at least 75% native species.”
  • Prez assent to resume delimitation exercise in Assam after 12 yrs
    • President Ram Nath Kovind gave his assent to the Centre’s proposal to resume delimitation of assembly and Lok Sabha constituencies in Assam.
    • The assent came 12 years after it was put on hold over concerns that the exercise would pose a threat to law and order.
  • Ex-min rape case: SC to hear plea for transfer
    • The Supreme Court agreed to hear on March 2 the plea of a law student that the rape case lodged by her against former union minister Swami Chinmayanand be transferred to a Delhi court from UP.
  • SC asks if hydel projects can be moved to zones not eco fragile
    • The Supreme Court suggested exploring the feasibility of shifting hydro-electric power projects on Bhagirathi and Alaknanda rivers in Uttarakhand to non-eco fragile zones to facilitate resumption of the projects which have been stalled for the last seven years.
    • The SC also asked the environment ministry and the state government not to grant environmental or forest clearances to any project till further orders.