The Bench and the Bar

In a revelation which may shock many, the Solicitor General, Ranjit Kumar told the Supreme Court’s three-Judge bench hearing the black money investigation case this afternoon at Court No 2, that nothing survived in this case, and the court could dispose it of.

The Delhi government on Tuesday told the Delhi high court that it will consider exempting lawyers from the odd-even traffic restrictions if the scheme was enforced again in the national capital.

The afternoon hearing at Court No 4 of the Supreme Court on the entry of women to Sabarimala temple got interesting with senior counsel for the temple board, KK Venugopal, comparing the discrimination at Sabarimala with similar classification on the basis of gender in other areas of activity.

Taking a dig at Maharashtra government over its persistence to curb dance bars, the Supreme Court on Monday said that it was better to dance then go to streets for begging or going to “places which are not acceptable” to earn a livelihood.

The Chief Justice of India (CJI) TS Thakur’s cricket team – the CJI XI – won in its face-off against the Supreme Court Bar Association’s (SCBA) team, by 35 runs at the Feroz Shah Kotla Delhi cricket stadium yesterday, reported the Times of India.

The Bombay high court’s justice RV Ghughe, batting 53 runs, was the top-scorer among the judges of the various high courts and the Supreme Court who had come together in the CJI’s XI in their annual cricket match with members of the bar part of the SCBA XI

The CJI XI made 195 runs in 20 overs, while the SCBA XI made 160. The CJI XI had won the toss and chose to bat first.

SCBA vice president Ajit Kumar Sinha told TOI that the purpose of the annual match is to “reduce the tensions between the bar and the bench and to have fun together”.

India cannot achieve its economic growth without a robust judiciary overseen by an adequate number of judges, Chief Justice TS Thakur said on Sunday.

Two live hand grenades were found on Saturday in an unclaimed bag in the Varanasi district court premises, leading the police to cordon off the area and suspend the court’s work.

“All the entry and exit points to the court have been sealed and police is trying to check the whole premises for any more such things,” a senior police official told IANS

The grenades have been sent to be defused, an official of the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) said.

A passer-by spotted the unclaimed bag under a chair near gate number one of the court and called the police.

While the police is saying that a probe is on, local intelligence unit (LIU) officials link the finding of the hand grenades to a possible gang war; they say Brijesh Singh and other mafia dons frequent the court for appearances in cases.

The possibility of a terror angle is also being explored, an official said.

There was a bomb explosion in this court in 2007 in which some people were killed.

All the cases listed for the day have been postponed to Monday.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Aakash Kulhari said a probe is underway and that security has been scaled up.

Varanasi is the parliamentary constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

It was an exchange of barbs, rarely witnessed, in the Supreme Court’s courtrooms. But then it was not an ordinary case, with huge stakes in the outcome, even if there are several rounds of battle ahead.

The Supreme Court on Friday ordered the Uttarakhand High Court order, removing President’s rule in the hill state and restoring Congress’ Harish Rawat as chief minister, be kept in abeyance till 27 April.

A bench headed by Justice Dipak Mishra, while passing its orders, said the high court will deliver its reasoned judgement by 26 April.

The order came after an hour-long, heated argument on the central government’s petition seeking stay of the high court order.

After not doing so yesterday despite everyone’s expectations to the contrary, the Supreme Court today asked the central government to approach its secretary general for listing its petition challenging the Uttarakhand High Court order setting aside president’s rule in the state.

An apex court bench of Justice Dipak Misra and Justice SK Singh asked Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi to approach the court’s secretary general after he mentioned the central government’s plea challenging high court judgement.

The court said thereafter, Chief Justice TS Thakur will decide which bench will hear the matter.

It is likely that the central government’s plea may come up for hearing later in the day or on Monday.

In a major blow to the BJP-led central government, the Uttarakhand High Court on Thursday set aside president’s rule in the state, restoring Congress leader Harish Rawat as the chief minister, nearly a month after he was ousted.

As news of the Uttarakhand high court quashing President’s rule in the state reached the Supreme Court, suspense was building up whether the Centre would seek an immediate stay by mentioning the matter before Court No.1, where the Chief Justice of India (CJI) TS Thakur and Justice R Banumathi were hearing the pollution matter.