The Bench and the Bar

Jessica Lal murder case hostile witness Prem Sagar Manocha – the ballistic expert who was charged for perjury by the Delhi high court in May 2013 – was cleared of the charge by the Supreme Court on Wednesday.

A Division Bench of the Delhi high court comprising the chief justice G Rohini, and Justice Jayant Nath today set aside the order of the Single Judge of the High Court directing the Supreme Court registry to comply with the Central Information Commission’s directive to maintain records regarding the judgments pending, after being reserved by the benches.

In Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust and Ors vs R Ramanathan and Ors, the Supreme Court bench comprising justices Madan B Lokur and SA Bobde, refused to intervene in the dispute between the Aurobindo Ashram Trust and the respondents over the former’s failure to take steps to seek confiscation of copies of the book, “The Lives of Sri Aurobindo” written by Peter Heehs.

In a significant ruling, a federal judge in San Francisco has declined to give a macaque monkey the right to his famous selfie in Indonesia in 2011.

Delhi police commissioner BS Bassi said that the police was nowadays “committed to human rights” but bemoaned that the 1960s and 1970s were a bygone era in which criminals still feared the police.

The facts unfold the plight of a poor landlord languishing in courts for over fourty years. The case gets sadder when we note that appellant had been successful both in the trial court and the first appellate court and the saddest part is that the high court in second appeal, went against him on a pure question of fact!”

Justices Anil R Dave, Kurian Joseph and Adarsh Kumar Goel will hear in their chambers at 1.45 pm today the review petitions filed by the CBI and the Association of Victims of Uphaar Tragedy (AVUT) against the judgment delivered by them on 23 September 2015 substituting the sentences of the convicts, Sushil Ansal and Gopal Ansal with a fine of Rs 30 crore to be paid by each.

While Sushil Ansal got relief on the ground of old age, Gopal Ansal’s sentence was substituted on the ground of parity.

When the CBI’s counsel, Harish Salve and AVUT’s counsel, KTS Tulsi expressed the grievance that they were not heard before the bench decided to substitute the sentences of the convicts, Justice Dave had advised Salve to file a review petition, raising the same grievance.

The 23 September judgment had led to considerable outrage.

The AVUT, in its review petition filed separately, has sought the hearing of the petition in open court. If the Judges agree to do so, it will be listed separately for hearing in open court, for hearing arguments from both the sides. If the judges do not see merit in the plea for open court hearing, the review petition may be dismissed in chambers without any reasons being given.

In view of the dissatisfaction with the 23 September 2015 ruling, observers expect the bench to agree to open court hearing of the review petitions.

Legally India will update after the chamber hearing.

The Supreme Court on Monday was unimpressed with the functioning of the national carrier Air India, which is running into losses while other private airlines are prospering, demanding to know the reason why, reported The Economic Times.

A bench of Chief Justice of India TS Thakur, Justice AK Sikri and Justice R Banumathi asked: “While private airlines are prospering, Air India is going into red. Who should be held responsible for Air India mess? There are so many stories going around.”

They were hearing a public interest litigation asking the carrier to commence flights connecting Delhi and Shimla. The Himachal Pradesh high court had on 7 December 2015 asked the carrier to commence that flight route on a trial basis, which was put on hold by the Supreme Court.

Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar, representing Air India, told the court that the flight connecting the two cities was not economical as there were 12 to 15 one-way passengers only, and that Shimla airport did not have refuelling facilities to which the court reportedly reprimanded the government with: “You have already constructed an airport, probably spending Rs 100 crores, now you can’t say that there is no refuelling facilities.”

The court issued notice to the civil aviation ministry, the Airports Authority of India, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, and the Himachal Pradesh government as well as the petitioner Paras Daulta.

The matter will come up for hearing next on 16 February.

Former Chief Justice if India (CJI) SH Kapadia passed away last night in Mumbai aged 68.

Chief Justice of India (CJI) TS Thakur and Supreme Court Justice AK Sikri are carpooling, reported The Indian Express:

The two also finalised their travel itinerary for the next 15 days when the odd-even scheme would be in effect in the capital.

The two decided to lead by example and carpool, despite being exempt from the policy as they hold constitutional posts. Justice Thakur has an odd-numbered car, while Justice Sikri’s vehicle is even. The two live close to each other.On Monday - the first working day in the top court after winter break - Justice Sikri picked up the CJI on his way to court.