AK Sikri

From Monday, 9 March 2015, a special Supreme Court bench comprising of two seasoned tax hands, Justice AK Sikri and Justice RF Nariman, began exclusively hearing and deciding tax cases from Monday to Friday.

Supreme Court justices TS Thakur and AK Sikri told the Sahara Group after a two hour hearing that they would have to pay Rs 10,000 crore to get its boss Subrata Roy and two directors released from jail.

The judges, who replaced the previous bench of justices KS Radharkrishnan and JS Khehar amid unprecedented controversy, said: "You come with a specific proposal and not cast your net so wide, stalemate will not help anybody, including investors. Come with a specific, logical and acceptable proposal." [IANS]

They also responded to Sahara's offer, represented by senior counsel Rajiv Dhawan and Abhishek Manu Singhvi, that a refund of Rs 17,000 crore had been made to investors in cash, saying: "What business you [Sahara] have? How did you generate Rs.20,000 crore overnight? You must have deposited the money in a bank or the money was stacked somewhere... Was it somewhere in a locker or in gunny bags stacked in some corner?" Sahara is now considering selling its foreign hotels to get the money, reported Reuters.

Supreme Court justices TS Thakur and AK Sikri will be hearing the controversial Sahara case on 19 May after Justice KS Radhakrishnan retired and Justice JS Khehar recused himself and said he wanted nothing to do with any Sahara matters in future. Radhakrishnan had professed to have faced "unimaginable pressured and tension" in the case. [PTI]

The Supreme Court yesterday stayed its September 2012 order that made it compulsory to appoint retired judges to central and state information commissions under the Right to Information (RTI) Act 2005.

High courts at Delhi, and Punjab and Haryana got new chief justices while the tenure of Kerala high court’s chief justice was renewed on Friday.

Delhi high court’s 58-year-old chief justice AK Sikri took oath as chief justice of Punjab and Haryana high court on Sunday. 61-year-old Delhi HC judge Darmar Murugesan moved into Sikri’s chair at the high court. Kerala high court’s 56-year-old acting chief justice Manjula Chellur will continue as chief justice of the court for another term [PTI]