Supreme Court

TERI Pachauri: RK Pachauri, accused of sexual harassment by a former colleague, has returned to TERI in a new role created just for him - executive vice chairman - after a decision by the governing body. (India Today).

Many decade-old cases pending in lower courts: More than 10 per cent of 2,00,60,998 (2 crore) pending lower court cases have been unsettled for longer than 10 years, according to data from the law ministry’s new National Judicial Data Grid, while 41 per cent of cases have been pending for less than two years (PTI).

SC rejects Arunachal Pradesh rebel plea against a Gauhati high court decision upholding the then speaker’s decision to accept their resignations: Senior advocate L Nageshwar Rao, appearing for two rebel MLAs, unsuccessfully told the Supreme Court: “I have never seen such kind of resignation letters in my whole life where the maker cannot take it back. The language of the resignation letters warranted an inquiry by the Speaker. The letters were written under duress and coercion.” (The Hindu).

Headley talks: Terrorist David Headley’s deposition before a special court continued into its second day today over video conferencing, telling judge GA Sanap and special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam about how he was not paid by any terrorist outfits to assist in the Mumbai 2008 terror attacks (The Hindu).

Haji Ali woman ban: Bombay high court reserves judgment on banning women from entering inner sanctum of Haji Ali Gurgah in Mumbai (Indian Express).

Justice Rakesh Ranjan Prasad transferred from Jharkhand high court to Manipur high court (PIB).

Google capture failed: A US federal judge threw out a proposed class-action lawsuit against Google alleging fraud for wasting seconds of time of people signing up for a free Gmail account, because half the two-word CAPTCHA does not actually need to be solved... (Ars Technica).

Karanjawala & Co partner Nandini Gore yesterday became the Supreme Court Advocates on Record Association’s (SCAORA) first ever office-bearer who is the member of a law firm. Gore prepares to push for AOR quota in judicial appointments, and for senior AORs to be automatically designated senior advocates, among other privileges part of the association’s agenda.

The curative petition of Yusuf Mohsin Nulwala, a convict in the 1993 Mumbai blast case, will be heard by the Supreme Court tomorrow by the bench comprising the three senior-most Judges, namely, the CJI, TS Thakur, and justices Anil R Dave and JS Khehar beween 1:40 and 1:45 pm in their chambers tomorrow.

The before the Constitution bench at court number 3 at 2 pm began on a serious note with the Attorney General, Mukul Rohatgi asking the bench whether it was at all required to copy thousands of pages of official correspondence at the chief minister’s office on various trivial matters, when what the petitioners want access to, is something else. The AG also claimed that the chief minister’s office in Itanagar is not sealed, and the petitioners have not yet made any attempt to claim access to the documents which they want.

Even as the Supreme Court is yet to upload its order referring the curative petitions filed by Naz Foundation and others to the five Judge Constitution bench, a debate has already begun over the scope and composition of the bench among observers.

165 candidates passed this year’s advocates-on-record (AoR) exam this year - a huge increase compared to the 65 candidates out of 544 who passed a year ago.

The Supreme Court has referred the section 377 curative petition to a Constitution Bench for further examination.

Chief Justice of India (CJI) TS Thakur, and justices Anil R Dave and Jagdish Singh Khehar, will hear the section 377 curative petition today at 3pm in the Supreme Court.

The social justice bench comprising justices Madan B Lokur and UU Lalit, set up by the previous chief justice of India, justice HL Dattu on 12 December 2014 has now officially ceased, and the cases which were part-heard before that bench, have been distributed to other benches.

Today’s judgment in Sachchidanand Gupta “Sachchey” vs State of UP through Chief Secretary and Others showed that the chief justice of the Allahabad high court had also opposed Justice Sanjay Misra’s name, which was proposed by the chief minister.

The Supreme Court appointed ex-Allahabad high court judge Sanjay Mishra as Lokayukta of Uttar Pradesh, reported Mint , after the court had ordered ex-judge Virendra Singh to take up the post in December but admitting that the state government had not shared with the about reservations about the integrity Singh by Allahabad high court chief justice DY Chandrachud.

Also read: The curiouser and curiouser case of the UP Lokayukta appointment.

The Supreme Court’s two constitution benches in adjacent court rooms of 1 and 3 heard two governors simultaneously at 2pm today: one a former governor, and an alleged victim of political vendetta, and the other a sitting governor, who allegedly conspired with the Centre to topple a duly-elected government by recommending President’s rule.

The case Nabam Rebia vs Registrar General, Gauhati High Court, will be heard at 2pm tomorrow (27 January) before the five-judge Constitution bench in Court No 3.

The Supreme Court yesterday declined to entertain three review petitions of its original 7 May 2014 judgment banning Jallikattu, reported The Hindu, only a week after the Supreme Court had ordered that the Centre’s restarting of Jallikattu was illegal and declined to vacate its order.

As reported by Legally India on 20 January, the bench of Justices V Gopala Gowda and Pinaki Chandra Ghose had allocated five minutes for the review hearing.

The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed a Delhi high court order quashing the 60 percent admission quota for the wards of Group A officers of the All India Central Services in elite Sanskriti schools.

An apex court bench headed by Justice Anil R Dave, however, said the quota will also cover the children of central government employees of civil, defence and allied services whose jobs are transferable.

The order came after Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi told the apex court that during a high court hearing, the government had filed an affidavit that the 60 percent quota in admissions would cover the wards of Group A, B and C employees of the central government with transferable jobs.

Staying the high court order and clearing the decks for admissions in Sanskriti schools, the apex court said: “No preferential treatment will be accorded to anyone in the admission process.”

Court No 7 of Supreme Court was witness to a suspenseful hearing on 20 January as counsel after counsel told the Bench comprising justices Ranjan Gogoi and Prafulla C Pant that it had been misled by the Uttar Pradesh Government that Justice Virendra Singh, a former judge of the Allahabad high court, whom it appointed as the Lokayukta of Uttar Pradesh under Article 142 of the Constitution, which gives the Court extraordinary powers to do complete justice in a case, was in the list of names being considered by the selection panel. 

After having lost two rounds in the Supreme Court, first on 12 January and again on on 13 January the Jallikattu fans in Tamil Nadu appear to be a determined lot, keeping all their hopes in the Apex Court once again.