A row erupted after the Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi-headed five-judge Collegium in a fresh resolution on January 10 recommended the elevation of Justice Dinesh Maheshwari and Justice Sanjiv Khanna to the Supreme Court bypassing the seniority of several judges.
He cited examples of journalists reporting about coronavirus cases and related issue such as lack of ventilators, being charged with fake news provisions.
He said the Constitution provides for the right to silence, which means an individual can refuse to answer questions from the police in case of arrest or detention.
'I have repeatedly been saying that the collegium system is the best available method of appointment of judges, but it needs some changes. This needs discussion. One important change is that the opacity of the government has to go. The government is more opaque than the collegium'
Let the existing collegium system which is functioning not get derailed, the SC observed.
The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a plea seeking to disclose the details of a collegium meeting held on December 12, 2018, under the Right to Information Act.
During his tenure as an apex court judge, Justice Lokur had dealt with pollution matter which included the aspect of stubble burning.
The apex court said the exception in the rape law was contrary to the philosophy of other statutes and violates the bodily integrity of a girl child.
The Delhi high court on Wednesday dismissed an appeal challenging a single judge's order quashing a plea seeking the agenda of the Supreme Court collegium's meeting on December 12, 2018, when certain decisions were purportedly taken on the elevation of judges to the apex court.
"What is this? Last time you (West Bengal government) had given an undertaking, which we wanted to record, that the commission will not proceed. You had said that it was not necessary to record in the order. Again you started inquiring," said the bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana
The apex court, which quashed the NJAC Act in an unanimous verdict, also declared as unconstitutional the 99th amendment to the Constitution to bring in the Act to replace the collegium system.
The Delhi high court on Wednesday dismissed a challenge to the Central Information Commission's order dismissing an RTI appeal seeking the agenda of the Supreme Court collegium's meeting on December 12, 2018, when certain decisions were purportedly taken on elevation of judges to the apex court.
Supreme Court delivered a split verdict on a Dravida Munnetra Kazagham's leader's plea seeking removal of a public prosecutor from representing state in the Karnataka high court, which recently reserved verdict on an appeal of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in a disproportionate assets case.
The bench said the law in question was only 'targetting' married women and not the men who can have relationships with unmarried women, widow and married women with the consent of their husbands.
The Supreme Court on Monday held that Tamil Nadu government has no right to appoint advocate Bhawani Singh as special public prosecutor to appear in Karnataka High Court for J Jayalalithaa's disproportionate assets case.
A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde passed the order while considering the Centre's stand that it is coming out with a comprehensive legislation to deal with air pollution, including the aspect of stubble burning.
The most strident criticism of UP's anti-conversion ordinance has come from the judiciary with several retired Supreme Court and high court judges having described it as being violative of Article 14 (Right to Equality), 15 (Prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion), 21 (Right to Life) and 25 (Freedom of conscience) of the Constitution, points out Rashme Sehgal.
"We will work out the parameters then we will see as to how mentioning will be done," he said.
On the first working day after the unprecedented presser on Friday, tt was business back to normal on Monday
The court was informed that the commission for air quality management will start functioning from today.
The Congress accused the Centre of making a serious assault on the basic structure of the Constitution, saying the action subsumes the independence of the judiciary.
With the elevation of these four new judges, the strength has risen from 24 to 28.
'The Supreme Court should take it up with the government and send a message that high court judges are not pawns in the transfer games.'
The Supreme Court on Monday posed some tough questions to a lawyer, asking him to substantiate his "unfounded allegations" in a PIL that Indian pharma major Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd was allegedly manufacturing and selling adulterated medicines.
"That is fantastic. A (former) cabinet minister is not traceable. Fantastic. How could it happen that a (former) cabinet minister is not traceable and nobody knows where she is? Do you realise the seriousness of this? You have to explain to us how a (former) cabinet minister is not traceable," the bench said.
The SIT told a bench comprising Justices Madan B Lokur and U U Lalit that they have registered 42 cases and investigations were going on in accordance with the court's direction.
The apex court also said CBI officers probing the shelter home cases in Bihar shall not be transferred without its prior permission.
Besides Pratapgarh, incidents of rape and sexual abuse of women and girls at shelter homes run by NGOs have also surfaced recently in Muzaffarpur in Bihar and Deoria in Uttar Pradesh.
With the two appointments, the strength of the top court will rise to 28 with three vacancies.
A seven-judge Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice of India TS Thakur said the secular ethos of the Constitution had to be maintained by keeping elections a secular exercise.
A roster of the work for fresh cases notified under the order of the chief justice of India will come into effect from February 5 till further orders.
There cannot be a 'blanket ban' on media reporting on cases of rape and sexual abuse, it said.
A glance back at some important events that occurred in 2018.
The high court verdict on AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa's disproportionate assets conviction appeal just got delayed, says N Sathiya Moorthy
Should the Karnataka high court deliver a verdict in the Jayalalithaa case on Thursday, the Supreme Court bench on Friday could pass orders in her bail extension plea that may end up staying the former ruling, reports N Sathiya Moorthy.
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