Sending a strong message that people against whom criminal and corruption charges have been framed be not inducted as ministers, the Supreme Court on Wednesday said the prime minister and chief ministers should desist from making such appointments and act in "national interest".
The Supreme Court on Wednesday came out with a slew of guidelines to improve the collegium system of appointment of judges in the higher judiciary to make it more transparent and accountable by asking the Centre to finalise a memorandum of procedure in consultation with the Chief Justice of India.
Highlighting the pendency of cases in various courts of the country, he said Indian legal system is marked by long delays and some of the reasons for it are infrastructure gaps and considerable vacancies, particularly in subordinate courts.
Justice Gogoi, the 46th CJI and the first from a north-eastern state, said it was not the requirement of the Supreme Court that judges 'reach out to our citizenry through the press'.
The court referred the NCRB data and said 38,947 women were raped in India in 2016. "What is to be done? Girls and women are getting raped left, right and centre," the bench said."
Referring to the "mountains of garbage" at the three landfill sites -- Ghazipur, Okhla and Bhalswa-- the court said no action has been taken by authorities, including the office of the LG due to which Delhi was facing the serious problem.
The apex court also expressed anguish over the Uttar Pradesh government failure to come out with a vision document to preserve and protect the Taj Mahal.
The apex court also said that "misplaced political propaganda has no place" and "such practices should be deprecated".
Pulling up the Himachal Pradesh government, the apex court told the state government to implement the law.
The SC on Wednesday restrained all high courts from entertaining any petition challenging validity of NJAC act meant to replace the two-decade-old collegium system.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Centre to provide "full co-operation" to Central Bureau of Investigation in its probe in coal block allocations scam by providing it with all necessary information and files without any delay.
The Centre on Wednesday placed a list of names of 627 Indian account holders in HSBC bank, Geneva in the black money case before the Supreme Court which asked a Special Investigation Team to go through the list and take appropriate action in accordance with law.
By raising a banner of revolt against the CJI, the 4 judges have dealt a body blow to the faith of many Indians in the Supreme Court, argues Sudhir Bisht.
Speculation over Justice Gogoi's appointment as the next CJI arose after the court's four most senior judges, including Justice Gogoi, called a press conference in January and criticised Justice Misra on various issues.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday rapped the army asking why it had maintained silence over allegations of rape and murder against its personnel in Manipur and questioned the state government for not proceeding with these cases against them.
The apex court said its two-judge bench in its July 4 2011 order for setting up of SIT felt that 'no effort was made to bring back the money stashed in foreign banks' which could have been accounted and pumped into the 'mainstream of the Indian economy'.
The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation to file remaining five of the six charge sheets by March 28 in the coal block allocation scam, declining to grant more time sought by the agency for this purpose.
The government had declined to appoint Justice Joseph's to the top court and asked it to reconsider his name.
'Although India has a lot more to offer in terms of tourism other than the Taj, yet there is nothing compared to the Taj Mahal.'
The apex court said the present CBI director would head the special investigation team which would look into the report of the apex court-appointed panel headed by M L Sharma, a former special director of the agency, that had prima facie indicted Sinha in the matter.
While posting the matter on April 29, the bench asked the Solicitor General to take proper instruction from the Revenue Secretary and also respond "What prevented them (Centre) to comply with the directions."
The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Madhya Pradesh government to pay Rs 10 lakh as compensation each to the two school-going girls gang-raped last year in Betma town of Indore district and issued show cause notice to a senior police officer as to why criminal case be not lodged against him for disclosing the names of victims in his affidavit.
The inquiry by will not deal with the allegations of sexual harassment against the CJI.
The deceased was heading one team and hotel owners allegedly attempted to intimidate it to stop the demolition drive, officials said.
The apex court is hearing its two-decade-old 'Hindutva' judgement for an authoritative pronouncement on electoral law categorising misuse of religion for electoral gains as "corrupt practice".
The Supreme Court on Tuesday commenced hearing to revisit its two-decade-old 'Hindutva' judgement for an authoritative pronouncement on electoral law categorising misuse of religion for electoral gains as "corrupt practice".
A glance back at some important events that occurred in 2018.
'It's a great victory for Constitutionalism and the rule of law.'
"We will work out the parameters then we will see as to how mentioning will be done," he said.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday sought to disapprove the government's stand that the Central Bureau of Investigation needs its permission to question senior officials in the Coalgate case.
'These children are wards of the State. They were exploited because the state government and its officials didn't do their jobs.'
Following objection from petitioners who claimed conflict of interest.
The Centre on Wednesday faced the ire of the Supreme Court for not aiding the CBI with documents in its probe in Coalgate and was directed to file a comprehensive affidavit "justifying" allocation of 164 coal blocks.
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.
There cannot be a 'blanket ban' on media reporting on cases of rape and sexual abuse, it said.
Names of CMs of Punjab and Karnataka along with a former CM found mention in the list.
In a new twist, Chief Justice of India H L Dattu has refused to participate in a three-member panel for selecting two eminent persons in the six-member National Judicial Appointments Commission on whose validity a constitution bench began hearings on Monday.
'It is a very vital issue and we cannot keep it pending. We intend to pass an order as to who will hear the matter.'
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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