A full one year after Jayalalithaa was hospitalised on the night of September 22, 2016, followed by long hospitalisation and death on December 5, Tamil Nadu continues to be rocked by instability and non-governance of every which kind, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Madras high court has observed that free PDS rice given to ration card holders should be restricted only to families below the poverty line, noting that doling out freebies to all sections of people have made people "lazy".
IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings moved the Madras High Court challenging the order of Justice Lodha Committee suspending it from Indian Premier League over the 2013 betting scam involving its top official Gurunath Meiyappan.
The children who use the said application are vulnerable to sexual predators, the court said.
When the PIL came up, the first bench headed by Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul observed, "This forum should not be used for political purposes and it is a publicity interest litigation." "The hospital is already issuing health bulletins. PIL is dismissed," the court said.
People are anxious to know about the health condition of the chief minister as some information is already in public domain, a division bench orally observed when a public interest litigation filed by social activist K R 'Traffic' Ramaswamy came up for hearing.
The bench then observed that it was time the government forms a committee to consider allowing conjugal visits to prisoners and that many countries had given them such rights.
The DMK claimed in its plea that reservation is not a poverty alleviation programme but is more in the nature of social justice to uplift communities that have not had access to education or employment for centuries.
The Madras high court on Friday granted 10 more days to the Centre to file its counter-affidavit in response to a batch of PIL pleas challenging the new Information Technology (IT) Rules.
A month after violent clashes between police and lawyers inside the Madras high court premises, a three-judge bench of the court on Wednesday ordered suspension of two top city police officials and asked the striking advocates to call off their agitation and return to courts.
Greenpeace contended that the order cancelling its licence was false and violated law.
The special CBI court had in March discharged Dayanidhi Maran, his brother Kalanithi.
The Tamil Nadu government had appointed advocates P S Nagarajan and K S Ramasamy as special public prosecutors for the case, which was transferred to Pondicherry by the Supreme Court on a petition from the seer last year.
The bench was perturbed that the Madras high court was working with half the sanctioned strength of 49 judges, though a collegium, consisting of five senior judges of the apex court, had cleared 17 names for the posts.\n\n
The Madras High Court on Tuesday came down heavily on lawyers donning the role of priests for effecting registration of marriages, saying such acts "performed in secrecy" in their offices and Bar Association rooms cannot amount to solemnisation.
A division bench comprising justices S Manikumar and Subranmonium Prasad rejected the contention by additional solicitor general G Rajagopalan that the petition filed by the DMK as a "political interest litigation" and moved to push its agenda.
The court rejected all petitions, including that against the conduct of the party's General Secretary election.
The Madras High Court on Tuesday dismissed a plea of Nalini, a life convict in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, seeking premature release under the general amnesty scheme.
In its interim order, a Madurai bench directed the Centre to file counter in 4 weeks.
While the Supreme Court is seized of the matter related to the plea to restrain lawyer Lekshmana Chandra Victoria Gowri from taking oath as a judge of the Madras high court, a senior advocate, who was among those who opposed her elevation said on Tuesday that they are waiting for the outcome of the proceedings in the apex court.
The provocation of violence in the Madras high court was started by the lawyers and the police later went "berserk", the Supreme Court-appointed committee has said while holding that the judges had followed a "soft- pedalling policy" leading to the "piquant situation".
The Supreme Court has appointed retired apex court judge Justice B Srikrishna to inquire into the recent clash between lawyers and police in the Madras High Court premises.The committee will submit its interim report within two weeks to the apex court.The SC also asked the state government to transfer four top police officials over the issue.
In its interim order, the court also said use of National Council for Educational Research and Training books be made mandatory.
Justice S Nagamuthu reserved the orders without fixing any date after hearing elaborate arguments of Tamil Nadu government, Nalini's counsel and Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy, who was allowed by the HC to assist it in hearing Nalini's petition.
The petitioner had contended that Sasikala was made general secretary by the AIADMK general council in violation of Rule 20 of the party by-laws.
The Madras High Court today upheld the appointment of senior IPS officer Ranjit Sinha as Director of Central Bureau of Investigation.
In a setback to Maran brothers, the Madras high court on Wednesday dismissed petitions filed by Kalanithi Maran owned Sun TV and Kal Communications challenging the attachment of their properties by Enforcement Directorate in connection with money laundering probe in Aircel-Maxis deal.
The Madras high court has come down heavily on the elite Central Crime Branch police, stating that the special department of the state police delayed filing FIRs and accepted bribes from both the accused and the complainant. Dismissing an anticipatory bail petition in an economic offences case on Wednesday, Justice R Regupathi questioned the CCB's inability to quickly file cases against the suspects and conduct an investigation.
The Madras high court on Thursday granted anticipatory bail to Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam founder and Leader of Opposition in Tamil Nadu Assembly Vijaykanth, who apprehended arrest in connection with a case of alleged manhandling of a journalist at the airport.
The Madras high court on Saturday restrained TVS Motor Company from manufacturing, marketing and selling its bike 'TVS Flame 125' in the ongoing patent infringement case with rival Bajaj Auto Limited.
It directed unaided colleges to admit students under management quota through counselling.
Different petitions for and against Jallikattu were posted for hearing in the first week of February.
The advocates are seeking withdrawal of the amended rules under the Advocates Act, that empower judges to act against errant lawyers.
Nalini had submitted that she had spent 25 years in jail though the legal requirement was only 20 years to be eligible for early release.
The three -- Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan-- lodged in Vellore Jail, were scheduled to be hanged on September 9.
The Prime Minister's Office during Manmohan Singh's tenure had asked why the Supreme Court collegium had not recommended extension for a Madras High Court judge who was facing corruption charges after the collegium expressed its hesitation, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said in Parliament on Tuesday
Madras HC stays 19 cases against Khushboo
Justice M V Muralidharan said that schools must be made to follow it at least once a week either on Monday or Friday.
Last week, a panel of judges headed by the Chief Justice of India ordered that Karnan be transferred to the Calcutta high court. The junior judge reacted that he would fight the order and asked the Chief Justice of India to "not interfere" with his jurisdiction, and also stayed his own transfer order.
In further embarrassment to former telecom minister A Raja, the Madras high court on Tuesday suspended from the bar a top lawyer who was allegedly involved in an attempt to influence a judge taking the name of the minister.A division bench comprising Justice F M Ibrahim Khalifulla and Justice M M Sundaresh, said the status of R K Chandramohan, a member and subsequently the chairman of the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Pondichery, shall stand suspended forthwith.
