The Supreme Court of India has sought a response from the Election Commission of India (ECI) regarding pleas seeking verification of burnt memory and symbol loading units in Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). The court directed the ECI to refrain from erasing or reloading data during the verification process and to explain the procedure adopted for verification. The bench also expressed concerns over the high cost of verification and directed the ECI to reduce the fee. The court's directive comes following its previous judgement where it allowed aggrieved candidates to seek verification of EVMs.
The Supreme Court on Friday held that the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act cannot be stunted by personal laws and that marriages involving children violate the free will to have a life partner of choice.
Justice Bobde, who decided several key cases during his tenure including the historic Ayodhya verdict, was administered oath as the 47th CJI in November 2019 and retired on Friday.
The Supreme Court is scheduled to consider in-chambers on Tuesday a batch of pleas seeking review of its judgment which held that states are constitutionally empowered to make sub-classifications within the Scheduled Castes, which form a socially heterogeneous class, for granting reservation.
Cameras were focused on Chief Justice of India Justice Dr Dhananjay Yeshwant Chandrachud at the Independence Day event at the Red Fort in New Delhi on Tuesday morning.
Activist Saket Gokhale had sought consent, a condition precedent for initiating criminal contempt proceedings, of the top-most law officer to initiate the case against the former CJI who had reportedly said at an event that the judiciary is "ramshackled" and it is quite unlikely for a person to get a timely verdict.
Prior to the swearing-in of Justices Hima Kohli, Nagarathna and Bela M Trivedi, only eight women judges, including sitting judge Justice Indira Banerjee, were appointed as apex court judges.
In an affidavit filed in the apex court, the Union law ministry rejected the petitioner's claim that the two election commissioners were hastily appointed on March 14 to "pre-empt" the orders of the top court the next day, when the matters challenging the 2023 law were listed for hearing on interim relief.
Quoting Greek philosopher Socrates, Justice Bopanna emphasised that there are four qualities that are expected of a judge -- to hear courteously, to consider soberly, to answer wisely and to decide impartially.
A seven-judge Constitution bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices BR Gavai, Vikram Nath, Bela Trivedi, Pankaj Mithal, Manoj Misra and Satish Chandra Sharma said there is no error apparent on the face of the record.
"More voters were added in Maharashtra in five months between the Lok Sabha and assembly polls than in five years," the former Congress president said.
Justice Lalit said, "The element was purely based on circumstantial evidence. Law is clear that facts must point only in direction of the guilt of that man, unless and until that guilt is completely established, circumstantial evidence case theory is not to be accepted."
Justice Ramana said the body was required to be "created under a statute" clearly defining its powers, functions, and duties.
What sustains judicial institutions in the long run is the sense of compassion, sense of empathy and ability to answer cries of citizens, he said.
Justice Bobde has decided several key cases and was part of the recent historic verdict that cleared the way for the construction of a Ram Temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya.
Justice S A Bobde, the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court, along with N V Ramana and Indira Banerjee will conduct an in-house inquiry into the allegations of sexual harassment levelled against Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi.
He will be the first former Chief Justice of India to be nominated to Rajya Sabha. Former Chief Justice Ranganath Misra was also a Rajya Sabha member but he was elected on a Congress party ticket.
Within a span of little over a month since Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud assumed office, the Supreme Court has disposed of 6,844 cases, including 2,511 bail and transfer petitions, sources said.
The announcement on integration of WhatsApp with its Information and Communications Technology (ICT) services was made by the CJI before a nine-judge bench headed by him commenced the hearing on the vexed legal question arising from the petitions about whether private properties can be considered "material resources of the community" under Article 39(b) of the Constitution, which is a part of the Directive Principles of State Policy (DPSP).
Justice BV Nagarathna also partially agreed with the majority verdict but criticised the CJI's views on Justice Iyer's judicial approach in dealing with "material resources" and state's power over them.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected the Centre's plea for prospective effect of its July 25 verdict, which upheld the power of states to levy tax on mineral rights and mineral-bearing land, and allowed them to seek refund of royalty from April 1, 2005 onwards.
The letter comes after a report by the London-based Financial Times, citing documents from George Soros-backed Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), alluded to a "fraud" by the Adani Group by selling low-grade coal as high-value fuel in 2013.
According to a notification issued by the government, Justice Ramana would take over as the 48th CJI on April 24 after incumbent CJI S A Bobde demits office a day before. Justice Ramana would retire on August 26, 2022.
In a far-reaching verdict, the Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and the election commissioners will be done by the President on the recommendation of a committee, comprising the Prime Minister, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and the CJI, to maintain the "purity" of the electoral process.
The Supreme Court of India has ordered a status quo on a private well located near the entrance of the Sambhal Jama Masjid, prohibiting any action regarding the well without its permission. The order came in response to a plea by the mosque's management committee, which challenged a lower court order that allowed a survey of the mosque, citing concerns over violence and loss of life during previous surveys. The court also instructed the authorities to file a status report within two weeks.
"Day in day out there exists a misconception in the minds of people that judges stay in big bungalows, work only 10 AM to 4 PM and enjoy their holidays. Such a narrative is untrue," Chief Justice N V Ramana said on Thursday while paying glowing tributes to Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman on his superannuation after over seven years at the Supreme Court bench.
Justice Sanjiv Khanna 'belongs to that school of legal luminaries who give the highest primacy to facts.'
A local court in Ajmer has issued notices to the dargah committee, the Ministry of Minority Affairs, and the Archaeological Survey of India on a plea seeking to declare the shrine of Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti a temple. The petition, filed in September, has sparked a heated debate, with politicians and community leaders weighing in on the potentially volatile issue. The dargah committee has declined to comment, but the Anjuman Syed Zadgan, a body representing the caretakers of the dargah, described the petition as a deliberate attempt to fracture society along communal lines. The petition comes just days after four people were killed in Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh, following a local court ordering survey of a Mughal-era shrine. The Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, which fixed August 15, 1947, as the cut-off date for status quo on the character of religious places, is at the centre of much of the debate. Several politicians, including Union minister Giriraj Singh and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, have weighed in on the issue. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has called the civil court's decision to entertain the petition unwarranted and has asked the Supreme Court to immediately intervene.
Besides the CJI, the seniormost judge, Justice N V Ramana, and justices R F Nariman, U U Lalit, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and L Nageswara Rao would deal with the PILs and social justice matters, usually involving the Centre and the states, and their instrumentalities as opposite parties.
Speaking in the Delhi Assembly on Wednesday, Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party convenor Arvind Kejriwal slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party over the Supreme Court overturning the outcome of the Chandigarh mayoral poll.
The judiciary cannot be controlled, directly or indirectly, by the legislature or the executive, or else the rule of law will become illusory, he said.
On October 21, Bhushan had said that the CJI availed the special helicopter during his visit to Kanha national park while 'an important case of disqualification of defecting MLAs of MP (Madhya Pradesh) is pending before him. Survival of MP govt depends on this case'
"Most of the members of first Lok sabha and Rajya Sabha were all lawyers and members from the legal fraternity. Unfortunately, we know what is happening now in the Parliament with respect to debates on laws," CJI Ramana said in his address to the bar members.
The Supreme Court has taken cognisance of the Lakhimpur Kheri incident in which eight people were killed in violence during a farmers' protest, with a bench headed by Chief Justice of India N V Ramana scheduled to hear the matter on Thursday.
A notice by the office of Supreme Court Secretary General also said that the report of the committee constituted as part of the in-house procedure is not liable to be made public.
Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud has agreed to meet the Gujarat High Court Advocates' Association on November 21 in view of the ongoing protest by lawyers opposing the Supreme Court collegium's recommendation to transfer Justice Nikhil S Kariel to Patna high court.
Ghanwat, also a senior leader of Shetkari Sangathan, said he will mobilise one lakh farmers and bring them to Delhi in the next couple of months demanding farm reforms.
A Supreme Court bench, in a rare instance, has expressed displeasure in its judicial order over a new case listing mechanism introduced by Chief Justice U U Lalit for speedy disposal of matters pending for years.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday said the plea for an SIT probe into the damage to public properties during the protests against Agnipath will be listed for hearing after the Chief Justice of India takes a decision in this regard.
The legal battle over the alleged infringement of trademark of whisky brands witnessed an unusual sight in the Supreme Court as liquor bottles were placed before the country's highest court.
