In a blow to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the high court on June 22 ruled that the legislation enacted by her government to recover the land leased to Tata Motors in Singur for its small car project was constitutionally invalid.
The Supreme Court on Thursday criticised Kolkata Police for their 'extremely disturbing' delay in registering the case of a woman doctor who was raped and killed at RG Kar Hospital, while also urging the agitating doctors to return to work amid the fourteenth day of disruptions in healthcare services in Bengal's state-run hospitals.
The meeting of the Joint Committee on Waqf (Amendment) Bill took an ugly turn as the Trinamool Congress MP smashed a glass water bottle and threw it towards panel chairman Jagdambika Pal of the Bharatiya Janata Party during a heated exchange of words with BJP's Abhijit Gangopadhyay, a former Calcutta high court judge.
The Calcutta high court on Friday ordered house arrest of four political leaders, including two Bengal ministers, who were held in the Narada sting tapes case earlier in the week.
Sandeshkhali, a village in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, has been at the centre of a political storm for nearly a month and has witnessed unprecedented protests over allegations of sexual abuse by scores of women against a local Trinamool Congress leader.
Mathews J Nedumpara, counsel for the former judge, said Justice Karnan has been in jail without a detailed judgment and moreover, one of the seven judges of the bench, which had convicted him, has already retired.
Trinamool Congress MLA Madan Mitra and former party leader Sovan Chatterjee, who were arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation in the Narada sting case, were admitted to a hospital in Kolkata early on Tuesday after their health condition deteriorated in a correctional home, an official said.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has filed an election petition against Suvendu Adhikari before the Calcutta high court and the matter is listed for hearing before a single bench.
The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday said it has attached over a dozen properties worth Rs 12.78 crore of suspended Trinamool Congress leader Shajahan Sheikh including bank deposits, an apartment, and agricultural and fishery land in Sandeshkhali and Kolkata in West Bengal.
The top court also directed the SEC not to declare those candidates who have won unopposed as winners.
The ongoing agitation has also led the Federation of All India Medical Association to warn that it would declare a nationwide "complete shutdown of medical services" if any "any harm befalls brave junior doctors".
Sixty-two-year-old Justice Karnan, who retires on his birthday, has the dubious distinction of being the first sitting high court judge to be awarded a jail term by the apex court.
Banerjee had moved the high court claiming she apprehended that she may not get justice from the judge due to his alleged BJP links.
The high court had earlier restrained the central government from giving effect to its 'Leave India' notice to the Polish student, till it passes an order on his petition challenging the notice.
A Sikh Indian Police Service officer, who was deputed at Dhamakhali to prevent senior West Bengal Bharatiya Janata Party leader Suvendu Adhikari from visiting restive Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas district, got agitated after a group of activists of the saffron party allegedly hurled the 'Khalistani' jibe at him.
The Calcutta high court on Friday observed that mob violence at the R G Kar Medical College and Hospital was an absolute failure of state machinery in West Bengal.
The Calcutta high court on Wednesday did not allow a Central Bureau of investigation probe into the multi-crore Saradha scam at the present stage and directed that the Special Investigation Team of the state police would continue with its inquiry which would be monitored by the court.
A bench of justices H L Dattu and C K Prasad, however, said that the Calcutta high court's interim order which had stated that the state need not part with the land for two months to allow it file its appeal, would continue.
The apex court said it was duty-bound by the seven-judge bench's order in the case and 'cannot override it'.
The SC collegium had in 2016 recommended names of Harnaresh Singh Gill and Mohammed Nizamuddin for appointment as judges of the Punjab and Haryana high court and the Calcutta high court respectively.
BJP state president Rahul Sinha said that he had sought the intervention of Governor M K Narayanan to organise a tripartite meeting with Centre, state government and the Tatas.
TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee had addressed a public meeting in Kolkata on March 29.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday set aside a Calcutta high court order for registration of murder case against prominent industrialist Ashok Kumar Todi and some police officers in the mysterious death of computer graphics teacher Rizwanur Rahman.
The minister urged the doctors to rejoin work by respecting the Supreme Court's direction to them, but refrained from giving a direct reply on whether the state government would take any punitive action for violating the apex court's order.
Dhankhar in his strongly worded two-page letter dated January 18 said that this was the 'last opportunity' given to him to provide his response in the matter.
The Calcutta high court on Monday directed the police to arrest Trinamool Congress leader Shajahan Sheikh, who has been accused of sexual atrocities and land grab by villagers in Sandeshkhali area, while clarifying there is no stay on it.
When there are two wills produced before the court, which one will be executed?
West Bengal Governor M K Narayanan on Monday said he had thought that the Singur legislation did not require Presidential approval, three days after the Calcutta high court ruled it as constitutionally invalid and void.
In wake of the Calcutta High Court holding as unconstitutional the Singur Land Development Act, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday said her government was with the farmers and committed to return of land to them.
The Trinamool Congress supremo, who reached Khadikul village in this area, 11 days after the blast, also said the incident could have been averted if the state had received proper intelligence inputs.
"There is no other alternative to seek presence of Shri Justice C S Karnan. We issue bailable warrants of the sum of Rs 10,000 in the nature of personal bond to the satisfaction of the arresting officer," a seven-judge bench headed by Chief Justice J S Khehar said.
A second post-mortem of an IIT Kharagpur student whose body was exhumed for examination has indicated that his death was possibly due to an injury on the back of his head.
Terming the rape and murder case of a medic at Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College and Hospital as horrific, the Supreme Court on Tuesday came down heavily on the West Bengal government over delay in filing first information report (FIR) in the matter.
The Supreme Court on Friday annulled the Calcutta high court's June 9 order refusing to take on record the reply-affidavits of West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and state Law Minister Moloy Ghatak on their role on the day of arrest of four Trinamool Congress leaders on May 17 by the Central Bureau of Investigation in Narada scam case.
In a setback to the Mamata Banerjee government, Calcutta High Court had ruled on June 23 that the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act, 2011, introduced by her government to recover land leased to Tata Motors in Singur for its small car project was constitutionally invalid and void.
Appearing for the CBI, Solicitor General, Gopal Subramanium said the high court order was unheard of and in blatant contravention of the Criminal Procedure Code since the agency had already filed the chargesheet in the matter.
The Supreme Court has ruled that a court cannot exercise the power of contempt in an arbitrary manner as such proceedings should be initiated to ensure its order is complied with and "not to necessarily proceed against persons as if they are petty criminals."
The Calcutta high court on Thursday asked the Central Bureau of Investigation to file a progress report within four weeks on the disappearance of Nicole Tamang, the prime accused in the murder of Gorkha leader Madan Tamang.The CBI informed the court that it has already taken up investigation into Nicole's disappearance.All India Gorkha League chief Tamang was murdered in Darjeeling on May 21 last year.
The protest continued even as the Supreme Court intervened in the matter and constituted a 10-member National Task Force to formulate a protocol for ensuring the safety and security of doctors and other healthcare professionals.
Observing that law and order was a "state subject", a bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra stayed the Calcutta high court order restraining the Centre from relocating the paramilitary forces from the state's strife-torn districts and asked the state government to respond to the Centre's appeal within a week.
