The Supreme Court has, with its latest set of rulings, observations and orders hauling up the government, yet again established its supremacy as the apex judicial body in India. Many hailed its notings as a resounding slap in the face of government.
In an embarrassment to the Bharatiya Janata Party gernment in Madhya Pradesh, the Supreme Court on Wednesday decision of the state authorities to allot at throwaway prices land to a trust named after late party leader Kushabhau Thakre.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday described the Congress' allegation against its leaders of having links with corporate lobbyist Niira Radia as 'beneath levels of decency' and 'unacceptable' and the party's senior leader Ananth Kumar served a legal notice against those who had made the charges.Party sources said Kumar has initiated legal action against Singh, the news channel which had telecast his comments, its associate news magazine and some senior employees.
The Congress sought to turn tables on the Bharatiya Janata Party on the corruption issue demanding removal of its general secretary Ananth Kumar for his alleged links with corporate lobbyist Niira Radia.
In a setback to Sikkim High Court Chief Justice P D Dinakaran, the Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to quash some of the charges framed against him by a Rajya Sabha-appointed panel looking into allegations of corrupt practices and misconduct against him.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Thursday opposed the plea for setting up a committee of experts for effective monitoring of the probe in 2G spectrum scam case by claiming in the Supreme Court that "it has done fairly credible job".
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Tursday placed before the Supreme Court the finance ministry file on the issue of fixing the price of 2G spectrum in 2008, but it could not be taken on record and returned to the agency as some pages of the file were missing.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Centre to explain the eight-year delay in deciding the mercy plea of terrorist Devender Pal Singh Bhullar, who was awarded the death penalty for triggering a bomb blast in New Delhi in September 1993 that killed nine people. A bench headed by Justice G S Singhvi asked the Centre to file an affidavit by October 10 to explain the delay in deciding Bhullar's mercy plea of 2003, rejected by the President in 2011.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday pulled up former Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh for preventing police from registering a criminal case against a Congress legislator's moneylender father and imposed a staggering Rs 10 lakh fine on the state government.
The Congress president tagged a Business Standard story which cited a report which said the unemployment rate is highest in 45 years.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Thursday defended Home Minister P Chidamabaram in the Supreme Court in the 2G scam by blaming the Department of Telecommunication for "jumping the gun" in spectrum allocation.
In a major setback to DMK Member of Parliament Kanimozhi and Kalaignar TV Managing Director Sharad Kumar, the Supreme Court on Monday dismissed their bail pleas in the 2G spectrum case.
SC also wanted to know why DoT ignored TRAI's recommendations on effective utilization of the spectrum.
The government on Thursday placed recorded tapes containing the conversations between corporate lobbyist Niira Radia and others related to the 2G spectrum allocation case before the Supreme Court in a sealed cover. While placing the recorded conversation before the bench comprising justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly, Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium said that it is a hard disc drive directly downloaded from the server which contains the conversations.
Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the government to respond to the plea for preserving the tapes containing conversation between corporate lobbyist Niira Radia and others relating to the 2G spectrum scam.
The Supreme Court asked the Haryana government to identify the persons and organisation responsible for holding demonstration in December 2010 against the booking of some upper caste people in connection with the Mirchpur Dalit killings case.
"We know that the print and electronic media play an important role in the society. They are to inform but distortions about the fact would not serve the purpose. However, what is going on is very unfortunate," Justice Singhvi heading the Bench observed.
Congress spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan was named a member of the Joint Parliamentary Committee into the 2G spectrum scam after her colleague Abhishek Singhvi recused himself taking the plea that he had appeared for cellular operators in the court as a senior advocate.
Congress on Saturday dismissed as 'drama' Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's attack on the Centre over Central Bureau of Investigation's plea for seeking transfer of the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case from Gujarat.
The Congress on Monday distanced itself from party member of Parliament Suresh Kalmadi's move seeking a Joint Parliamentaey Committee probe into the Commonwealth Games issue, saying it was his independent view and the party has nothing to do with it.
The suspense over Home Minister P Chidambaram's alleged role in the 2G scam is likely to be over by Saturday when a Delhi court would decide the plea of Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy to make him an accused in the case.
The Supreme Court sought the Centre's response on a plea for disclosure of the entire contents of corporate lobbyists Niira Radia's conversation with politicians, journalists and corporate tycoons, which were tapped by government authorities.
The Supreme Court on Friday severely criticised Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal for making statements undermining the Comptroller and Auditor General of India's report on the 2G spectrum scam and asked him to behave with some sense of responsibility.
The ED in its status report said investigation was in progress regarding the involvement of five foreign companies in the 2G scam which are registered in Virgin Island.
The Congress has termed as "outrageous" and "ridiculous" the allegations that the Rajiv Gandhi government had assured "safe passage" to Union Carbide Chief Warren Anderson before he came to India in the aftermath of the deadly 1984 Bhopal gas leakage that killed thousands.
Senior advocate Uday Lalit was on Monday appointed as special public prosecutor for the trial in 2G case involving former telecom minister A Raja and others by the Supreme Court ending uncertainty triggered by government by objecting to his name on technical grounds.
CBI said Swan Telecom and Loop Telecom were allegedly used as front companies by Reliance Group and Essar respectively.
The Supreme Court on Monday asked the government to place before it in sealed cover the copy of the complaint on which it started tapping corporate lobbyist Niira Radia's telephonic conversations with a host of people including politicians, corporate leaders and media personalities.
Chargesheets will be filed against former telecom minister A Raja and two companies by March 31 for their alleged involvement in the 2G spectrum allocation case, the Central Bureau of Investigation told the Supreme Court on Wednesday, which asked the agency to appoint a suitable senior advocate as special public prosecutor in the trial.
ED told the SC that multi-crore foreign transactions relating to the 2G spectrum scam have been traced to at least six countries.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday virtually questioned the tenability of Chief Vigilance Commissioner P J Thomas supervising the Central Bureau of Investigation's probe into the 2G spectrum scandal as he himself was Telecom Seceratary at the relevant point of time.
2G Scam: SC ticks off CBI for not questioning Raja
The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted bail to Piyush Guha, who was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment along with civil rights activist Binayak Sen in a sedition case. The vacation bench of justices G S Singhvi and C K Prasad suspended the sentence of life imprisonment and directed Guha's release on bail.The bench also directed Guha to furnish a bail bond of Rs two lakh and two sureties of one lakh each. Guha, a Kolkata-based businessman, was convicted along with Sen.
"If the Opposition gets into singing praises, then democracy will be destroyed," Sharma said.
'All judges are conscious of the historical legacy they leave behind. Chief Justice Thakur understands the important question of Constitutional law involved and the change in public mood,' lawyer Anand Grover tells Sunil Sethi.
Even non-Muslims can create Wakf property but it would be invalid if done with a sinful objective to subvert the law, the Supreme Court has ruled upholding the land acquisition of a popular educational institution in New Delhi.
However, the bench said Chidambaram is at a liberty to seek remedy in accordance with the law.
The pleas were mentioned for urgent listing before the bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra.
The Supreme Court took strong exception to growing incidents of protestors and agitationists using "strong-arm tactics to browbeat governments" by blocking rail and road traffic.
The Supreme Court on Thursday expressed displeasure over the tardy pace of probe by the Income Tax department into the tax evasion cases linked to 2G spectrum case, saying it wanted "results".