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 top court, which on Thursday referred to a constitution bench the Delhi government's plea challenging the ordinance, framed two legal questions in its 10-page order to be dealt by a larger bench on the ordinance which set off a fresh tussle between the two power centres.
Congress leader Pawan Khera was on Thursday arrested by Assam Police in connection with a first information report (FIR) over alleged remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the action coming soon after he was deplaned from a flight to Raipur where he was going to attend the party's plenary session.
The Supreme Court on Thursday reserved its verdict on a batch of cross-petitions of Uddhav Thackeray and CM Eknath Shinde factions pertaining to the Maharashtra political crisis.
Vedanta had sought handing over of the plant for three months saying it requires two months to start the unit and the company should be allowed to run it for four weeks to ascertain whether its polluting or not. The interim plea by Vedanta was opposed by Tamil Nadu government which claimed before a bench headed by Justice R F Nariman that the plant had been 'polluting consistently'.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear at 5 pm the plea of Shiv Sena chief whip Sunil Prabhu challenging the Maharashtra governor's direction to the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government to take floor test in the assembly on Thursday.
The state cannot discriminate against an individual on the basis of sexual characteristic over which the person has no control, the Supreme Court said on Wednesday, asserting the Centre has no data to back up its claim that the concept of same-sex marriage is 'elitist' or 'urban'.
'I think my first obsessive, possessive and only half-requited -- as we would joke -- 'love' was Ivan. I saw him first slouching down the corridor of St Stephen's College nearly 50 years ago and was instantly smitten (as was everyone else around him).'
The appeal against the high court order came up for hearing before a bench of justices A S Bopanna and P S Narasimha, which stayed it.
A Delhi court on Saturday issued fresh summons to Reliance ADA Group Chairman Anil Ambani and his wife Tina Ambani to appear as prosecution witnesses before it next month in the 2G spectrum allocation case.
Debates on TV news channels are causing more pollution than anybody, with statements made in the court being taken out of context, the Supreme Court said on Wednesday.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked about the "source of power" of the lieutenant governor under the Constitution and the law to nominate 10 aldermen to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) without the aid and advice of the elected government.
A bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud took note of the submissions of senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Thackeray, and sought response of the faction led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Shinde.
A division bench of Justices Ranjit More and Bharati Dangre on Monday quashed and set aside the proceedings.
The court ordered all parties to avoid taking any unconstitutional measures and adjourned the hearing until Monday.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday said the petitions filed by the Shiv Sena and its rebel MLAs raise many constitutional questions which require consideration by a larger bench.
The Delhi high court on Monday directed the Delhi police commissioner to look into and "fix responsibility" for the "serious lapse" outside the residence of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal last month when certain miscreants breached the barricades, reached the gate and destroyed public property, and called the incident a "very disturbing state of affairs".
The plea said that the release of the movie may affect free and fair election as mandated in the Constitution.
The Congress accused the Centre of making a serious assault on the basic structure of the Constitution, saying the action subsumes the independence of the judiciary.
The top court told Gandhi's counsel that it was not concerned with the political stand narrated in the affidavit.
The issue cropped up as Justice Mishra, who is heading a five-judge Constitution bench hearing land acquisition matters, had warned senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan on Tuesday of contempt while he was advancing his arguments in the matter.
"The Election Commission, in my opinion, is theoretically correct. But, it is also true that the Election Commission had directed the administration to transfer officials with administrative duties and post them according to its direction at the time when it was in charge of the election. "If offences had occurred as a consequence of the polls, it was also the duty of the Election Commission at least to direct or advise the administration to register the complaints which it did not," Justice IP Mukerji observed.
A bench comprising Justices L Nageswara Rao and B R Gavai said it has perused the judgments submitted and was of the view that the issue does not need consideration by a larger bench.
A nine-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde at the outset said that it will only deal with the issues referred to it by a five-judge bench on November 14 in the Sabarimala case, and asked the lawyers to convene a meeting on January 17 to decide on 're-framing' or adding additional issues to be deliberated upon by it.
The apex court said that a debate on polls reforms can only take place after the election process in the state is over.
The bench said it has to balance the equity and it was not against any policy of the government or the scheme.
A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde took note of the submissions by a battery of senior lawyers including A M Singhvi and C A Sundaram and said it will list the fresh pleas "sometime in next week" before the same bench which had heard the earlier petition in the high-stake matter.
The top court directed the Maharashtra government to place before it the material which was collected during the investigation against Navlakha and placed before the high court in a sealed cover.
Stating that 'we cannot...infuse creativity in your bureaucracy', the apex court warned it will have to do something extraordinary if the authorities failed to control pollution.
The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Centre and the states in the National Capital Region (NCR) to implement the orders of the panel on air quality management to curb air pollution while ruing that some sections of the media have 'portrayed' it as a 'villain' which wants to close down schools in New Delhi.
Gandhi had expressed "regret" on Monday over his remarks in connection with the Rafale judgment and said in his affidavit that his statement was "purely political".
The Delhi high court on Friday sought a status report from the police in relation to the alleged attack outside the residence of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal earlier this week and said that an "element of fear" was sought to be created by the "unruly crowd" and the police force at the spot was "inadequate" and "outnumbered".
The hearing remained inconclusive on Monday and Chief Justice Indrajit Mahanty said it will be concluded on Tuesday. The order is also likely to be pronounced on Tuesday.
A constitutional amendment bill to restore the powers of the states to make their own OBC lists was passed by Parliament on Wednesday, with the opposition and treasury benches joining hands in the Rajya Sabha to approve the legislation.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Lekhi, told the bench that the apology tendered by Gandhi should be rejected and action must be taken against him as per the law.
The Supreme Court Thursday dismissed a plea filed by Facebook India Vice President and MD Ajit Mohan challenging the summons issued by the Delhi Assembly's Peace and Harmony committee for failing to appear before it as witness in connection with the north-east Delhi riots last year.
The Chhattisgarh high court on June 11 had passed two separate orders and granted interim reliefs in the same FIR lodged against Singh and Patra while noting that averments in the FIR reflected that 'by the tweets, Congressmen are aggravated which clearly indicates that no public peace or tranquillity is being adversely affected and it is purely political rivalry between two political parties'.
Azad also accused the state and Centre of not being bothered about the people.
A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde was informed by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, that a final decision would be taken in consultation with the Railways, Delhi Government and the Urban Development Ministry.
The top court said as per its understanding the plea could be entertained only if there is any action on the recommendation of the privilege committee of the house pursuant to the show cause notice issued to Goswami.
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