Govt returns 20 names to SC collegium to reconsider
There cannot be any quality education if a student is sought to be penalised on the ground that he belongs to a particular community, the Supreme Court Monday said, as it pulled up the Uttar Pradesh government for shoddy probe in a case where a Muslim schoolboy was allegedly slapped by his classmates on the instruction of his teacher in Muzaffarnagar.
The Election Commission of India has set up more than 200 polling stations within housing societies in the urban areas of Uttar Pradesh to increase the voter turnout in the politically crucial state.
In a recent report, the Department-related Standing Committee on Law and Justice and Personnel said it expects the government and the judiciary to finalise the revised MoP, 'which is more efficient and transparent', in terms of a Supreme Court observation.
'This mega corruption scandal, as certified by the Supreme Court, will expose the unholy nexus between the BJP and its corrupt corporate masters'
The Supreme Court on Tuesday admonished the Gujarat Police over its officials publicly flogging five people belonging to the Muslim community at a village in Kheda district in 2022, asking angrily from where did they draw the authority to tie people to poles and beat them up.
As part of the protest, BJP workers burned tyres, blocked roads, and closed shops in Nandigram, alleging that Trinamool Congress-backed criminals were responsible for the killing of Rathibala Arhi, a saffron party worker in Sonachura village.
Elections in Jammu and Kashmir can be held "anytime from now" as the work on updation of voters list is almost over, the Centre told the Supreme Court on Thursday but remained non-committal about setting a time-frame for restoration of statehood to the Union territory (UT).
The National Commission for Scheduled Castes has asked the state governments not to use the word 'Dalit' in official documents, saying the term was "unconstitutional".
The Supreme Court Monday hinted that it was contemplating referring to a constitution bench for adjudication the Delhi government's petition against the Centre's recent ordinance on control of services.
Besides FIRs, the petition also seeks a direction to the National Commission for Women to give security and assistance to women who have come out in the open with their allegations.
The National Commission for Scheduled Castes has asked Maharashtra's chief secretary and director general of police, Mumbai police commissioner and the Union home secretary to appear before it on January 31 for an in-person hearing on former Narcotics Control Bureau zonal director Sameer Wankhede's 'harassment' complaint.
"What is this? Last time you (West Bengal government) had given an undertaking, which we wanted to record, that the commission will not proceed. You had said that it was not necessary to record in the order. Again you started inquiring," said the bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana
The Supreme Court on Thursday quashed the Bombay high court verdict which had held that no offence of sexual assault under the POCSO Act is made out if there is no direct skin-to-skin contact between an accused and victim.
The Supreme Court on Monday said it would hear on July 14 pleas, including the one filed by the sister of slain gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmad and Ashraf, seeking constitution of a commission chaired by a retired apex court judge to inquire into their "custodial" and "extra-judicial deaths".
The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to entertain the plea of US tech giant Google against an order of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) refusing an interim stay on the competition regulator imposing a Rs 1,337 crore penalty on it. A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and J B Pardiwala granted the US firm seven days to deposit 10 per cent of the penalty imposed by the Competition Commission of India (CCI).
According to the July 3 cause list uploaded on the apex court website, a bench of Justices S R Bhat and Aravind Kumar will hear the petition filed by advocate Vishal Tiwari
His legacy will endure through the countless lives he touched, the legal precedents he set, and the principles he upheld.
At present, such a law has been enacted in just eight states to stop illegal conversion while the problem is nationwide, he added.
The NRA will have representatives of IBPS, SSC and Indian Railways.
The veteran politician, who has been chief minister of the erstwhile state three times as well as union minister, also said the time has come for the opposition parties to come together and fight the forces who are bent on destroying the secular fabric of the country.
The Supreme Court of India on Wednesday said the problem with electoral bonds scheme is that it provides for "selective anonymity" and "selective confidentiality" as the details are available with the State Bank of India (SBI) and can also be accessed by the law enforcement agencies.
In an emphatic victory for the Modi government, the Supreme Court on Monday unanimously upheld its decision to abrogate Article 370 of the Constitution that bestowed special status upon the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, ordered restoration of statehood "at the earliest" and set a September 30, 2024, deadline for holding the assembly elections.
Criticism against the August 12 order continued to pour in from the state and various parts of the country with National Commission for Women chairperson Rekha Sharma and senior Communist Party of India-Marxist politburo member Brinda Karat strongly condemning the sessions court judge's observation.
The petition came up for hearing before a bench of Justices K M Joseph and Hrishikesh Roy which issued notices to the NIA and the state seeking their responses.
'In IIT, most faculty members have a bias against SC/ST students.' 'SC/ST and OBC students have no idea whom to approach for support.'
The Congress has so far announced 82 candidates for the seven-phase Lok Sabha polls beginning April 19.
Besides Defence Minister Singh (Lucknow), Minister of Women and Child Development Irani (Amethi), those in the fray are Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Kaushal Kishor (Mohanlalganj) and Minister of State of Consumer Affairs Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti (Fatehpur).
The top court drew parallel between driving and technology and said if one doesn't know how to handle technology then he or she can't be a judge and questioned the approach of some of the high courts.
Sources said Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has expressed displeasure at the way the alleged molestation case was handled.
A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking directions to the Election Commission and the government for holding early assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir.
In a setback to Tata Power, the Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed the company's challenge to the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission's (MERC's) decision to award a Rs 7,000-crore transmission project near Mumbai on a nomination basis to Adani Electricity. The court upheld the order by the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity (APTEL) in this case and directed all State Electricity Regulatory Commissions to frame guidelines on tariff determination in accordance with Section 61 of the Electricity Act and the national policy. The verdict has implications for the Mumbai power market, said Ashok Pendse, an energy expert based in the city.
"Have you obtained the permission of the Supreme Court (which had upheld the NEET). Would it not amount to violation of the ruling of the apex court?" were among the questions raised by the first bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy.
According to the Election Commission data, 30 out of the state's 40 Lok Sabha seats went to the BJP-led coalition in the latest elections, a sharp drop compared with 39 in 2019 and lower than the tallies of 2014 (31) and 2009 (32).
The Centre has appointed a commission headed by former CJI K G Balakrishnan to examine the matter of giving Scheduled Caste status to new people who claim to "historically" have belonged to the Scheduled Castes but have converted to a religion other than those mentioned in the presidential orders.
"It was unanimously decided by the leaders that the correct forum for deciding the issue is either the Election Commission or the courts."
The Supreme Court on Tuesday deferred the oath taking of Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) chairperson-designate Justice (retd) Umesh Kumar, while deciding to examine the constitutional validity of a provision of the Centre's recent ordinance governing such an appointment.
The Bharatiya Janata Party government in Gujarat on Friday passed a bill in the assembly that earmarks 27 per cent seats in local bodies like panchayats, municipalities and civic corporations for Other Backward Classes.
The Supreme Court on Monday asked Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena to rise above 'political bickering' and discuss who could head the national capital's power regulator Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC), saying the two constitutional functionaries should get down to 'serious work of governance' away from glare of publicity.
The counsel appearing for the Centre told the top court on Friday that they have written to the secretaries of the ministries of external affairs as well as health on the issue.