Justice Soumitra Sen, against whom the Chief Justice of India has recommended impeachment, is not considering resignation and will defend himself as and when required, his counsel has said."At this stage, he is not considering resignation," said senior counsel Subhas Bhattacharya, who is representing the Calcutta High Court judge."If showcaused by Parliament, he will appear before it. He will defend himself in accordance with the law," Bhattacharya said.
The CJI's announcement made in the apex court assumes significance in the wake of Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju's statement in Rajya Sabha on Thursday in which he said there was a feeling among the people that long court vacations were not very convenient for justice seekers.
Justice Sen said he does not belong to any political party and does not dream of getting a political berth after retirement. He said he had written the judgment based on truth, history and ground reality "to save the citizens of India, irrespective of caste, creed, religion or language".
The meeting lasted for nearly two hours, sources said.
The political discourse hit a new low on Monday with Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri making disparaging remarks targeting Rahul Gandhi and the Congress paying him back in the same coin.
After a spirited eight-hour debate in which 60 members participated, the Lok Sabha passed the Constitution (128th Amendment) Bill, with 454 members voting in favour and two against it.
The Supreme Court on Thursday reserved its verdict on a batch of pleas, including those seeking review of some verdicts of 2011 which had held that mere membership of a banned organisation will not make a person criminal unless he resorts to violence or incites people to violence.
'The Bills (Bharatiya Saksha, Bharatiya Nagarik Sanhita and Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita) are arbitrary, opaque and ambiguous and structurally quite violent.'
Khan was convicted in the Toshakhana case which was filed last year on the complaint of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) which had earlier disqualified him in the same case.
The remarks by the CJI came against the backdrop of the recent remarks by Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar who questioned the landmark 1973 Kesavananda Bharati case verdict that gave the basic structure doctrine.
'Nobody is speaking up for Muslims today.' 'Secular parties too have calmed down because they feel this will hurt the Hindu vote (bank).' 'In this scenario, where does a Muslim go?'
Once the Canadian investigation runs its course, Ottawa may put on the public domain further accusations passing for "evidence" -- and that could happen at some point closer to our general election. All in all, the big question is, what is it that the US is really up to, asks Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'When the Executive can do whatever they want, why bother having an election?'
When the House was taking up private members' business, Chowdhury urged Rajendra Agrawal, who was presiding over the proceedings, to allow Gandhi to attend the House.
The long-pending demand of high court judges of one rank one pension is set to be met as government plans to bring a bill to rectify an anomaly as per which judges selected from the Bar get lesser pension than those elevated from state judicial services.
'Even the President does not have the power to overrule the ECI.'
The Lok Sabha speaker and the secretariat found themselves embroiled in an angry dispute on Tuesday as members of the Trinamool Congress party and Telugu Desam Party clashed over the contentious Room no 5 on the first floor of Parliament House.
Rijiju also said the Centre respects judiciary as its independence is "absolutely necessary" for a thriving democracy.
The 5-judge bench, was referring to four senior most judges of apex court -- Justices J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, M B Lokur and Kurian Joseph -- who had held January 12 press conference against CJI Dipak Misra raising litany of questions on allocation of cases.
Having been unceremoniously removed as Sri Lanka's top judge, Shirani Bandaranayake on Tuesday said she still believed she was the legitimate chief justice of the country and expressed fear for her life in a stoic parting statement. Sri Lanka's first woman chief justice, who was impeached by the parliament, said she was unjustly persecuted for standing up for an independent judiciary.
Amid furore created by All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam members in Parliament for the second day running, the government on Tuesday admitted that a Supreme Court collegium during the United Progressive Alliance rule had recommended extension of a judge in Tamil Nadu who was under corruption cloud.
'There is one weapon in the government's armoury which impacts the independence of the judiciary, and which has not been affected by the collegium system.' 'It is post-retirement employment with the government. 'This is because some judges -- but not all -- are offered post-retirement employment by the government, and it has often been feared that judges close to retirement might decide cases so as to please the government in order to get a favourable post-retirement position,' says Abhinav Chandrachud.
Two judges of the Supreme Court, who were scheduled to hear on Monday the bail plea of Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam Member of Parliament Kanimozhi, an accused in the 2G spectrum allocation scam, on Friday recused themselves from the hearing. Instead, Justice G S Singhvi, whose bench has been monitoring the case, will hold a special hearing on Monday along with Justice B S Chauhan to decide the bail applications of Kanimozhi and Kalaignar TV Managing Director Sharad Kumar.
The lawyers' body has moved the top court challenging the Bombay high court's February 9 order dismissing its plea on the ground that it was not a fit case to invoke the writ jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution.
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.
A sessions court in Surat on Thursday said it would pronounce on April 20 its order on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's plea for a stay to his conviction in a criminal defamation case over his "Modi surname" remark.
There is no question of a Brexit-like referendum on the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, the Supreme Court said on Tuesday, as it grappled with the question as to whether its repeal was constitutionally legal.
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 Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a plea on a dispute involving the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi on November 10.
The bench posed questions to senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing for one of the petitioners Soayib Qureshi, who has challenged the Centre's August 5, 2019 decision to abrogate the provision.
The apex court observed that any law declared by it is "binding" on all stakeholders and the collegium system must be followed.
The bid to extend the tenure of the present chief secretary is the latest bone of contention between the Arvind Kejriwal government and Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena, who have been involved in a series of run-ins over various issues.
A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, in a unanimous verdict, ruled that its 2014 verdict, which had struck down a provision of the Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act, 1946 providing immunity to such officers in graft cases, will have retrospective effect.
'Their role model is Iran: high control of the citizens by the State.' In Iran it is Islamic control; in India, it will be Hindutva control.'
BJP MLA Purnesh Modi, complainant in the defamation case against Rahul Gandhi, has filed a caveat in the Supreme Court seeking that he be heard if the Congress leader moves a plea challenging the high court verdict refusing to stay his conviction in the Modi surname remark case.
The plea came up for hearing before a bench of Justices SK Kaul and A Amanullah.
The bill to amend the IIM Act of 2017 was introduced in the Lok Sabha last Friday amid disruptions by opposition members over the Manipur violence issue.
The Congress on Thursday said it will continue to avail all options still available under the law after a Gujarat court rejected Rahul Gandhi's application for a stay on his conviction in a criminal defamation case.
The government on Tuesday asserted that a bill to set up a commission on appointment of judges is aimed at having a "fair procedure" for appointing judges to higher courts and it has no intention to have any confrontation with the judiciary on the issue.