The "opaque" electoral bonds scheme for funding political parties will "destroy democracy" as it promotes corruption and does not allow a level playing field between the ruling and opposition parties, the petitioners challenging the validity of the scheme told the Supreme Court, which on Tuesday observed election funding was a "complicated issue".
A bench headed by Chief Justice NV Ramana is likely to pronounce its verdict at 10:30 am on Monday.
The court was hearing two pleas including one alleging delay by the Centre in clearing the names recommended by the collegium for appointment and transfer of judges.
Lawyer Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the NGO, alleged that the scheme is a means for channelising unaccounted black money in favour of the ruing party.
"The girls are losing out on studies," lawyer Prashant Bhushan said.
The furore over the release of the RJD strongman from Siwan has now reached the apex court through various petitions.
"I am not contesting the Lok Sabha elections. Out of affection for me, Yogendra Yadav has said that," he told reporters when they asked him about Yadav's remark that his dream is to see Kejriwal as Prime Minister.
The Supreme Court on Friday sought response from the Centre and Delhi Police on a plea seeking an SIT probe and initiation of contempt action against three lawyers who were allegedly caught on camera "bragging and boasting" that they had beaten up JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar and others, including journalists, in a court complex.
"It is very easy to fling allegations and letters," an anguished Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud said on Thursday while clarifying that the bail plea of Aam Aadmi Party leader Satyendar Kumar Jain in a money laundering case was listed before a bench headed by Justice Bela M Trivedi as Justice A S Bopanna was unavailable due to illness.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday said that the issue of who will become the prime minister of India after the 2014 Lok Sabha polls was not important.
He had spoken against expulsion of Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan.
The Aam Aadmi Party's national executive on Wednesday decided not to have Yogendra Yadav in the party's key Political Affairs Committee, days after he and Prashant Bhushan questioned the functioning of party chief Arvind Kejriwal.
In the third attempt in three days to sort out contentious issues between dissident leader Yogendra Yadav and Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP, members from both the camps on Wednesday held a marathon meeting in sought Delhi.
A bench of Justices B R Gavai and Vikram Nath said the matter requires to be heard.
Outlining its national ambitions, the Aam Aadmi Party has announced that it will contest "maximum" number of seats in most states in upcoming Lok Sabha polls and the first list of its candidates will be out in the next 10-15 days.
The Supreme Court on Thursday disagreed with the Centre's submission that petitions challenging the amended law allowing extension of the Enforcement Directorate director's tenure up to five years should not be entertained as they have been filed by political entities facing serious money laundering charges.
Yadav, Bhushan and 150 protestors were detained and have been taken to the Maurice Nagar police station.
A senior Indian Police Service officer in Central Bureau of Investigation is the 'mole' who supplied documents and file notings to advocate Prashant Bhushan on the basis of which 'false and baseless' allegations were made, agency chief Ranjit Sinha claimed in the Supreme Court on Thursday.
A five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court is scheduled to commence a crucial hearing from Tuesday on a batch of pleas challenging the validity of the electoral bonds scheme for funding political parties.
Ruling out any future alliance with the National Democratic Alliance, National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah on Friday said his party was part of the dispensation when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was at the helm, but not now.
A bench of justices Sanjiv Khanna, Dipankar Datta and Augustine George Masih told the petitioners, who pointed out that a meeting for the selection of ECs was pre-poned, to file a separate application pointing out the fact.
The electoral bonds scheme for funding political parties should not become a tool for "legitimisation of quid pro quo" between power centres and people who are benefactors of that power, the Supreme Court said on Thursday as it underscored the need for reducing the cash component in the electoral process.
Sheoran, it is learnt, has the backing of the six wrestlers, including Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat and Sakshi Malik, who led the protests against Brij Bhushan at Jantar Mantar.
The Aam Aadmi Party on Monday distanced itself from the views of its senior leader Prashant Bhushan, who has stated that a referendum should be carried out in Kashmir to decide on the deployment of the army to deal with security threats in the Valley.
One of the public interest litigations filed in the apex court has sought reservation for converted Dalits on the same footing as is extended to the Scheduled Castes following Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism.
'We were not protesting for a wage hike or provident fund. We were protesting for the safety of the larger population. There is no personal gain.'
A bench of Justices MR Shah and Hima Kohli directed the Centre to submit a fresh chart with the number of migrant and unorganised sector workers registered on eShram portal.
The bench said the petition has relied on a March 2 verdict of the apex court which had ruled that the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and ECs will be done by the President on the recommendation of a committee, comprising the prime minister, Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha and the CJI, to maintain the "purity of election".
The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Centre to produce before it the file related to the appointment of Election Commissioner Arun Goel, who was appointed on November 19.
The joint petition, filed by senior journalist N Ram, former Union minister Arun Shourie, and lawyer Prashant Bhushan, submitted that the impugned sub-section is unconstitutional as it is incompatible with preambular values and basic features of the Constitution.
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.
'The exemption given by the government to the CBI appears to be have been guided by its desire to stop exposure of corruption which goes against the preamble of the RTI Act which aims to curb corruption,' says former Chief Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi.
Bhushan submitted that his tweet about Chief Justice of India riding a motorbike was to underline his anguish at the non-physical functioning of the Supreme Court for last more than three months, with hardly any cases being heard.
In comments that could stoke a fresh controversy, Congress leader Digvijaya Singh has likened Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh to mythological demon king Ravan while slamming Bharatiya Janata Party and the Sangh over Wednesday's attack on the Aam Aadmi Party office in Ghaziabad.
A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, which was hearing an application filed by the Election Commission (EC) seeking a modification of the operative portion of its March 11 order in the electoral bonds case, directed its registrar (judicial) to ensure that the data filed earlier by the poll panel before it in a sealed cover be scanned and digitised.
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh has been quizzed and his statement recorded by the Central Bureau of Investigation in connection with alleged kickbacks made to him and State Trading Corporation employees by some private companies.
The law officer said nothing remains in the matter after the privacy judgement.
Electoral bonds have been pitched as an alternative to cash donations made to political parties as part of efforts to bring transparency in political funding.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will leave for Bengaluru later this week.
Somnath Bharti, the law minister in Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's cabinet, was once indicted for tampering with evidence by a court in Patiala.
