The Supreme Court of India has sought the Indian government's response to a petition filed by a Muslim woman seeking to be governed by the Indian succession law instead of Shariat. The woman, Safiya P.M., argues that she does not believe in Shariat and wants to be governed by secular law, including the Indian Succession Act of 1925. The court has asked the government to file a counter affidavit within four weeks.
The apex court has been holding hearings through video conferencing since March 25 due to the COVID-19-induced nationwide lockdown and even after the restrictions were relaxed; it has decided to continue with the practice.
Muzaffar Shah of Awami National Conference said he has filed the petition seeking review of the verdict which held Article 370 was a temporary provision in the Constitution.
The Supreme Court will hear on Monday a batch of petitions challenging the 121st constitutional amendment by which collegium system for appointment of judges in higher judiciary was scrapped and a new mechanism under National Judicial Appointment Commission was proposed to be put in place.
Three among the bigger courtrooms will be readied within that time for physical hearing, while adhering to the prescribed distancing and other norms and as per medical advice.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to accept Centre's preliminary plea that petitions challenging the new law on appointment of judges in higher judiciary.
The Supreme Court of India has sought a response from the Election Commission of India (ECI) regarding pleas seeking verification of burnt memory and symbol loading units in Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). The court directed the ECI to refrain from erasing or reloading data during the verification process and to explain the procedure adopted for verification. The bench also expressed concerns over the high cost of verification and directed the ECI to reduce the fee. The court's directive comes following its previous judgement where it allowed aggrieved candidates to seek verification of EVMs.
Chief Justice of India-designate Justice U U Lalit on Friday highlighted three areas on which he intends to work during his 74-day tenure as the head of the judiciary and said he would strive hard to ensure that at least one Constitution bench is functioning in the Supreme Court throughout the year.
Chief Justice of India U U Lalit on Friday said that the Supreme Court will endeavour to dispose of as many cases as possible and he will strive his best to live up to the expectations of the people.
'Is the idea of a committed judiciary once again being floated, though surreptitiously, unlike in the past when it was direct?'
The Supreme Court on Tuesday appreciated the 'marked improvement' in the unconditional public apology published in newspapers by yoga guru Ramdev, his aide Balkrishna and Patanjali Ayurved Ltd in the misleading advertisements case.
Supreme Court judge Justice DY Chandrachud, who has been asking lawyers to adopt technological interventions, on Tuesday said that he saw someone recording the court's proceedings on a cell phone and wondered "how can he do so", but then he realised this was not a big deal as nothing is confidential in an open court hearing.
The Supreme Court collegium headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud has recommended the names of three advocates for appointment as judges of the Bombay high court.
Two pleas were filed in the Supreme Court on Wednesday over the tractor rally violence on Republic Day, with one seeking the setting up of a commission, headed by a retired apex court judge, to inquire into the incident, while the other urged it to direct the media not to declare farmers as "terrorist" without any evidence.
'It has changed the political character of India by ejecting socialism as an ideology from the Constitution of India.'
Expanding the scope of its hearing in the Patanjali Ayurved case, the Supreme Court on Tuesday took a stern view of misleading advertisements by Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) firms and asked three Union ministries to inform it about the steps they have taken to curb the practice which takes 'public for a ride' and adversely affects their health.
Chief Justice of India (CJI) D Y Chandrachud on Tuesday said the greatest challenge before the Indian judiciary is to eliminate barriers to accessing justice and make sure that the judiciary is inclusive and accessible to the last person in the line.
"The need is to strengthen the judiciary as a consequence of which the justice delivery system becomes fast, qualitatively responsive and serve the purpose of justice," he said.
The bench issued notice to the incumbent Secretary (Justice) of the Union Law Ministry seeking response on a plea alleging "wilful disobedience" of time frame laid down to facilitate timely appointment in the apex court's April 20 last year order .
The Supreme Court on Tuesday deprecated criticism of electronic voting machines (EVMs) and calls for reverting to ballot papers, saying the electoral process in India is a "humongous task" and attempts should not be made to "bring down the system".
The top court, which has restricted its functioning and is conducting hearing through video conferencing of extremely urgent matters during the lockdown period since March 25, exercised its plenary power under Article 142 of the Constitution to direct all the high courts to frame a mechanism for use of technology during the pandemic.
The matter was mentioned for urgent hearing before a bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha, which took it up on board.
The Supreme Court on Thursday junked a plea filed by former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh seeking records, including file notings and internal correspondence, of the preliminary enquiry report in the corruption case, saying "should we entertain this because he has been a minister."
'No strong government (belonging to any party) likes to be held accountable (for their acts of commission and omission).' 'They just don't like anybody asking questions (of them).' 'This is the problem with strong governments.'
The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear on May 17 a plea of an NGO seeking a direction to the Election Commission to upload polling station-wise voter turnout data on its website within 48 hours of conclusion of polling for each phase of the Lok Sabha elections.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday reserved its order on the contempt notice issued to yoga guru Ramdev, his aide Balkrishna and Patanjali Ayurved Ltd in the misleading advertisements case.
A bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and S V N Bhatti said it won't issue any clarification on the July 22 order as "We have said what needed to be said in our July 22 order. Can't force anyone to disclose names."
Ramdev and Balkrishna have tendered an "unconditional and unqualified apology" before the apex court over advertisements issued by the firm making tall claims about the medicinal efficacy of its products.
Chastising the State Bank of India, the Supreme Court on Monday ordered it to disclose the details of the electoral bonds encashed by political parties to the Election Commission by the close of the business hours on March 12 and warned the country's largest public sector lender that the court may proceed against it for 'wilful disobedience' if it failed to comply with its directions and deadlines.
The Solicitor General said, "Leadership develops at the grassroots level and it remains in the state association. By the time, his time comes for being elevated to the BCCI; he has to go for a mandatory three-year cooling-off period. One cannot become a member of the BCCI if he is not an active member of the state association".
Right to Information activist Anjali Bhardwaj said the VVPAT system should be re-calibrated to be fully voter-verifiable.
The bench said it would be difficult for the poll panel to mobilise manpower for uploading the voter turnout data on its website.
The Supreme Court Tuesday granted one-week time to yoga guru Ramdev, his aide Balkrishna and Patanjali Ayurved to issue a public apology in the misleading advertisements case, but said it was not letting them 'off the hook' now.
Underscoring the importance of voter satisfaction and trust in the electoral system, the Supreme Court on Thursday told petitioners who sought its direction to go back to using ballot papers not to suspect the efficacy of Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) and appreciate if the Election Commission does good work.
"The voter turnout data for the first two phases of the ongoing 2024 Lok Sabha elections published by ECI on April 30 has been published after 11 days of the first phase of polling... on April 19 and four days after second phase of polling... on April 26.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday took serious exception to political statements being made on the sub-judice matter related to the withdrawal of four percent Muslim quota in Karnataka, saying "some sanctity needs to be maintained".
The Supreme Court said on Wednesday it cannot 'control the elections' or issue directions simply because doubts have been raised about the efficacy of Electronic Voting Machines (EVM), as it reserved its judgment on a clutch of petitions claiming the polling devices can be tinkered with to manipulate the results.
The Supreme Court on Monday flagged the issue of "pick and choose" by the Centre in clearing the collegium's recommendations for transferring high court judges and said this does not send a good signal.
Last week, a first information report was registered against Goswami, his wife and his son at N M Joshi Marg police station in central Mumbai for allegedly assaulting a woman police officer when a police team went to his house to arrest him in the suicide case on November 4.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday extended interim protection from arrest till July 19 to activist Teesta Setalvad in a case linked to the 2002 post-Godhra riots.
