The Supreme Court collegium headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud has rejected a request made by Justice V M Velumani to retain her as a Madras high court judge.
Observing that there are "definite and proved" allegations that complaints of the victims of violence in the aftermath of the West Bengal assembly polls were not even registered, the Calcutta high court on Thursday ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into all alleged cases of heinous crimes like rape and murder, while accepting the recommendations of a National Human Rights Commission panel.
At a time when there is no mechanism in place to appoint or elevate judges to the higher judiciary, 8 high court judges have retired in a month, raising the vacancies from 384 in August to 392 this month.
The solicitor general said the suit is also liable to be dismissed due to the absence of cause of action against the respondent -- department of personnel and training.
The re-appointment of the vice-chancellor of Calcutta University, which was also challenged in the PIL, has already been set aside by the high court and upheld by the Supreme Court.
The State Election Commission on Friday informed the Calcutta high court that it has requisitioned 822 companies of central forces for the July 8 panchayat polls in West Bengal.
Prior to the swearing-in of Justices Hima Kohli, Nagarathna and Bela M Trivedi, only eight women judges, including sitting judge Justice Indira Banerjee, were appointed as apex court judges.
'They might not have liked his judgments on IT rules, the Election Commission and Pondicherry.'
The bench agreed to hear the plea on Friday and told Singhvi to ask his junior counsel to go to the mentioning officer.
The top court, however, did not stay at this stage the part of the high court order which had said that central probe agencies could quiz the Trinamool Congress general secretary in connection with these cases and fixed his plea for hearing in July.
The high court had on May 21 ordered shifting of two West Bengal ministers, an MLA and a former Kolkata mayor to house arrest from jail.
Justice Karnan said the eight judges have "jointly committed the offences punishable under the SC/ST Atrocities Act of 1989 and amended Act of 2015.
The Supreme Court collegium headed by CJI N V Ramana has learnt to have recommended eight names of judges, including acting chief justice of Calcutta High Court Justice Rajesh Bindal, for their elevation as chief justices of different high courts.
'Even if we have laws in place, which we must, we need a societal change.' 'Rather than telling our daughters that, "Listen, leave your house at so and so time, come back by so and so time," we must tell the men and boys that "Whatever point of time you encounter a woman in public space or wherever, you treat her with respect, dignity, and as an equal participant in these public spaces".'
The apex court passed the order on an application moved by the Registrar of Madras high court, who is also private secretary to the chief justice, seeking an order to restrain Justice Karnan from doing any judicial work.
It said the chief justice-led bench of the high court shall be at liberty to pass appropriate order in the petition after hearing all the objections, if any, of Adhikari both on the merits and maintainability of the plea.
Karnan, who had been staying there for the last few days, resisted the arrest and argued with the police.
The Manipur government dubbed as untrue the claim by the counsel for the committee appointed by the apex court to oversee relief and rehabilitation of the victims of ethnic violence that the people of the state were suffering on account of an economic blockade.
Kumar, who is currently the West Bengal CID additional director general, was part of a special investigation team set up by the West Bengal government to investigate the scam before the Supreme Court handed over the case to the CBI in 2014, along with other chit fund cases.
The Supreme Court collegium headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud on Thursday recommended the transfer of seven high court judges to different high courts in the country.
The top court said if it transfers the election petition, it would be an expression of lack of faith in the entire high court.
Deposition of persons claiming to be 'directly affected' by alleged phone-tapping using Pegasus software will commence from December 13 before a two-man commission of inquiry set up by the Mamata Banerjee government, one of its constituents Justice (retd) Jyotirmoy Bhattacharya said on Thursday.
Senior advocate Gopal Subramaniam on Wednesday asked the Chief Justice of India to withdraw the recommendation about his candidature as the judge of the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to interfere with the Delhi government's order putting a comprehensive ban on manufacturing, storage, sale and bursting of firecrackers in the city, saying people's health is important.
The petition was held as "not maintainable" by the apex court registry.
Calcutta high court judge C S Karnan, evading arrest since May 9, on Wednesday failed to get relief from the Supreme Court, which refused to hear his plea seeking a stay on its order awarding him a six-month jail term for contempt of court.
Taking exception to Calcutta high court's order refusing to give notice to Mamata Banerjee on the appointment of Dr Sukumar Mukherjee as chief health advisor to the state goverment, the Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to the West Bengal chief minister
Taking potshots at the Bharatiya Janata Party, some opposition leaders also wondered if Goel resigned to contest the Lok Sabha polls on its ticket like former Calcutta high court judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay.
The Supreme Court on Friday refused to stay the order of the Calcutta high court handing over the probe into incidents of violence during Ram Navami celebrations in West Bengal to the National Investigation Agency.
"There is no other alternative to seek presence of Shri Justice C S Karnan. We issue bailable warrants of the sum of Rs 10,000 in the nature of personal bond to the satisfaction of the arresting officer," a seven-judge bench headed by Chief Justice J S Khehar said.
'The India which was all about glamour and razzmatazz through which he could earn the trust of people of the other India, which was Bharat.'
In a setback to the West Bengal government, the Supreme Court on Monday dismissed its plea challenging a Calcutta high court order transferring to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) the probe into the January 5 attack on an Enforcement Directorate (ED) team in Sandeshkhali, allegedly by supporters of the now suspended TMC local strongman Shahjahan Sheikh.
Modi also alleged the opposition grouping will end the reservation given to SC, ST, OBC and give all of it to Muslims.
The team comprises officials of Kolkata police, including a director general of police rank officer, Chennai police sources said, adding the whereabouts of Justice Karnan were not known.
Justice Karnan told the doctors that for holding such a medical examination, guardian's consent is required.
Justice Shampa Sarkar directed that Banerjee's election petition will be taken up for hearing on August 12.
A special CBI team had been searching for Kumar, who is now the additional director general of police in the criminal investigation department, across various locations in Kolkata.
The SC collegium had in 2016 recommended names of Harnaresh Singh Gill and Mohammed Nizamuddin for appointment as judges of the Punjab and Haryana high court and the Calcutta high court respectively.
After an hour-long deliberation, the five-member collegium unanimously decided that Justice Joseph's name should be accompanied with the recommendation of names of other Chief Justices of high courts for elevation as judges of the Supreme Court.
The government had declined to appoint Justice Joseph's to the top court and asked it to reconsider his name.
