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 Tuesday referred to a Constitution bench of at least five judges a batch of pleas challenging the constitutional validity of the colonial-era provision of sedition under the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The panel will comprise legal experts, retired people, intellectuals and other stakeholders, the chief minister announced on the last day of campaigning for the 70 assembly seats in the state going to polls on February 14.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Tejpal, told the bench they would require some time to prepare.
Is there no mechanism to abrogate Article 370 even when the people of Jammu and Kashmir want it, the Supreme Court asked on Thursday and wondered if the now repealed provision can't be touched, will it not amount to creating a "new category" beyond the basic structure of the Constitution.
"Nobody is sympathising with Atiq Ahmad because a criminal should be punished. But anyone who will see this video will question if we are a democracy. Every criminal has the right to be heard in court and be convicted there. But you can see they were killed in police custody in the open," he said.
In a major cabinet reshuffle, Arjun Ram Meghwal has replaced Kiren Rijiju as the Union law and justice minister, a communique from the President's Secretariat said on Thursday.
Tabled by Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai, the legislation will reverse the effect of the Supreme Court verdict in May that gave the Delhi government power over administrative services.
The alliance adopted a resolution to this effect and said its theme for the elections will be "Judega Bharat, Jeetega India, (India will unite, India will win)".
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).
"Once a law or act is passed by the Parliament, I think that the constitutional view is that, any state can't and should not say no but this has to be legally examined," Hooda said.
In his letters sent to the DMs of Aligarh and Haridwar, Ali has said a public event styled as a 'Dharam Sansad' was held in Haridwar and Delhi from December 17-19 last year where such speeches were made.
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.
A bench of Justices K M Joseph and J B Pardiwala was told by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who appeared in the matter on behalf of the Maharashtra government, that the state undertakes that if the event is allowed to be held, it will be subject to the condition that 'nobody will make any hate speech and act in defiance of law or disturb the public order'.
'This move rendered the chiefs of important investigative agencies to the status of daily wage earners. It undermined the autonomy and independence of the agencies.'
Addressing a rally in the Balpur area in Gonda in Uttar Pradesh on the completion of nine years of the Narendra Modi government, Singh skipped any direct reference to the wrestlers' protest for his arrest and chose to target the Congress over the Emergency, Ram temple, the 1984 anti-Sikhs riots and other issues.
The political war of words over Manipur intensified on Saturday with the BJP raising the incidents of atrocities against women in West Bengal and Rajasthan and questioning the 'silence' of the opposition, which termed it as a diversionary tactic to avoid debate on the situation in the north-eastern state.
'Ghulam Nabi Azad and Kapil Sibal are the two people who have been marked and punished'
Singling out a person for the defeat in 2014 would not be right, Pilot said.
The Supreme Court on Thursday witnessed a heated exchange of words between Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Supreme Court Bar Association president Vikas Singh in a case related to allotment of a parcel of land for lawyers' chambers.
'Nothing has been removed or added to my Twitter profile. The profile is as it was earlier'
'The idea of subversive activities is so vague that it could include making fun of the government, being critical of the government.'
The SC agreed to hear on July 11 the plea of Shiv Sena's Sunil Prabhu seeking suspension from Assembly of CM Shinde and 15 rebel MLAs against whom disqualification pleas are pending.
Sibal threw the ball in Kejriwal's court saying, "He knows better".
Elections will be held on June 10 to fill 57 Rajya Sabha seats from 15 states falling vacant due to the retirement of members on different dates between June and August, the Election Commission said on Thursday.
The government has washed its hands off rising onion prices with Union ministers not sounding too sympathetic.
Rattled by the spot-fixing scandal that has shaken Indian cricket, IPL Chairman Rajiv Shukla and BCCI vice-President Arun Jaitley met Law Minister Kapil Sibal on Friday, demanding a strong anti-fixing legislation be 'enacted as soon as possible'.
According to the apex court, the disclaimer should say that 'there is no authenticated data to back up the suggestion on figure of conversion and the film represents the fictionalised version'.
In a big relief to activist Teesta Setalvad, the Supreme Court on Wednesday granted her regular bail in a case of alleged fabrication of documents to frame innocent people in the 2002 post-Godhra riot cases while terming as "perverse" and "contradictory" the Gujarat high court order denying her bail.
Azad said it was a good meeting with the Congress president with the discussion centred on how to prepare and fight unitedly the forthcoming assembly polls to take on rival parties.
Hooda and Azad were reported to have discussed concrete proposals to strengthen the Congress and ensure collective leadership and decision making as demanded by the grouping which met on Wednesday and signed a joint statement.
The Supreme Court on Monday extended till September 15 its order asking the Manipur police not to take any coercive steps against four members of the Editors Guild of India (EGI) in connection with two FIRs lodged against them for alleged offences, including promoting enmity between two communities.
The apex court had earlier restrained the high court from proceedings with the PILs seeking a probe against Soren in the mining lease issue.
In a setback to jailed Bihar Youtuber Manish Kashyap, the Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain his plea challenging invocation of the stringent National Security Act (NSA) against him for allegedly circulating fake videos of migrant labourers being attacked in Tamil Nadu.
Hitting back at Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal for accusing Bharatiya Janata Party of killing democracy, senior party leader Yashwant Sinha has said that the country's main opposition party has saved nation's democracy.
Chowdhury stung Sibal for "giving sermons from AC rooms" and said disgruntled members may join other parties or float their own outfits.
Cyber laws and communications experts feel that Union Minister Kapil Sibal's suggestion of pre-monitoring content of social media websites is a flawed argument, which completely ignores the pre-existing IT-Act in the country, reports Vicky Nanjappa.
Congress veteran Kapil Sibal had on Wednesday filed his nomination as an SP-backed Independent candidate for the Rajya Sabha polls.
Restoration of peace and the normal routine of daily life, compared to the past, stands out as its most significant achievement, observes Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the veteran commentator on Kashmir affairs, four years after the abrogation of Article 370.
While withdrawing the plea, Sibal told the bench that the appeal had become infructuous as the apex court did not stay the earlier high court order passed on July 21 asking the Speaker to defer disqualification proceedings.
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