Political parties in Tamil Nadu on Tuesday welcomed the Madras high court order staying the execution of the three convicts in Rajiv Gandhi assassination case and adoption of a resolution by the state assembly appealing to the President to reconsider their mercy pleas.
Granting the interim stay, a bench comprising justices C Nagappan and M Sathayanarayanan observed there had been a delay of over 11 years in the disposal of the mercy petitions filed by the convicts to the President seeking clemency.
The three -- Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan-- lodged in Vellore Jail, were scheduled to be hanged on September 9.
Claiming that Tamils will be happy if the three Rajiv killers are spared the gallows, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi on Monday "fervently" asked for a cancellation of their death sentence.
A bench of Justice N Kirubakaran, since retired, and Justice B Pugalendhi, in a recent order also said that in our country 'it is made to believe that Sanskrit alone is Gods' language'.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday decided to adjudicate itself the pleas of Rajiv Gandhi's killers against their death penalty. A bench headed by Justice G S Singhvi directed that their petitions, pending with the Madras high court, be sent to it and listed the case for hearing on July 10.
Today's doodle, illustrated by Sudeepti Tucker, shows Sarabhai with her signature parasol while her students are dancing on stage.
Police on Thursday informed the Madras high court that Bakrudeen, allegedly behind planting of the bomb on Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani's yatra route near Madurai, is absconding and not in its custody.
Home Minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday dismissed Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa's statement demanding his resignation on the ground he was elected in "fraudulent" manner in 2009 Lok Sabha polls calling it a "gross contempt of court".
The court dismissed the plea filed by P Vetrivel, MLA, a supporter of sidelined AIADMK leader T T V Dinakaran, and imposed a cost of Rs one lakh on him for "wasting the time of the court".
Tamil Nadu's Additional Advocate General Gurukrishna Kumar opposed the plea for transfer of the three convicts' appeals out of the state high court, denying allegations made before the apex court that the atmosphere in the state was too "vitiated and surcharged" to hold a free and fair hearing in the case.
Facing criticism on the controversy surrounding former minister A Raja allegedly attempting to influence a Madras high court judge, former Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan on Wednesday insisted that the minister's name was not mentioned by Justice H L Gokhale in his report.
Cutting a huge cake depicting the National Flag and eating it could not be construed as an offence punishable under the relevant Act, the Madras high Court ruled.
Earlier, an apex court bench had dismissed appeals of nine convicts, including Rajagopal, and upheld the Madras high court verdict awarding life term to them.
Supposed to be one of the top-paid stars in Tamil cinema, actor Vijay is known for his big-ticket hits and commands good box-office opening.
An accused in the case of planting a bomb on Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani's yatra route has filed a petition in the Madras high court bench in Madurai, seeking a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the matter, alleging that he was falsely implicated in the case. Hakeem of Jaihindpuram, who moved the court, expressed fear that the police could "resort to extra judicial killing of some accused" to cover up their alleged lacunae in the probe.
'They have started an institute, the Academy of Training and Sensitisation, for prison officials near Vellore.' 'This institute has been started by the Union home ministry and it is meant for all the four southern states.'
The fund house had offered two options to affected investors -- either monetisation of assets by trustees or hiring a third party to conduct the process.
Justice Karnan in his response, alleged discrimination and 'social boycott' by companion judges on various grounds including his caste.
It is a tale of two deals: One completed and the other, announced and later aborted.
The Jayalalithaa government in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday scored a legal victory when the Madras high court declined to interfere with its decision to shift to the state secretariat and assembly to Fort St George from the Rs 1,000 crore complex, a pet project of the previous Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam regime.
UK telecom giant Vodafone has alleged that its Indian joint venture partner, the Essar group, may be involved in violation of insider-trading regulations. The dispute between the two came into the open after Essar proposed a reverse merger of group company Essar Telecom Holdings (ETHPL) into listed entity Indian Securities (ISL).
A plea was made in the Supreme Court for production of correspondence between ex-CJI KG Balakrishnan, sitting judge H L Gokhale and then Madras High Court judge R Reghupathi who had alleged that former Telecom Minister A Raja attempted to influence him in a criminal case.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed the Madras high court's order directing suspension of advocate R K Chandramohan from chairmanship of the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry for allegedly attempting to influence a judge by taking former telecom minister A Raja's name.A bench comprising justices D K Jain and H L Dattu also stayed the operation of the high court direction asking the Bar Council of India to initiate disciplinary action against Chandramohan.
The Supreme Court on Thursday issued notices to the Centre and others on a plea for transfer out of Madras High Court the petition by three condemned prisoners against their death sentences in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.
He supervised and handled several major big ticket insolvency cases that includes Essar Steel, Bhushan Power & Steel, Bhushan Steel, Jaypee Infratech, ElectroSteel Steel, Binani Cement, Reliance Communications.
Opposition parties in Tamil Nadu, led by All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, on Tuesday appealed to President Pratibha Patil to give consent for use of Tamil as the official language in Madras high court before attending the World Classical Tamil Conference in Coimbatore this week.
The Centre is likely to tell the Madras high court that no time limit is prescribed for the president to take a decision on mercy petition of any death row convict.
Police said the 79-year old Kerala-based seer Kesavananda Bharati Sripadagalvaru died at the Edaneer Mutt in Kasaragod due to age related ailments. The case in which Bharati had challenged a Kerala Land Reform Act nearly four decades ago set the principle that the Supreme Court is the guardian of the basic structure of the Constitution and the verdict involved 13 judges the largest bench ever to sit in the apex court.
Media company Zee Media Corporation Limited on Tuesday vehemently rebutted the allegations in the defamation civil suit filed by India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni in the Madras high court, where he alleged Zee News of telecasting "malicious" news about him.
The Madras High Court order for closure of over 700 dyeing and knitting units in Tirupur may trigger huge loan defaults. Repayment of loans worth about Rs 20,000 crore would be hit if operations came to a halt, said Tirupur Exporters Association President A Sakthivel.
Paving the way for proceedings against a lawyer who allegedly tried to influence a Madras High Court judge by taking former Telecom Minister A Raja's name, the Supreme Court vacated its stay and asked Bar Council of India (BCI) to decide the complaint against him.
The Supreme Court on Monday upheld the death sentence awarded to three All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam workers in connection with the 2000 Dharmapuri bus burning case, in which three college girls were charred to death. A bench comprising Justices G S Singhvi and B S Chauhan confirmed the death sentence awarded by the Madras high court in 2007. The trial court had also held the three workers guilty and awarded the capital punishment.
Vedanta had sought handing over of the plant for three months saying it requires two months to start the unit and the company should be allowed to run it for four weeks to ascertain whether its polluting or not. The interim plea by Vedanta was opposed by Tamil Nadu government which claimed before a bench headed by Justice R F Nariman that the plant had been 'polluting consistently'.
"The new cattle trade and slaughter rules framed by the central government are against the interest of the people. We will not carry out the new rules," Tripura's Agriculture and Animal Resource Development Minister Aghore Debbarma said.
Passing an order on a PIL filed by S Sai Kumar, hailing from Yanam, a territory of Puducherry, a Division Bench comprising Justices Prabha Sridevan and G M Akbar Ali said on Tuesday that the fact that Reliance had obtained approval after commencing the project was not enough.
The condemned prisoners convicted in Rajiv Gandhi assassination case deserve death sentence, the Supreme Court said on Thursday and refused to go into the merit of the conviction while hearing their plea on commuting death penalty to life due to delay in deciding their mercy plea.
Rejecting allegations against him, K G Balakrishnan, the former chief justice of India on Wednesday said that there was no mention of any Union minister in the report sent by the chief justice of the Madras high court on the Justice Reghupathi episode.
In further embarrassment to former telecom minister A Raja, the Madras high court on Tuesday suspended from the bar a top lawyer who was allegedly involved in an attempt to influence a judge taking the name of the minister.A division bench comprising Justice F M Ibrahim Khalifulla and Justice M M Sundaresh, said the status of R K Chandramohan, a member and subsequently the chairman of the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Pondichery, shall stand suspended forthwith.
The Madras High Court on Tuesday stayed all further proceedings against self-styled godman Nityananda Swami, facing criminal charges including rape, by the Puducherry police on a complaint by some advocates practicing in the union territory.