The Telangana High Court recently directed that no coercive action be taken against Congress workers in a matter involving a fake video of Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Justice B Vijaysen Reddy ordered both the state and Delhi police to refrain from taking any coercive steps against the Congress workers. The court directed the state and Delhi Police not to take any coercive steps pursuant to notices under Sections 911160 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 bearing No.177 R/ACP/IFSO (Team a)/Spl Cell New Delhi, Notice No.’|78 R/I,CP/IFSO (Team 4)/Spl Cell New Delhi, Notice No.179 R/ACP/IFSO ..read more

The Supreme Court on Monday postponed to July the hearing of the plea lodged by Karnataka government against the Centre for drought relief funds. A bench comprising Justice BR Gavai and Justice Sandeep Mehta passed the judgment, taking into consideration Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal’s opposition of the Union’s stance that Karnataka had not furnished relevant data. The Senior Advocate also said that there are factual errors in the report given by the central government. Mentioning that they want to file a reply, the counsel said that the Centre asserted that the state did not provide the data ..read more

The Centre recently defended before the Supreme Court its letter asking state/Union Territories licensing authorities to not take action against ads related to Ayurvedic and Ayush products under Rule 170 of the Drugs and Cosmetic Rules, 1945 (1945 Rules). This follows in the contempt case against Patanjali Ayurveda over the publication of misleading advertisements. According to the affidavit lodged by the Joint Secretary of the Ayush Ministry, the letter was issued in view of the recommendation made by the Ayurvedic, Siddha, and Unani Drugs Technical Advisory Board (ASUDTAB) on May 25, 2023 ..read more

The Delhi High Court has granted bail to a man who was charged with offences under Sections 38 and 39 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, noting that mere possession of photographs of Osama bin Laden, ISIS flags, or accessing the lectures of hardline Muslim preachers, could not be considered a crime under UAPA. The Division Bench of Justice Suresh Kumar Kait and Justice Manoj Jain recently noted that such images, videos, or photographs could, at best, give a glimpse into what was going in the mind of that person. However, talking about a penal provision, which in essence took away th ..read more

The Calcutta High Court disposed of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed praying for a direction upon the respondents to conduct an inquiry or investigation to find out the children on the streets who are used for begging and who are homeless and are abused and to rehabilitate them to the shelter homes and to direct the councilors also to participate in the rehabilitation process. A report in the form of an affidavit has been filed on behalf of the first respondent (State of West Bengal) signed by the Assistant Secretary, West Bengal Commission for Protection of Child Rights. In the reply ..read more

The Supreme Court recently held that the department must mandatorily adhere to the time limit for processing and issuing the refunds under Section 38 of the Delhi Value Added Tax Act, 2004. The bench of Justice PS Narasimha and Justice PB Varale remarked that the language of Section 38(3) is mandatory and the department must adhere to the timeline stipulated therein to fulfill the object of the provision, which is to ensure that refunds are processed and issued in a timely manner. While affirming the decision of the Delhi High Court, the top court dismissed the contentions of the department r ..read more

The Supreme Court today sought an explanation from its Registrar (Judicial) against the listing of the case without following the proper procedure. Notably, the Special Leave Petition (Criminal) was lodged and it was listed before the court without an exemption from the surrender application. The Bench of Justice JK Maheshwari and Justice Sanjay Karol asked the registry how the matter came to be listed without following the proper procedure. The court in its order said that along with the SLP, the surrender certificate must be on record otherwise an application seeking exemption from surrende ..read more

The Supreme Court on Monday set aside a National Green Tribunal (NGT) order, which had dismissed a petition against the clearing of land for the proposed greenfield airport at Doolo Tea Estate in Assam’s Silchar. The order was passed by the Bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra on an appeal against the NGT order passed on March 25, which dismissed the plea against the clearing of close to 41 lakh shrubs. The Apex Court observed that the clearing activities, which were in progress, were done without environmental clearance (EC), which was ..read more

The Supreme Court on Monday clarified that its order whereby it had directed reservation of minimum one-third seats for women in the Supreme Court Bar Association’s executive committee is on an experimental basis and that any difficulty faced in implementing the reforms would be placed before the apex court. The bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice KV Viswanathan in its order passed on May 2 had made it clear that this reservation will also be applied in the coming elections, which are to be held on May 16, 2024. Furthermore, it was also ordered that the election committee, whose decision ..read more

The Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court has asked the Lucknow Municipal Corporation (LMC) to ensure the availability of clean drinking water in certain areas of Lucknow. The Division Bench of Justice Rajan Roy and Justice Om Prakash Shukla passed this order while hearing a Public Interest Litigation filed by Utkarsh Lok Sewa Sansthan Through its President (Aruna Singh) in 2016, concerning the quality of water supplied to their homes. It is informed to the court that adequate drinking water is not being provided to the residents of Sarai Hasanganj, Barauri, Barauliya, Akbar Nagar, Hardas ..read more