Investigations into the murder of activists Narendra Dabholkar and Govind Pansare were also challenged in the high court during the year while discharge of BJP President Amit Shah in the Sohrabuddin case and defamation case filed by RSS worker against Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi grabbed headlines.
Among other petitions which stole the limelight in 2015 were Shiv Sena chief Balasaheb Thackeray's 'will' bequeathed to his family, the Bohra succession row, legal fight between the family of late actor Rajesh Khanna and his live-in partner Anita Advani, alleged corrupt practices by former Maharashtra minister Chhagan Bhujbal, controversy over Radhe Maa's alleged involvement in dowry harassment case and Vodafone's victory over Income Tax department in Bombay High Court.
Salman was convicted by a sessions court on May 6 after he was found guilty of ramming his car into a shop in suburban Bandra killing one person and injuring four others who were sleeping outside.
He filed an appeal in the high court which, on December 10, acquitted him saying prosecution had failed to prove that the actor was driving the car under the influence of liquor.
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Baig, an alleged member of Indian Mujahideen, was arrested in September 2010 for his alleged involvement in the blast which killed 17 people and injured 58 others, including foreign nationals.
Four years after the scam-tainted Adarsh Housing Society filed a petition challenging the demolition order passed by the Union Ministry of Forest and Environment, the high court completed hearing arguments and reserved its order.
brother of Sohrabuddin, who was killed in an alleged fake encounter, to withdraw his petition challenging discharge of Amit Shah from the case. Rubabuddin had sought withdrawal of the petition on grounds of ill-health.
On December 30, 2014, a CBI court in Mumbai had discharged Shah in the alleged fake encounter cases saying there existed "no case" against him and that he had been implicated for "political reasons".
The high court in 2015 transferred the probe in the Dabholkar murder case to CBI and that of Pansare to a Special Investigation Team (SIT) of State CID after local police failed to make any progress in the investigations.
Hearing another petition, the high court ruled in March that sedition charges cannot be invoked against persons writing or saying anything in criticism of the government and its measures as far as it does not incite violence or cause public disorder.
A bench headed by the then Chief Justice Mohit Shah held that citizens have the right to say or write anything criticising the government and its measures so long as it does not incite violence or create law and order problems.
The ruling was passed in a PIL filed after the arrest of cartoonist Aseem Trivedi on sedition charges for drawing cartoons that allegedly insulted the national emblem and Parliament.
The high court is currently conducting civil trial in a suit filed by late Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray's estranged son Jaidev challenging his father's will.
In his last will of December 13, 2011, Bal Thackeray has not left a farthing to Jaidev. Aggrieved Jaidev has disputed the will, saying that his father was of unsound mind and that his brother Uddhav, who is now heading the political party, influenced him.
The high court also began final hearing into a suit filed by Khuzaima Qutbuddin, who claims to be the 53rd Dai al-Mutlaq and head of the Dawoodi Bohra community, seeking to be declared as the Syedna.
In another important case in April, the high court in a
relief to late Rajesh Khanna's wife Dimple Kapadia, daughter Twinkle Khanna and son-in-law Akshay Kumar, quashed a complaint of domestic violence lodged against them by Khanna's alleged live-in partner Anita.
In yet another development, in March, the high court refused relief to Rahul Gandhi seeking the quashing of a defamation case filed against him by an RSS worker. Dismissing the petition, the court observed that the leader intended to harm the reputation of RSS by making a statement that the right-wing organisation was behind the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. RSS worker Rajesh Kunte had filed the complaint.
It allowed Nestle to go in for fresh testing by sending five samples of each variant of noodles to three independent laboratories in Punjab, Hyderabad and Jaipur which were accredited with National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL).
The results of the tests were found negative and Nestle India later started manufacturing Maggi noodles as per the directives of the High Court.
The court appointed a one-man commission, headed by retired judge J A Patil, which submitted its report on November 24 with recommendations and proposed action.
The judges also asked such beneficiaries to return the flats or pay up the price if they have sold off the flats.
In a big relief for telecom major Vodafone India, the high court on October 8 set aside an order of Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) which had ruled that the IT department had powers to raise tax demand on the company in a Rs 8,500 crore transfer pricing case.
Radhe Maa was granted pre-arrest bail in a dowry harassment case by the high court on October 8. The court asked Radhe Maa to appear as and when required by Kandivali Police, which is probing the complaint against her.
The high court early in the year directed setting up of a SIT comprising ACB and Enforcement Directorate to probe 11 different allegations of irregularities relating to money laundering by private companies run by former Maharashtra minister Chhagan Bhujbal, his sons and relatives.
The direction was passed on a PIL filed by AAP seeking registration of FIR against Bhujbal.