Page 10 - Indian Judiciary

No special remission for those convicted in heinous crimes: Centre

Any person convicted with life imprisonment and those for heinous crimes, including offences against women and children, are not eligible for special remission announced as part of the 'Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav' celebrations, Rajya Sabha was informed on Wednesday. Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Kumar Mishra said as part of the 'Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav', the government had approved a scheme to grant special remission to specific categories of prisoners and release them in three phases on August 15, January 26, 2023 and on August 15, 2023. "In terms of the guidelines provided on the subject, persons convicted with sentence of life imprisonment and those convicted of heinous offences, including offences against women and children, are not eligible for special remission under this scheme," he said in a written reply to a question.

TMS Ep328: GST Council meeting, vacation trends, IT performance, GM crops

What changed at last week's GST Council meeting? Are Indians more holiday-prone? Does Accenture's Q1 result spell more pain for IT firms? What are GM crops? All answers here

Are Indians more holiday-prone?

The law minister of India recently said that the vacation period of Indian courts is an inconvenience to the people. The remark has opened up a debate if Indians, in general, take plenty of leaves

Can't monitor citizens to see if they are urinating in public: Delhi HC

It is not the duty of a constitutional court to regulate and monitor the movement of every citizen to see whether one indulges in public urination, spitting and littering, the Delhi High Court said on Monday while dismissing a plea seeking to prohibit the practice of putting up images of deities on walls to prevent people from urinating in public places. The high court, which said the concern raised by the petitioner would be better addressed by civic bodies, held the petition was nothing but sheer abuse of the process of law and a fit case to be crushed at the threshold itself. The present case is not a fit case for this court to exercise its extraordinary jurisdiction under Article 226 and the prayers sought for by the petitioner cannot be granted by this court. It is certainly not the duty of a constitutional court to regulate and monitor the movement of each citizen to see whether one indulges in public urination, spitting and littering. The concern raised by the petitioner woul

Subordinate judiciary in MP to be called district judiciary: HC circular

Subordinate judiciary in Madhya Pradesh will now be referred to as the district judiciary and lower courts as trial courts, as per a High Court circular. This was resolved at a full court meeting of the Madhya Pradesh High Court in which Chief Justice Ravi Malimath and other judges took part on Friday, it said. "All courts other than the High Court shall hereinafter be referred to as the district judiciary and not as subordinate judiciary and that all courts other than the High Court shall be referred to as the trial courts and not as subordinate courts," it reads. The circular is issued by the order of the MP chief justice and signed by its Registrar General Ramkumar Choubey. "The resolution junking the use of subordinate judiciary and subordinate courts is aimed to drive home the point that every court is independent within its jurisdiction," a top registry officer of the HC told PTI. He said when MP high court chief justice Malimath was acting chief justice of Himachal Pradesh

Trust us to be guardians of liberties of our citizens: CJI Chandrachud

Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud on Saturday said the confidence of citizens in the due process of law and the protection of liberty rests in the judiciary which is "guardians of liberties". Delivering a lecture here, the CJI emphasized through the lives of the members of the bar, who fearlessly espouse those causes, the flame of liberty burns bright even today. Delivering the Ashok H Desai memorial lecture at the Y B Chavan Center here, he referred to a theft case where a man would have spent 18 years in jail had the SC not intervened to say "trust us to be guardians of the liberties of our citizens". The event was organised by the Bombay Bar Association. Yesterday in a seemingly innocuous case, where an accused was sentenced to two years of imprisonment in sessions trial for theft of electricity, the trial judge forgot to say that the sentences will run concurrently. "So then the consequence was that this person who had stolen electricity equipment like poles would have to

Courts must work for a min 300 days a year to curb pending cases: Cong MP

Senior advocate and Congress Rajya Sabha member from Madhya Pradesh Vivek Tankha on Friday said courts should remain functional for at least 300 days a year to reduce the pendency of cases. Judges can go on leave but not courts, and only then can five crore pending cases be disposed of, he said. "Judges can go on leave but not courts. They should remain functional for at least 300 days in a year and then only the five crore cases pending in the courts will be disposed of. It should not happen that the entire court goes on vacation," he told reporters. "This was the practice during the British period when the judges went back home, so they declared a two-month holiday for courts like schools. If the court remains open then pending cases will be disposed of in a speedy manner. Currently, courts remain open for 200 days (per year). If a reform takes place then they will remain functional for at least 300 days," he added. Asked about the controversy over the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer film

Govt needs to bring National Judicial Appointments Comission: Manoj Jha

Disagreeing with current collegium system, RJD member of parliament from Rajya Sabha Manoj Jha said that with the new changes, the government needs to bring the Judicial Appointments Commission bill

Vacancies in judiciary to linger till a new system is created, says Rijiju

Law Minister Kiren Rijiju told the Rajya Sabha on Thursday that the issue of vacancies and appointments in the higher judiciary would continue to linger till such time a new system is created for the same. Replying to questions in the Upper House of Parliament, the law minister said the Centre has limited powers over appointments of judges. As on December 9, 777 judges are working in the high courts against the sanctioned strength of 1,108, leaving a vacancy of 331 (30 per cent). In the Supreme Court (as on December 5), against the sanctioned strength of 34 judges, 27 are working, leaving seven vacancies. Giving answers to supplementaries during the Question Hour, Rijiju said the total number of cases pending in various courts is about to touch five crore. He observed that the impact of such a huge pendency of court cases on the public is obvious. The minister pointed out that the Centre has taken various measures to reduce the pendency of cases. "Currently, the government has li

SC collegium recommends 3 chief justices, 2 judges of HCs for elevation

The five judges who have been recommended by the six-member Collegium led by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud for elevation as apex court judges include three chief justices and two judges of different high courts. The Collegium's recommendations, if accepted by the Centre, will raise the total number of judges in the apex court to 33 against the sanctioned strength of 34, including the CJI. The five judges whose names have been recommended are Justice Pankaj Mithal, Justice Sanjay Karol, Justice P V Sanjay Kumar, Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah and Justice Manoj Misra. Of them, the senior-most is Justice Pankaj Mithal who took over as Chief Justice of Rajasthan High Court on October 14 this year. Born on June 17, 1961, Justice Mithal is a 1982 commerce graduate from Allahabad University. He completed his LLB in 1985 from Meerut College and enrolled as an advocate in the Bar Council of Uttar Pradesh the same year. He started practising in Allahabad High Court in 1985 and served

Selective arguments

Executive and judiciary need to find common ground

SC grants anticipatory bail to Raj Kundra, others in pornography case

The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted anticipatory bail to businessman Raj Kundra and others, including actors Sherlyn Chopra and Poonam Pandey, in connection with an FIR against them for allegedly distributing pornographic videos. A bench of Justices K M Joseph and B V Nagarathna also directed Kundra and the other accused to cooperate in the investigation. "Having heard the counsel for the parties, we are of the view that the petitioners may be granted anticipatory bail," the bench said. Senior advocate R Basant, appearing for one of the petitioners, submitted that a chargesheet has already been filed in the case and the accused are cooperating with the police in the investigation. The top court had earlier granted interim protection from arrest to Kundra in the case. Kundra had been booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code, Indecent Representation of Women (Prevention) Act and Information Technology Act for allegedly distributing/ transmitting sexually explicit ...

CJI Chandrachud inaugurates 10 district court digitisation hubs in Odisha

Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud on Monday virtually inaugurated 10 district court digitisation hubs (DCDH) in Odisha, and said that modernisation of judiciary is the need of the hour. With Monday's inauguration, a total of 15 DCDHs have now become functional in the state, with each catering to a neighbouring district, thus covering all 30 district courts. Appreciating the information and communication technology (ICT) measures adopted by the Orissa High Court under the leadership of its Chief Justice S Muralidhar, he said, "Digitisation should be accompanied by a push for e-filing of cases." He also said that the Orissa High Court, with its digitisation initiatives, is now a "role model" for all other high courts of the country. "Very soon, the Orissa High Court would be mentoring the entire judiciary of the nation in the field of digitisation," he added.

Delhi HC reserves order on PIL seeking ban on deities' images on walls

The Delhi High Court reserved its order in a plea against the practice of sticking gods' images and posters on walls in order to prevent public urination, spitting, and throwing garbage

Manish Tewari gives adjournment notice in LS on face-off with judiciary

Amid the ongoing friction on the issue of appointment of judges, the Supreme Court told the Centre that Collegium system was the "law of the land", which should be followed

UP to have integrated court complexes in 10 districts; Rs 400 cr earmarked

The chief minister reportedly said the number of courts was increased to ensure the delivery of speedy justice

Laws passed in haste, court's comments not good, says Kharge in Rajya Sabha

Speaking on Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar's first day as the Rajya Sabha Chairman, Leader of opposition Mallikarjun Kharge said that he hoped that no law will be passed in haste

Must create multitude of equitable ways for different groups: CJI

'In order to make sure that we are providing equal access to justice, attention must be paid to the design and administration of the judicial set-up'

Power of people was undone, world doesn't know of any such instance: V-P

Dhankhar said the doctrine of separation of powers is fundamental to "our governance"

As CJI constitutes an all-women bench, what's the status of women in law?

Shrinking numbers: A third of judges in subordinate courts are women, but only 13.2% in high courts & 12.5% in SC