i. Appeal against acquittal order of Talwars admitted – The Supreme Court has admitted the appeal, filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation against the Allahabad High Court decision acquitting the Talwar couple in the double murder of their daughter Arushi and the help Hemraj. An appeal was also filed against the order by Hemraj’s wife Khumkala. The trial court had found the couple guilty but the Allahabad High Court had overturned the decision on appeal. The CBI claims that the decision by the High Court was erroneous on both law and facts. [Central Bureau of Investigation v Dr. Nupur Talwar, Diary No. 8753 of 2018, date of order: 10.08.2018]
ii. NRC State Co-ordinator and Registrar reprimanded for comments on inclusions and exclusions in list – The Supreme Court criticised the actions of the NRC State Co-ordinator, Mr. Prateek Haleja, and the Registrar General of India, Mr. Shailesh for the comments they had made in the press regarding the inclusions and exclusions in the final NRC. They had claimed that while documents once chosen could not be changed, but fresh documents could be submitted at the time of hearings of the objections. They also stated that there would be no summary hearing and that everyone would be given an opportunity to be heard. The Court took strong objections to these comments and threatened to hold the officials in contempt or even send them to jail, since the exact process is to be decided by the Apex Court. [Assam Public Works v Union of India, Writ Petition(Civil) No. 274/2009, date of order: 07.08.2018]
iii. Draft constitution for BCCI approved – The Supreme Court has approved the constitution framed for BCCI by the Lodha Committee with some modifications. State associations have been given one month to comply with the requirements of the constitution. BCCI had vehemently argued against many of the recommendations including the cap of 70 years and a limitation of a maximum of three tenures in total. The constitution also gave each State one vote, which was problematic for BCCI since many states housed old and important cricket associations and all could not be clubbed under one umbrella – Maharashtra and Gujarat each house three important associations each. The Supreme Court has approved the constitution modifying it to the extent that the cooling off period between two consecutive terms for office and the one state one vote rule would not be applicable. [Board of Control for Cricket in India v Cricket Association for Bihar, Civil Appeal No. 4235 of 2014, date of judgment: 09.08.2018]
iv. Jaypee Infratech matter remanded to NCLT – The Supreme Court has sent the Jaypee Infratech insolvency proceedings back to the NCLT, after directing that the homebuyers would be included in the Committee of Creditors. The Court did not though state that the homebuyers would be treated as secured or unsecured creditors. It is to be noted that the Ordinance passed in 2018 amending the IBC now includes homebuyers in financial creditors. The Court though refused the suggestion that the 750Crs that have been deposited by the entity in the court as a security for the protection of the interests of the homebuyers be disbursed among them. The Court clarified that it could not discriminate between different financial creditors by granting relief to the homebuyers earlier. [Chitra Sharma v Union of India, Writ Petition (Civil) No. 744 of 2017, date of judgment: 09.08.2018]
v. Hearings on Article 35A adjourned–Adjourning the controversial hearings, the Supreme Court questioned whether the matter needed to be heard by a alrger bench of three judges. The Central Government too sought adjournment in view of the upcoming Panchayat and local elections in the area, whie the State of Jammu and Kashmir sought the dismissal of the petition by questioning the locus standi of the petition calling it a ‘meddlesome interloper’ and further claimed that the question has already been decided the court in previous occasions and could not be re-agitated. The Apex Court would heard preliminary arguments on 27th Auguat. [We the Citizens v Union of India,Writ Petition (Civil)No.722/14, date of order: 06.08.2018]
vi. RERA to be made applicable to lease agreements with long lease periods – The Bombay High Court has upheld the decision of the Maharashtra Real Estate Appellate Tribunal that had held that the agreements styled as ‘Agreement of lease’ could still come under RERA, if the lease was meant for a long period, in this case for 999 years. The Court perused the agreement between Lavasa Corporation Limited and individual allottees to note that they had paid 80% of the consideration price of the said apartment while they were paying a rent of ₹1 per annum for a property, which was worth more than 40 lakhs. It was clearly an agreement to sell and not to lease, by whatever name it may have been called, to skip on the registration charges and stamp duty. The object of RERA was to protect the interest of consumers who spend their hard earned money to buy homes in such projects. [Lavasa Corporation Limited v Jitendra Jagdish Tulsani, Second Appeal (Stamp) No.9717 Of 2018 With Civil Application No.683 Of 2018, date of judgment: 07.08.2018]
vii. Karunanidhi allowed to be buried in Marina Beach – After much deliberations, the Madras High Court allowed the body of ex-CM and DMK leader Karunanidhi to be buried near Anna Memorial at Marina Beach. DMK leaders had requested the Tamil Nadu Government to allot land near the memorial of former CM Annadurai, founder of DMK. The same was denied by the government in the light of pending cases with respect to the land. DMK then filed a petition in the High Court and on its request, a special hearing was convened at midnight. The Court taking in view the urgency of the matter decided to overrule the objections of the government and allocated the space to Karunanidhi.
viii. Discharge plea of 2 cops rejected in Ishrat Jahan encounter – The special CBI court hearing the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case refused to discharge DG Vanzara and NK Amin, two of the cops accused in the case. At the time of the encounter, Vanzara was the Gujarat Deputy Inspector General then has been accused of planning the whole encounter and Amin was the Superintendent of the Police at that time. They based their plea on similar grounds as were taken by their senior, then Director General of Police, PP Pandey, arguing that the whole case was politically motivated.
Other legal developments –
i. Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2018 passed – The Parliament passed the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill ,2018 making the rape of a girl below 12 punishable by death. The comprehensive amendment makes changes to IPC, CrPC, Evidence Act and to the Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences Act. This comes after the Ordinance was passed in 2018 for the same purpose. The minimum punishment for rape has now been increased from 7 to 10, while for rape of a girl below 16 years, it has been increased to 20 years extending to life imprisonment. The provisions have also been amended to ensure anonymity of the victim for these offences.
ii. Schedule Caste & The Schedule Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Bill, 2018 passed – The Parliament has passed the SC ST (POA) (Amendment) Bill, 2018 which strikes at the Supreme Court judgment in Dr. Subhash Kashinath Mahajan, where the Court had held that there could not be an absolute bar on anticipatory bail in the cases under the Act, a preliminary inquiry should be initiated into the offence before lodging an FIR etc. and any violation would result in contempt. The new Bill has inserted Section 18A into the Act which restores the ban on anticipatory bail in the Act and the does away with the requirement of a preliminary inquiry, as imposed by the court.
(IPA Service)
Prepared by Amritananda Chakravorty (amritananda.c@gmail.com) and Mihir Samson (mihirsamson@gmail.com), Delhi based practicing Advocates.
The post Weekly Round-Up of Major Decisions of the Courts in India as also Legal Policy Developments appeared first on Newspack by India Press Agency.
