The week that was: The Delhi High Court

With a tepid week behind, the last few days have seen the corridors of Delhi High Court generating more buzz than ever before. From mass transfers of judges to the hotly contested tobacco ban, and the uproar created by the JNU episode, the week ended on a high profile note..And with JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar‘s bail plea expected to be filed this week, the next week is going to start with some intense media attention..Here is glance at some of the crucial developments from the Delhi High Court in the past week..Collegium takes a stand; Delhi HC sees surprise transfers.Even before the week began, there were strong murmurs of a wave of transfers effected by the Collegium from the Delhi High Court. Rajiv Shakhder, Valmiki Mehta, Suresh Kait & VP Vaish JJ. were rumoured to have received their transfer letters..Over the weekend, the news stood confirmed as the collegium seemed to have made up its mind to kick-start an appointment process that has been stagnant for far too long now. The transfers of Shakhder, Mehta, Kait and Vaish JJ were made to the High Courts of Madras, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Meghalaya respectively..While the legal fraternity has expressed more than a hint of surprise at Justice Shakhder’s transfer (with some calling it a big loss for Delhi) the debate over transparency in the collegium has only gained mileage after this incident..‘Let the Delhi Police conduct its investigation’, Court over JNU row.The unfortunate events at JNU saw a BJP lawyer knocking the doors of the High Court and demanding a probe by the National Investigation Agency into the ‘anti-national’ incidents at the institution. Ranjana Agnihotri informed the Bench that students were attempting to ‘de-stabilize the country’ in the name of nationalism..However, the Court was not impressed. Justice Manmohan observed that the incident was fairly recent and the Delhi Police had already begun its investigation. Therefore, he held that any NIA probe at this stage was premature, before proceeding to dismiss the plea..Judgment reserved in RTI for AG case.The Law Ministry’s appeal against a Single Bench verdict that brought the office of Attorney General under the RTI Act, saw exhaustive arguments in a single hearing. After hearing all the contentions, the Bench of Chief Justice G Rohini & Justice Jayant Nath proceeded to reserved their judgment..So now the question is how the Division Bench decides in a case that was heralded as a step towards transparency in the office of the highest law officer of the land..Nursery quota to continue in setback for AAP.A steadfast Delhi Government had assailed the Single Bench verdict which had struck down their decision of scrapping management quota in nursery admissions. However, the Division Bench did not interfere with the verdict and dismissed the appeal of the Government. (You can read about it here).Tobacco ban in Delhi- Legal or not?.A number of tobacco manufacturers had approached the High Court against a ban on chewable tobacco from March 2015. The Delhi High Court had eventually stayed the notification in April, and prohibited the Delhi government from taking ‘coercive action’ till the next date of hearing..The government had then approached the Court in May for vacation of stay with Senior Advocate Indira Jaising arguing that, ‘the ban had been imposed for reasons of public health and interest.’ However, no interim relief was granted..This week, Jaising sought urgent hearing of the case as the notification was ‘time-bound. However, the Bench directed parties to file written submissions in the matter and adjourned it for further hearing on March 11.