The Weekly Reports: The Supreme Court of India

The Supreme Court of India started the New Year with a bang, delivering seminal judgments on the opening day itself. The Apex Court welcomed a new Chief Justice, even as it bid adieu to a rather tumultuous year. All in all, there was barely a dull moment in sight..Read the highlights below..Monday, January 2.Re-promulgation of ordinance a “fraud on the Constitution”.Justices SA Bobde, AK Goel, UU Lalit, D Y Chandrachud and L Nageswara Rao, held that a government cannot rely on the argument that an ordinance shall not cease to exist before expiry of six months, as laid down in the Constitution. Chief Justice Thakur concurred, while Justice Lokur dissented..Read the full story here..Tough stand against BCCI.The Supreme Court has asked Anurag Thakur, current President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), to “cease and desist” from all matters connected with the BCCI . A Bench headed by then CJI TS Thakur also ordered that all office bearers of BCCI and its affiliated State Associations, who fail to meet those norms recommended by the Lodha Committee which were accepted by the Court, shall have to demit office. .With Chief Justice Thakur retiring, a new bench will deal with the issue from January 19..Read full story here..Nine judges to decide on scope of “Industry” under Industrial Disputes Act.A seven-judge bench of the Apex court has ordered that a nine-judge Bench will decide the scope of definition of ‘industry’ under Section 2(j) of the Act. The Court, in its order, said that since there are serious doubts expressed in the reference order about the correctness of the view taken in Bangalore Water Supply’s case of 1978, the matter has to be a heard by a 9-judge Bench..Read full story here..CJI Thakur on a a contempt petition involving ex-CJI YK Sabharwal.The Supreme Court has set aside a contempt ruling against four journalists for articles about former Chief Justice of India YK Sabharwal. The journalists were pulled up for a suo motu contempt of court case by the Delhi High Court for a story in the Mid-Day newspaper. .However, a bench of Chief Justice TS Thakur and Justice AM Khanwilkar held that the High Court did not have the jurisdiction to pass such an order, as it was not empowered to punish for the contempt of a superior court which itself was not invoking such power despite being vested with it..Read full story here..Cannot seek votes in name of religion, holds Supreme Court.Referring to the term ‘his religion’ used in section 123(3) of the Representation of The Peoples (RP) Act, which deals with ‘corrupt practice’, Chief Justice TS Thakur, and Justices Madan B Lokur, S A Bobde and L Nageswara Rao in the 4:3 verdict, said it meant the religion and caste of all including voters, candidates and their agents etc..However, the minority view of three judges – UU Lalit, AK Goel and DY Chandrachud – held that the term ‘his’ religion means religion of candidate only..Read full story here..Wednesday, January 4.CJI Thakur retires; passes baton to first Sikh Chief Justice.After a little more than a year as Chief Justice of India, CJI Thakur retired. He is succeeded by Justice JS Khehar, India’s first Sikh Chief Justice..Thursday, January 5.Supreme Court dismisses petitions against One Bar One Vote ruling.A month and a half after the Delhi High Court Bar Association elections concluded, Justices Pinaki Chandra Ghose and Rohinton Nariman dismissed a batch of petitions filed against the order of the Delhi High Court in connection with the one-bar-one-vote rule..Read the full story here..Conflict between POCSO & IPC: SC asks Ministry of Women and Child Development to respond.A PIL filed by the NGO Bachpan Bachao Andolan has brought to the notice of the court the conflict in the provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012..In a petition filed through advocate Jagjit Singh Chhabra, it was submitted that sexual intercourse with any child under 18 years, even if she is in a married relationship with a man, should be hit by POCSO..Read the full story here..Friday, January 6.May restrain Aircel Maxis from earning 2G spectrum revenue.The case concerning allegations of bribery in the 2G spectrum allocation saw an unexpected turn, with the Supreme of India Court proposing to restrain Aircel Maxis from earning revenue from the 2G spectrum..The idea was floated by a Bench of Chief Justice Khehar and Justices NV Ramana and DY Chandrachud after respondents T Ananda Krishnan and Ralph Marshal – both associated with Malaysian company Maxis – failed to appear before the Court..Read full story here..Justice Gogoi buries the hatchet, accepts Katju J’s “unconditional apology”.A Bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi and UU Lalit has accepted the unconditional apology tendered by Justice Katju for what they had viewed as personal attacks against several judges of the Supreme Court..Represented by Senior Advocate Rajeev Dhavan, Katju J. assured the Court that the offensive post had since been deleted from his Facebook page, and that he had “utmost respect” for the judges of the Court, as well as the judicial system..Read the full story here..Supreme Court seeks mitigating circumstances from Nirbhaya accused.In a significant development in the 2012 Delhi gang rape case, the Supreme Court of India has asked the four convicts to file affidavits on the aggravating and mitigating factors to be considered for sentencing..The Bench orally directed the counsel for the accused, advocates AP Singh and ML Sharma to be ready with the affidavits..Read full story here..Trial judge duty bound to pronounce judgment as provided under CrPC .A judge cannot shut a criminal case by simply recording the end result of conviction or acquittal, the Supreme Court has ruled. A bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Amitava Roy said that it was incumbent upon courts to pass reasoned orders, specifying law and examination of evidence that lead to acquittal or conviction..Read the full story here.