2011: Productive year for Delhi High Court - India - DNA

2011: Productive year for Delhi High Court - India - DNA: 

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DMK MP Kanimozhi's bail successful hearing along with that of other high profile accused in the 2G case and upholding of jail term given to Sukhram in the 1996 telecom scam kept the Delhi High Court in the limelight. Delhi HC also questioned the basis of the cash-for-vote matter and granted bail to six accused.

The court's other significant orders and decisions included its refusal to grant interim stay on minority status accorded to Jamia Milia Islamia University, acquittal of sacked IPS officer RK Sharma in journalist Shivani Bhatnagar case and staying imminent deportation of 151 Pakistani Hindus, overstaying here on pilgrimage visa. Amidst all this, terror hit the High Court which claimed 17 lives at its doorstep on September 7. A powerful suitcase bomb ripped through the crowded reception area injuring 90 persons.

However, cases involving politicians and corporates kept the court busy. Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi, daughter of veteran Dravidian leader M Karunanidhi, Kalaignar TV CEO Sharad Kumar, Bollywood producer Karim Morani and two others got bail in the 2G case on the ground of parity after the apex court granted bail to five corporate honchos, saying "bail is rule and jail is exception." However, former Telecom Secretary Siddharth Behura, who is left in jail along with A Raja since their arrest on February 2, was not so lucky as the court allowed CBI's plea that role of public servants be put to "stricter" scrutiny as they are expected to be different from other accused. The court said Behura was the "perpetrator" of the illegal design of Raja and cannot claim benefit of parity with 10 others released on bail.

The trial court's verdict awarding life imprisonment to dismissed IPS officer Ravi Kant Sharma, who once served as the Officer on Special Duty (OSD) in the PMO, in the Shivani Bhatnagar case could not withstand scrutiny of the High Court which reversed the judgement. Sharma walked free after spending 10 years in jail. The court, in its judgement, itself raised questions as to who were behind the killing and what was the motive for it. It upheld conviction of Pradeep Sharma, one of the four persons, found guilty by the lower court, while setting free Sri Bhawgan and Satya Praksh besides RK Sharma giving them the benefit of doubt.

In a closely contested paternity suit, 85-year-old Congress leader N D Tiwari successfully avoided giving blood sample for the DNA test to ascertain the plea of 31-year-old Rohit Shekhar that he was his (Tiwari) biological son. A single judge bench of the court, which had earlier asked Tiwari to give blood sample, later reversed its own order and allowed the plea of the leader that he cannot be forced to give evidence against himself that too in a civil case. Rohit Shekhar has now challenged the order in a division bench, saying that it would be difficult to get justice unless Tiwari is forced to undergo the test.

Unlike Tiwari, his former party colleague and ex-Telecom Minister Sukh Ram, 86, was caught on the wrong side of the law with the high court upholding lower court's verdict awarding three year jail term to him in in the 1993 telecom equipment purchase deal to benefit a Hyderabad-based company. It also upheld conviction of Runu Ghosh, then Director in Department of Telecommunications, P Rama Rao, MD of Advanced Radio Masts (ARM) Pvt Ltd and asked them to surrender on January 5 to serve jail terms. Rao will have to undergo three years jail term while Ghosh would be in jail for two years. Sukh Ram was earlier awarded five years jail in another graft case and had to spend 10 days in jail before the High Court granted bail and stayed the trial court's verdict.

Former BJP President Bangaru Laxaman could not get any relief from the court in a case lodged after he was allegedly caught on May 13, 2001 taking bribe from undercover scribes of Tehelka portal for recommending to the Defence Ministry the purchase of their wares for the Army.

Arun Jaitley, leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha, however, won a legal battle against US-based Portfolio Brains LLC which was asked to pay a fine of Rs5 lakh to him for harassing him by running a website www.arunjaitley.com and refusing to transfer the domain name to him.

In a relief to Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling, the High Court dismissed a plea of a BJP leader seeking to declare him as a Nepalese citizen. The court said the complaint of BJP leader Padam Prasad Sharma was made to "gain political mileage".

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati also got relief as the court dismissed the Centre's appeal against the 2007 order of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) that her birthday gifts were exempted from taxation under the IT Act. The Income Tax department had challenged the ITAT ruling exempting Mayawati from paying tax on the gifts worth nearly Rs 65 lakhs received by her from supporters in the form of two houses in Inderpuri in West Delhi and two cheques worth Rs one lakh each. The gifts were received on her birthday in 2004.

Delhi Police invited the ire of the court for lax handling of the case of extradited gangster Abu Salem following the revocation of his extradition by a Portuguese High Court on the ground that the terms of extradition agreement, entered into between India and Portugal, have been breached. The Portuguese court had taken note of invoking of MCOCA against Salem as it provided life term as maximum sentence which was in contravention of an assurance given by the then NDA government that he will neither be tried under any special law and nor be handed down jail term in excess of 25 years. Salem, extradited in 2005, was booked under MCOCA for allegedly making extortion calls to a Delhi-based businessman Ashok Gupta in 2002 demanding Rs5 crore as protection money.

In another case, the court dismissed the plea of Haseena Ibrahim Parker, sister of fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, filed against Centre's decision that she will not be issued a fresh passport. The External Affairs ministry had said that Parker cannot be issued a fresh passport as she might "misuse" it to help her brother's criminal activities.

In 2011, the court reserved its order on the prosecution of 19 witnesses including model-turned-actor Shyan Munshi on charge of perjury for turning hostile during the trial of the Jessica Lall murder case. Earlier, the court had issued notices to 19 witnesses and had raised questions as to how they all turned hostile. Lall was shot dead in April 1999 by Manu Sharma, son of Haryana Congress leader Venod Sharma, after she refused to serve a drink to him in a party at restaurant Tamarind Court in South Delhi. Sharma is serving life term in the case after the apex court upheld the HC's judgement.

The court took a sympathetic view of plight of 151 Pak Hindus and asked the Centre not to deport them back till it decides their plea seeking asylum or Indian citizenship. The Pakistanis, who fear for their lives in their homeland, face the danger of deportation as their pilgrimage visas have expired.

'Better late than never' is the phrase which could console Australian swimmer Susan Leigh Beer, who was awarded Rs 1.82 crore compensation by the court nearly 33 years after she slipped in a pool of an ITDC-run hotel here and became paralysed. Susan, 17, suffered from Quadriplegic, paralysis of all four limbs -- both arms and both legs-- after receiving head and spinal chord injuries during the fall in the pool of Akbar Hotel on the evening of May 5, 1978.

In a similar case, the High Court awarded a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to Nina Pillai, wife of Singapore-based Chairman of Britannia Group Rajan Pillai who died inside Tihar nearly 16 years ago. It held the state liable for lapses in providing medical care to Pillai, who was suffering from various ailments including alcoholic liver cirrhosis and died at a hospital here on July 7, 1995. He fled from Singapore to avoid a jail term in a criminal case there.

The court also upheld the conviction and award of life term to political activist Hari Singh for hijacking an Indian Airlines flight in March 1993. Singh, who has been on bail since July 18, 2003, was told to surrender before the lower court to undergo the sentence.

Supreme Court chides itself, govt for judicial backlog - Times Of India

Supreme Court chides itself, govt for judicial backlog - Times Of India:

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Anguished over the state of affairs of the justice delivery system, the Supreme Court on Wednesday said people's faith in judiciary was dwindling at an alarming rate, posing a grave threat to constitutional and democratic governance of the country.

If the apex court highlighted the non-filling of nearly 300 posts of high court judges to reflect the deficiency in itself as HC judges are selected and recommended for appointment by a collegium headed by the Chief Justice of India, it was highly critical of the government for talking tall about fighting the pendency of 2.77 crore cases in trial courts but doing nothing on the ground.

A bench of Justices A K Ganguly and T S Thakur was unsparing in its comments while candid in acknowledging the woes - large number of vacancies in trial courts, unwillingness of lawyers to become judges, failure of the apex judiciary in filling vacant HC judges posts and the dragging of feet by the Centre in keeping its promises.

On the vacancies in HCs, the bench said, "The Allahabad High Court is the largest high court but 50% of judges' post are lying vacant. It is an area of grave concern. People are getting more and more aware of their rights and want speedy justice. The courts cannot stop filing of cases on the ground that there are vacancies. But the vacancies in the HCs are not getting filled. This is posing grave threat to constitutional and democratic governance system as people are resorting to extra-judicial methods to sort out their disputes."

Turning its attention to the government, the bench said UPA-2 had with much fanfare announced the Vision Document promising to appoint 5,000 ad-hoc judges to wipe out a pendency of 2.77 crore cases in the trial courts. "Three years have gone by. Except for the announcement, nothing has been done. The scheme is also wholly unworkable as lawyers were not interested in permanent posts of judges and would they take up ad-hoc appointments to dispense justice on a daily wage?"

Amicus curiae and senior advocate Gopal Subramaniam, who as solicitor general had contributed to the drafting of the Vision Document in 2009 when M Veerappa Moily was the law minister, joined the bench in criticizing the government. "When the government says it respects the judiciary and its independence, there is a hidden line in it. The courts are not being given importance that is why the justice dispensation system is in such a disarray," he added.

But, the bench said how would the judiciary ask the government about what it has done. "The government will say 'out of 900 sanctioned strength of high court judges 300 are lying vacant, why don't you appoint'," it said.

However, it wanted to seek answers from the government on amicus curiae's suggestion that access to justice must be made a constitutional right and consequently the executive must provide necessary infrastructure for ensuring every citizen enjoyed this right. It also wanted the Centre to detail the work being done by the National Mission for Justice Delivery and Legal Reforms. The hearing would continue on Thursday.

In action-packed 2011, Supreme Court cleared over 79,000 cases - The Hindu : News / National

The Hindu : News / National : In action-packed 2011, Supreme Court cleared over 79,000 cases:

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The year 2011 saw the highest number of cases disposed of in recent years, with more than 79,000 cases cleared under the leadership of Chief Justice of India S.H. Kapadia.

In his Law Day address, Justice Kapadia rejected the allegation made in certain quarters about the huge pendency of cases and said: “There is a backlog of cases. However, it is not as big as is sought to be projected.” Seventy-four per cent of the cases were less than five years old, he said. He has worked out a plan for expeditious disposal of the pending cases.

Pointing to the increase in institution of cases over the years, Justice Kapadia said: “Citizens approach the court only when there is confidence in the system and faith in the wisdom of the judges. The institution stands on public trust. The judiciary has performed a commendable job.”

In 2011, eight judges retired and five judges were appointed. Five vacancies still remain to be filled.

The Supreme Court faced a stiff challenge — protecting the environment from further degradation vis-à-vis protecting the employment of thousands of workers in various mines in Bellary and other districts of Karnataka.

Holding that the right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution would include a pollution-free environment, the court ordered the suspension of all mining operations and transport of minerals in Bellary and other districts. But it allowed export of the existing stocks. “We are satisfied that, on account of over-exploitation, considerable damage has been done to the environment. We are taking a holistic view of the matter. We have suspended these operations keeping in mind the precautionary principle, which is the essence of Article 21 of the Constitution.”
Illegal mining

The court also ordered a CBI probe into the illegal mining in the border areas of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, covering the alleged illegal mining activities of the former Karnataka Minister, G. Janardhana Reddy, at Obulapuram in Andhra Pradesh.

Coming to the rescue of air passengers, the court said that if there was a delay in the departure of a flight with passengers on board for more than three hours for lack of clearance from the Air Traffic Control (due to fog or for other operational reasons), the passengers should be permitted to get back to the airport lounge, and the airlines should provide them with food and water.

Making it clear to the outside world that India followed the rule of law even in the case of a foreign national, the Supreme Court stayed the execution of Ajmal Kasab, a Pakistani national awarded the death penalty in the 26/11 terror attacks case.

The court stayed the release on bail of Pune-based racehorse owner Hasan Ali, detained under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and other laws. It came down heavily on the Centre for its lacklustre response to tackling the menace of black money. In the Salwa Judum case, it declared illegal the employment of youth to counter Maoists.

Following widespread criticism of the collegium system of appointment of judges to the higher judiciary, the Supreme Court decided to have a larger Bench consider 10 questions relating to the review of the 1993 and 1998 judgments giving primacy to the judiciary on appointment of judges.

While agreeing to consider the legality of the nuclear bill, the court made it clear that it would not go into the policy aspects relating to the safety of all nuclear plants in the country as it was the domain of Parliament.

The court directed the Special Investigation Team, headed by the former CBI Director, R.K. Raghavan, to submit its final report, under Section 173 (2) of the Cr.PC to the trial court, on the further investigation it had done on the complaint of Zakia Jeffrey against Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and 61 others for their alleged role in the 2002 communal riots.

The court did not allow the opening of Kallara (locker) B at the Sree Padmanabha Swamy temple in Thiruvananthapuram, though it ordered full protection to the temple and documentation of the artefacts found in the other five chambers.

Justice P.D. Dinakaran's attempts to quash the inquiry against him by the committee set up under the Judges (Inquiry) Act backfired, with the court having rejected all the petitions. He ultimately resigned, forcing the committee to wind up the proceedings. Justice Soumitra Sen of the Calcutta High Court, who faced removal proceedings, resigned even before the Rajya Sabha took up the motion after the Lok Sabha passed it. The court dismissed a public interest litigation petition filed on his behalf, questioning the removal procedure.

By quashing the Uttar Pradesh government's order suspending the screening of the Hindi film Aarakshan for two months, the Supreme Court once again underlined the importance of freedom of speech and expression.

The court also came to the rescue to thousands of students writing competitive examinations by making it clear that students could seek a photo copy of the answer sheets of an examination conducted by any agency under the Right to Information Act.

The Supreme Court stayed the Allahabad High Court's verdict dividing the disputed site of the Ramajanmaboomi at Ayodhya into three parts and apportioning them among the parties to the dispute.

In a setback to the Jayalalithaa government's decision to defer the implementation of the Uniform System of School Education (Samacheer Kalvi), the Supreme Court directed the Tamil Nadu government to implement it for Classes 2 to 5 and 7 to 10. The Court, however, declined to interfere with a Madras High Court judgment upholding the abolition of the Common Entrance Test for admission to professional courses in Tamil Nadu, giving relief to lakhs of students in the State.

Observing that the right to life is of paramount consideration, the Supreme Court banned the manufacture, sale and use of Endosulfan. But it allowed the existing stocks and formulations.

The court dismissed as “fallacious” the curative petitions filed by the CBI to recall the 1996 judgment dropping the charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder against the former Chairman of Union Carbide India, Keshub Mahindra, and other accused in the 1984 Bhopal gas leak case.

The court extended its jurisdiction beyond the Indian border by making an emotional appeal to the Pakistan government to release an Indian prisoner languishing in a Pakistani jail for more than 26 years after he inadvertently crossed the border. Interestingly, the Pakistan government accepted the appeal and freed the prisoner.
Mercy killing

The court allowed passive mercy killing of a patient in a permanent vegetative state by withdrawing the life support system with the approval of a medical board and on the directions of the High Court concerned. It, however, did not accept the plea of Pinky Virani of Mumbai for permission to withdraw the life support extended to Aruna Ramachandra Shanbaug, who has been in a permanent vegetative state at KEM Hospital in Mumbai for 37years.

In a setback to Times Now television channel, the Supreme Court declined to interfere with an interim order of the Bombay High Court, directing Times Global Broadcasting Co. Limited to deposit Rs. 20 crore in cash and Rs. 80 crore as bank guarantee in the court in a defamation suit filed by the former Supreme Court judge, P.B. Sawant, claiming Rs.100 crore in damages.

Amendments Proposed in Consumer Protection Act to Facilitate Faster Disposal and On line filing of consumer complaints

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The Government has introduced Consumer Protection (Amendment) Bill, 2011, in Lok Sabha on December 16, 2011, to facilitate quicker disposal of cases and to widen and amplify the scope of some of the provisions of the Act. The enactment of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986, was an important milestone in the field of consumer protection. In terms of the Act, consumer disputes redressal agencies have been set up at the 629 District, 35 State and National levels to render simple, inexpensive and speedy justice to consumers in respect of complaints against defective goods, deficient services and unfair/restrictive trade practices. With a view to faster redressal of complaints and to rationalize procedure of appointments in consumer disputes redressal agencies, it has been felt necessary to amend the Act.

Amendments proposed provide for the following-

On line filing of consumer complaints
Making provision for registering complaint by electronic form (on line filing complaint)- Since the Consumer Forums are being computerized it is proposed to make provision in the law to permit consumers to file complaints as well as pay fee online, which would make the consumer for a move towards e-governance/ time bound redressal.

Enforcement of orders as a Decree of Civil Court
Making provision that an order of the District Forum / State Commission/ National Commission will be enforced as a Decree of a Civil Court- This modification is considered essential in view of the experiences gained during implementation of the amended Act and is intended to deter willful offenders and also to ensure speedy and proper execution of the order of the consumer forums, so that justice to the aggrieved consumers is not frustrated.

Payment to be made for non-compliance of the order
Making provision for payment by every person for not complying of the order of District Forum / State Commission / National Commission of an amount of not less than Rs. 500 or 1½ per cent of the value of the amount awarded- whichever is higher, for each day of delay of such non-compliance of the order. This modification is considered essential in view of the experiences gained during implementation of the amended Act and is intended to deter willful offenders and also to ensure speedy and proper execution of the orders of the consumer forums, so that justice to the aggrieved consumers is not frustrated.

Powers to District Forum
Empowering District Forum to function in any other place apart from District HQrs, in consultation with State Government / State Commission – This provision is considered necessary to allow State Governments the flexibility to club neighboring Districts Forum as also give additional charge to President/Members to hear cases in more than one District Forum so as to effectively deal with the non-functionality of Districts Forum caused due to vacancy of President/Member.
Conferring powers to District Forum to issue order to the opposite party to pay reasonable rate of interest on such price or charges as may be decided by the District Forum- This provision is considered necessary to empower the consumer forum to award interest where the consumer has suffered due to protracted litigation.

Powers to State Government in selection process
Empowering State Government to refer back the recommendation of the Selection Committee for making fresh recommendation in order to avoid any delay in the Selection process- This is felt necessary to facilitate quicker filling up of the posts in the Consumer Forums and to avoid the consumer Forum remaining non-functional for long due to such vacancy thereby adversely affecting consumers’ interest.

Increase of age in the appointment
Increasing the minimum age for appointment as Member in the case of State Commissions from 35 to 45 years, and in case of National Commission from 35 to 55 years- This is proposed to improve the quality of persons applying for these posts.

Experience for members
Increasing the period of experience for appointment as Member in the case of State Commission from 10 years to 20 years and in the case of National Commission from 10 years to 30 years-This is proposed in order to improve the quality of persons applying for these posts.

Powers to National Commission / State Commission to direct any one to assist the case
Conferring powers to National Commission / State Commission to direct any individual or organization or expert to assist National Commission / State Commission in the cases of large interest of the consumers- This provision would enable the National Commission or the State Commission, in cases involving the larger interests of the consumers, an opportunity to suo moto enlist the services of an expert or an outside party, in an ongoing case, in the interest of justice.

Monitoring system of pending cases
Conferring powers to Central Government to call upon periodical reports of pending cases from National Commission and to State Government from State Commission or any District Forum- The provision is considered necessary to enable easy availability of data regarding filing and disposal of consumer complaints, which would help in monitoring the functioning of the consumer for a and effectiveness of the law.

The above said amendments proposed in the Act will go a long way in speedy redressal of Consumer grievances and sturdy protection of Consumer rights.
Read more: Amendments Proposed in Consumer Protection Act to Facilitate Faster Disposal and On line filing of consumer complaints http://taxguru.in/government-policy/amendments-proposed-consumer-protection-act-facilitate-faster-disposal-line-filing-consumer-complaints.html#ixzz1ind6lEgd