Supreme Court Rejects PIL of Telangana MLAs

Supreme Court Rejects PIL of Telangana MLAs

The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking direction to the Andhra Pradesh Speaker to either accept or choose the resignation of over 139 legislators on the Telangana issue. As stated by NDTV

A bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justices J M Panchal and Deepak Verma said that the petitioner M Narayana Reddy, a former MP, had no locus standi in the issue.

The apex court said there was no public interest involved with the issue as claimed by the petitioner. "Who are you? It is very strange. You are not an MLA or MP. What are you? What's the PIL? Who gave you the right to present petition," the bench grilled Reddy while dismissing the PIL.

The 139 MLAs, cutting across party lines, are named as petitioners in the matter. They had submitted their resignation to the Assembly Speaker on December 10 and 23 last year. Andhra Pradesh Assembly has 284 members.

Life Term for 'Killer' Mom by Supreme Court

Life Term for 'Killer' Mom by Supreme Court

Holding as "unusual" the conduct of a mother, the Supreme Court has confirmed the life sentence on a woman who axed to death her four-year-old son. As reported by Indian Express

"Motherhood is one of the most precious gifts endowed upon mankind and there's no relationship more pristine and pure than that of a mother and her child. No mother in normal circumstances can tolerate even a scratch on the body of her child," a bench of justices P Sathasivam and H L Dattu observed in a judgement.

The apex court passed the judgement while dismissing the appeal of a tribal woman Satna Bai, charged with axing to death her minor son Kannilal in Chhattisgarh's Ambikapur district on August 18, 1996.

"The appellant was found standing near the body of her son with a bloodstained axe in her hand. An obvious reaction for any mother would have been to go hysterical and clutch the body of her son.

DUPLICATION OF BLANK CDS May be TERMED AS MANUFACTURE SC, Taxation

DUPLICATION OF BLANK CDS May be TERMED AS MANUFACTURE SC, Taxation

The Supreme Court of India has ruled in favour of Oracle's Indian unit, saying that duplication of CDs of software produced elsewhere is really a manufacturing process. As reported by ChiefOfficers.Net

Adjudicating on the interpretation of The Income Tax Act, s80-1A, the Court found that duplication of disks from a master copy may be a manufacturing activity , although the software were developed elsewhere.

Oracle India pays Oracle US a fixed price for software which it then reproduces, packages and sells, paying an additional royalty to Oracle US on each sale.

The Indian tax authorities saw the risk of improper transfer pricing, royalty was paid on the full retail price even though the software was nearly always sold at a discount; the 30% royalty was therefore often significantly 30% from the actual price obtained in India. The Revenue Department saw this in order of expatriating profits, saying that the actual work completed in India, upon which value added is calculated, was minimal.

The previous law on point the duplication of audio tapes and said that of writing tape doesn't change its substance and is therefore not manufacturing.

The Supreme Court has seemingly reversed that decision.

But there's a major difference: when data is written to an audio tape, the tape may be re-utilized by over-writing the data; but withmost software CDs, they're WORM (write once, read many) disks and their content can't be altered nor the disks re-used.

In the case, Oracle India is granted a tax holiday.

AG opposes go on to set up four SCs

AG opposes go on to set up four SCs

NEW DELHI: Attorney General G E Vahanvati has strongly opposed Law Commission's radical recommendation for setting up of a Constitutional Court in Delhi and four Supreme Courts in the metros primarily to ease present litigational pressure on the SC. As reported by The Times of India

The legislative department from the law ministry had sought the superior law officer's opinion after Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan endorsed the Commission's five-month-old recommendation.

Holding the present character of the Supreme Court as an intrinsic reflection of the core values with the federal structure of the country, Vahanvati has faulted the Commission's proposal on grounds of practicality and said that it strikes at the roots of the Constitution.

He said the Supreme Court in the national capital with judges utilized by all corners from the country representing various communities and sections of the society is a great symbol of unity, and that any dilution of its authority could create an anomalous situation.

"The Attorney General is against any dilution with the stature of the Supreme Court in its present form," said legislative secretary Bhupinder Prasad.

The AG termed the Commission's recommendation as completely unworkable and was even critical of the legislative mode suggested by it for the creation of a Constitutional Court. He said nothing less than an amendment to the Constitution could assist in developing a Constitutional Court since the concept was totally new in relation to the judiciary, one of the three branches of governance.

Article 130 from the Constitution provides that "The Supreme Court shall sit in Delhi or in such other place or places, since the Chief Justice of India may, with the approval of the President from time to time, appoint." The AG in his opinion has virtually supported the consistent stand of the full court of the apex court to not have its Bench any place in India.

SC Come down hard on Kidnappers, give Death.

SC Come down hard on Kidnappers, give Death.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has given the utmost penalty-- death to kidnappers and murderers of a young boy. As stated by IBN7.

The incident had occurred in Hoshiarpur in Punjab and also the Apex Court says the crime deserves the harshest possible sentence.

Taking a strong note of the recent rise in kidnapping the court said: Kidnapping for ransom has become a lucrative and thriving industry all over the country and it must be sorted out in the harshest possible way. The obligation to get rid of this falls on the courts also and so they must help.

A class nine student, Abhi Verma was kidnapped from Hoshiyarpur when he was on his route to school in 2005 . A ransom demand of Rs 50 lakhs was made. However, Abhi was subsequently murdered by the kidnappers for the fear of being identified.

The Supreme Court is looking at murder after kidnapping since the rarest of rare cases and want to send out an extremely strong signal to prevent such killings in future.

Judiciary is not responsible to control the Prices, SC

Judiciary is not responsible to control the Prices, SC

The Supreme Court has said controlling the prices of essential commodities in the country was not the job of the judiciary. As stated by Indlaw news.com

A bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan, Justices Deepak Verma and B S Chauhan made the remarks over the hearing of a PIL seeking directions towards the Centre and UP government to create immediate arrangements for lifting 11 lakh tonnes of imported raw sugar, lying at Kandla Port in Gujarat, and send it to the sugar mills to help it fit for human consumption.

The petition was filed by Homemakers Front, an organisation of housewives blaming The Union government for all round increase in the prices of essential commodities. Alleged that UP government was creating problems the imported sugar doesn't reach sugar mills.

The apex Court advised D K Garg, counsel to make the petitioner, to approach the Gujarat High Court for appropriate relief but when Mr Garg didn't agree the apex Court dismissed the petition

Lift Veil for Right to Vote, SC tells burqa-clad women

Lift Veil for Right to Vote, SC tells burqa-clad women


NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has said that burqa-clad women cannot be issued voter identity cards, rejecting the argument that religion prohibit them from lifting their veils. As stated by IBN7.


A bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justice Deepak Verma gave the order on Friday while hearing a petition by Madurai resident Ajmal Khan, who had pleaded that printing photos of Muslim women in the voters list violates Islam and their fundamental right to practise and profess their religion.


The order comes at a time when a controversy triggered by the ban on full-length burqas has roiled France, attracting protests from clerics.


The Supreme Court was not convinced, and asked him what Muslim women would do if they contested elections.


“What if you want to contest an election?” asked the court. “If you have such strong religious sentiments, and do not want to be seen by members of public, then do not go to vote. You cannot go with burqa to vote. It will create complications in identification of voters.


“If someone comes to vote in a burqa and the photograph was also taken with a veil covering the face, how would anyone identify the voter?'' the court said.


Khan filed a plea in the apex court after the Madras High Court ruling dismissed his plea questioning Election Commission of India’s move to have photographs of voters in electoral rolls.


“The religious custom and preachings of Holy Quran lay down that Muslim women should wear purdah and ‘burqa’ and show their faces only to their husbands and close relatives,” Khan said in his plea.

SC directs Delhi govt to shelter all homeless by evening

SC directs Delhi govt to shelter all homeless by evening
20th Jan 2010 New Delhi

The Supreme Court Wednesday ordered the Delhi government
to provide night shelters to all of the capital's homeless by this
evening.

Taking note of the plight of the homeless during the ongoing cold
wave, the apex court ordered the government to hold a meeting by
4.30 pm to decide how the order was going to be carried out.As
reported by IBN Live.

Justices Tarun Chatterjee and S Radhakrishnan told the government
representative to immediately advertise the locations of all the
night shelters in the capital through television and print media.
The authorities must also ensure that the night shelters have basic
amenities such as blankets, electricity and toilets, the judges
ordered.

Civic authorities run 40 night shelters in Delhi. Their combined
capacity cannot house even a small fraction of the capital's
estimated 150,000 homeless people.

Give Modi's speech,other documents to SIT says SC

Give Modi's speech,other documents to SIT says SC
20th Jan 2010

NEW DELHI: Nearly eight years after the post-Godhra communal mayhem in Gujarat, the probe by a Supreme Court-constituted Special Investigation Team. Reported by India Today

(SIT) into nine most gruesome riot cases appears to be moving closer to investigating the actions of chief minister Narendra Modi during the period of violence.

"According to SIT, the statement made by the chief minister has some relevance. What is wrong if you make it available?" the bench said while directing Gujarat government to hand over without further delay all documents required bench of Justices D.K. Jain, P. Sathasivam and Aftab Alam rejected the state government's argument that the documents sought by SIT may not have relevance to investigations

Change age limit for Mp and Mla election to 21 says Pil

Change age limit for Mp and Mla election to 21 says Pil

19 Jan2010
NEW DELHI: Why not change the age limit for contesting the Lok Sabha and assembly elections to 21 years from the stipulated 25 years, when the age for voting has been reduced from 21 years to 18 years? As stated by The Times of India
On Monday, this question from a PIL by one Kumar Gaurav left a Supreme Court Bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justices R V Raveendran and Deepak Verma thinking for a while. But, it countered the petitioner by asking: “What is the hurry? Why not have some experience of politics before entering the fray?”
Well the counsel for the petitioner was not to be deterred and said it was the people’s fundamental right to choose a profession and politics has become one. He said most of the countries around the world have reduced the age limit for people’s representatives to 18 years and India should follow suit.
The Bench said: “But this would require amendments to several Articles of the Constitution which prescribe the age limit. Can the Supreme Court do it? We do not have powers to reduce the minimum age stipulated for persons to contest Lok Sabha or assembly elections.”
When the petitioner insisted that the Supreme Court could do so by forcing the government to think about it, the Bench, in a lighter vein, said: “If we had the powers to force an amendment to the Constitution, then the first thing we probably would have done is to amend the retirement age of judges from 65 to 80 years.”
Though it dismissed the PIL, the factual position in various countries supported its stand, except probably in US where one has to be 25 years to be a Representative and 30 to be a Senator. In UK, anyone over the age of 18 years can stand for election to Parliament. The age was reduced from 21 years by the Electoral Administration Act of 2006. The position is identical in Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark and Germany. However, in Canada one has to be 30 years to be a Senator.

Farmers’ suicides Can seek remedial measure, says SC

Farmers’ suicides: Can seek remedial measure, says SC

19th Jan 2010
The Supreme Court on Monday said it was not in its power to stop debt-ridden farmers from committing suicide but that it was willing to issue some general instructions to ensure better conditions for them. “We cannot stop suicides, but we can issue general instructions for remedial measures to prevent farmers from committing suicides in large numbers,” a Bench led by Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan observed. The Court was hearing a 2006 PIL filed by advocate Sanjeev Bhatnagar questioning the country’s agricultural policy in view of a spate of farmer suicides. News by Indian Express

Bhatnagar, who is also an agricultural economist, quoting government reports on Monday said that 87,567 farmers had killed themselves between 2002-08.

The Bench said the government has to work on some “special package” like the one presented by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2006. It said, “We have to find out the reasons which are driving the farmers to suicide. The problem is confined to some states.” The government counsel has assured the court of putting the Bench’s views before the Agriculture Secretary.

Supreme Court Lays Down Guidelines For Right Of Private Defence For Citizens

Supreme Court Lays Down Guidelines For Right Of Private Defence For Citizens

Darshan Singh Vs State of Punjab / Criminal Appeal 1057 of 2002
Date of Judgment : 15.01.2010


In a significant ruling, the Supreme Court has ruled that a person cannot be expected to act in a cowardly manner when faced with an imminent threat to life and has got every right to kill the aggressor in self defence, the Supreme Court has held.

A bench comprising Justices Dalbeer Bhandari and Asok Kumar Ganguly, while acquitting a person of the charges of murder, said on January 15 that when enacting Section 96 to 106 of the IPC, accepting from its penal provisions, certain classes of acts done in good faith for the purpose of repelling unlawful aggressions, the Legislature clearly intended to arouse and encourage the manly spirit of self-defence amongst the citizens, when faced with grave danger.


The law does not require a law abiding citizen to behave like a coward, when confronted with a imminent unlawful aggression. As repeatedly observed by this court, there is nothing more degrading to the human spirit than to run away in face of danger. Right of private defence is thus designed to serve a social purpose and deserves to be fostered within the prescribed limit, they said.


Justice Bhandari writing a 41-page judgment for the bench, further noted that the right of private defence is recognised in all free, democratic and civilised countries and self-preservation is the basic human instinct and is duly recognised by the criminal jurisprudence of all civilised countries.


Laying down ten guidelines, where right of self-defence is available to a citizen, but also cautioned that in garb of self-defence, no one can be allowed to endanger or threaten the lives and properties of others or for taking personal revenge. The apex court acquitted one Darshan Singh from Punjab, who had killed Gurcharan Singh in self-defence on July 15, 1991. Father of Darshan Singh was attacked with a 'gandasa' on his head and when Gurdish Singh proceeded to attack Darshan Singh, Darshan Singh open fired in self-defence and in the process Gurcharan Singh was killed.

The apex court, while setting aside the judgment of Punjab and Haryana High Court convicting Darshan Singh, restored the order of the trial court recording his acquittal. His father Bakhtawar Singh died during the pendency of his appeal. The apex court concluded by saying that a person, who is under imminent threat is not expected to use force exactly required to repel the attack and his behaviour cannot be weighed in golden scales.

Supreme Court judges and CJI disclose assets

Supreme Court judges and CJI disclose assets

Twenty-one judges of the Supreme Court, including Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan, have declared their assets, giving details of movable and immovable property owned by them and their spouses in the Supreme Court website. Justice B.N. Agrawal, who retired last month, has also declared his assets on special request, while Justice H.S. Bedi is yet to do so.

Last month the court challenged a single bench order of the Delhi high court, delivered in September, which ruled that the CJI is a public authority and disclosure of assets by members of the judiciary came within the purview of the Right to Information Act.

The disclosures which have been made are also disappointing because they lack many important details. They give an idea of the different saving habits of different judges. Some of them have invested in real estate, others in shares and yet others in the government’s savings schemes. But the information will be useful only when the market value of the assets is known and details like the time of acquisition of property are given.

That will indicate the present value of the property and whether they were acquired during the judicial career or before that. It will also be noted that the properties in possession of the judges have not been identified. In many cases the amount of savings and the value of properties have not been provided. These details are very important. Another drawback is that the disclosures have covered only the assets of the judges and their spouses. Information about the assets of other close relatives, like sons and daughters, is also important in the Indian context.

The declarations have been made under a Supreme Court resolution of May, 1997 which calls upon the judges to disclose their assets. What has been done now is only in partial conformity with that requirement. It actually underlines the need for a law that makes the disclosure mandatory and open to the public, lays down in detail what are the assets to be declared, how the disclosure is to be made and who all should come under its purview. It should also specify the consequences of wrong declarations.

Source - Hindu, Deccan Herald

Over 50,000 Cases pending in Supreme Court

By the end of March 2009, the Supreme Court has for the first time in a decade run up a backlog of more than 50,000 cases reports the Times of India

With computerization of the Supreme Court registry and use of information technology in docket management, pendency of cases in the 1990s was brought down from more than one lakh to a manageable 20,000. But the huge rush of litigants, despite an increased disposal rate, has proved more than a match for the judges, who hear more than 80 cases a day.

The pendency has steadily crept northwards since 2006, when it stood at 34,649. In January 2007, it had become 39,780 with the pendency jumping up by more than 5,000 cases. Justice K G Balakrishnan took over as the Chief Justice of India at this time and tried to put in place mechanisms to arrest the trend of spiralling pendency. >> Read Complete article