Legal News at Vakilno1.com

Court stays warrants against CBI officers

New Delhi,  The Delhi High Court has stayed bailable warrants against two senior officers of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The warrants were issued by a special CBI court for failing to respond to summons and not appearing before it.

The Rohini CBI special court wanted senior CBI superintendent of police Ganesh Verma and CBI deputy legal adviser Sunder Lal to explain why the agency had failed to produce witnesses in a criminal case in August.
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Assam court finds MBBS admission criterion irrational

Agartala,  The Gauhati High Court has found the Medical Council of India (MCI) eligibility criterion for MBBS aspirants from the scheduled castes and tribes “irrational and in violation of Article 14 of the Indian Constitution“, officials said Sunday.

According to MCI regulations, MBBS aspirants from these categories must secure at least 40 percent marks in the combined competitive examinations or joint entrance examinations (JEE). The union health ministry and the MCI had earlier refused to further relax the criterion for northeastern tribes and scheduled caste students.

A senior Tripura health department official said around 31 MBBS seats were lying vacant in the government-run medical college in Agartala and in the Tripura quota in other states because no student secured the minimum in the JEE this year in the state.
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Apex court divided on black money SIT

New Delhi,  A Supreme Court bench was Friday divided on the maintainability of the central government’s application for recall of a July 4 apex court judgment setting up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe black money. The bench has referred the issue to Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia.

The matter was referred following a split verdict between Justice Altamas Kabir and Justice S.S. Nijjar on the question of maintainability of the centre’s application that has sought the recall of the apex court’s order setting up SIT to investigate laundering of ill-gotten money parked in tax havens.

The court said that since “we have differed in our views regarding the maintainability” of the centre’s application on the recall of July 4, 2011, judgment and order, let the matter be placed before the Chief Justice of India, for reference to a third Judge. The judgment and order sought to be recalled were pronounced by Justice B. Sudarshan Reddy (since retired) and Justice S.S.Nijjar.
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Apex court asks CBI to probe Karnataka illegal mining

New Delhi/Bangalore, The Supreme Court Friday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation, which is already under its instruction to investigate illegal mining in Karnataka, to also probe allegations of illegal extraction of iron ore by arrested mining baron G. Janardhana Reddy.

Charges of illegal extraction in Andhra Pradesh have landed Janardhana Reddy, a former Karnataka minister, in a Hyderabad jail.

Reddy, minister in the Bharatiya Janata Party’s B.S. Yeddyurappa-led government in Karnataka, has always asserted that his mining business was confined to Andhra Pradesh and that he was not mining in Karnataka.
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Apex court dismisses Sadhvi Pragya’s bail plea

New Delhi,  The Supreme Court Friday dismissed the bail plea of Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, the main accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast, in which six people were killed and over 100 injured.

Dismissing her plea, the bench of Justice J.M.Panchal and Justice H.L.Gokhale said: “Having regard to the totality of the facts and circumstances of the case, this court is of the opinion that question of violation of Article 22(2) does not arise.”

Sadhvi Pragya had challenged the Bombay High Court order of March 12, 2010 rejecting her plea for bail, contending that her arrest violated the mandate of Article 22(1) and 22(2) of the constitution and also on the ground that no charge sheet was filed within 90 days as contemplated by Section 167(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
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Tiwari’s refusal to give DNA sample unjustified: Court

New Delhi, The Delhi High Court Friday said Congress leader N.D. Tiwari cannot be “physically compelled” to give DNA sample in a paternity suit by a man claiming to be his biological son, but his refusal is “malicious and unjustified”.

Justice Gita Mittal said: “The defendant (N.D. Tiwari) cannot be physically compelled or be physically confined for submitting a blood sample for DNA profiling to implement the judgment passed on Dec 23, 2010.”

“It is further held that Tiwari’s refusal to submit the blood sample is willful, malicious, unreasonable and unjustified,” she said.
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CBI to probe Reddy’s mining in Karnataka too

New Delhi/Bangalore,  The Supreme Court Friday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation, already under its instruction to investigate illegal mining in Karnataka, to also probe allegations of illegal extraction by arrested mining baron G. Janardhana Reddy.

Charges of illegal extraction in Andhra Pradesh have landed Janardhana Reddy, a former Karnataka minister, in a Hyderabad jail.

Reddy, minister in the Bharatiya Janata Party’s B.S. Yeddyurappa-led government in Karnataka, has always asserted that his mining business was confined to Andhra Pradesh and that he was not mining in Karnataka.

The Yeddyurappa government, which went out July 31 and the D.V. Sadananda Gowda took over as chief minister, had rejected persistent demand from opposition parties and various civil society groups to have the CBI probe Reddy’s illegal mining in Karnataka.
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Apex court rejects Punjab plea on canal wall

Chandigarh/New Delhi,  The Supreme Court Friday dismissed the Punjab government’s application seeking to restrain Haryana from undertaking the construction of a 3.8 km long wall on the left bank of Hansi-Butana canal along the Ghaggar river embankment.

Justices J.M. Panchal and H.L. Gokhale dismissed the petition after perusing the detailed pleadings by both states.

The dispute is over a ‘toe-wall’, described as a low wall constructed at the bottom of an embankment to prevent slippage or spreading of the soil.

The Haryana government had been maintaining that the toe-wall was needed to save agricultural land and several villages from seasonal flooding in the Ghaggar river.
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Kerala temple’s vault B not to be opened now: Supreme Court

New Delhi,  Opening vault B of Kerala’s Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple will be considered only after the around Rs.1 lakh crore worth of treasure unearthed from the other five chambers is properly documented, the Supreme Court said Thursday.

The “documentation, categorisation, security, preservation and conservation” of the treasure found from five chambers must be substantially completed, said the apex court bench of Justice R.V. Raveendran and Justice A.K. Patnaik.

The security of the temple will be provided by the Kerala government, which will also bear its cost, the court said.
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Observe Lakshman Rekha in monitoring 2G probe: Apex court told

New Delhi,  The sanctity of the “Lakshman Rekha” became the focal point of an animated discussion on the 2G scam in the apex court Thursday. While the government pointed out that there was a “Lakshman Rekha” for the apex court’s monitoring of the CBI probe into the 2G scam, the Supreme Court retorted that such a demarcation was “not sacrosanct”.

Senior counsel P.P.Rao, appearing for the central government, told the apex court bench of Justice G.S. Singhvi and Justice Asok Kumar Ganguly that the “Lakshman Rekha”, signalling an end of the monitoring of the investigation by the court, begins with the trial court taking cognizance of the probe.

As Rao sought to remind the court of the “Lakshman Rekha”, Justice Ganguly observed that “Lakshman Rekha was not sacrosanct”.
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