Thorat & Associate's

The Bombay High Court at Goa has observed the authorities ought not to make any difference between hoardings and signage, as signages equally cause a nuisance if they are not operated and maintained as per law. The authority concerned shall take appropriate action with regard to illegal signages or those causing a nuisance by following the procedure in law. The Division Bench of Justice G.S. Kulkarni and Justice Bharat P. Deshpande heard a suo motu Public Interest Litigation concerning the putting up of illegal hoardings and/or menace of hoardings in Goa. The Court has observed in the detailed order passed on September 29, 2022 is to bring about a lawful regime of resistible hoardings and in such context, accountability on the concerned municipal officers or other authorities of the State Government, to strictly follow the law.    Thereafter, the petition was heard on November 17, 2022 when the High Court recorded a statement of Devidas Pangam, Advocate General, that the concerns a

The Calcutta High Court imposed Rs 10,000 cost on a petitioner and dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed questioning the appointment of a private respondent on the ground that she was issued the OBC certificate and she obtained the appointment on the basis of false scheduled caste certificate.  The counsel for respondent has raised a preliminary objection about the maintainability of the petition by submitting that a PIL in service matter cannot be entertained.   The counsel for the private respondent  has also questioned the bona fides of the petition by submitting that the petitioner is the uncle of the private respondent  and he has filed the petition as a counterblast to the ongoing dispute between the parties.    The Division Bench of Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava and Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj  observed that the petitioner is closely related to private respondent  being her uncle but this fact has been suppressed in the PIL. Affidavit-in-opposition filed by t

The Allahabad High Court has stayed the declaration of results for the recruitment of security officers in Allahabad University till the next date of hearing. A Single Bench of Justice Saumitra Dayal Singh passed this order while hearing a petition filed by Ambuj Kumar Mishra. Submission of the counsel for the petitioner, in absence of any higher/statutory law, never became open to the University to alter mode and method of the examination by introducing the subjective questionnaire though in the original advertisement, it was clearly indicated that only objective type questions would be put to the candidates. Second, the objection is, intimation of change of examination pattern was given merely seven days before conduct of the examination. The Court observed that the matter requires consideration. “Counsel for the University may serve a copy of the counter affidavit upon counsel for the petitioner by 2 January, 2023. Rejoinder affidavit may be filed on the next date with prior s

The Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said that the future in legal profession belongs to women. The CJI said that times have changed and there is a great gender diversity which is seen among the judicial officers. The CJI said that both women and men are coming in large numbers to the judicial fraternity in many States … [Women] have outstripped in terms of the number of men coming into then judicial fraternity, the judicial service. I do believe that this is the sign of the times when judicial services will be enriched by the presence of what constitutes a very rich, and more than half our society today … So I do believe that the future in our profession belongs to the women. The CJI spoke in the same while speaking at the inaugural function of a new building of the Andhra Pradesh Judicial Academy. The CJI while anddress the audience said that it is  the failing of the profession that most district courts still did not have usable washrooms or sanitary-napkin dispensers for

The year 2022 saw the Ministry of Law and Justice bringing some new significant changes along with improvising many schemes for the Judicial services. It has also facilitated justice to common man through a plethora of initiatives. Department of Justice which is a part of Ministry of Law & Justice is one of the oldest Ministries of the Government of India. It was till the year 2009, that the department of Justice was a part of Ministry of Home Affairs. Post 2009, it was thought that in view of the workload and formulation of several judicial policies and programmes a separate Department namely Department of Justice should be carved out from MHA and placed under the charge of Secretary to Government of India. After this was accepted ,  it started working from 1 st  January, 2010 under the Ministry of Law & Justice. The functions of the Department of Justice include the appointment, resignation and removal of the Chief Justice of India, Judges of the Supreme Court of India,

The Tripura High Court dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed seeking quashing candidates selected in the final merit list of PA-II (Jr. Grade Stenographer), Group-C under the West Tripura District Judiciary prepared by the respondent No.1 (High Court of Tripura) on 27.07.2022. The Division Bench of Chief Justice (Acting) Justice T. Amarnath Goud observed that earlier the Petitioner had filed a PIL seeking  quashing the final merit list of 84 candidates for the post of PA-II (Jr. Grade Stenographer) (Group-C) under District Judiciary of Tripura prepared by the District & Sessions Judge, West Tripura, Agartala on 27.07.2022. The same is withdrawn by the Counsel for the Petitioner later. Now, by filing the present petition in December, 2022, the petitioner has challenged the notification which has been issued on 12.01.2021 and the reasons for filing the petition by way of Public Interest Litigation after almost two years time is not explained. On the said ground of lac

The Uttarakhand High Court dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed seeking direction  to the respondents authorities regarding illegal acts for losing the huge revenue of the State by granting the E-tender  to two firms. The Petitioner further seeks direction to the Higher Authorities to make enquiry by the State Investigation Team on respondents. According to the petitioner, pursuant to a Notice Inviting Tender, issued by Director, Technical Education, five bids were submitted, however, the authorities illegally rejected the bid of lowest bidder and the second lowest bidder. This, according to petitioner, is serious irregularity, resulting in loss to public exchequer,    therefore, an enquiry be ordered into the matter and the responsible officer be punished. However, the ground on which bid of some of the bidders were rejected is not known. While considering the PIL , the Division Bench of Justice Manoj Kumar Tiwari and Justice  Alok Kumar Verma observed that  normally

The Bombay High Court has directed  the Nagpur Municipal Corporation to clarify as to whether or not the dogs which have been collared by corporation authorities have been sterilised and if so, whether their ears have been clipped and/or tattooed and as to whether or not tokens have been issued to those dogs while maintaining a register of sterilised dogs. The Nagpur Division Bench of Justice Sunil B. Shukre and Justice M.W. Chandwani heard a public interest litigation (PIL) filed  in respect of eliminating nuisance and menace of stray dogs in Nagpur.   The Deputy Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, filed his affidavit tendering an unconditional apology in response to the show cause notice issued to him on the last occasion. His affidavit of apology is not happily worded but, the Court is  willing to grant leniency to the Deputy Commissioner with the hope that he has realised now the responsibility and duty of his office. The unconditional apology is accepted by the High Court and

The Bombay High Court has disposed of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) which was filed  seeking directions against Principal Secretary Urban Development  (Maharashtra)  to ensure effective implementation of the provisions of the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014. The PIL filed by  Rajiv Gandhi Hawkers Union and others further seeks implementation of the provisions  in tune with the judgment of the Division Bench of this Court in the case of Ville Parle Kelvani Mandal v/s. The MCGM & Others (WP No.224 of 2011). So also in the case of Janhit Manch v/s. MCGM & Others (PIL 36 0f 2010) by issuing certificate of vending to 75 street vendors as per the notified list in the present PIL. A. A. Siddiquie , Counsel for the Petitioner submitted that once the survey is conducted of the hawkers, then they have to be issued with the vending license. TheCounsel further submits that a survey of 810 hawkers has been conducted. The Corporati

The Delhi High Court was apprised by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) that no religious structures will be removed from Mehrauli Archeological Park in its drive to remove encroachments from the area. The Delhi Waqf Board was represented by senior advocate Sanjoy Ghose who argued in the Delhi High Court before a division bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad. The counsel said that the DDA is carrying out a demolition drive, including that of religious structures and graveyards, and therefore, the demolition deserves to be stayed. The advocate Ghose argued that the demolition will be stayed as there was a dispute over the properties of the Waqf board in the area. He further submitted that the demarcation process has not been completed till now The advocate for DDA Shobhana Takiar, appearing for the DDA, said that clearly before the HC that religious structures as well as graveyards will not be demolished. She submitted that the demolition

The Uttar Pradesh government has filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the decision of the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court regarding reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBC) in elections to local bodies in the state. The petition filed by the state government demands a stay on the decision of the High Court. The state government apprised the Supreme Court that a 5-member commission had been constituted to resolve the matter regarding reservation. The petition also prayed that local body elections with OBC quota be held after the commission submits its report, which is expected in six months. On Wednesday itself, the Uttar Pradesh government had notified the formation of the commission chaired by retired Justice Ram Avtar Singh and comprising retired IAS officers Chob Singh Verma and Mahendra Kumar, former legal adviser Santosh Kumar Vishwakarma and former additional legal adviser Brijesh Kumar Soni. The Allahabad High Court’s Lucknow bench of Justices Saurabh

By Inderjit Badhwar December 10th should be considered, along with all major religious landmark events like Diwali, Xmas, Eid, Gurpurab, Hanukkah, a day of reflection and the celebration of the power of the human spirit. In its own way, this date is a call to all humankind that they are endowed by their creator with the right to enjoy a life of joy and freedom from oppression. It marks the day the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. These inalienable rights—entitled universally, without discrimination—include the right to life and liberty, freedom from slavery and torture, freedom of expression and opinion, the right to work and education… and many more. These principles are a call to humankind to abandon the dark ages and gladiatorial and tyrannical savagery of absolutism and to awaken into a universe of freedom, of compassion, of justice. Alas, this is only an ideal. The reality is that our much vaunted globalism is still pla

The Uttarakhand High Court issued notice on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed seeking a direction to the State authorities to take immediate and effective steps to stop mechanized mining, in any form, in the rivers/ water bodies in the State of Uttarakhand, except for flood management, during rains. The petitioner is concerned about the rampant unscientific and unregulated mechanized river bed mining being done in the rivers of the State of Uttarakhand and seeks stoppage of the same. It is pointed out by the petitioner that the royalty payable by the respondent, which is a State agency and is legally doing manual mining on the river beds in the State, is much higher than the royalty paid by private lessees, thereby making the mining carried out by Uttarakhand Forest Development Corporation (respondent no.4) financially unviable. He submits that respondent no.4 is being discriminated against, as the royalty payable by respondent no.4, is higher than the royalty payable by the p

The Allahabad High Court has rejected the bail application observing that if any opinion is taken on the basis of the evidence given by the hostile witnesses, it amounts to evaluating the evidence by the Court, which is impermissible while deciding the bail application under Section 439 CrPC. A Single Bench of Justice Shekhar Kumar Yadav passed this order while hearing a Criminal Misc Bail Application filed by Krishna Kant. This is the second bail application moved on behalf of the applicant. The first bail application of the applicant was heard and rejected by the Court order dated 21.11.2019. The second bail application has been filed on the new ground that two of the witnesses of last seen, namely, Om Prakash and Ramesh Chandra have been examined before the Trial Court but they have not supported the prosecution case and they have been declared hostile. It is further submitted that informant Madan has also been examined, who has also not supported the case before the Trial Cour

The Delhi High Court has said that the appropriate appointing Authority is the Lieutenant Governor and not the Speaker of the house in the appointment of Secretary to the Delhi Legislative Assembly (DLA). Justice Chandra Dhari Singh said that the Speaker only has a say as being consulted. The single judge said that the appointments to the position of Secretary, DLA fall outside the purview of the office of Speaker, DLA who, to the most, could have a say to the extent of being consulted and even not that of his concurrence. The matter came up as the petitioner was relieved and subsequently terminated from his services as Secretary. Not only this but the posts held by him at the DLA were found illegal. The petitioner on the recommendation f the speaker had been recommended for appointment as an officer on Special Duty, and was permanently absorbed in the DLA. The petitioner’s counsel said that the services of the petitioner were terminated without any reason which is in complete di

The  founder of the You Tube channel Arunabha Kumar has been acquired by the Mumbai court has in a sexual harassment case registered against him in 2017. The order was passed by the Metropolitan Magistrate AI Shaikh at Andheri, Mumbai some time back in September ,yet the copy of the order has been made available recently. Arunabha Kumar was acquitted by the judge considering the fact that there was an unexplained  unreasonable delay in the registration of FIR. The FIR indicated that there was a sense of rivalry which seemed between Kumar and the complainant.Not only this the witness in the case were all from the same industry and seemed to be interest witnesses. The order said that there is a lack of concrete evidence which the prosecution has provided.The order also indicated that persecution could not prove guilt if the accused. The alleged incident of harassment took place in the first week of June 2014. The victim said that she was working in an office which was situated opp

The Supreme Court dealt with a variety of issues in the first half of 2022, ranging from upholding OBC reservation in NEET AIQ to limiting interference of courts in a foreign-funded national project – the Bullet Train Project, resolving the dispute in Space deals involving ISRO’s Antrix and Devas Multimedia to upholding the 2020 amendment to the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, 2010 and even reinstating an Additional District Judge at Madhya Pradesh High Court, who was forced to resign after levelling charges of sexual harassment against a sitting Judge of the same High Court. The Apex Court also reviewed its verdict in the 34-year-old road rage case involving cricketer-turned politician Navjot Singh Sidhu and awarded him the maximum punishment under Section 323 of IPC for hitting a person on head, leading to his death in 1988. India Legal brings to you major judgments delivered by the Supreme Court in 2022 in a two-part series. The first part will detail the cases taken up in t