Today’s Legal Updates

Wednesday, 1st June 2022

Legal Awareness :- CONSTITUTION OF INDIA

Part – XV   ELECTIONS

Article – 324 Superintendence, direction and control of elections to be vested in an Election Commission.

  1. The superintendence, direction and control of the preparation of the electoral rolls for, and the conduct of, all elections to Parliament and to the Legislature of every State and of elections to the offices of President and Vice-President held under this Constitution shall be vested in a Commission (referred to in this Constitution as the Election Commission).
  2. The Election Commission shall consist of the Chief Election Commissioner and such number of other Election Commissioners, if any, as the President may from time to time fix and the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners shall, subject to the provisions
    of any law made in that behalf by Parliament, be made by the President.
  3. When any other Election Commissioner is so appointed the Chief Election Commissioner shall act as the Chairman of the Election Commission.
  4. Before each general election to the House of the People and to the Legislative Assembly of each State, and before the first general election and thereafter before each biennial election to the Legislative Council of each State having such Council, the President may also appoint after consultation with the Election Commission such Regional Commissioners as he may consider necessary to assist the Election Commission in the performance of the functions conferred on the Commission by clause (1).
  5. Subject to the provisions of any law made by Parliament, the conditions of service and tenure of office of the Election Commissioners and the Regional Commissioners shall be such as the President may by rule determine: Provided that the Chief Election Commissioner shall not be removed from his office except in like manner and on the like grounds as a Judge of the Supreme Court and the conditions of service of the Chief Election Commissioner shall not be varied to his disadvantage after his appointment : Provided further that any other Election Commissioner or a Regional Commissioner shall not be removed from office except on the recommendation of the Chief Election Commissioner.
  6. The President, or the Governor of a State, shall, when so requested by the Election Commission, make available to the Election Commission or to a Regional Commissioner such staff as may be necessary for the discharge of the functions conferred on the Election Commission by clause (1).

Today’s Legal Updates :-

  1. On Wednesday the Central Government has told the Supreme Court that denial of security clearance to Malayalam news channel, MediaOne was based on intelligence inputs and that the Union Home Ministry is under no obligation to share the reasons for such denial in cases in which national security is involved.  (Madhyamam Broadcasting Ltd. v Union of India)
    • It is submitted that in cases like the present wherein the matter concerning national security is involved, the petitioner company cannot insist upon strict compliance with principles of natural justice and the respondent is not bound to disclose the reasons for denial of security clearance to the petitioner-company
    • MHA under Section 124 of the Indian Evidence Act seeks privilege over its secret files and prays that the contents of the files may not be disclosed to the petitioner since such disclosure may have far reaching and unimaginable consequences in so far as national security is concerned.
  2. The Central government on Wednesday notified the transfer of six High Court judges.
    • Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah (Andhra Pradesh High Court to Patna High Court)
    • Justice Chitta Ranjan Dash (presently Orissa High Court to Calcutta High Court)
    • Justice Subhasis Talapatra (Tripura High Court to Orissa High Court)
    • Justice Lanusungkum Jamir (Manipur High Court to Gauhati High Court)
    • Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur (J&K and Ladakh High Court to Bombay High Court)
    • Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav (Madhya Pradesh High Court to Delhi High Court).
  3. On Wednesday the Central government has notified the appointment of seven judicial officers as judges of the Patna High Court.
    1. Shailendra Singh
    2. Arun Kumar Jha
    3. Jitendra Kumar
    4. Alok Kumar Pandey
    5. Sunil Dutta Mishra
    6. Chandra Prakash Singh
    7. Chandra Shekhar Jha
  4. On Tuesday the Kerala High Court directed the Police Commissioner and the Regional Transport Authority in Kochi to immediately issue orders prohibiting private transport buses from using horns in city limits and to ensure that they ply only on the extreme left side of city roads.  (Aboobacker KA & Ors. v Joint Regional transport Offices)
    • the Court said in its judgment, Accordingly, there shall be directions to the Police Commissioner of Kochi/ Ernakulam as well as the Regional Transport Authority, Kochi/ Ernakulam to immediately issue an order of prohibiting the private transport buses not to use horn in city and ply on extreme left side of the road without overtaking each other or other private vehicles. This direction shall also be applicable to the auto-rickshaws and shall ensure that the registration or issuance of the auto-rickshaws do not increase per capita population of Kochi/ Ernakulam and to prevent further congestion of the road as the width of the road owing to the paucity of the place is not conducive for plying transport vehicles in large number.
    • They adopt the rule of convenience and not the rules by stopping at their convenience for picking up the passengers midway of the journey and beyond the capacity granted in the permit which results into risk of accident. Not only this, even the transport vehicles like passenger private transport buses plied in the City of Cochin/Ernakulam also perpetually uses the horns in overtaking and while plying on the road. Most of the vehicles are overtaking each other or the other private vehicles risking the life of the passengers on the road and other passengers travelling in other vehicles.
    • the Court said, There has to be a time-line as to till what time the fitness certificate can be issued. In other words, whether it can be permitted beyond 15 years by relaxation or granting exemptions.
  5. On Wednesday the Delhi High Court imposed costs of ₹12.5 crore on a private firm, SARR Freight Corporation for concealing facts from the Court.
    • The Court held the company had concealed information regarding its blacklisting because of which it was declared L-1 bidder for a government project.
    • The Court directed that the money paid as costs should be used for installing smog towers in Delhi which has been gasping for breath due to high pollution levels.
    • the judgment said, we direct that the entire amount of ₹12.5 crores shall be deposited by respondent No.3 with the Registrar General of the Delhi High Court within 2 weeks from today. The Registrar General will call all the stakeholders and ensure that the smog tower is installed (maybe of a lesser capacity) at a suitable place where it will contribute towards reducing the AQI levels of Delhi. The Registrar shall take steps on a war footing to ensure the installation and operationalization of the smog tower before the advent of winter season as the situation further aggravates during winter months.
    • the Court said, Once respondent No.1 (RITES) learnt that respondent No.3 (SARR) was liable to be disqualified under the terms and conditions, it could not have proceeded to award the contract to respondent No.3 in an arbitrary and discriminatory manner. The petitioner was found to be technically qualified. The respondent no.1 could have proceeded to award the contract to the petitioner, but it could not have awarded the same to respondent No.3,
  6. On Wednesday While hearing a heated custody battle between a divorced couple, Justice A Muhamed Mustaque made a pertinent observation regarding the lack of gender neutrality in the Indian penal provisions dealing with rape.
    • When an issue regarding the father having an old rape accusation against him came up, his counsel argued that he is out on bail and that the case was built on unfounded allegations of sex under false promise to marry.
    • Justice Mustaque orally remarked, Section 376 is not a gender-neutral provision. If a woman tricks a man under false promise of marriage, she can’t be prosecuted. But a man can be prosecuted for the same offence. What kind of law is this? It should be gender neutral.
    • It is to be remembered that the statutory provisions of the offence of rape as understood in the Indian Penal Code, is not gender neutral. A woman, on a false promise of marrying and having sexual relationship with a man, with the consent of the latter obtained on such false promise, cannot be punished for rape. However, a man on a false promise of marrying a woman and having sexual relationship with the woman would lead to the prosecution’s case of rape. The law, therefore, creates a fictitious assumption that the man is always in a position to dominate the will of the woman. The understanding of consent therefore, has to be related to the dominant and subordinate relationship in a sexual act.
  7. On Wednesday Senior Advocate of the Delhi High Court Prashanto Chandra Sen has joined Quadrant Chambers in the United Kingdom as an Associate Member.
  8. COVID-19 continues to affect law schools across the country, with students of Himachal Pradesh National Law University (HPNLU) being the latest victims of stray outbreaks on campus.
    • Denying these statements, Prof Jaswal said, These are all rumours. My personal assistant and the Registrar are perfectly fine and are sitting in front of me. The problem is, few days back, without any permission or authority, the students had conducted a session in a room. Even otherwise, students aren’t following COVID protocols despite there being sign boards kept across the campus and mails sent to them to follow the protocols.
    • There is resistance from students in getting tested. Even the 50 kits which have been brought to campus have not be utilized. The Sub-District Magistrate has also come to campus for a meeting and has also personally insisted students to followed COVID protocols while sitting in protest.
    • I spoke to Medical Superintendent IGMC who informed that the University being within the purview of the Chief Medical Officer, Shimla, it is the protocol that the Government dispensary, Dhami will collect the samples. the testing will be done at IGMC. But students are not going for the tests.
  9. On Wednesday the Delhi High Court quashed a first information report (FIR) lodged against a man who was accused of rape on the promise of marriage by his would-be wife, after noting that the couple had settled their disputes and were living happily. (AK v. State & Ors)
    • No useful purpose will be served by keeping present FIR alive as both the parties are living happily as husband and wife and apart from technical approach, this Court has also to take a humanitarian approach and to do complete justice.
    • the Court highlighted, Even under those circumstances, a coordinate bench of this Court was pleased to quash the FIR, only with a view to save the marriage of the parties and keeping in view that both the parties were in love with each other. In the present case also, both the parties were and are in love with each other; the families of the parties were also ready regarding fixing the marriage.
  10. On Wednesday A Mumbai court approved the plea by dismissed Mumbai police officer Sachin Waze to become an approver in the corruption case against former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh.
  11. On Wednesday A petition has been filed before the Delhi High Court challenging a move by the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) to ban the transport of e-cigarettes and vapes at Indian airports and in aircraft.  (Sutirtha Dutta v. Bureau of Civil Aviation Security)
    • It is submitted that applicant/ petitioner is a former smoker, who, by aid of E-cigarettes, has quit smoking combustible cigarettes and since, the Applicant / Petitioner, by virtue of the impugned Addendum, cannot carry his E-cigarettes whilst travelling by aircraft, leading to a situation of smoking relapse.
    • That on a bare reading of the Act, it becomes clear that the Addendum that has been issued by the Respondent is vague and misleading, and is needlessly criminalizing and illegally infringing upon the rights of the Petitioner and other consumers of Electronic Cigarettes, which are deemed globally to be less harmful than smoking combustible cigarettes. Section 4 of the said Act does not contain any language that would support the Respondent that the personal use of Electronic Cigarettes is banned in India.
    • The intent of the legislation is not to criminalize citizen but instead to ban any kind of trade in e-cigarettes. Monitoring use is difficult to enforce and may lead to infringement of civil liberties.
  12. On Wednesday the Delhi High Court referred the dispute between the heirs of Vijay Sondhi and L&L Partners to arbitration before a retired Supreme Court judge.
    • The induction of any new individual in the equity partnership of the firm will be subject to the prior approval of the learned arbitrator. It is made clear that in the event that any of the existing equity partners seeks to resign from the firm, they may do so, and their pro rata share which would have gone to Mr Sondhi’s share will also be maintained undisturbed. No other change in the structure of the firm is contemplated.
  13. On Wednesday the Enforcement Directorate (ED) issued summons to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Member of Parliament from Wayanand constituency Rahul Gandhi, in a money laundering case linked to the National Herald newspaper owned and run by Congress party.
  14. On Wednesday A special court in Mumbai has allowed Bollywood actress Rhea Chakraborty to travel to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Dubai to attend the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) awards from June 2 to June 5.  (Rhea Chakraborty vs Union of India)
  15. On Wednesday the Delhi High Court disposed of a petition raising a grievance that the titular character ‘Prithviraj’ in the Bollywood film starring Akshay Kumar is portrayed as a Rajput when he was, in fact, a Gujjar.
  16. On Monday the Kerala High Court rejected the bail plea of ​​Vijith Vijayan, the fourth accused in a Maoist terror case registered in 2019. (Vijith Vijayan @ Pachha @ Balu @ Musafir @ Ajay v Union of India)
  17. Last Week the Gujarat High Court granted bail to a 16-year-old juvenile accused of committing sodomy on a 13-year-old boy, and threatening to kill him if he disclosed the incident to anyone.
  18. On Wednesday the Delhi High Court issued notice to Delhi Police and asked it to file a status report in the case related to listing of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Amanatullah Khan as ‘bad character’ after opening the ‘history sheet’ against him.
  19. On Monday the Allahabad High Court directed the Central government to deport a Pakistani national to his country after noting that he had served the sentence awarded to him. (Taseen Azeem @ Lareab Khan v. State of UP)
  20. On Wednesday Gangster Lawrence Bishnoi withdrew his plea before the Delhi High Court seeking police protection.
  21. On Wednesday the Meghalaya High Court held that the act of a man holding the hands of a minor girl, stroking it and saying the same is beautiful, wouldn’t amount to the offence of sexual assault under the Protection Of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act unless there was sexual intent on his part. (Mohammad Saimullah vs State Of Meghalaya)
  22. On Wednesday the Supreme Court held that Section 106 of the Indian Evidence Act applies when the chain of events has been successfully established by the prosecution [Sabitri Samantaray and anr. v. State of Odisha)
  23. On Wednesday the Delhi High Court directed the State government to ensure that unfilled seats for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) are filled up within the next five years in a phased manner. (Justice for All & Anr. vs. Venkateshwar Global School & Ors.)
  24. On Wednesday the Gauhati High Court granted bail to a driver of a courier company, on the ground that the rigors of Section 37 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS) wouldn’t apply to drivers of courier services who are not aware as to what has been loaded in the vehicle they drive.  (Lorik Ram vs State of Assam)
  25. The Central Government has notified the extension of tenure of Justice AA Nakkiran as additional judge of the Madras High Court for one more year.

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