Today’s Legal Updates

Friday, 28th January 2022

Legal Awareness :-  Vote Meaning

Vote means to form a politician choice for or against someone or something by casting a ballot, raising your hand, speaking your choice aloud, etc.

Voting may be a method for a gaggle, like a gathering or an electorate, so as to form a collective decision or express an opinion usually following discussions, debates or election campaigns.

A majority vote may be a formal expression of a person’s choice for or against some motion (for example, a proposed resolution); for or against some ballot question; or for a particular candidate, selection of candidates, or party. A preferential vote may allow the voter and/or elected representative to cast one, some or many preferences. In elections, many countries use a vote, a practice to stop voters from being intimidated and to guard their political privacy.

Today Legal Updates :-

  1. Today the Supreme Court held that it cannot lay down any yardstick for determining adequacy of representation of Scheduled Caste/ Scheduled Tribes (SC/ST) communities in services for which reservation in promotion is being granted to such communities.  (Jarnail Singh v. Lachhmi Narain Gupta)
  2. Today the Supreme Court set aside the one-year suspension of 12 Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs from the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly for allegedly abusing and manhandling Speaker Bhaskar Jadhav.  (Ashish Shelar v. Maharashtra Legislative Assembly)
  3. Today the Supreme Court granted interim relief to airline company, SpiceJet in relation to the winding up petition against it.  (SpiceJet v. Credit Suisse)
  4. Today the Aurangabad Bench of the Bombay High Court took strong exception to the act of a father “donating” his daughter to a baba while hearing the bail plea of accused for sexually assaulting the 17-year-old.  (Shankeshwar @ Shambhu s/o Bhausaheb Dhakne and Anr. v. State of Maharashtra & Anr.)
    • the Court remarked “When the girl as per her own statement is minor, then why the father who is in all respect guardian of the girl should give the girl as Daan ? A girl is not a property which can be given in donation,” 
  5. The Bombay High Court directed the State government to take action against senior inspectors to ensure that the directions of the Supreme Court on installation of CCTVs at police stations are complied with in true letter and spirit.  (Somnath Laxman Giri and Anr. v. State of Maharashtra and Anr.)
  6. Today the Kerala High Court prima facie opined that the collection of parking fees by commercial establishments such as the Lulu International Shopping Mall in Ernakulam is illegal.  (Pauly Vadakkan v Lulu International Shopping Mall & Ors.)
  7. Today the Supreme Court cautioned an advocate against filing petitions related to Section 482 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) under the garb of Article 32 writ petitions.  (Dharmraj Singh v. State of Bihar and ors)
    • Section 482 of the CrPC deals with the inherent powers of High Courts, which includes the power to quash first information reports (FIRs), to secure the ends of justice. Article 32 deals with remedies for the enforcement of rights before the Supreme Court that includes its power to issue writs.
  8. Today A Bengaluru court directed two separate criminal cases to be registered against founder Chairman of Wipro Azim Premji and others for alleged criminal breach of trust and corruption.  (India Awake for Transparency v. Azim Hasham Premji & Ors)
  9. Yesterday the Supreme Court directed the Central and Delhi governments to convene a meeting to ensure systematic implementation of the Delhi Police Commissioner’s recommendations to upgrade security inside the Tihar Jail.  (Bhupinder Singh vs Unitech Ltd)
  10. Yesterday Protests erupted in Karnataka against Raichur Principal District and Sessions Judge,  Mallikarjuna Gowda after he allegedly removed a portrait of Dr. BR Ambedkar from the dais before hoisting the national flag in court premises during the Republic Day celebrations on January 26.
  11. Today the Calcutta High Court held that the definition of “aggrieved woman” under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition, and Redressal) Act, 2013 Act (POSH Act) includes girl students, even as it quashed orders for suspension of a school teacher accused of sexual harassment by around 67 students. (Pawan Kumar Niroula v. Union of India)
  12. Today A Mumbai court issued notice to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a bail application filed by former Maharashtra Home Minister and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Anil Deshmukh in the money-laundering case against him.
  13. Today afternoon Vijay Sondhi died of a heart attack, he is a Senior Partner at L&L Partners and elected member of the Bar Council of Delhi (BCD).
  14. The Central government and the Delhi Lieutenant Governor (LG) have defended their appointment of Special Public Prosecutors (SPPs) to deal with Delhi riots and farmers’ protest cases, on the ground that these are highly sensitive cases and matters of grave national concern that have garnered lot of international attention.  (GNCTD v Lt. Governor Delhi)
  15. Today A Karnataka court issued summons and ordered for a criminal case to be registered against eight persons including Congress Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) B Nagendra, for the illegal mining and sale of iron ore.  (Lokayukta SP v. Santosh Rajapura and Ors)
  16. Today in the Karkardooma Court Delhi, the prosecution in the Delhi Riots case argued that Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam aimed to embarrass the government in front of the international media, under the guise of protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC). (Umar Khalid v. State)
  17. Today Former FTI Consulting Senior Managing Director and economic consulting practice leader for India Montek Mayal joins Osborne Partners as partner and regional head.
  18. Today Lawyers arguing on both sides of the marital rape case told the Delhi High Court that they have been receiving flak for their stand on the issue.  (RIT Foundation v Union of India)
    • Advocate J Sai Deepak, who is appearing for Men Welfare Trust (MWT), informed the Court that there has been some misreporting in the media as a result of which they have been receiving criticism. He made it clear that the organisation is not against recognition of spousal violence.
    • Advocate Karuna Nundy added that she has been receiving rape threats because of her stand and there is no use dealing with these aspects. Therefore, the debate should be on points of law.
      • “These judgments also show that only the legislature and the government have the power to deal with social experiments. They say that the Court must not seek an unnecessary confrontation with the legislature which consists of representatives democratically elected by the people. The judgment says that an act of the legislature is not to be declared void unless the violation of the Constitution is so manifest as to leave no room for reasonable doubt,” 
      • “In our opinion, there is only one ground for declaring an act unconstitutional. It is that there can be no manner of doubt that this violates the Constitution. If there are differing opinions with one opinion saying it is constitutional and the other thinking it to be unconstitutional, then the former must prevail…If judicial aggression is to be the rule in policy, then some issues remain. How legitimate is the government by judges?”
  19. Virtual hearings adopted by Indian courts after the onset of COVID-19 pandemic has led to marked changes in the court system and judiciary. To remedy this situation, the Supreme Court e-committee headed by Justice DY Chandrachud has framed a policy for judges to acquaint themselves with the concept of “breakout rooms”. Breakout rooms are sessions that are split from the main Zoom or Cisco webex meeting. It allows the participants to meet in smaller groups, completely isolated in terms of audio and video from the main session.
  20. Today the Kerala High Court held that matrimonial cruelty to justify divorce must have a uniform definition regardless of personal laws.  (Mary Margaret v Jos P Thomas)
    • the Court said “Law cannot recognise different varieties of cruelty as Hindu cruelty, Muslim cruelty, Christian cruelty or secular cruelty to justify a decree for divorce. The mere fact that Hindu Marriage Act and the Special Marriage Act refer to cruelty without any rider or explanation or the fact that the Divorce Act and the Dissolution of Muslim Marriage Act give indication of the nature of matrimonial cruelty that ought to be established, cannot justify the conclusion that the nature of matrimonial cruelty which would entitle the spouses for divorce is different under different personal laws,”
  21. Today the Bombay High Court ordered that an amount of ₹2 crores deposited under protest by a company with the Commissioner of Customs should be refunded since there was a delay of 23 years in giving a final order in the proceedings initiated by the Customs Department against the company.  (Sushitex Exports (India) Ltd. & Ors. v. Union of India & Anr.)

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