Today’s Legal Updates:

  1. Mumbai Deputy Commissioner of Police Abhishek Trimukhe has filed a criminal defamation complaint against Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami, his wife and the owner of the channel ARG Outlier for alleged defamatory statements made against him by Goswami.
  2. The Supreme Court is hearing a petition by Ajit Mohan, head of Facebook India challenging summons issued by a Delhi Government panel querying him on the role of the social networking portal in the Delhi Riots.
  3. “Education Should Never Be Compromised”: Gujarat High Court Directs Govt. To Ensure That No Child Drops Out Due To Inability To Pay Fees.
  4. A Mumbai court has observed that former Managing Director and CEO of ICICI Bank, Chanda Kochhar misused her official position to grant loan to Videocon group companies for which she got illegal gratification through her husband accused Deepak Kochhar.
  5. Delhi High Court Directs TRAI To Strictly Enforce Curbs Against Unsolicited Commercial Communications.
  6. A Delhi court has dismissed an application by Jamia Millia Islamia seeking registration of FIR against police for committing various atrocities in the university campus following protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in December 2019.
  7. The Central government has asked Twitter Inc for the second time in three days to block tweets with the hashtag ‘ModiPlanningFarmerGenocide’ and also to block 257 URLs relating to the ongoing farmers protests.
  8. Over 400 Judicial Vacancies In Indian High Courts; Four In Supreme Court And 31 In Delhi HC: Law Ministry Tells Lok Sabha.
  9. The Madras High Court recently observed that it cannot be automatically presumed that a man and a woman are engaging in sexual, immoral or illicit activities, merely because they were in the same room for some time (K Saravana Babu v. Inspector General, Armed Police and ors).
  10. The Delhi High Court Bar Association (DHCBA) has passed a resolution requesting Delhi High Court Chief Justice DN Patel to pass directions for the expeditious resumption of complete physical functioning of courts in the capital.
  11. The Madras High Court has notified that it will function in a hybrid manner, adopting hearing through both physical and virtual modes from February 8.
  12. A protester threw motor oil at a Kerala High Court Judge’s official car on Wednesday morning while she was en route to the Court, raising concerns about the security of the judges.
  13. The Delhi High Court on Wednesday issued notice in a public interest litigation against the new WhatsApp privacy policy (Dr. Seema Singh v. UOI).
  14. Congress leader Shashi Tharoor and various journalists including India Today‘s Rajdeep Sardesai and The Caravan’s Vinod K Jose have moved the Supreme Court to quash the FIRs registered against them for allegedly “misreporting” and “spreading disharmony” over tweets and reports on the ongoing farmers’ protests, reports NDTV.
  15. BJP leader and Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament Subramanian Swamy has approached the Supreme Court seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into alleged illegalities committed by officials of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) which, he claims, resulted in various banking/financial scams in India.
  16. The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday observed that the State Government has failed to implement provisions of Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act (Manual Scavengers Act) and connected Rules despite the series of directions issued by the High Court in this regard.
  17. Future Retail Ltd has moved the Division Bench of the Delhi High Court in appeal against order directing status quo on deal with Reliance. (Amazon.com NV Investment Holdings LLC v. Future Coupons Pvt Ltd & Ors), Hearing tomorrow
  18. “Detention order vitiated by non-application of mind;” Jammu & Kashmir HC quashes preventive detention of Jamaat-e-Islami Chief Hameed Ganie.
  19. Airport Employees Union Challenges Lease Of Mangaluru Airport To Adani Group; Karnataka High Court Issues Notice.
  20. “Be Cautious In Passing Orders Of Such A Nature” Allahabad High Court Tells UP Govt. As It Decides To Drop ‘Exorbitant’ Bond Notices To Farmers.
  21. IBC-Writ Jurisdiction Can Be Invoked Despite Availability Of Alternative Remedy If Allegation Pertains To Lack Of Jurisdiction Of NCLT: Calcutta High.
  22. Data Privacy Safeguards Are Sine Qua Non For Protecting Privacy Of Citizens Particularly When An App Is Required To Be installed At The Instance Of State: Meghalaya High Court.
  23. After the Karnataka High Court expressed doubts about the expertise of members appointed by the state government in the advisory committee formed for the conservation of Great Indian Bustard (GIB) in the state, the State government has reconstituted the committee.
  24. A plea has been moved before the Delhi High Court to seeking directions to the Government of NCT of Delhi to create more posts of Additional Public Prosecutors and thereafter, to initiate the process of appointment of Additional Public Prosecutors to be posted in 55 fast-track and POCSO courts in Delhi.
  25. Actor Kangana Ranaut has approached the Bombay High Court against the BMC’s demolition order regarding the alleged unauthorized amalgamation of her three flats in a plush Mumbai suburb. On Tuesday (02.02.21), the Court granted Ranaut time till February 5 to clarify if she will be approaching the civic body for regularization of the “illegal portions.”
  26. Noting that the instrumentality of the State i.e. Bharat Sanchar Nagam Limited which is a Government Company, is occupying the land of the petitioner unlawfully, the Allahabad High Court on Monday (01st February) expressed its displeasure with BSNL authorities.
  27. The Central Government informed the Lok Sabha that it will not provide compensation to the bereaved families of those farmers, who lost their lives during protests against the three Farm Laws.
  28. The Union Ministry of Home Affairs has informed the Lok Sabha that the time to frame rules under the controversial Citizenship(Amendment) Act, 2019, has been extended.
  29. The Bombay High Court has recently ruled that one cannot be branded as an unauthorized train passenger merely because one mistakenly boards a wrong train.
  30. Bombay High Court questions the Central Government as to why there is no NCLAT in Bombay since the highest number of company petitions are filed from this region.
  31. Kerala High Court : Persons with disability also have right to higher education.
  32. The Delhi High Court has directed Future Retail to maintain status quo in relation deal with Reliance.
  33. Supreme Court: Corruption is an offence against society.
  34. Kerala Union for Working Journalists (KUWJ) has moved an urgent application before the Supreme Court seeking release of journalist Siddique Kappan on interim bail for five days to meet his 90-year-old ailing mother, Kadija Kutty.

Legal Prudent Fraternity