Indian Courts this Week: Law Street Journal's Weekly Round-Up of SC & HCs [Dec 9 - Dec 16]

A weekly round-up of the top stories from the Supreme Court of India and High Courts across the country summed up in a 3-minute read. 

SUPREME COURT

1. Highway tender scam: Supreme Court rejects Tamil Nadu anti-corruption agency's plea seeking fresh probe against ex-CM
   The Supreme Court declined to entertain a plea by the Tamil Nadu's Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) against a Madras High Court order refusing a fresh preliminary inquiry against former Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami in connection with an alleged highway tender scam.
2. Supreme Court upholds abrogation of Article 370
   The Supreme Court pronouncing its verdict on Article 370 held that Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) does not hold internal sovereignty after it acceded to India. Chief Justice DY Chandrachud said, "We hold it does not hold any internal sovereignty after accession to the Union of India" Supreme Court also directed ECI to conduct elections in J&K by September 2024.
3. Automatic vacation of stay prejudices the litigant, SC reserves verdict on reconsidering Asian Resurfacing case
   Supreme Court reserved orders on a plea seeking reconsideration of its 2018 judgment, which mandated for the automatic vacation of stay in all civil and criminal matters after 6 months. A five-judge Constitution bench of Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and Justices Abhay S Oka, J B Pardiwala, Pankaj Mithal and Manoj Misra, pointed out two major problems that arise from the automatic vacation of stay.
4. 'Extremely surprising for Bar member to want particular judge to hear': CJI DY Chandrachud
   The Chief Justice of India (CJI) D Y Chandrachud expressed concern on the recent trend of members of the Bar choosing judges who should or should not hear their cases. The CJI said in this regard, "it is extremely surprising that any Bar member should be saying I want a particular judge to hear my matter and that this particular judge shouldnt hear my matter.
5. Pannun 'murder plot' case: Nikhil Gupta forced to eat beef, family tells Supreme Court
   The family of Nikhil Gupta, the man accused by the United States of conspiring to kill India-designated terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, has told the Supreme Court that Gupta has been tortured with "forced consumption of beef and pork" that he found offensive as he is a "devout Hindu and vegetarian." While they claimed "grave violations of fundamental rights" the Supreme Court has told the family to approach a court in the Czech Republic for relief on their claims that his religious and human rights were violated.
    
   HIGH COURTS
6. Default bail not to be denied by imposition of strict conditions under S. 167 (2) CrPC, reiterates Kerala High Court
   The Kerala High Court reiterated that default bail cant be denied to a person by fixing stringent bail conditions under Section 167 (2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure. While imposing conditions in default bail, the Court can only impose only such conditions to ensure that the accused will appear before the court concerned for trial and will also co-operate with the investigation.
   Vishnu Sajanan vs State of Kerala [Kerala High Court CRL. MC NO. 10253 Of 2023] 
7. Karnataka High Court grants bail to Gauri Lankesh murder accused Mohan Nayak
   From a perusal of the statements recorded under Section 161 Cr.PC of the 23 charge sheet witnesses who have spoken about the role of the petitioner in the present case, it is seen that none of these witnesses have stated that the petitioner was a part of the meeting of the accused persons, wherein the accused had conspired to murder Gauri Lankesh," the bench reasoned, while granting bail to Nayak.
8.  Kerala High Court issues notices to CM Vijayan and others over alleged illegal payments from mining firm 
   The Kerala High Court issued notices to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, his daughter and many other politicians, including Congress and Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leaders, on a petition alleging that they received regular illegal gratifications from a controversial mining firm.
9. NewsClick has a "lot to answer": Delhi High Court in tax matter against news portal
   Delhi High Court dismissed NewsClicks plea challenging orders dated November 3 and February 20 passed by the Income Tax Department against them. The Court holds that it has not been able to make out a prima facie case in favour of NewsClick.
10. Kerala High Court issues directions to curb Sabarimala overcrowding 
    In order to control overcrowding and unauthorised entry at the Sabarimala during the upcoming festival season, the Kerala High Court issued certain directions to respective authorities. The directions were issued by Justices Anil K Narendran and P G Ajith Kumar.
    Court on its own motion vs The State of Kerala & Ors. [Kerala High Court SSCR NO. 36 OF 2023]
11. No relief for Omar Abdullah in long-drawn divorce case with Payal Nath
    The Delhi High Court has dismissed National Conference leader and former Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah's plea seeking divorce from his estranged wife Payal (Nath) Abdullah, saying there was no merit in his plea.
12. Police protection to fund manager alleging threat from Kirron Kher & aide: Punjab & Haryana HC
    Punjab and Haryana High Court grants police protection to fund mgr claiming threat from Bollywood actor and #BJP MP @KirronKherBJP. The manager was allegedly handling Rs. 8 cr for Kher. Without going into the merits of Agarwal's case or evidentiary value of any of his allegations, the Court granted him protection as sought for a week till December 19, 2 pm as the petition sought protection of the fundamental right to life and liberty guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution. 
    Chaitnnya Aggarwal vs State of UT Chandigarh & Ors [Punjab & Haryana High Court CRWP-11918-2023 (O&M)]
13. Bombay HC terminates Hitachi employee for provocative Facebook posts
    A Labour Court ruling that had overturned an employees termination for two "provocative" Facebook posts against the employer company has been overturned by the Bombay High Court. Freedom of speech and expression cannot be allowed to be transgressed beyond reasonableness. If that is allowed, it could lead to disastrous consequences. In a given case, one cannot and should not wait for the consequences to occur. Such acts itself are required to be nipped in the bud. Otherwise, it would convey a wrong signal to the society at large, Justice Milind N Jadhav observed.
14. Surrogacy industry need not be encouraged in India: Delhi HC
    The DelhiHighCourt has observed in a case, "The (surrogacy) industry need not be encouraged here," hearing a childless Indian couple based in Canada. A bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Minister Pushkarna remarked, "Why should the court get into all this now? You are based in Canada. You cannot run an industry here. This will become a billion dollars industry. This is not a case where we should be asking the government to do anything."
15. [Protection of Vitthal Rukmini temple] Bombay HC asks petitioners to approach Centre
    Noting that though a need has been felt to preserve the Vitthal Rukmini temple site, Bombay High Court denied any order for protection of Mumbai's 200-year-old Vitthal Rukmini temple. Having noticed the statutory provisions / mechanisms / schemes available for protection and preservation of ancient / historical / heritage sites and monuments we are unable to grant the prayers in this Writ Petition in the absence of declaration or inclusion of the temple site in question as an ancient monument of National / State importance or as a heritage site, the Court held.