Tag: #topstories

-Report by Zainab Khan

A bench consisting of SC judges of Justice U.U.Lalit, Justice Ravindra Bhat, Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia hearing a civil appeal in the case of the University of Kerala and ors. Etc. Vs Merlin J.N and anr.etc.etc held that regulations passed by UGC’s have a retrospective effect on the appointment of university Lecturers, which gives them exemption from the compulsory qualification of NET.

FACT

Appellant had qualified M.Phil in the year 2000 and completed his Ph.D. in 2006. He was appointed as a lecturer of sociology at the University of Kerala on 4.08.2012. The university provides him exemption from compulsory NET qualification while selecting him. The respondent who was ranked 2 nd in the selection process in the same category, filed a writ petition before the Kerala High court alleging that the appellant’s appointment was not in accordance with UGC, REGULATION 2009.

The HC court ruled on 1.02.2017 that the appellant was not qualified to hold the post of Lecturer, the court relied on the judgments of Suseela Vs. University Grants Commission and Dr. D Radhakrishnan Pillai Vs. The Travancore Devaswom Board.

APPELLANT CONTENTION

The counsel for the appellant argues that his appointment was made as per the law, as university has adopted the UGC regulations, 2009 on 23.11.2013 which is after the appointment of the appellant. The counsel further argues that the resolution passed by UGC in its 471 meeting on 12.08.2010 that Ph.D regulation 2004 and UGC regulation
2009 were of prospective nature.Hence appellant’s appointment should be declared as valid.

RESPONDENT CONTENTION

Counsel for respondent argues that respondent is more capable than appellant as she had qualified for her NET exam in 1998 and done Ph.D. later and since then she is working in Kerala university as a teacher. The counsel further argues that the UGC resolution on 12.08.2010 is contrary to UGC regulation 2010 and the central Government also disagrees with this resolution.

Counsel argues that the appellant should not take benefit of ph.d regulation 2009 and UGC regulation 2016 , as these have prospective effect and he has completed his ph.d before both regulations.

Key highlights of UGC amendments –

• UGC regulation 2000 states NET as an essential condition for appointment as a lecturer in any university. But it exempted candidates who acquired M.Phil or submitted a Ph.D. by 31.12.1993 from NET.
• UGC regulation amendment 2002 gives exemption to candidates from NET who acquired their M.Phil by 31.03.1993 or submitted Ph.D. by 31.12.2002.
• UGC regulation amendment 2009, it rules the minimum condition for appointment of the lecturer as NET but exempted those who acquired their Ph.D. in accordance with Ph.D. regulation 2009.
• UGC regulation amendment 2016, provides candidates having a Ph.D. degree before 11.07.2009 also considered to be appointed as lecturers.

JUDGEMENT

The Hon’ble court has observed how UGC is protecting the candidate and learned teachers by giving them exemption from compulsory NET as much possible as it can.

The court ruled that UGC regulation 2016 is retrospective in nature. The court relied on the judgment of Rafiquennessa v. Lal Bahadur Chetri (dead) through his representative and ors.

The Hon’ble court quashed the earlier orders of the Kerala High court and upheld the appellant’s appointment as valid as per UGC regulation 2016.

-Report by Anjana C

It has been held by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in the case of Union of India & Anr. v. Subhash Chander Sehgal & Ors. the writ petition stands dismissed, and the current appeal will be pursued.

Facts of the Case: 

• Unsatisfied with the decision of the Delhi High Court, the petitioner has appealed. 
• The possession of the land was taken by the authority in 1987and was utilized as a park by the East Delhi Municipal Corporation. 

In the case of Pune Municipal Corporation and Sree Balaji Nagar Residential Association, the following was said that has been applied to this case: 

• According to Section 24(1)(a), there is no lapse in proceedings if there is an award on the date of commencement of the 2013 Act. 
• If the award has been made within 5 years (excluding the period of an interim order of the Court), the proceedings will be according to the 2013 Act under Section 24(1)(b) under the 1894 Act, regarding it as not repealed. 
• If the possession of land has been taken over and compensation has not been paid, there is no lapse. 
• If compensation is not paid and possession has not been taken, there is no lapse. 
• If the compensation has not been deposited in court, all beneficiaries to the landholding will be entitled, as on the date of notification, to compensation under Section 4 of the 2013 Act.  
• Non-deposit does not result in a lapse of land acquisition proceedings. 
• If compensation has been tendered under Section 31(1) of the 1894 Act, he cannot state that the acquisition has lapsed under Section 24(2) as a result of non-payment or non-deposit of compensation in Court. 
• The obligation to pay is complete when the amount due is tendered in accordance with Section 31(1). 
• Landowners refusing to accept compensation/ who seek reference for a higher compensation are not in the position to claim lapse under Section 24(2) under the 2013 Act. 
• The method of acquiring land under the 1894 Act under Section 24(2) is by making an inquest report/ memorandum. 
• Section 24 applies to a proceeding pending on the date of enforcement of the 2013 Act. It does not reopen cases/ proceedings nor allow landowners to question the legality of the mode of possession.

Judgment of the case: 

If there is no lapse in acquisition proceedings under Section 24(2) of the 2013 Act, the land remains in the possession of the appellant. There will be no question of payment of compensation to the petitioners. It was said that the writ petitioners were entitled to compensation according to the Land Acquisition Act, 1894. All of the above taken into consideration, the Court declared the High Court’s order to be quashed and set aside. The writ petition filed before the High Court was dismissed. 

The present appeal was allowed, and no order was given regarding costs incurred by the parties.

A metropolis Court on Tues adjourned hearing within the preceding bail applications filed by Shantanu Muluk and Bombay based mostly attorney, Nikita Jacob in manoeuver with the urban center Police FIR over the ‘toolkit’ created for organizing farmers protests. However, the Court went ahead to increase their interim protections.
Additional Sessions choose Dharmender amphibian genus granted the relief when the counsel showing from each the suspect persons same they required time to travel through the reply filed by the urban center Police before advancing arguments within the matter.
The choose detected the submission and directed the police to not take any powerful action against each suspect until March fifteen, once the court can any hear the matter.
Jacob, Muluk, and Ravi were set-aside for violations and different charges.
Additional Sessions decide Dharmender amphibian genus adjourned the matter when hearing each the preceding bail pleas at the same time. The matter can currently be detected on the fifteenth of march 2021. Advocate Vrinda Grover alongside Advocate Sarim Naved appeared on behalf of Shantanu Muluk whereas Senior Advocate Rebecca John appeared on behalf of Nikita Jacob.

Vrinda Grover and Rebecca John had each quested the Court to adjourn the matter when the metropolis Police had filed a comprehensive reply with careful and researched annexures that were provided to each applier party these days.

Both Shantanu and Nikita had filed preceding bails within the wake of ending of the transit preceding bail granted to them by the Bombay court on the sixteenth and seventeenth of February severally. Shantanu alongside Nikita Jacob has joined the probe on twenty-second February in respect of the toolkit FIR. Each was a gift before the Dwarka workplace of the metropolis Police’s Cyber Cell for the aim of interrogation within the matter.
While the court granted Shantanu Muluk transit preceding bail for an amount of ten days, Nikita Jacob was granted the protection for three weeks, permitting each to approach the competent court for seeking applicable relief. The metropolis Court had vided order dated twenty-fifth February 2021 granted interim protection from arrest to Shantanu Muluk until March nine.

Advocate Vrinda Grover for Muluk submitted before the Court that since he had been cooperating with the investigation and has been gift within the interrogation known as by the metropolis Police Cyber Cell, the Court ordered that no powerful step shall be taken against the suspect Muluk until the consequent date of hearing i.e. 9th March. On the opposite hand, the Court vide order dated ordinal March 2021 adjourned the hearing in Nikita Jacob’s preceding bail when Senior Advocate Rebecca John submitted before the Court that her interim protection granted by the court can expire on the tenth of March.

Therefore, taking into consideration John’s submissions and request of the extra lawyer asking time to file a close and comprehensive reply within the matter, the Court ordered that the preceding bail pleas of each suspect shall be detected on the ninth of March at the same time. In another development within the case, the Bombay court vide order dated third March 2021 granted ten days transit preceding bail to state-based mostly activist, Subham Kar Chaudhuri, member of the organization “Extinction Rebellion”, apprehending arrest within the toolkit FIR.

According to the applier Chandhuri, he had volunteered for the “Extinction Rebellion” organization and is presently its South Asia Liaison. Shantanu Muluk and Nitika Jacob even have links as being volunteers with the same organization. It had been happy by Chandhuri that Nikita Jacob, Shantanu Muluk, and Disha Ravi have allegedly conspired to form the web “toolkit” thereby denying any role to play in its creation. Disha Ravi, the primary suspect within the toolkit case, was granted bail by an equivalent decide when perceptive “considering scanty and incomplete proof on record, I don’t notice any palpable reason to deny bail.”
“In my thought-about opinion creation of a WhatsApp cluster or being editor of associate degree innocuous Toolkit isn’t associate degree offense. Further, since the link with the same toolkit or PJF is not objectionable, mere deletion of the WhatsApp chat to destroy the proof linking her with the toolkit and PJF additionally becomes purposeless.

Reported By: Komal Dhore

The Supreme Court in one of its judgments held that the payments made by resident Indian end-users or distributors on import of ‘shrink-wrapped’ software cannot be considered as a royalty payment, leading to no withholding of tax obligations in India against such payments.

At several levels of judicial appeals, it has been held that the payments made for the import of shrink-wrapped software overseas can be assessable to tax as Royalty under the provisions of the I-T Act. Since the Indian distributors failed to meet the TDS obligations, they were held as ‘assessees at the default’ and were faced with certain heavy tax penalties. With the advent of this judgment, they can now file for refunds as well.

For 20 years, including the incessant appeals in February, the apex court heard nearly 80 appeals before it on the issue of ‘Royalty’ payment. Which included several big-shot corporations like Samsung Electronics, IBM India, Sonata Information Technology, etc. the contention raised by these corporations was that the use given to the Indian companies was limited to making a backup copy or of its redistribution. They were not granted the exclusive right to modify the shrink-wrapped software. In one of the judgments by an HC, the payment made to the overseas supplier could not be categorized as business income by overseas entities and hence there was not any tax withholding obligation. The Supreme Court, in this case, set aside the High Court judgment and held the otherwise. 

With this judgment, long-standing litigation on this particular issue was finally put to rest, and relief to Indian companies was provided who was pursued by the I-T department for the alleged withholding of income tax. The apex court also held that the appeals made before it could be categorized in a bunch of 4 sets of appeals. 

1. The first category involves the case where computer software is purchased directly by an end-user, a resident of India from a foreign, non-resident supplier or manufacturer.
2. The second category deals with cases where resident Indian companies act as distributors or resellers by purchasing software from foreign, non-resident suppliers or manufacturers and then reselling the same to resident Indian end-users.
3. The third category comprises cases where the distributor is a foreigner who, after buying the software from a foreigner resells the same to the Indian resident distributors or end-users. 
4. And the last category includes cases where the computer software is affixed onto the hardware and is sold as an integrated unit/equipment.

The case was adjudged by a 3-judge bench comprising of Justice R F Nariman, Justice Hemant Gupta, and Justice B.R. Gavai 

Reported By- TANUJ SHARMA

Karnataka High Court, on 31st July 2019 quoted that, It is the obligation of the municipal corporation to maintain roads’ In a landmark verdict court gave a tremendous relief to the citizens suffering from the bad roads in India’s IT Capital Bengaluru as well as the other parts of the State, the Karnataka High court asserted that the right to have reasonably good footpaths and roads is a fundamental right of the citizens under Article 21.
The court also asserted, “citizens can knock the doors of High Court to seek compensation from a civic authority for the loss or damages that caused by bad footpaths and roads. A Division Bench consisting of Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Mohammad Nawaz passed interim order while hearing of a PIL petition which was filed in 2015 by Vijayan Menon and three other persons belonging to Koramangala in Bengaluru, They complained regarding the absolute failure of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike to ensure proper condition of roads.
It is mentioned in section 58 of the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act 1976 that it is the statutory obligation of the municipal corporation to construct, repair, construct and maintain footpaths to ensure the good condition of roads, the Bench mentioned it gives a corresponding right to citizens to discharge the obligation on the part of city corporations.
The bench also cited Supreme Court judgments, that expanded the scope of the fundamental right to life and personal liberty of citizens, the Bench said if citizens incur injuries or any loss of life due to deteriorated condition of footpaths or roads, it leads to infringement of their fundamental right, court Declared the right to have good roads and footpath is a necessity to lead a dignified and meaningful life under Article 21 (right to life and personal liberty).
The Bombay high court ruled on Thursday that citizens have a fundamental right to enjoy good roads and footpaths. A division bench consisting of Justice Abhay Oka and Justice Riyaz Chagla quoted the government’s plans for smart cities and mentioned this would be possible only when good streets are made available. Bombay High Court also gave rulings over the same issue on 12th April 2018. The court was hearing a suo motu PILsubmitted in July 2013 letter by Justice Gautam Patel. The bench observed that they are aware of the government’s endeavor or effort to make each city smart.
However, no city can be smart until or unless it has proper roads and footpaths in reasonably good condition. HC stressed that it was the state and civic bodies’ obligation to provide these necessities to citizens. It is the fundamental right of a citizen, to have roads and footpaths in reasonably good condition. All necessary steps should be taken to ensure that the citizens are not getting deprived of their rights. Bombay High Court also mentioned that it is also the authorities’ responsibility to ensure the grievances of violation of this right were redressed promptly within a specified period and communicated to citizens. Court also directed the Maharashtra government to establish a centralized grievance redressal mechanism and frame policies to ensure that the quality of road constructed is good.
The court made the authorities remember that if citizens do suffer harm due to any failure of authorities in maintaining roads in appropriate condition, then they can seek compensation. The judges gave reference to the death of Dr. Deepak Amrapurkar occurred in September 2017 after he falls into an open manhole. They further added that all the necessary precautions must be taken to make sure that such an unfortunate incident of a citizen falling into an open manhole should not recur.
The municipal corporation must take all the possible steps to ensure that no open manhole is unattended. If it is left open, then necessary precaution and warning signs shall be implanted near it, and judges also stated that If a citizen suffers the consequences of the failure of the state machinery to maintain roads, apart from liability under the regular law of torts, the person can take recourse to public law remedy.He/she can initiate action under public law to seek compensation from the authorities.

Reported By- Anjali

Delhi government further standing counsel Sanjoy Ghose in response to a petition filed by Ali Sher, the daddy of Azad United Nations agency had sought-after compensation of Rs five large integer for the death of his son, Tihar jail authority submitted a standing report back to the Old Delhi high court. 

The Old Delhi judicature has been wise by the Tihar Jail authorities that the jail employees on duty detected noises and saw 3 under-trial prisoner’s offensive Dilsher Azad, United Nations agency died within the jail on Gregorian calendar month thirty last year.

The submissions were created in an exceedingly standing report filed by the Tihar Jail authorities through Old Delhi government further standing counsel Sanjoy Ghose in response to a petition filed by Ali Sher, the daddy of Azad United Nations agency had sought-after compensation of Rs five large integer for the death of his son.

“On 30.11.2020, the morning opposition was done at 6:45 AM. The Jail employees on duty detected noises from Ward No. 9. forthwith, the on-duty Jail employees rush to the spot and saw that deceased Dilsher was grappled by another beneath trial unfortunate Ved Prakash and he was being attacked by 2 different beneath trial prisoners specifically Naushad and Faizal Alam with the oversewn temporary sharp-edged object,”

The Tihar Jail authorities were the same in its standing report.

The report additional explicit that upon seeing the Jail employees’ members at the spot, the defendant persons started inflicting self-injuries and conjointly giving injuries to every different.

“Immediately by the intervention of this Jail employees, the defendant persons were controlled and therefore the sharp object employed in offensive Dilsher was recovered. Dilsher was forthwith rush to the Jail hospital wherever he has declared brought dead at 07:25 AM by the medical man on duty,” 

-it said.

When the matter came up for hearing before a single-judge bench of the judicature presided by Justice Prathiba M. Singh, the bench took note of the standing report and directed the Old Delhi government to submit the CCTV footage of the same incident.

The court whereas slating the matter for an additional hearing on March twenty-two, conjointly asked the govt. to state whether or not any action has been taken against the officers of the jail for the protection lapse resulting in the same incident.

The plea filed by Ali Sher sought-after the court’s direction to the Tihar Jail authorities and Old Delhi government to pay compensation to the tune of Rs. five crores on account of the tutelary death of his son Dilsher Azad as under trial unfortunate in Tihar Jail No. 03, Ward No. 09, on Gregorian calendar month thirty last year.

“…on 30-11-2020 petitioner received a decision from police officers informing him concerning the overtime of his son Dilsher Azad in Jail, on receipt of that data, petitioner forthwith reached Tihar Jail to determine the knowledge thus received wherever Tihar Jail authorities failed to co-operate with the petitioner the least bit and created him wait outside for hours along,” the plea same.

The plea additional claimed it was native police of police office Hari Nagar United Nations agency wise the petitioner that his son Dilsher Azad has died within Ward No. nine of Jail No. three of Tihar Jail.

“Despite continual requests, petitioner wasn’t being told the important reason for the death of his son. The petitioner may barely gather his senses and known as his advocate to Tihar Jail and solely when his arrival, the petitioner may return to grasp that his son has been dead within Tihar Jail which too with knives once indeed jail authorities claim to own a foolproof security system at place,” 

-the plea browses.

The plea filed through Advocate Anwar A. Khan additional states that he was unbroken in dark for a substantial amount of his time regarding the facts of the case and therefore the circumstances resulting in the death of his son United Nations agency was AN under-trial unfortunate in Tihar Jail.

It additionally claimed that when the death of his son, the total way forward for the petitioner and his better half and different relations has been shattered.

Reported By- Komal Dhore

The High Court has observed that all satellite TV channels telecast advertisements that contain nudity for promoting condom sales that are ruining young mind. Such advertisements are intentionally breaking the Cable Television Network Rules, 1994 and the Cable Television Network Act, 1995. The HC said that such content affects younger minds. The court had ordered to remove the “vulgar” teaser of movie ‘Irandam Kuththu’ from all the social media platforms.

High Court has observed that some condom advertisements, telecast by satellite TV channels, look like porn films that is spoiling younger minds. The court said such advertisements portray women in a manner that violates norms of decency established by various laws.

The court made this decision after hearing a PIL, filed by KS Sagadevaraja seeking directions to the Centre and the state government to take action against cable operators and TV channels for airing “vulgar” and “obscene” content.

‘Vulgar’ ads violate laws

After 10 pm almost all TV satellite channels, telecast some ads which contain nudity for promoting the sale of condoms for the profit.

The court temporary order to restrain the satellite channels to telecast content with vulgarity and obscenity, and sough response on programmes’ censorship as prescribed under the Cinematography Act, 1952.

HC ordered removal of ‘Irandam Kuththu’ teaser 

The court had ordered to remove the teaser of film ‘Irandam Kuththu’ from social media platforms on November 11. The court had observed that the teaser exhibited obscenity that would corrupt the minds of youngsters, which, in turn, would result in an increase of crimes against women and minors. 

Reported By:-Pankaj Sharma