Legal Headlines:Supreme Court: "PILs Cannot Be Thrown Out Only Because the Petitioner Belongs to a Rival Political Party”

Supreme Court: "PILs Cannot Be Thrown Out Only Because the Petitioner Belongs to a Rival Political Party”

Recently, the SC observed that a Public Interest Litigation cannot be thrown out only because the petitioner belongs to a rival political party. The Supreme Court has observed that the persons with political affiliations are, as much entitled to file public interest litigation as any other person.

This were made in response to submissions by petitioner's Counsel Sr Adv Vikas Singh and Sr Adv AM Singhvi appearing for the State of West who had submitted that the Public Interest Litigations were initiated by persons belonging to a political party for oblique reasons and should therefore have not been entertained. To this the SC replied that, the question of whether the litigation is bona fide or not is a different issue which has to be examined by the Court on a case to case basis, having regard to the nature of the complaint before it.

The Karnataka Govt Tells High Court that it won't Close Check-Posts at Kerala Border

On Tuesday, The Karnataka Government told the directive of the Deputy Commissioner of Dakshina Kannada district to close rarely used check-posts at Kerala border will not be acted upon.
In this case, Advocate K Ravishankar appearing for the petitioner B Subbaya Rai, who challenges the border restrictions, brought to the notice of the Court of the latest guidelines issued by the Union Government dated March 23, by which there is no restriction imposed on inter-and intra-state travel. The High Court orally said "There is a concept of Federalism, you cannot simply close borders."

Orissa HC to DGP: Issue Directions to Follow Uniform Font Size, Line Spacing In Preparing FIR, To Ensure Better Visibility & Readability

In his above mentioned case, the defense and the Court while perusing F.I.R., charge sheet, other reports, the Orissa High Court recently directed the State DGP to issue directions to follow uniform font size, line spacing in preparing fir, other reports. This was observed by the Bench of Justice S. K. Panigrahi who directed the DG Police, Odisha to inform all the Police Officers of all Police Stations to follow a uniform pattern of font size of 12 in Times New Roman while preparing charge sheet, F.I.R. or any reports with line spacing of 1.5.

The Orissa High Court issued this order in a matter where the petitioner's counsel placed the copy of the charge sheet before it, which was "neither legible in open eye nor visible properly because of very tiny font size of the text prepared by the Investigating Officer". Furthermore the HC said that, “such smallest font size causes wastage of considerable time and energy of the Court while reading the same."

Supreme Court: Deposit Made Under Section 21(5) MMDRA For Illegal Mining Not "Proceeds Of Crime" Under PMLA

In this case, the Supreme Court has expressed a prima facie view that deposit made under Section 21(5) of the Mines and Minerals Development and Regulation Act (MMDRA) for unlawful mining cannot be treated as "proceeds of crime" under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). In this case, Under Section 21(5), the State Government has the power to recover from a person the price of minerals raised without lawful authority.

Consequently, as per the PMLA, "proceeds of crime" means any property derived or obtained, directly or indirectly, by any person as a result of criminal activity relating to a scheduled offence or the value of any such property. But notably, the MMDRA is not a scheduled offence under the PMLA.

Same-Sex Relationships - Madras High Court Judge

On Monday, Justice N. Anand Venkatesh of Madras HC observed that he was trying to break his own preconceived notions about the issue and he was in the process of evolving. Justice Anand expressed its desire to hear the same-sex couple in-camera in view of the sensitivity involved in the matter.

When the parties appeared before the Court, the bench conversed with the Petitioners and their parents of the Petitioners, came to know about the relationship between the Petitioners, and it was not to their liking. Therefore to converse with them in order to assess their mental status and to understand their stand, before proceeding further with the case. The parents main concern was that, they were worried about the security of the Petitioners and were concerned that the Petitioners should not get exploited. Pertaining to the case at hand, the HC said that “this move becomes very vital since this Court is moving into unchartered waters, and a report from a specialist will provide support to this Court to move forward in this case."

Indian-Origin Singaporean Sent To Jail for Deliberately Coughing At Cop

On Monday, an Indian-origin Singaporean was sentenced to 14 weeks in jail for deliberately coughing at a police officer and using abusive language at a hospital in Singapore last year. The accused named Devraj Tamil Selvan was also given a three-year driving ban after pleading guilty to four charges that included using abusive behavior towards a public servant and riding a motorcycle while already under a driving ban.

The Court observed the facts of the case that on September 13 last year the police received a call from a woman who said her sister-in-law's boyfriend was at their home "using violence". Consequently, three police officers went to the scene. When Devraj was taken inside the police vehicle, Devraj claimed he could not breathe and was taken to the Hospital. At the hospital, Devraj removed his mask (which must be worn mandatorily in public places here to stem the spread of COVID-19) and coughed at a policeman, despite several warnings from the officers and hospital staffers.