The Supreme Court, in August 2022, had notified that 25 constitution bench matters will be listed before the relevant benches from August 29. August 29 was the first working day of newly Chief Justice of India (CJI) U.U. Lalit.   Details – CJI UU Lalit’s move to list 25, five-judge bench matters for hearing has… Continue reading Constitution Benches

Preventive detentions in 2021 saw a rise by over 23.7% compared with the year before, with over 1.1 lakh people being placed under preventive detention, according to statistics released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).   Details – Of these, 483 were detentions under the National Security Act, of which almost half (241) were… Continue reading Preventive Detentions

Attorney General of India K K Venugopal has declined a request for consent to initiate criminal contempt of court proceedings against Kapil Sibal for certain remarks that he made during a speech on the subject of “Judicial Rollback of Civil Liberties”.   What is ‘contempt of court’? Contempt of court, often referred to simply as… Continue reading Contempt of Court

Within hours of taking over, the new Chief Justice of India U U Lalit called a meeting of the ‘full court’ where the judges discussed how to deal with issues relating to listing and backlog of cases.   What is a full court meeting? A full court meeting literally means one which is attended by… Continue reading Full Court Meetings

Uncertainty looms large over Hemant Soren’s continuation as Jharkhand Chief Minister as he is likely to be disqualified by the Governor as Member of the Legislative Assembly; the Governor has received the Election Commission of India’s opinion on the question.   Details – The case against him has its roots in a mining lease that… Continue reading Section 9A of the RPA, 1951

The Election Commission of India has told Jharkhand Governor Ramesh Bais that Chief Minister Hemant Soren should be disqualified as an MLA for violating electoral norms.   Background – In February 2022, allegations were raised that the current chief minister Hemant Soren had misused his post and allocated a mining plot to himself. It was… Continue reading Disqualification of an MLA

Union Home Minister Amit Shah has chaired the 23rd meeting of Central Zonal Council in Bhopal.   Background – The idea of creation of Zonal Councils was mooted by the first PM Nehru in 1956. This was suggested during the course of debate on the report of the States Re-organisation Commission. It was suggested that… Continue reading Central Zonal Council

The Gujarat government on 15th August released 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano murder and gangrape case of 2002 under its remission and premature release policy after one of the convicts moved the Supreme Court.   What was the Bilkis Bano case? On January 21, 2008, a special CBI court in Mumbai had sentenced the… Continue reading Bilkis Bano Case

Chief Justice of India-designate Uday Umesh Lalit believes the ratio of women judges has risen considerably in the 75 years of Independence as more women find a judicial career acceptable.   State of women in judiciary – In high courts, the percentage of women judges is a mere 11.5%, while in the Supreme Court there… Continue reading Representation of women in judiciary

The third National Lok Adalat, held across India (except in Delhi) under the aegis of the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) and presided over by Chief Justice of India (CJI)-designate UU Lalit, recently resolved 81 lakh cases. According to the NALSA, the trial courts, which have a huge pendency of 4.2 crore cases, were relieved… Continue reading Lok Adalat