LEGAL NEWS 07.11.2008

HC: Gay sex causes no bodily harm
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Prove_gay_sex_causes_injury_HC_tells_VHP/articleshow/3682510.cms
7 Nov 2008, 0307 hrs IST, TNN
NEW DELHI: The Delhi high court on Thursday disapproved of arguments that gay sex causes bodily injury and pulled up opponents of homosexuality for seeking continuance of ban on this ground. "In several countries where ban has been lifted (from gay sex), no one has claimed that the act is injurious. Even WHO does not say that it causes injuries to people involved in such acts," a bench comprising Chief Justice A P Shah and Justice S Muralidhar remarked while hearing arguments being made on behalf of senior VHP leader B P Singhal that such acts cause injuries to private parts of the people who indulge in gay sex and that it should not be allowed even between consenting adults. "Do you have any material to substantiate the claim that indulgence in such acts causes injury to people's body," the bench asked. Advocate H V Sharma appearing for Singhal, who got himself impleaded as a party into the PIL, however, could not place any material before the court saying no such study has been done in the country. "Human beings are same everywhere," the court remarked asking him to place before it any report which supports his contentions. HC was hearing a bunch of petitions filed by gay rights activists seeking decriminalization of gay sex among consenting adults which, at present, is an offence.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Prove_gay_sex_causes_injury_HC_tells_VHP/articleshow/3682510.cms




SC: PIL against Raj Thackeray fixes for Nov 10 for hearing
http://www.indlawnews.com/Newsdisplay.aspx?fbb1feb4-43ae-4304-8de4-cbd9799b9525
11/7/2008
The Supreme Court directed a petitioner, who has filed a PIL seeking the arrest of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray under National Security Act (NSA) and also demanding a judicial probe by a sitting apex court judge into the killings of Rahul Raj and Dharamdev Rai, to suitably amend his petition to involve the Centre under Article 355 of the Constitution of India.A bench comprising Justices B N Agrawal and G S Singhvi while fixing November 10 for hearing of the petition filed by an advocate Sanjiv Kumar Singh directed that this petition be tagged with another petition which is already fixed for hearing on November 10.The Supreme Court had earlier told the other petitioner Salekchand Jain that this problem can be solved through political will and not through court orders.Under Article 355, the Central government can seek report from the state government for its failure to protect the lives and property of the citizens and may intervene if it is satisfied that the constitutional machinery in the state has broken down and can invoke Article 356 to impose President's Rule in the state to bring the situation under control.The MNS chief has been continuing with violent hate campaign against North Indians especially people from Bihar in Maharashtra.On October 18, candidates from North India were badly thrashed by the MNS goons, when they had gone to appear in the Railway departmental test.UNI
http://www.indlawnews.com/Newsdisplay.aspx?fbb1feb4-43ae-4304-8de4-cbd9799b9525



EC announces schedule for rolls revision
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Goa/EC_announces_schedule_for_rolls_revision/articleshow/3674808.cms
5 Nov 2008, 0524 hrs IST, TNN
PANAJI: The Election Commission of India has announced the schedule for special summary revision of electoral rolls with reference to January 1, 2009 as the qualifying date. The next general election to Lok Sabha will be conducted on the basis of the 2009 roll. Provision of adequate staff — this exercise requires efforts from the electoral authorities in the state and it cannot be completed without strengthening them with adequate staff. All vacant posts related to revision of rolls shall therefore be filled up, states a government press release. Ban on transfers during the revision period — the existing provisions of the Representation of People’s Act stipulates that any officer or staff employed in connection with the preparation, revision and correction of electoral rolls shall be deemed to be on deputation to the Election Commission for the period during which he/she is so employed and such officer and staff shall, during that period, be subject to the control of the Election Commission. The entire process has a very light schedule within which vast amount of work has to be completed. It is, therefore, necessary that during the revision period the transfer of any officers engaged in this exercise should be avoided. In view of the extant provisions of the law the Commission reiterates its existing direction that no officials connected with the exercise of revision of electoral rolls like the district election officers, the electoral registration officers and the assistant electoral registration officers should be transferred from their places of posting without the prior concurrence of the Election Commission from the commencement of the work till its completion. In case it becomes absolutely necessary to make any transfer of the key election officers connected with the revision of rolls or there is any need for shifting of officers due to their promotion etc, the Election Commission would consider the same on merits on a case to case basis.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Goa/EC_announces_schedule_for_rolls_revision/articleshow/3674808.cms




'Why categorize N Indians when we're all Indians?'
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Why_categorize_N_Indians_when_were_all_Indians/articleshow/3682422.cms
7 Nov 2008, 0305 hrs IST, TNN
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday will chart the course of action it will adopt on two PILs on violence against north Indians in Maharashtra, one seeking protection for the migrants and the other urging legal action against MNS chief Raj Thackeray. While questions remain whether the Vilasrao Deshmukh government discharged its duties in protecting migrants from violence unleashed by MNS activists, the court appeared to focus on the Centre's role. Like on Tuesday, when it dealt with the first PIL, a Bench comprising Justices B N Agrawal, G S Singhvi and Aftab Alam on Thursday, asked petitioner advocate Sanjiv Kumar Singh to tell the court about the implications of Article 355 of the Constitution in the context of internal disturbance in a state. The hints were loud that the court would look to fasten some accountability on the UPA government as Article 355 casts an obligation on the Centre to protect every state from "external aggression and internal disturbances". The Bench also had some reservations to the PILs making repeated reference to migrants to Maharashtra from Bihar, Orissa and UP as north Indians. "We thought we are all Indians and equal citizens of this country. How does this north Indian classification come about?"the Bench asked. The question could be innocuous at first glance, but did convey the anguish of the court at the divisive forces classifying citizens according to regions. PIL petitioner Singh tried to get some interim relief by telling the court that the postmortem report suggested that Rahul Raj was possibly shot at close range by Mumbai police. This required high-level judicial probe, he said. The PIL, while seeking cancellation of bail granted to MNS chief Raj Thackeray in connection with the cases relating to assault of outsiders, requested transfer of all cases against Raj outside Maharashtra alleging that he was let off on bail despite pendency of non-bailable arrest warrants issued against him by a Jharkhand court.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Why_categorize_N_Indians_when_were_all_Indians/articleshow/3682422.cms




Rizwanur Rehman case: SC to hear Todi's plea on Nov. 10
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/001200811071665.htm
New Delhi (PTI): Industrialist Ashok Todi, who is fearing arrest in the Rizwanur Rehman case, on Friday moved the Supreme Court challenging the order of a Kolkata trial court issuing non-bailable warrant against him and other accused for their failure to appear before it.
A Bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan posted the matter for hearing on November 10 after Todi's counsel said that his surrender would lead to his arrest and therefore the petition should be heard on an urgent basis.
Senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for Todi, who has been chargesheeted for alleged abetment of suicide of his son-in-law Rehman, said that despite the October 13 order of the apex court there was no protection to the industrialist.
The apex court had earlier said that trial in the case would not commence till the Calcutta High Court decides a petition filed by Todi challenging CBI's decision to chargesheet him in the case.
Todi, along with six others, was chargesheeted by the CBI on September 22 for alleged abetment of Rizwanur's suicide. A Metropolitan Magistrate in Kolkata has asked the accused to appear before it on October 27 but they had failed to abide by the order leading to the issuance of NBW.
In the beginning of the matter, when Salve mentioned the petition, the Bench said the accused can cooperate in the proceedings related to the case.
However, Salve said the arrest warrant was coming in the way and the surrender of the accused would lead to his arrest and the previous order of the apex court would become meaningless.
The senior advocate gave another dimension to the case saying that it has acquired a communal tinge in West Bengal.
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/001200811071665.htm



Schools can’t turn away own students: SC
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?sectionName=HomePage&id=aea06aab-15db-4308-91c4-d24312b557fe&MatchID1=4816&TeamID1=6&TeamID2=1&MatchType1=1&SeriesID1=1212&PrimaryID=4816&Headline=Schools+can%e2%80%99t+turn+away+own+students%3a+SC+
Bhadra Sinha, Hindustan Times
New Delhi, November 06, 2008
Private and government schools cannot deny admission to a student in Class XI if he or she fails to secure cut-off marks prescribed by the school in Class X exams, the Supreme Court has ruled. Asking the schools to share the burden of a student’s poor performance in Class X boards, a bench headed by Justice RV Raveendran made it clear that all students who clear their exams should be promoted to the senior class, irrespective of the final marks. Clearing admission for a Chennai-based boy who was denied admission by Kendriya Vidyalaya for not scoring prescribed per centage fixed by the school, the bench said: “After all the school must share at least some responsibility for the poor performance of its students and should help him in trying to do better in the next higher class.” The court, however, continued to empower schools to fix cut-off marks for allotting streams in Class XI. “The school may of course give him the stream or course that may appear to be most suitable for him on the basis of the prescribed cut-off marks,” it added. The bench held that admission to Class XI was did not involve any fresh admission or readmission in the school. It also doesn’t matter whether the examination of Class X was internal or a general examination by an external statutory agency. The bench said admission to Class XI was a case of promotion to the higher class. The bench refused to give liberty to Kendriya Vidyalaya to issue its own admission guidelines to Class XI on the ground that the chain of schools was being run by a Sangathan. It said there can be no distinction between private or government schools and both are obliged to accommodate in Class XI all its students passing the Class X CBSE exams.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?sectionName=HomePage&id=aea06aab-15db-4308-91c4-d24312b557fe&MatchID1=4816&TeamID1=6&TeamID2=1&MatchType1=1&SeriesID1=1212&PrimaryID=4816&Headline=Schools+can%e2%80%99t+turn+away+own+students%3a+SC+



Legislature enactments challenged in HC
http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=Legislature+enactments+challenged+in+HC&artid=3pPwtZD8C5Q=&SectionID=1ZkF/jmWuSA=&MainSectionID=wIcBMLGbUJI=&SectionName=X7s7i%7CxOZ5Y=&SEO=enactment,%20hc,%20challenged
Express News Service
First Published : 07 Nov 2008 04:50:00 AM IST
Last Updated : 07 Nov 2008 10:24:43 AM IST
KOCHI: The constitutional validity of the two enactments made by the State Legislature by which the power to make appointments of officers and employees in the administrative services of the Travancore and Cochin Devaswom Boards was entrusted with the PSC is under challenge in a public interest writ petition before the Kerala High Court.
The Bench consisting of Justice P R Raman and Justice T R Ramachandran Nair on Thursday admitted the writ petition filed by Captain Ramachandran Pillai of Nangiarkulangara praying to quash the Travancore-Cochin Hindu Religious Institutions (Amendment) Act, 2007 and the Kerala Public Service Commission (as respects the Administrative Services under Devaswom Boards) Act, 2008, declaring them as unconstitutional.
According to the petitioner, the boards are religious institutions of Hindus rather than public institutions.
The right of administration of religious institutions is guaranteed under Article 26 of the Constitution.
The right to make selection and appointment is an integral part of the right to administration.
Therefore, the impugned legislation would make serious inroads into the right of the Hindus to administer the affairs of the religious institutions.
The right of selection being an integral part of the right to administration of the religious institutions which is guaranteed under Article 26 of the Constitution of India that fundamental right cannot be curtailed by a legislation.
Moreover, the incumbents in the posts in the administrative service of the boards are assigned with duties in connection with rituals and practices in the temples which are essentially religious.
Each incumbent is bound to perform a religious function or other. For instance, the place of employment of a sub-group officers is inside the temple.
The ‘parayeduppu’ and ‘ulsavabali’ are conducted under the auspicious of the sub-group officers.
Therefore, their selection cannot be placed under the PSC.
http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=Legislature+enactments+challenged+in+HC&artid=3pPwtZD8C5Q=&SectionID=1ZkF/jmWuSA=&MainSectionID=wIcBMLGbUJI=&SectionName=X7s7i%7CxOZ5Y=&SEO=enactment,%20hc,%20challenged



HC impleads state govt on 'quota' in power units
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Hyderabad/HC_impleads_state_govt_on_quota_in_power_units_/articleshow/3683635.cms
7 Nov 2008, 0516 hrs IST, TNN
HYDERABAD: Justice C V Ramulu of the AP High Court on Thursday impleaded the state government to a writ petition on whether the presidential order providing reservation on regional basis would apply to state-owned corporations and power companies. The judge was dealing with a writ petition filed by M Kondiah and others complaining that in the absence of a specific provision under the presidential order, any employment in public service would have to follow the guarantee under Article 16 of the Constitution and as such there cannot be any regional classification. The petitioners also pointed out that AP Transco had issued an employment notification and completed the selection process. At this stage, Transco issued a fresh notification making certain posts ‘local to the regions’ and the same was illegal, they argued. T Suryakaran Reddy, counsel for the petitioner pointed out that the Constitution guaranteed that there shall be no discrimination on the basis of region and in the absence of any special law to the contrary the procedure adopted by the state owned corporations was illegal and unconstitutional. HC directive to SCR Justice C V Nagarjuna Reddy of the high court has made it clear that if the South Central Railway does not pay compensation under the Land Acquisition Act or recourse to other available legal remedies by November 17, its general manager H K Padhee would face contempt charges. The judge was dealing with a case filed by residents of Vikarabad whose lands were acquired in 1997.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Hyderabad/HC_impleads_state_govt_on_quota_in_power_units_/articleshow/3683635.cms




HC reunites 5-yr-old with mother
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Mumbai/HC_reunites_5-yr-old_with_mother/articleshow/3682888.cms
6 Nov 2008, 2358 hrs IST, Shibu Thomas, TNN
MUMBAI: A five-year-old boy was reunited with his widowed mother, thanks to the intervention of the Bombay high court. A vacation bench headed by Justices B H Marlapalle and S J Kanthawalla asked the boy's grandmother and his uncle to hand over his custody to the mother. The mother Deepa (name changed) had filed an application under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act. "An inference will have to be drawn that the petitioner (Deepa) was being deprived of the custody of her son illegally and without respect to the process of law,'' said the judges. "Even if it is claimed that the grandmother and the uncle have the utmost interest and regard for the upbringing and welfare of the child, they could achieve this by legal means,'' said the judges, coming down on the conduct of the duo. Deepa, a resident of Ratnagiri, had married Shailesh (name changed) in 1999. In March 2003, when Deepa was pregnant, Shailesh met with an accident and died. She stayed with her in-laws all along, but in February this year, her mother-in-law Sunanda allegedly forced her to move out of the matrimonial home and leave her five-year-old son behind. According to the petition, her in-laws asked her to remarry and "start a new life'' and leave the custody of the child with her mother-in-law. Deepa then filed an application under the Domestic Violence Act. This led to the first class judicial magistrate ordering Deepa's in-laws to hand over the child to her in March 2008. When they failed to comply, the mother filed a habeas corpus petition in the HC. Deepa's mother-in-law filed an affidavit claiming that the child was not in her custody, while her brother-in-law, a reputed lawyer, claimed that the child was placed in his custody. The court interviewed the child, who told the judges that he used to stay with his mother and grandmother and that his uncle had brought him to Mumbai from Ratnagiri. The court held that the affidavit filed by the mother-in-law was a "pack of lies'' and ordered her to hand over the child to the mother. The court, however, kept the issue of permanent custody of the child open to be decided by the magistrate. shibu.thomas1@timesgroup.com
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Mumbai/HC_reunites_5-yr-old_with_mother/articleshow/3682888.cms




Orissa HC sets condition for release of Sri Aurobindo's biography
http://www.indlawnews.com/Newsdisplay.aspx?8e4d75b0-6318-4fa6-869e-d2e2347726e0
11/5/2008
Orissa High Court has directed the publisher of a biography on the life of Sri Aurobindo, penned by Peter Heehs, not to release the book in India without obtaining a no objection certificate from the Information and Broadcasting Ministry and Union Home Ministry.Acting on a petition filed by one Geetanjali Devi of Balasore, a division bench of Orissa High Court, comprising Justice I M Quddusi and Justice B P Ray, yesterday instructed Penguin Publishers to get the no objection certificate from the two Ministries before releasing the biography in India.The biography, published by Colombia University Press, has already been released in the United States while Penguin Publishers is slated to release the book in India this month.The division bench also directed the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to examine in detail the contents of the book and submit its report to the court by December 15 on the allegations of certain defamatory comments on the spiritual leader held in high esteem by the people of the country.The petitioner alleged that the book is blasphemous in nature and the writer has made several aspersions on the life and character of Sri Aurobindo, regarded as philosopher, sage, pet and freedom fighter by the countrymen.The petition further said the author, who claimed to be a scholar and one of the founders of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram Archives, had also made a certain description of Sri Aurobindo which was unacceptable and appealed for a ban on the publication of the book.The division bench, while issuing notice to the publishers, has sought affidavit from the two Ministries and fixed December 15 as the next date of hearing.UNI
http://www.indlawnews.com/Newsdisplay.aspx?8e4d75b0-6318-4fa6-869e-d2e2347726e0



SC, HC judges' pay hike unlikely before next House sitting http://www.zeenews.com/Nation/2008-11-06/481413news.html
New Delhi, Nov 06: Supreme Court and High Court judges will have to wait till the next parliament sitting expected in December to get a pay hike - a proposal which is under consideration by the Law Ministry. "Since the higher judiciary's emoluments can only be revised through an Act of Parliament, the government cannot do much except for doing the ground work for the process," said a ministry official, indicating that a final decision is yet to be taken on the extent of pay hike for judges. Once the Law Ministry forms an opinion on the issue it would be discussed with the Finance Ministry, whose nod is also crucial for determining the extent of pay hike for the judges, the official said. "Nothing is final yet...its all in the pipeline," the official said. Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan, in a letter to the ministry in July, had sought a hike of two to three times the present monthly salaries of judges of the higher judiciary. He had pointed towards the pay revision proposal for government employees under the Sixth Pay Commission and built a case for salary hike for judges as well. The CJI, at present, gets a monthly salary of Rs 33,000. The letter had suggested raising it to Rs 1.1 lakh. For other apex court judges, the CJI had suggested a monthly salary of Rs 1 lakh and favoured a similar pay for Chief Justices of High Courts. The chief justice had proposed a monthly salary of Rs 90,000 for High Court judges. Seeking better perks, the CJI also talked about raising the medical reimbursements for judges from the higher judiciary. Bureau Report
http://www.zeenews.com/Nation/2008-11-06/481413news.html