New Delhi [India], September 27 (ANI): The Supreme Court on Wednesday will hear pleas challenging the centre's decision to demonetise currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 in 2016.

New Delhi [India], July 19 (ANI): The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted protection to suspended Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Nupur Sharma from arrest in multiple FIRs.

New Delhi Mar 21 PTI The Centre told the Supreme Court on Monday that the call regarding extra attempt to appear in the Union Public Service Commission UPSC examination will have to be taken by the Department of Personnel and Training DoPTA bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar and A S Oka was hearing a plea filed by three aspirants who had cleared the UPSC 2021 prelims exam but could not appear in all papers of the main exam after testing positive for COVID-19 and are now seeking an extra attempt to appear in the examsAdditional Solicitor General ASG Aishwarya Bhati appearing for the Centre told the bench that the counsel representing the UPSC has said that he would file a counter affidavit in the matter during the course of the dayThe bench said it would hear the matter on March 25There is really no urgency because the result for this exam has been announced The only issue remains is qua extra attempt Bhati saidThe bench observed that UPSC has to make a statement whether one opportunity is possible or notThat is a call that actually DoPT will have to take I will have to get instructions the ASG saidThe top court observed that last time it was told that it is a complex issue and instructions are required to be taken and that is why the bench had given timeDecision will be taken essentially by the UPSC is it not the bench asked The ASG said The extra attempt call will have to be taken by DoPT Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan who was appearing for the petitioners told the bench that the court had last time given opportunity to the UPSC but no reply has come yetOn March 7 the counsel appearing for the UPSC had told the top court that he needs to take instructions and place on record all the aspects before any decision is taken on the issueWhile two of the three petitioners had to leave the main exam held from January 7 to 16 in-between after appearing in some initial papers the third aspirant could not appear in any of the papers due to COVIDThe petitioners in their plea filed through advocate Shashank Singh have said that they tested positive for COVID-19 in the RTPCR test reports dated January 13 14 and January 6The plea has said the petitioners could not take the UPSC mains examination after testing positive for COVID-19 and owing to the restrictions imposed under the strict quarantine guidelines of the governmentAlso there was absence of any kind of policy of UPSC which could provide arrangements for such petitioners who were COVID positive during the span of mains examination or before it it saidThe petitioners are approaching this court under Article 32 and seeking a direction to the Respondent UPSC to extend them an additional extra attempt to appear in the examination or in alternate make some arrangement to appear in the rest of papers which the petitioners could not give before the publication of result of civil service mains examination 2021 the plea saidIt claimed that absence of policy and no arrangement to accommodate COVID-19 positive petitioners to appear in the civil service mains examination 2021 have violated their rights including that of under Article 14 equality before law of the Constitution of India PTI ABA SA

New Delhi [India], February 18 (ANI): The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a petition seeking quashing of FIRs against persons alleged to have been selling, purchasing or bursting "green crackers".

New Delhi [India], February 8 (ANI): The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to interfere in the "policy domain" of National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET-PG) 2022 and told aspirants to make a representation to the Centre for an extension of the May 31 deadline for completion of an internship as they were in COVID duties in 2021.

New Delhi [India], February 1 (ANI): The Delhi High Court on Tuesday deferred the hearing of the habeas corpus plea of extradited gangster Abu Salem challenging his extradition by Indian authorities on March 14.

New Delhi Nov 18 PTI The Supreme Court on Thursday said this Court must be alive to the contemporary reality of ambush Public Interest Litigations that are filed with a conscious intention to obtain a dismissal and preclude genuine litigants from approaching the Court The top court said that while determining the applicability of the principle of res judicata under provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure 1908 it must be conscious that grave issues of public interest are not lost in the woods merely because a petition was initially filed and dismissed without a substantial adjudication on meritsSection 11 of the Code of Civil Procedure 1908 embodies the principles of res judicata which bars the court from deciding issues that have been directly or substantially having been the subject matter in an earlier proceeding between the same parties or parties claiming under the same title and have been finally decided A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and BV Nagarathna said there is a trend of poorly pleaded public interest litigations being filed instantly following a disclosure in the media with a conscious intention to obtain a dismissal from the Court and preclude genuine litigants from approaching the Court in the public interestIt said this Court must be alive to the contemporary reality of ambush Public Interest Litigations and interpret the principles of res judicata or constructive res judicata in a manner which does not debar access to justice The jurisdiction under Article 32 is a fundamental right in and of itselfThe top court remarks came in the verdict while rejecting the Centres submission that NGOs plea challenging the proposed disinvestment of governments 2954 residuary shares in Hindustan Zinc Ltd should not be entertained as a similar plea was dismissed by the court in 2012In this case since the three-judge Bench of this Court rejected the petition filed by Maton Mines Mazdoor Sangh 2012 in limine without a substantive adjudication on the merits of their claim the present writ petition is not barred by res judicata the bench said PTI MNL MNL RKS RKS

New Delhi Oct 21 PTI PTI There exists no fundamental right to receive unbridled foreign contributions without any regulation the Centre Thursday told the Supreme Court while seeking dismissal of pleas challenging the amendments carried out in the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act 2010In an affidavit filed in the apex court the government has said that the Act is a sovereignty and integrity legislation where the overriding purpose is to ensure that foreign money does not dominate public life as well as the political and social discourse in IndiaThis becomes even more imperative in view of the fact that some foreign powers and foreign state and non-state actors continue to take up activities that amount to interference in the internal polity of the country with ulterior designs The restrictions on transfer aim to prevent and counter such acts of ulterior motives it saidThe affidavit said the object of the Act is to regulate the acceptance and utilisation of foreign contribution or foreign hospitality by certain individuals or associations or companies and also to prohibit acceptance of such contribution for any activities which are detrimental to the national interestIt further said there exists no fundamental right to receive unbridled foreign contributions without any regulation It is submitted that in fact there exists no fundamental right under which any right legal or otherwise can be said to include the purported right to receive foreign contributions the government has saidThe apex court is hearing three separate petitions which have raised issues concerning the Foreign Contribution Regulation Amendment Act 2020While two of these petitions have challenged the amendments carried out in the Act one of them has sought stricter enforcement of the amended and other provisions of the lawA bench headed by Justice A M Khanwilkar would hear the matter on October 28The affidavit said the government has been taking proactive efforts in facilitating the petitioner and the other NGOs to enable their smooth transition to the new FCRA regimeIt said the parliament representing the will of the people has enacted the Act thereby laying down a clear legislative policy of strict controls over foreign contributions for certain activities in the countryIt is submitted that there exists no right to receive any foreign contribution outside the framework designed by the parliament and implemented by the executive It is submitted that the regime in place which enables receiving of foreign contribution envisages certain regulations and procedural preconditions and compliances for accepting foreign contributions it saidIt is submitted that the question of the need to frame a law with regard with regard to the present subject matter within a country is solely within the domain of Parliament elected by the people It is submitted that the question of policy efficacy or the requirement of the law is based on factors which clearly fall outside the judicial realm it saidThe affidavit said that foreign contributions considering their nature and vast expanse of abuse are a tightly regulated and controlled means and the government is well within its rights to make the changes in order to effectively implement the objects of parliamentIt is submitted that in the absence of any violation of a fundamental right the present set of petitions claiming a moonshine fundamental right of received unbridled foreign contributions are not maintainable under Article 32 and therefore on this ground alone the petitions deserve to be dismissed it said adding that these amendments are within the legislative domain of the CentreThe government said taking advantage of the erstwhile provision of transfer certain NGOs had adopted the transfer of foreign contribution as their principal activityAs is detailed in the subsequent paras in the affidavit such large-scale transfers of foreign contribution created several operational difficulties and malpractices that threatened to defeat the very purpose of the Act It was becoming difficult to monitor the ultimate utilisation of the foreign contribution by the transferee it saidThe affidavit said to prevent such violations and malpractices it was considered necessary to stop the transfer of foreign contribution to fix accountability It said owing to the erstwhile provision the transfer of foreign contribution became the principal activity of several NGOs and such a trend is fraught with the possibility of foreign contribution potentially being diverted from one area of activity to another area leading to misuse of fundsIt is further submitted that the provision of transfer under erstwhile section 7 allowed even the transferee to further transfer it to another association and that transferee could transfer it even further This would potentially allow the endless chain of transfers and create a layered trail of money thus making it difficult to trace the flow and utilization of foreign contributions This creates serious vulnerability for misuse and diversion of foreign contribution it saidThe Centre also said that the Act cannot be equated with any other general legislation and it was enacted with a clear objective to insulate the democratic polity and public institutions and individuals working in the national democratic space from the undue influence of foreign contribution or foreign hospitality received from any foreign source ABA ABA RKS RKS

New Delhi Sep 20 PTI The Supreme Court Monday agreed to hear a plea seeking direction to the Centre to declare pregnant as well as lactating women as high-risk category and be given priority for COVID-19 vaccinationA bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and B V Nagarathna issued notice to the Centre on the plea of Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights DCPCR and sought its response within two weeksAdvocate Vrinda Grover appearing for DCPCR said the Centre has issued some guidelines for vaccination of pregnant women and lactating mothers but now it is being stated that there may be some adverse effect on them due to vaccinationShe said there is a need to declare women in these conditions as high-risk categories and since people are dealing with a virus which they do not know much about there is a need to conduct continuous research on the effects of vaccination on themThere is also a need to create a platform for registry of pregnant and lactating mothers for proper monitoring she saidThe top court noted that the petition instituted by DCPCR under Article 32 was filed in May earlier this year amid the second wave of COVID-19 and subsequently operational guidelines were issued for vaccination of pregnant women and lactating mothersThe bench said it is issuing notice to the Union of India and seeking its response in two weeksThe top court also sought assistance of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to apprise the court about the policy which has been formulated for the vaccination of pregnant women and lactating mothers and what further steps could be taken PTI MNL ABA SA