Mumbai Apr 18 PTI The Bombay High Court on Monday asked the Maharashtra government to file an affidavit detailing what steps it has taken towards preventing the solemnisation of child marriages in the state A division bench of Justices Amjad Sayed and Abhay Ahuja noted that there are hardly any cases registered in the state related to child marriage offences The bench was hearing a public interest litigation PIL that raised issues related to child marriages in Maharashtra and non-implementation of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act PCA The Act prohibits solemnisation of marriage of a boy who is less than 21 years of age and a girl who is less than 18 years old As per the petition the Rules to be framed under the Act is still in the pipeline The state government shall file its affidavit In the affidavit the government shall say what steps it has taken on the issue the court said It appears that there are hardly any case registered under the Act Justice Sayed said The court will hear the plea further on June 13 Advocates Asim Sarode and Ajinkya Udane appearing for the petitioner claimed before the court that around one lakh cases of child marriages take place per year across the state As per the PIL the effects of early marriage have devastating consequences for a girls health and other aspects of her life Child brides are frequently deprived for their rights to health education girls married young are far less likely to stay in school with lifelong economic impacts Child brides are also at greater risk of experiencing dangerous complications in pregnancy and childbirth contracting HIVAIDS and suffering domestic violence the plea noted The petition suggested certain steps for effective implementation of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act PTI SP RSY RSY

Mumbai Mar 30 PTI The Bombay High Court on Wednesday asked the Maharashtra government to respond to a Public Interest Litigation PIL filed by a psychiatrist seeking a report on the status of all inmates of mental health facilities in the state and a review of their status for discharge as required under the Mental Healthcare Act 2017The PIL filed by Mumbai resident Dr Harish Shetty highlighted the plight of a woman who was rescued last year from a mental health facility after having languished there for 12 years even though she did not have any significant symptoms of mental illnessA bench of Justices S S Shinde and Sarang Kotwal directed Advocate General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni to appear on behalf of the government and assist the courtConsidering the seriousness of the matter we have asked the AG to appear in this case the HC saidAdvocate Pranati Mehra who appeared for Dr Shetty told the court that the PIL was prompted by the plight of the woman who had to spend over 12 years in an institution because her husband refused to take her back and her paternal family too had initially abandoned herShe was eventually reunited with her family but there could be others who faced similar issues advocate Mehra saidThe government pleader raised the issue that it was a civil petition and the bench headed by Justice Shinde was hearing only criminal casesThis did not go down well with the court Can you be casual like this in such matters when the issue is to be handled with care Serious issues are raised These are issues related to public health at large There is seriousness This is not adversarial litigation the bench saidThe petition said that under the Mental Healthcare Act 2017 an inmate of a mental health facility can move the Mental Health Review Board to seek discharge upon recoveryKumbhakoni sought time from the court and said all the Supreme Courts orders on the implementation of the Act will have to be looked into The HC said it will hear the matter next on April 12 PTI AYA KRK KRK

Mumbai Mar 21 PTI The Bombay High Court on Monday asked the Maharashtra government to inform it about the COVID-19 conditions prevailing in Mumbai when restrictions were imposed for the first time on the local train travel for unvaccinated people and their relevance in the current scenario wherein the infection rate was not as high as it used to be A bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice MS Karnik said that at present the rate of coronavirus infections was not as high as it was in 2020 and 2021 The bench asked if the state government still believes that the same restrictions on the local train travel and other modes of public transport in Mumbai are warranted at present You Maharashtra government will have to address us on what was the conditions then when this restriction was first imposed and whether it is justified today the high court said The HC was hearing public interest litigation PIL that has challenged the Maharashtra governments decision to continue insisting that one must be fully vaccinated to travel in local trains and other modes of public transport in Mumbai The PIL filed by one Firoze Mithiborwala through advocate Nilesh Ojha challenged a state government circular dated March 1 2022 which lists out the standard operating procedures and safety measures citizens must follow in view of the COVID-19 pandemic The restriction on public transport including local trains for the unvaccinated was included in this circular Mithiborwalas petition said that such restriction was arbitrary unconstitutional and an indirect attempt by the Maharashtra government to make vaccination compulsory On Monday responding to the PIL the Maharashtra government filed an affidavit in the high court saying that the restrictions were imposed based on the advice of experts The state government said that the death rates in the first second and third waves of the pandemic had been 252 per cent of the total number of people infected 126 per cent and 019 per cent respectively The hospitalisation rate during the three waves was 6922 per cent 3790 per cent and 567 per cent respectively the affidavit said The conspicuously low rate of hospitalisation and fatality in the third wave may be attributed to the massive vaccination measures undertaken by the union and the state governments the affidavit said The government further submitted that experts had concluded after much research that vaccination provided substantial immunity against coronavirus and the restrictions on the local train travel for the unvaccinated were aimed at preventing a further spread of infections Considering the peculiar pattern of travel in the local trains where the number of passengers in each coach is more than three to five times its maximum capacity there is no possibility of maintaining social distancing the affidavit read Also any unvaccinated person who is infected but is asymptomatic or unaware is likely to spread the infection to several of his co-passengers it read The state government told HC that so far 876 crore people had taken the first dose of the anti-COVID-19 vaccine 687 crore people had taken both doses and 1645 lakh booster doses in MaharashtraPTI AYANSK NSK

Mumbai Feb 23 PTI The Bombay High Court on Wednesday said the Maharashtra governments rule mandating shops and establishments to display their names in Marathi Devanagari script language was reasonable and refused to quash it A division bench of Justices Gautam Patel and Madhav Jamdar dismissed a petition filed by the Federation of Retail Traders and imposed a cost of Rs 25000 on it The court in its order noted that there was no bar on using any other language in their display board and the rule only mandated the shops name to be displayed in Marathi The petition had challenged an amendment to the Maharashtra Shops and Establishments Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service Act 2017 as per which all shops and establishments have to display signboards of their names in Marathi the font of which shall be the same as that of the other script and not smaller The federation said this was in violation of Articles 13 Laws inconsistent with or in derogation of the fundamental rights 19 Protection of certain rights regarding freedom of speech and 21 Protection of life and personal liberty of the Constitution of India The petitioners advocate Mayur Khandeparkar argued that the state government had adopted Marathi as its official language for its own use The government cannot foist any language on its citizens he argued The bench then questioned as to how the petitioners fundamental rights were violated when the government was not imposing a bar on anyone from using any other language If the rule said that you have to use only Marathi then it would have been a matter of discussion Here you can use any other language as well as there is no bar Justice Patel said Justice Jamdar said the rule was for the convenience of Maharashtras public at large whose mother tongue is Marathi What the petitioner fails to recognise is that this requirement is not meant for retail traders but meant for workers and public who approach them who are more likely to be familiar with Marathi the court said Marathi may be the official language of the state government but it is also undeniably the common language and mother tongue of the state the HC said The bench also questioned the motive behind filing of the petition in 2022 when the amendment was carried out in 2018 The rule was existing even prior to that 2018 Only its implementation was stayed Justice Patel said To say that there is some sort of invidious discrimination is wholly untrue If a trader wishes to carry out trade in Maharashtra then it must be subject to rules of the government which seek to impose uniformity on all the HC said in its order The court further said there were some states in India which mandate the use of only local language and script which was not the case in Maharashtra PTI SP GK GK

Mumbai Feb 21 PTI The Bombay High Court on Monday asked the Maharashtra government if it was willing to withdraw its notification issued last year prohibiting people not vaccinated against COVID-19 from travelling in local trains in the city Let bygones be bygones Let there be a new beginning Chief Justice Dipankar Datta said adding that Chief Secretary Debashish Chakraborty must inform the court on Tuesday if the state government will withdraw its decision to permit only fully vaccinated people to travel in the suburban trains A bench of Chief Justice Datta and Justice M S Karnik was hearing two public interest litigations seeking that all people in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region MMR be allowed to travel in local trains irrespective of their vaccination status The PILs challenged three notifications issued by the Maharashtra government in July and August last year that prohibited unvaccinated people from travelling in local trains which are considered as the lifeline of Mumbai Niles Ojha the counsel for one of the petitioners had earlier argued in the HC that the prohibition on use of local trains by unvaccinated people was illegal arbitrary and in breach of the citizens fundamental right to move freely across the country as guaranteed by Article 19 1 d of the Constitution He had argued that the governments move discriminated between the vaccinated and unvaccinated people though neither the Centre nor the Maharashtra government had made vaccination mandatory On the previous hearings the HC asked for the state files on the three notifications under challenge and realised that the decision to prohibit unvaccinated people from travelling in local trains had been taken unilaterally by the then chief secretary Sitaram Kunte The high court on Monday said Chief Secretary has to withdraw order the notification on such prohibition Whatever has been done by his predecessor Kunte is not in accordance with law Withdraw this and allow people Now the COVID-19 situation has improved Maharashtra handled it beautifully Why are you inviting a bad name the court said The state must be sensible and not treat the issue as an adversarial litigation the court said and sought the chief secretarys response by Tuesday afternoon PTI AYA GK GK

Mumbai Feb 21 PTI The Bombay High Court on Monday directed BJPs media cell head for Maharashtra Vishwas Pathak to deposit Rs two lakh as security to prove his bonafide before the court decides to hear the public interest litigation PIL filed by him against state energy minister Nitin Raut for allegedly using chartered flights during the pandemic lockdown In his plea filed last April Pathak had sought a direction to the Maharashtra State Electricity Board MSEB and three other state power utilities to recover amounts allegedly spent illegally on the chartered flights for cabinet minister Nitin Raut On Monday Rauts advocates told the HC that Pathaks petition was not maintainable A division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice M S Karnik then directed Pathak to deposit Rs two lakh as security to prove his bonafide If the sum is deposited within a period of ten days then the petition shall be listed for hearing two weeks thereafter If the deposit is not made then the petition stands dismissed the bench said In his PIL Pathak had said that another person had obtained information under the Right to Information RTI from power generation and distribution companies based on which he alleged that during the COVID-19 lockdown period the concerned minister had used chartered flights on numerous occasions for administrative work and had made the power companies pay the bills The PIL alleged that Raut used chartered flights for several trips between Mumbai Nagpur Hyderabad and Delhi for which the debt-ridden power companies were made to pay over Rs 40 lakh during the lockdown The plea also said that the RTI queries made to MSEB revealed that the minister had used chartered flights at the cost of Rs 1445 lakh for two trips to Nagpur in June and July 2020 for important administrative work While most of the countrys highest officials were performing their duties from remote and virtual setups Raut flouted the existing norms on multiple occasions and took the liberty to travel around the country during the lockdown period for personal reasons under the pretext of administrative work the PIL alleged PTI SP NSK NSK

Mumbai Jan 31 PTI The Bombay High Court on Monday directed the Maharashtra government through an interim order to not keep pending the applications made for ex-gratia claims by kin of COVID-19 victims merely because those were not filed online A bench led by Chief Justice Dipankar Datta also directed the Maharashtra government the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and the Union government to file their replies to a PIL seeking directions to the state government to pay such ex-gratia amounts even to those who filed their applications physically or by post and not through the state governments online portal The Maharashtra governments counsel Poornima Kantharia told the HC that the state had received a total of 114 applications for ex-gratia payments physically or by post in Mumbai suburban and city areas and 54 of these applicants had been contacted by officials for assistance with the online procedure Their applications were now pending with the BMC she said The state was unable to trace the whereabouts of 14 of the applicants and hence was unable to assist them with the online method of applying Kantharia said The court asked Kantharia if the state government was willing to make a statement that it will not reject an application merely because someone had applied physically Kantharia however said the online portal had been formulated by the Maharashtra government in accordance with an order of the Supreme Court and was meant for the benefit of the applicants She further said the state government was willing to provide requisite assistance to those who were not comfortable with the online system of applications The petitioners counsel Sumedha Rao told the HC many of those laying claims to such ex-gratia payment were slum dwellers or poor people who were not adept at filing claims and annexing documents online The SC also said ex-gratia must be paid within 30 days of one applying for the same Almost 50 people applied for the payment physically between October and November last year from across Maharashtra before the formation of the portal Rao said These applications have been acknowledged by the collector concerned but the claimants have not been paid yet she told the HC The formation of the portal was delayed Let the state not delay payment for those who applied physically before the portal was formed she said But Kantharia argued that the petitioners must not insist on physical applications being accepted as the online procedure was easier and was a convenient and more streamlined method The HC then asked all the respondents to file replies and said that by way of interim measure those who had applied physically must be assisted by the state authorities to apply online It also said that earnest steps must be taken by the state to assist the applicants But if they are not in a position to apply online do not keep their applications pending on the ground of online applications the HC said The high court will hear the PIL further on February 14 PTI AYA BNM GK GK GK

Mumbai Jan 27 PTI The Bombay High Court on Thursday sought to know from the Maharashtra government if the tribal population in the state can be provided employment under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Act MNREGA A division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice M S Karnik was hearing a bunch of public interest litigations filed in 2007 highlighting high numbers of deaths among children pregnant women and lactating mothers due to malnutrition in Melghat region of the state Advocate General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni appearing for the state on Thursday informed the court that while the government welfare schemes were available to the tribal population in Melghat region the same was not available when they migrate to other regions after the monsoon season There is then a disconnect or interruption in these persons getting benefits of the scheme Our final aim is to ensure that there is no migration Until then the governments endeavour would be to provide the benefits even in those areas where these persons migrate to Kumbhakoni said To this the bench said if the tribal population is provided employment at their own villages then they would not find the need to migrate Can they be given jobs under the MNREGA scheme If you government want to prevent migration then you have to find out sources of employment That should be a part of your plan Chief Justice Datta said One of the petitioners Bandu Sane informed the court that while around 40 children died due to malnutrition each month in Melghat region till August 2021 the number has now come down to 20 deaths per month from November 2021 to January 2022 The court then said that the state government was not taking steps to ensure that there were no deaths The bench also sought to know from Kumbhakoni as to why the benefit of providing hot cooked meals was stopped This is something very disturbing This is something very basic that the government should have provided Justice Karnik said To this Kumbhakoni said it was stopped when the COVID-19 pandemic spread and the same will resume from February this year Hot cooked meals were stopped when the virus started spreading Alternatively the government was providing take home ration he said The court then posted the matter for further hearing on February 28 PTI SP ARU ARU

Mumbai Nov 17 PTI The Central Bureau of Investigation CBI on Wednesday told the Bombay High Court the Maharashtra government is trying shamelessly to frustrate an ongoing corruption probe against former state Home Minister Anil Deshmukh and that it does not deserve any relief in the matterThe central agency urged the HC to not grant any relief to the Maharashtra government which is seeking quashing of CBI summons issued to chief secretary Sitaram Kunte and current DGP Sanjay Pandey related to its ongoing probe against DeshmukhAdditional Solicitor General Aman Lekhi who appeared for the CBI told a bench led by Justice Nitin Jamdar that the state government failed to initiate a probe into allegations of misconduct and corruption made against Deshmukh earlier this year by former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir SinghLekhi said the state government was bound by law to initiate a probeHowever it chose not to do so and instead approached the HC seeking amongst other things that some portions of the CBIs FIR against Deshmukh be expunged these related to now dismissed cop Sachin Wazes reinstatement in 2020 and transfers and postings of officers he saidAn investigation that was the mandate of law did not take place and thats why the HC had to pass April 5 order Lekhi said referring to a previous order of the high court directing the CBI to initiate a preliminary inquiry into the allegations made against the NCP leaderThe 71-year-old politician is currently in jail under judicial custody after being arrested by the Enforcement Directorate ED in a money laundering caseBecause of its incompetence and its conduct the state of Maharashtra is not deserving of any relief from this court Maharashtra is persistently and rather shamelessly continuing with its endeavor to frustrate the ongoing probe and to ensure investigation doesnt take place he saidLekhi also opposed the argument made by the state government last month through senior counsel Darius Khambata that since the current CBI director Subodh Jaiswal was the Maharashtra Director General of Police when Deshmukh was home minister he too was a potential subject of the ongoing probeKhambata had told the HC last month that between 2019 and 2020 when Jaiswal was the DGP he was a part of the Police Establishment Board and thus a party to several of the transfers and postings of state police officers that are now being probed by the CBIThe recommendations for the said transfers and postings were approved by Jaiswal who was the DGP during Deshmukhs tenure as Maharashtra Home minister Khambata had saidHowever on Wednesday Lekhi pointed out that in August 2020 while Jaiswal was the Maharashtra DGP he had written to the state government seeking a CID probe into alleged irregularities in the transfers and postings of state police officersThe CBI director who was then the DGP wrote to the state of Maharashtra seeking a probe He did what was appropriate and what was expected of an ethical police officer Lekhi said If he were guilty why would he write this letter he askedThe CBI counsel questioned the Maharashtra governments locus standi or its right to approach the court seeking the present reliefKhambata however said the CBIs probe was affecting the entire state police force and therefore the government had a parens patriae power to protect persons who are unable to act on their own behalf jurisdiction to approach the HCThe state of Maharashtra has no intention of delaying or scuttling the probe But the CBI is heavily compromised and the citizens of the country deserve a free and fair probe into the case Khambata saidFollowing an order of the high court issued on April 5 this year the CBI conducted a preliminary inquiry into the allegations made by Singh against DeshmukhThe central agency subsequently registered an FIR against the former minister who resigned from the cabinet after the HC orderIn September this year the CBI summoned chief secretary Kunte and DGP Pandey asking them to report to its office in Delhi for answering questions related to DeshmukhThe Maharashtra government however approached the HC challenging the summons issued to the two senior bureaucratsThe HC will hear the plea further on November 22 PTI AYA RSY RSY

Mumbai Sep 27 PTI The Bombay High Court has asked the Maharashtra government to inform the court if any government hospital in Mumbai has pacemaker implantation facility that can be provided to businessman Rakesh Wadhawan who is accused of money laundering in the Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative PMC Bank fraud case In an order passed on Friday a single bench presided over by Justice Bharati Dangre asked the state prison authorities to inform it of the same by September 28 The bench said if the facility is not available in any government hospital then Wadhawan will have to be granted the option of undergoing such procedure at a private hospital of his choice and the expenses for it will have to be borne by him The HC issued the directions after perusing medical reports submitted by the city-based KEM Hospital where Wadhawan is currently admitted and by a private doctor who had visited Wadhawan at the hospital following the courts permission As per his medical reports Wadhawan is suffering from multiple health ailments including a heart condition known as the Tachy-Brady Syndrome The heart condition requires Wadhawan to undergo an angioplasty for implanting of a dual chamber pacemaker Wadhawans lawyer Abad Ponda told the HC As per the order the KEM authorities told the HC that such a facility was not available at their hospital The high court noted that Wadhawans heart condition was acute The assistant public prosecutor is directed to take instructions on the availability of the facility in any government hospital in Mumbai If not to offer an alternate solution since the prayer made by learned senior counsel is that the procedure can be carried out by private hospital of his own choice and at his expenses while in custody the HC said Wadhawan founder of the Housing Development Infrastructure Limited was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in 2019 on charges of money laundering in the PMC bank scam He has been in judicial custody since then and currently admitted in the KEM Hospital PTI AYA GK GK