New Delhi Mar 28 PTI Every order is passed for some reason and just because it is not to someones liking does not mean that it is without reason the Supreme Court said on MondayThe apex court observed this after a petitioner requested a bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar and A S Oka that his plea be heard by some other bench as speaking orders were not passed on his previous petitionThe bench told the petitioner who was appearing in person that perhaps he is under a mistaken beliefJust because it is not to your liking it does not mean it is without reason Every order is passed for some reason the bench observedThe top court rejected the petitioners suggestion that his plea be heard by some other bench saying no tangible reason is forthcoming as to why this prayer should be acceded toThe bench was hearing a petition seeking initiation of criminal contempt action against some respondents for allegedly not complying with the previous order of the apex courtAs regard merits the thrust of the prayers in the writ petition is essentially to initiate contempt action against the respondents After having gone through the petition we find no reason to entertain this petition the bench saidAt the outset the petitioner requested the bench that his plea be heard by some other bench The only reason is this None of the orders are speaking orders I am not desirous of my favourable order I am only desirous of speaking orders he said adding that he had earlier also filed petitions on which orders were passedHe said reasons were not mentioned in those ordersJust to demonstrate what you are saying is wrong The judgement runs into 20 pages Now you say it is without reasons the bench said while referring to one of the ordersWe dont think there is anything in this petition that we need to take forward the bench observedIt noted that grievance of the petitioner is that in the past his pleas have been dismissed without giving reasonsFinding no reason to entertain this petition as aforesaid is in fact an expression of opinion that the petition is devoid of merits and does not deserve to be taken forward Hence dismissed the apex court said PTI ABA SA

New Delhi Jan 21 PTI The Supreme Court Friday permitted a former judicial officer to submit his suggestions on training of judges to National Judicial Academy for consideration A bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar and Dinesh Maheshwari said these are not matters which can be debated on the judicial side and instead experts should look into these things Advocate Prashant Bhushan appearing for the petitioner submitted that there is a problem with regard to curriculum and these judicial academies have syllabus like law schools The bench however said there is competent authority to look into all this The thrust of issues raised in this petition essentially pertains to improving the quality of training imparted in concerned judicial academies We find that suggestions are worthy of consideration We permit the petitioner to submit the suggestions in writing to the Director of National Judicial Academy who may in turn process the same by processing before competent authority The director of the national academy can route it through judicial committees for implementation in the concerned judicial academy of the respective states in question the bench said while disposing of the petition PTI PKS SA

New Delhi Jan 20 PTI The Supreme Court Thursday directed the Maharashtra State Election Commission to ensure that the general elections to constitute the Panchayat Samiti Shrirampur in Ahmednagar district are conducted in right earnest and in accordance with the triple test laid down by it A bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar and Dinesh Maheshwari was hearing an appeal filed against the Bombay High Court order which declined to interfere in the petition challenging the election of a man as Chairperson of the Panchayat Samiti as reserved OBC category candidate despite the decision of this Court in Vikas Kishanrao Gawali case The apex court said that as the term of the Panchayat Samiti is only up to February 23 2022 it does not wish to precipitate the matter any further and accept the explanation offered by the Collector as a plausible error committed by him However while disposing of this petition we direct continuance of the interim order to the effect that the respondent No7 who has been elected as Chairperson of the Panchayat Samiti Shrirampur shall not take any policy decision in connection with the Panchayat Samiti until the general body elections of the said Samiti are conducted and the newly constituted Samiti takes over its affairs the bench said The apex court said it was not approving the action of the Collector but it does not wish to issue directions to unseat respondent No 7 owing to the short tenure left for conduct of general election for constitution of the Panchayat Samiti We direct the Maharashtra State Election Commission to ensure that the general elections to constitute the Panchayat Samiti Shrirampur are conducted in right earnest to ensure that the newly elected body takes over around the same time when the term of the incumbent Samiti expires Needless to observe that the general elections will be conducted strictly as per the decision of this Court in Vikas Kishanrao Gawali supra the bench said In March last year a three-judge bench of the apex court had said the reservation in favour of the OBCs in the local bodies in Maharashtra cannot exceed 50 per cent of the total seats reserved for the SCs STs and OBCs taken together The top court on December 17 2021 had directed the state election commissions of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh to re-notify the seats reserved for the OBCs in the local bodies under the general category The order referred to the Constitution bench verdict of 2010 that had mentioned three conditions including the setting up of a dedicated commission to conduct a contemporaneous rigorous empirical inquiry into the nature and implications of the backwardness qua the local bodies in the states which are required to be followed before provisioning such reservation for the OBC category It had referred to the three conditions noted in the constitution bench verdict of 2010 The conditions included specifying the proportion of reservation required to be provisioned local body-wise in light of the recommendations of the commission so as not to fall foul of overbreadth and in any case such reservation shall not exceed an aggregate of 50 per cent of the total seats reserved in favour of the SCs STs and OBCs taken together PTI PKS SA

Bhopal Dec 18 PTI The Madhya Pradesh State Election Commission SEC on Saturday decided to postpone the Panchayat election process on the seats reserved for Other Backward Classes OBCs in view of the Supreme Courts ruling regarding these seats Polling on other seats will be held as per the schedule- in three phases on January 6 January 28 and February 16 The Supreme Court on Friday stayed the poll process on seats reserved for OBCs in the Panchayat elections in Madhya Pradesh and re-notified these seats for the general category In compliance with the Supreme Court order the election process for general elections 2021-22 of the three-tier panchayat system for the posts of Panch Sarpanch and members of Janpad and Jila panchayats on the seats reserved for OBCs has been postponed SEC Commissioner BP Singh said in an official statement The decision to this effect was taken during a meeting of officials held on Saturday In accordance with the directives of the apex court the process of the election on other seats will continue as per the schedule announced by the commission earlier the SEC stated Singh said that district election officials have been told to keep safe the nomination papers submitted so far by OBC candidates for these seats A total of 155 posts of members of Jila Panchayats 1273 members of Janpad Panchayats 4058 sarpanchs 64353 posts of panch were reserved for OBCs during this election process The SCs Friday verdict came after Congress leader Manmohan Nagar president of Bhopal Jila Panchayat approached the apex court alleging that the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh had violated the Constitutional provisions on the rotation of reservation and delimitation for Panchayat polls A bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar and C T Ravikumar observed that it had passed an order on December 15 directing the SEC to notify the seats in the local bodies in Maharashtra which were reserved for the OBCs as a general category The bench passed an order to stay the election process only in respect of OBC seats in all the local bodies in MP and to re-notify those seats for the general category On December 4 the SEC had announced polling for 859 posts of district panchayats across 52 districts in MP 6727 posts under 313 Janpad Panchayats Sarpanchs of 22581 village panchayats and 362754 posts of Panch members will be held in three phases respectively on January 6 January 28 and February 16 The tenure of these Panchayat bodies had ended in March 2020 but elections were delayed due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic The process of filing nominations for the first and second phases began on December 13 Counting of votes for the sarpanch and the panch elections will be held at the booths while votes for Janpad Panchayat and Jila Panchayat members will be counted at the block headquarters Results of the election for Janpad panchayat members will be announced at the block headquarters on February 22 The results of the Jila panchayat members election will be declared at the district headquarters on February 23 the SEC had said PTI ADU NSK NSK

New Delhi Dec 17 PTI The Supreme Court directed the State Election Commission SEC on Friday to stay the election process on seats reserved for Other Backward Classes OBCs in the local body in Madhya Pradesh and re-notify those seats for the general category A bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar and C T Ravikumar observed that it had passed an order on December 15 directing the SEC to notify the seats in the local body in Maharashtra which were reserved for the OBCs as general category It said the same principle and analogy must apply in the local body election in Madhya Pradesh as well Accordingly we direct the State Election Commission to stay the election process only in respect of Other Backward Class seats in all the local bodies and to re-notify those seats for general category the bench said while hearing the Madhya Pradesh matter The apex court passed the order after the matter related to local body election in Madhya Pradesh on seats reserved for the OBC was brought to its notice The bench referred to the constitution bench verdict of 2010 which had mentioned the triple condition including setting up a dedicated commission to conduct a contemporaneous rigorous empirical inquiry into the nature and implications of the backwardness qua local bodies within the state which is required to be followed before provisioning such reservation for the OBC category It said later a three-judge bench had reiterated the same We dont want any experiments to be done in Madhya Pradesh It has to be consistent with the constitution bench judgement as reiterated by three-judge bench and the other day in the order in Maharashtra case Bring it in sync with that the bench orally said during the hearing The top court observed that grievance made before it in the application is that as per liberty given by the apex court on December 15 the applicants had moved the Madhya Pradesh High Court for urgent relief on the issue It noted the high court has opined that since the main matter is listed for hearing in the first week of January the entire issue can be considered at that time The bench observed that the election process for the local body on the seats reserved for OBC need to be stayed as it is in conflict with the decision of the constitution bench which was reiterated by a three-judge bench It directed that the result of the election in Madhya Pradesh will be declared together on the same day It said the matter pertaining to Madhya Pradesh would be listed along with the Maharashtra case In March this year a three-judge bench of the apex court had said that reservation in favour of OBCs in the local bodies concerned in Maharashtra cannot exceed 50 per cent of the total seats reserved for the Scheduled Castes the Scheduled Tribes and OBCs taken together The top court had referred to the triple condition noted in the constitution bench verdict of 2010 The conditions included to specify the proportion of reservation required to be provisioned local body-wise in light of recommendations of the commission so as not to fall foul of overbreadth and in any case such reservation shall not exceed an aggregate of 50 percent of the total seats reserved in favour of SCsSTsOBCs taken together PTI ABA SNE

New Delhi Nov 22 PTI The Supreme Court Monday agreed to hear the CBIs plea challenging the Kerala High Court order granting anticipatory bail to four persons including a former Director-General of Police DGP in connection with the 1994 ISRO espionage case relating to the alleged framing of scientist Nambi NarayananThe plea came up for hearing before a bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar and C T Ravikumar which issued notice on the petition and posted it for hearing on November 29The high court on August 13 granted anticipatory bail to four accused -- the former Gujarat DGP two former police officers of Kerala and a retired intelligence official -- in connection with the caseThose who were granted anticipatory bail by the high court were -- R B Sreekumar former DGP of Gujarat Vijayan Thampi S Durga Dutt and P S JayaprakashAdditional Solicitor General ASG S V Raju appearing for the CBI told the apex court that a grant of anticipatory bail might derail the investigation in the caseReferring to the details he said CBI has found in its probe that some scientists were tortured and framed in the matter due to which development of the cryogenic engine was hit and this led to Indias space programme going back by almost one or two decadesWe CBI are proceeding on the line that the technology for the cryogenic engine was deliberately tried to be stalled by arresting the scientists who were involved in the development of the engine as a result of which our space programme went back by at least one or two decades Raju told the benchHe said this is a very serious matter and there may be a larger conspiracy at the behest of foreign hands which is being investigatedWe are issuing notice the bench said and posted the matter for hearing on November 29As the bench said it was issuing notice on the plea the ASG said May I request a stay of the orderWhere is the question of stay we are issuing notice and taking it on November 29 the bench observedThe investigating agency had earlier alleged that there was a clear indication that the accused were part of a team which had ulterior motives to torpedo the attempts of the ISRO for manufacturing the cryogenic engineWhile granting anticipatory bail to these persons the high court had said There is not even a scintilla of evidence regarding the petitioners being influenced by any foreign power so as to induce them to hatch a conspiracy to falsely implicate the scientists of the ISRO with the intention to stall the activities of the ISRO with regard to the development of the cryogenic engine It had said unless there are specific materials regarding their involvement prima facie it cannot be said that they were acting against the interests of the country The CBI has registered a case against 18 persons for various alleged offences including criminal conspiracy in connection with the arrest and detention of former ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan in the espionage caseThe case which had hit the headlines in 1994 pertained to allegations of transfer of certain confidential documents on Indias space programme to foreign countries by two scientists and four others including two Maldivian womenNarayanan who was given a clean chit by the CBI had earlier said that the Kerala police had fabricated the case and the technology he was accused to have stolen and sold in the 1994 case did not even exist at that time The CBI in its probe had said that the then top police officials in Kerala were responsible for Narayanans illegal arrestThe apex court had on September 14 2018 appointed a three-member committee while directing the Kerala government to cough up Rs 50 lakh compensation for compelling Narayanan to undergo immense humiliationTerming the police action against the ex-scientist of the Indian Space Research Organisation ISRO as a psycho-pathological treatment the apex court had in September 2018 said that his liberty and dignity basic to his human rights were jeopardised as he was taken into custody and eventually despite all the glory of the past was compelled to face cynical abhorrencePTI ABA ABA RKS RKS

New Delhi Nov 18 PTI The Supreme Court Thursday refused to direct the CBSE and the CISCE to provide option of hybrid mode instead of the offline mode only for the class 10 and 12 board examinations saying it would not be appropriate to disturb the process at this stageThe apex court noted that term one board exams of the Central Board of Secondary Education CBSE have already commenced from November 16 while semester one of board examination of the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations CISCE are to commence from November 22A bench comprising Justices A M Khanwilkar and C T Ravikumar was informed by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta who was representing the CBSE that all precautions have been taken for conducting the board exams in offline mode and the examination centres have been increased from 6500 to 15000The bench said it hopes and trusts that authorities will take all precautions and measures to ensure that no one is exposed to anything untoward in the examination processThe top court was hearing a plea filed by six students who would be appearing in the board examinations seeking directions to the CBSE and the CISCE to issue a revised circular for conducting the ensuing class 10 and 12 board exams in hybrid mode instead of offline mode only amid the COVID-19 pandemic PTI ABA SA

New Delhi Oct 25 PTI The Supreme Court Monday asked the Allahabad High Court to expeditiously take up the appeals filed by three convicts who have challenged their conviction and life sentence awarded to them in a murder case of 2004 considering that they have already been in custody for over 17 yearsA bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar and C T Ravikumar observed that the petitioners have already undergone a substantial period in jail in the caseConsidering the peculiar facts of the present case we requested the high court to take up the appeals against conviction filed by the writ petitioners expeditiously the bench said while disposing of the pleaThe top court was hearing a plea filed by the three convicts who have said they have been in jail for over 17 years and their appeals challenging the trial court verdict are pending before the high court since 2006The counsel appearing for the petitioners told the bench that as per the affidavit filed by the state these convicts have undergone an actual sentence of around 17 years and eight monthsThe counsel representing Uttar Pradesh said this is a case of kidnapping and murder of a minor boy and the convicts can approach the high court and the matter can be expeditedThe states lawyer said that convicts had themselves taken adjournments before the high court in the matterThe counsel appearing for the petitioners said he was pressing for one of the prayers made in the plea that the high court be asked to dispose of the appeals soonThe top court had earlier asked the state government to respond to the petition which had said that appeals filed by the petitioners challenging their conviction are pending before the high court since 2006Speedy trial though not specifically enumerated as a fundamental right is implicit in the broad sweep and content of Article 21 and no procedure which does not ensure a reasonably quick trial can be regarded as just and fair and would fall foul of Article 21 the plea had saidIt had said timely delivery of justice is a part of human rights and denial of speedy justice is a threat to public confidence in the administration of justiceThe plea had said that the three petitioners who are presently lodged in Agra jail were arrested in connection with the case in February 2004It had said they were convicted by the trial court in August 2006 for offences punishable under various sections of the Indian Penal Code including 302 murder and were sentenced to life imprisonmentPTI ABA ABA RKS RKS

Thiruvananthapuram Sep 17 PTI Welcoming the Supreme Court verdict allowing the Kerala government to hold physical exam for Class XI the state government on Friday said it was prepared to hold the exam adhering to COVID-19 protocol Reacting to the verdict state General Education Minister V Sivankutty said a majority of students wanted to write the examination offline and it will be held without creating any difficulties for them He said once the details of the apex court verdict are available the examination date will be fixed in consultation with the Chief Minister and other departments He said a new timetable will be prepared for conducting the examination The minister also sought cooperation of all local bodies political parties youth organisations and peoples representatives in carrying out disinfectant activities in schools across the state Dismissing a plea challenging the Kerala governments decision to hold physical exam for Class XI a bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar and C T Ravikumar today said holistic approach has to be taken in the matter and the authorities are conscious of their duties We are convinced by the explanation offered by the state and trust authorities will take all precautions and necessary steps so that no untoward situation is faced by students who are of tender age and appearing for the proposed examination Dismissed the bench said The Kerala government in an affidavit had told the top court that online examinations will be a disadvantage for students with no access to laptops and mobile phones The conduct of examination through online mode will prejudice a large number of students who have no access to laptops desktops or even mobile phones The students belonging to the lower strata of society are depending on mobile phones or tablets for attending online classes In many areas internet connection or mobile data are not available These students will never be able to write online examinations the state government said The apex court on September 3 stayed for a week the state governments decision to conduct offline exams for Class XI commencing from September 6 amid rising COVID cases saying there is an alarming situation in the state PTI TGB BN BN

New Delhi Sep 17 PTI The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a plea challenging Kerala governments decision to hold physical exam for Class 11 A bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar and C T Ravikumar said a detailed affidavit has been filed and they are taking all measures related to the coronavirus protocol The top court said holistic approach has to be taken in the matter and the authorities are conscious of their duties We are convinced by the explanation offered by the state and trust authorities will take all precautions and necessary steps so that no untoward situation is faced by students who are of tender age and appearing for the proposed examination Dismissed the bench said The apex court said it had intervened on the earlier occasion as there was a possibility of third wave of corona by September Third wave is not in offing immediately the bench said The Kerala government in an affidavit had told the top court that online examinations will be a disadvantage for students with no access to laptops and mobile phones The conduct of examination through online mode will prejudice a large number of students who have no access to laptops desktops or even mobile phones The students belonging to the lower strata of society are depending on mobile phones or tablets for attending online classes In many areas internet connection or mobile data are not available These students will never be able to write online examinations the state government had told the court The apex court had on September 3 stayed for a week Kerala governments decision to conduct offline exams for Class XI commencing from September 6 amid the rising cases of COVID saying there is an alarming situation in the state The top court had observed that cases in Kerala are about 70 per cent cases of the country and children of this age cannot be exposed to this risk PTI PKS SA