New Delhi Apr 18 PTI Muslim body Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind has moved the Supreme Court seeking a direction to the Centre and some states including Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh that precipitative actions like razing buildings in criminal proceedings be not taken The plea assumes significance because of recent actions taken by authorities in Madhya Pradesh to use bulldozers to raze properties of those accused of rioting during the Ram Navami celebrations Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind in its petition said the action like razing the house in a criminal proceeding as a punishment is unknown to criminal law Petitioners also seek a declaration that residential accommodations or any commercial property cannot be demolished as a punitive measure also pray that police personnel to be provided specialised training in handling communal riots and situations where populations become restive it said It is further prayed that directions be issued for Ministers Legislators and anybody unconnected with the criminal investigation to be restrained from apportioning criminal responsibility regarding criminal action publicly or through any official communication until a determination by a criminal court it said The plea alleged that several ministers and legislators have made statements about the guilt of a certain section of the society Referring to similar actions undertaken by states in Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh it said these undermine the criminal justice system of our country including the important role of the courts The legal process including the pre-trial and trial stage is hindered by these acts of the state therefore immediate action is needed to prevent such incidents from repeating The states wherein such measures are being employed by the administrative authorities have been carrying them out with impunity as they are being supported by the top leadership in the said states Hence this Court must step in to stop the situation from escalating any further and also prevent such acts from being repeated in other states as well The plea said Punitive actions at the outset as punishment are being inflicted without giving them an opportunity of hearing it said The petition has been filed by Gulzar Ahmed Noor Mohammed Azmi the Secretary of the Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind said Fazlur Rahman Qasmi the press secretary of the Muslim body PTI SJK RKS RKS

New Delhi Feb 26 PTI Chief Justice of India CJI N V Ramana on Saturday rued the lack of basic minimum standards of judicial infrastructure in the country and stressed the need of not only filling the existing vacancies but also raising the number of judges in high courts to efficiently deal with the intellectual property litigationsThe CJI was speaking as the chief guest at the National Seminar on Adjudication of IPR Disputes in India here organised by the Delhi High Court and attended by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and many judges from across the countryJudicial infrastructure needs to be improved Unfortunately we are not even meeting the basic minimum standards in this area It has been my endeavour since assuming the office of Chief Justice of India to put in place an institutional mechanism to coordinate and oversee the improvement of judicial infrastructureMere allocation of funds is not enough The challenge is to put the available resources to optimum use I have been pursuing the government for setting up of statutory authorities both at the centre and at the states But unfortunately Justice Ramana saidHe reiterated his message to offshore investors that the Indian judicial system is investor friendly and absolutely independent to impart justice to allWhen I visited Japan in 2016 to attend a conference on IPR I was repeatedly asked by entrepreneurs as to how investor friendly the Indian judicial system is In fact whenever I travel abroad from a cross section of hosts I keep getting similar queries My answer has always remained the same that the Indian judiciary is absolutely independent and it always treats all the parties equally and equitably he saidThe CJI referred to the vesting of IPR jurisdiction back with high courts and said it has been done at a time when the judiciary is already overburdened with the backlogHowever this would not deter the judiciary from rising to the occasion and putting in place systems which may be required to deal with the new regime and it is an appropriate moment to build sufficient capacities in the high courts so that intellectual property litigation can be conducted efficiently and smoothly he saidThese new and additional challenges can be effectively met by strengthening the high courts Not only do we need to fill the existing vacancies on an urgent basis but there is also a need to increase the number of judges With better service conditions we may be able to attract more and more talents into our fold the CJI saidJustice Ramana in his speech also referred to the ongoing pandemic and said intellectual property right IPR protects creativity and innovation and its importance has been felt during the Covid times as the vaccines and medications had to be researched trials had to be conducted and commercial scale manufacturing had to take place within a span of few monthsReferring to the evolution of legal regimes and laws on IPR he said India has rightfully earned the title of the pharmacy of the world and the position of the nation as the pharma hub of the globe is largely attributable to the existing IPR regimeSeveral pharmaceutical multi-national companies have been contracting research and development to national laboratories in India for the past two decades The existing framework has enabled a massive growth of pharmaceutical exports by India with local firms building capabilities in making generic products The lower price of generic drugs has enabled access to lifesaving medicines for those in the developing and under-developed countries he saidThe CJI advised the stakeholders that while adjudicating the claims of intellectual property rights one must balance the contemporary claims with the sustainable interests of the future generations PTI SJK IJT

New Delhi Feb 25 PTIThe Supreme Court on Friday said the trial courts can refuse to give statements made to the probe agencies by protected witnesses to the accused if they are satisfied that such disclosure could endanger witnesses and their family members The apex court in its verdict dealt with the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure CrPC the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act and the National Investigation Agency Act to decide the legal course between the right of the accused to get documents for fair trial and the powers of the court to deny the same to safeguard the protected witnesses and their families A bench of justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and M Sundresh said the concerned provisions of the statutes stand on a different plane as they are meant to safeguard the interests of witnesses and their families On a conspectus of the legal position and the limited contours of the facts required for determination of the issue we are of the view that the provisions of Section 1736 power of police officer to urge Magistrate not to part with particular documents to accused of the CrPC read with Section 44 of the UAPA and Section 17 of the NIA Act stand on a different plane with different legal implications as compared to Section 207 Right of accused to get papers of the CrPC it said The objective of Section 44 UAPA Section 17 NIA Act and Section 1736 is to safeguard witnesses They are in the nature of statutory witness protection On the court being satisfied that the disclosure of the address and name of the witness could endanger the family and the witness such an order can be passed They are also in the context of special provisions made for offences under special statutes Justice Kaul writing the judgement said The verdict came on an appeal of an accused WaheedurRehman Parra against the Jammu and Kashmir High Courts decision in a 2020 terror-related case The High Court had set aside the Jammu trial courts order asking the National Investigation Agency NIA to share redacted copies of the statements of five protected witnesses to the accused The apex court while clarifying the legal position found no fault with the trial courts direction to provide redacted copies of the statement to the accused of preparing him for his defence without disclosing the identity of the protected witnesses Having said so we also come to the order passed by the trial court on which has been cautiously worded The order has not only permitted redaction of the address and particulars of the witnesses which could disclose their identities but has further observed as noted aforesaid that even other relevant paras in the statement which would disclose their occupation and identity could be redacted Thus a wide discretion has been given and that too for the Special Public Prosecutor to take a call the verdict said The order of the trial court was both fair and reasonable for the prosecution and defence while protecting the witnesses and not depriving the defence of a fair trial with the disclosure of the redacted portion of the testimony it said PTI SJK SJK RKS RKS

New Delhi Feb 22 PTI The Supreme Court Tuesday held that granting freebies to doctors by pharmaceutical companies to boost sales of medicines is clearly prohibited by law and dismissed a plea of a firm seeking deduction under the Income Tax Act on account of giving incentives to medical practitioners The top court termed as a matter of great public importance and concern the manipulation of doctors prescriptions in lieu of freebies offered to them by pharmaceutical companies ranging from gifts such as gold coins fridges and LCD TVs to funding international trips for vacations or to attend medical conferences A bench comprising justices U U Lalit and S Ravindra Bhat dismissed the appeal of Ms Apex Laboratories Pvt Ltd against the order of the high court and in the verdict it also dealt with a tricky legal issue where tax deduction on account of granting freebies to doctors was claimed saying though medical practitioners are restrained under the regulations from accepting such gifts it was not an offence under any law and hence companies are entitled to the tax benefit Analysing the law and regulations concerned the verdict penned by Justice Bhat said pharmaceutical companies gifting freebies to doctors etc is clearly prohibited by law and not allowed to be claimed as a deduction under Section 371 Doing so would wholly undermine public policy The well-established principle of interpretation of taxing statutes that they need to be interpreted strictly cannot sustain when it results in an absurdity contrary to the intentions of Parliament Deprecating the practice of giving freebies the bench said medical practitioners have a quasi-fiduciary relationship with their patients and their prescriptions are considered the final word on the medication to be availed by the patient even if the cost of such medication is unaffordable or barely within the economic reach of the patient such is the level of the trust reposed in doctors These freebies are technically not free the cost of supplying such freebies is usually factored into the drug driving prices up thus creating a perpetual publicly injurious cycle The threat of prescribing medication that is significantly marked up over effective generic counterparts it said and referred to reports on the issue The firm in its appeal said the amended 2002 Regulations for doctors did not apply to pharmaceutical companies While medical practitioners were expressly prohibited from accepting freebies no corresponding prohibition in the form of any binding norm was imposed on the pharmaceutical companies gifting them and in the absence of any express prohibition by law it could not be denied the benefit of seeking exclusion of the expenditure incurred on supply of such freebies under Section 371 of the IT Act Under the provision any expenditure such as payment of hapta freebies donations protection or extortion money will not be allowed as a deduction This court is of the opinion that such a narrow interpretation of Explanation 1 to Section 371 defeats the purpose for which it was inserted ie to disallow an assessee from claiming a tax benefit for its participation in an illegal activity the judgement said It is also a settled principle of law that no court will lend its aid to a party that roots its cause of action in an immoral or illegal act meaning that none should be allowed to profit from any wrongdoing coupled with the fact that statutory regimes should be coherent and not self-defeating it said Doctors and pharmacists being complementary and supplementary to each other in the medical profession a comprehensive view must be adopted to regulate their conduct in view of the contemporary statutory regimes and regulations Therefore denial of the tax benefit cannot be construed as penalizing the assessee pharmaceutical company Only its participation in what is plainly an action prohibited by law precludes the assessee from claiming it as a deductible expenditure it said In the present case the incentives given by the company had a direct result of exposing the recipients to the odium of sanctions leading to a ban on their practice of medicine it said In pursuance of the IT circular a notice was issued to the company asking as to why the expenditure of around Rs 47 crore was incurred towards gifting freebies such as hospitality conference fees gold coins LCD TVs fridges laptops etc to medical practitioners for creating awareness about the health supplement Zincovit and why it should not be added back to the total income of the company PTI SJK SJK RKS RKS

New Delhi Jan 27 PTI The Supreme Court on Thursday orally asked the Punjab government not to take any coercive step against SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia till January 31 when it hears his pre-arrest bail plea in a drugs case A bench comprising Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justices A S Bopanna and Hima Kohli took note of the submissions of senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi appearing for Majithia that the plea seeking anticipatory bail plea needed urgent hearing as the accused has been facing political vendetta The pre-arrest bail plea of Majithia who has been booked under the NDPS Act was dismissed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court on January 24 PTI SJK SJK DV DV

New Delhi Jan 25 PTI The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear on January 28 the plea of SpiceJet against a Madras High Court order admitting winding-up petition and directing the official liquidator to take over the assets of the low-cost airline SpiceJet has rushed to the top court against the January 11 order of a division bench of the High Court upholding a recent verdict of a single judge bench ordering its winding up and directing the official liquidator attached to the High Court to take over the assets Credit Suisse AG a Swiss firm had moved the single-judge bench of the high court alleging that SpiceJet failed to honour its commitment to pay the bills for over USD 24 million raised by it towards maintenance repairing and overhauling of the aircraft engines and components This is the case of a winding-up of an Airline called SpiceJet The protection is till Friday I am requesting an early hearing otherwise the Airline will fold up Please list it on Friday or Monday senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi appearing for the Airline told the bench comprising Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justices A S Bopanna and Hima Kohli List it on Friday the bench ordered The division bench of the high court had rejected the appeal of SpiceJet holding that it did not make out any ground to entertain the appeal While dismissing the appeal against the December 6 2021 order of the Company judge Justice R Subramaniam the division bench however had extended the operation of the interim stay granted by the single judge till January 28 to enable the airliner to prefer an appeal before the Supreme Court The single judge had suspended the operation of his order for a limited period with a direction to the company to remit USD 5 million as a condition precedent to avail the interim relief Originally while allowing the company petition from Credit Suisse AG the stock corporation registered under the laws of Switzerland the single judge had held the airliner had miserably failed to satisfy the three-pronged test suggested by the Supreme Court in a similar case and hence had rendered itself liable to be wound up for its inability to pay its debts under Section 433 e of the Companies Act 1956 The company petition filed by the Swiss firm had prayed for winding up of SpiceJet under the provisions of the Companies Act 1956 and appoint the Official Liquidator of the High Court as the Liquidator of SpiceJet with all powers under Section 448 of the Companies Act to take charge of its assets properties stock in trade and books of accounts According to the Swiss firm SpiceJet had availed the services of SR Technics Switzerland for maintenance repair and overhauling of aircraft engines modules components assemblies and parts which were mandatory for its operations An agreement for such services for 10 years was entered into between SpiceJet and SR Technics on November 24 2011 The terms of payments were also agreed upon On August 24 2012 a supplemental agreement was also entered into to change certain terms of the agreement The amendments included an extension of time for payment of money due under various invoices raised by SR Technics and also a deferred payment scheme As there was a general increase in the cost the 2012 supplemental agreement included adjustment of flight hour rates and escalation provisions were also made The Swiss firm had been making repeated requests to SpiceJet to make payments under the various invoices Since it did not honour its commitment under the agreements with SR Technics and that it was not in a position to meet its financial obligations the Swiss firm had issued a statutory notice As there was no response it preferred the company petition before the High Court to wind up SpiceJet and obtained a favourable order Aggrieved SpiceJet preferred the appeal before the Division bench which came to be dismissed on January 11 SpiceJet contended it had entered into an agreement with the Swiss company for a period of 10 years in 2011 However midway it discovered that the aircraft maintenance company did not have a valid authorisation from the Director-General of Civil Aviation between January 1 2009 and May 18 2015 the airline had said in its appeal The single judge had wrongly assumed SpiceJet had entered into the agreement despite knowing about the absence of DGCA approval and held that it could have terminated the agreement midway once it came to know of the absence of the official authorisation the low-cost airline had said Termination was not a mandatory requirement Once it SpiceJet came to know the fact it stopped payments There was no finding in the arbitral award that the air carrier was aware of the non-approval even before entering into the agreement the appeal said adding that an illegal claim for dues would not come under the definition of debts as stated in the Companies Act it had said PTI SJK SJK RKS RKS

New Delhi Jan 24 PTI A Muslim organisation Monday moved the Supreme Court seeking a final hearing of its 2020 PIL which had sought a direction to the Centre to stop the dissemination of fake news and strict action against a section of media for allegedly spreading communal hatred by portraying Tablighi Jamaat congregation as a reason for the spread of COVID-19 Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind on whose plea the apex court has issued notices to the Centre and others including the Press Council of India in May 2020 has sought an urgent hearing of its plea in the backdrop of upcoming assembly polls in five states It is submitted that the present matter has assumed particular importance because elections to the Legislative Assemblies of five states are being conducted presently The dissemination of hate speech during electoral campaigns poses a grave threat to the peace and harmony in the country The ApplicantsPetitioners humbly submit that this court needs to give specific directions to control the dissemination of fake news and hate speeches and the matter needs to be heard urgently said the plea which was filed through lawyer Ejaz Maqbool The dissemination of fake news and hate speech poses a grave danger to the lives and liberties of a large section of citizens it said adding that the PIL was last listed for hearing on September 02 last year and since then it has not come up for hearing The date on the case status on the website keeps changing constantly The present status for the listing of the matter as per the website of this court is February 9 it said The PIL had sought direction to the Central Government to stop the dissemination of fake news and take strict action against the sections of the media spreading bigotry and communal hatred concerning the Nizamuddin Markaz issue It had also sought direction to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to identify and take strict action against sections of the media that were communalising the Nizamuddin Markaz issue Issue a writ in the nature of mandamus or any other writ order or direction holding the Cable Television Network Amendment Rules 2021 amending the Cable Television Network Rules 1994 as unconstitutional and thereby struck down it said On September 2 this year a bench headed by CJI N V Ramana had said that a section of media gives communal colour to news bringing a bad name to the country Prior to this it while issuing the notice on the PIL had directed that the News Broadcasters Association NBA be also made a party to the plea As per the media reports at least 9000 people had participated in the religious gathering at Tablighi Jamaats headquarters in Nizamuddin West in 2020 and the congregation became a key source for the spread of COVID-19 in India as many of the participants had traveled to various parts of the country for missionary works PTI SJK SJK RKS RKS

New Delhi Jan 20 PTI In a significant verdict the Supreme Court on Thursday said the daughters of a male Hindu dying intestate would be entitled to inherit the self-acquired and other properties obtained in the partition by the father and get preference over other collateral members of the familyThe judgement which came on an appeal against the Madras High Court verdict dealt with the property rights of Hindu women and widows under the Hindu Succession Act If a property of a male Hindu dying intestate without a will is a self-acquired property or obtained in the partition of a coparcenary or a family property the same would devolve by inheritance and not by survivorship and a daughter of such a male Hindu would be entitled to inherit such property in preference to other collaterals such as sonsdaughters of brothers of deceased father a bench of justices S Abdul Nazeer and Krishna Murari said The bench was dealing with the legal issue concerning the right of the daughter to inherit the self-acquired property of her father in the absence of any other legal heir Justice Murari writing the 51-page judgment for the bench also dealt with the question of whether such property will devolve on to the daughter upon the death of her father who died without a will by inheritance or shall devolve on to fathers brothers son by survivorship Right of a widow or daughter to inherit the self-acquired property or share received in the partition of a coparcenary property of a Hindu male dying intestate is well recognized not only under the old customary Hindu Law but also by various judicial pronouncements the verdict said Referring to the legal provision it said the legislative intent was to remedy the limitation of a Hindu woman who could not claim an absolute interest in the properties inherited by her but only had a life interest in the estate so inherited Section 14 I converted all limited estates owned by women into absolute estates and the succession of these properties in the absence of a will or testament would take place in consonance with Section 15 of the Hindu Succession Act 1956 it said If a female Hindu dies intestate without leaving any issue then the property inherited by her from her father or mother would go to the heirs of her father whereas the property inherited from her husband or father-in-law would go to the heirs of the husband it said The basic aim of the legislature in enacting Section 152 of the Hindu Succession Act is to ensure that inherited property of a female Hindu dying issueless and intestate goes back to the source it said Dealing with the facts of the case the bench set aside the trial court and the high courts findings dismissing the partition suit of the daughters The apex court said since the property in question was admittedly the self-acquired property of a father despite the family being in a state of jointness upon his death intestate his sole surviving daughter will inherit the same by inheritance and the property shall not devolve by survivorship Thus the impugned judgement and decree dated March 01 1994 passed by the Trial Court and confirmed by the High Court vide judgment and order dated January 21 2009 are not liable to be sustained and are hereby set aside it said PTI SJK SJK RKS RKS

New Delhi Jan 18 PTIThe Supreme Court on Tuesday took strong note of the Centres statement that no states have reported deaths due to starvation quipping whether it be taken as a correct statement The observations came while hearing of a PIL in which the bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana asked the Centre to prepare a model to implement the Community Kitchen scheme across the country and for providing additional food grains to states to run it During the hearing Attorney General K K Venugopal appearing for the Centre said that not a single state has shown data for starvation death Are you making a statement that there are no starvation deaths in the country nowCan we afford to take that as a correct statement said the bench which also comprised justices A S Bopanna and Hima Kohli It said the government cannot look at the issue of starvation deaths from the prism of what happened five years ago Venugopal said that so far as malnutrition is concerned it cannot be denied and moreover there was a newspaper report where a five-year-old in Tamil Nadu was suspected to have died due to starvation death as no food was found in his intestine in the post mortem report You cant be looking at it from the prism of what happened five years ago Are you willing to say today in this country there are no starvation deaths except for one from Tamil Nadu that is also because it is reported in some newspapers Can we afford to take that as a correct statement the bench asked The law officer said that this is what has been told by the states and the court if desired seek the details from states on starvation deaths if any The bench was hearing a PIL seeking directions to the Centre states and Union Territories UTs to formulate a scheme for community kitchens to combat hunger and malnutrition PTI SJK SJK RKS RKS

New Delhi Dec 17 PTI Chief Justice of India CJI N V Ramana Friday paid homage to three former high court judges and eminent lawyers Bhimrao N Naik Nagendra Rai and Prabhat Chandra Agarwal saying they made rich contribution to the profession and their demise caused a great loss for the entire legal community Naik born on January 23 1940 was elevated to the Bombay High Court of Bombay on November 9 1992 and later resigned to join back the legal practice He died on September 16 2019 aged 79 He is survived by his wife Uma Naik two sons and their families Rai born on January 31 1944 was elevated as a permanent judge of the Patna High Court on July 10 1990 and practiced law in the apex court after retirement in 2006 The former acting Chief Justice of Patna High Court died on January 25 last year and is survived by his daughter Alka Ranjan son-in-law Rajiv Ranjan and daughter-in-law Shefali Kumari and their families Agarwa had joined the Judicial Service in 1964 and later became a high court judge of Madhya Pradesh in 2001 and after retirement practiced as an Advocate in the Supreme Court He breathed his last aged 77 on February 10 2020 leaving behind his wife Raj Agarwal son Amitabh Agarwal daughter Anuranjita Gupta and their families My Brother and Sister Judges join me in conveying our heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families of Shri Bhimrao Naik Nagendra Rai and PC Agarwal We pray to the almighty to give them the strength to bear this irreparable loss with fortitude the CJI said and referred to the contributions made by the former judges and lawyers to the legal field Attorney General KK Venugopal and Supreme Court Bar Association President Vikas Singh also addressed the full court reference held in a hybrid mode here PTI SJK SJK TIR TIR