Supreme Court says caste-free India is a mirage

Expressing shock at incidents such as the 2010 Mirchipur riots, the Supreme Court said that the end of caste system in India remained a mirage, while the idea of people of all castes and religion living happily together was only confined to discourses.

On April 21, 2010, Dalit settlements were targeted and torched in Mirchpur village by members of the upper caste. A 70-year-old Tara Chand was killed along with his physically challenged daughter and around 100 other villagers were forced to flee their homes.

"We are sorry to hear about such incidents. Ideally all castes should be living together. But that is only a pravachan (discourse) now... the reality is something else," a bench headed by justice S.J. Mukhopadhyaya said while hearing a petition relating to the rehabilitation of the riot victims. "Caste barrages should be removed. We can rehabilitate them but what is the point of living in fear at all time with four policemen near you for protection," the bench questioned.

A joint inspection ordered by the apex court found that victims were not ready to go back to their village, and should, therefore, be resettled where they don't face caste discrimination. The bench asked the victims' lawyer Colin Gonsalves and the Haryana government to identify suitable land within two weeks.

On September 25, 2011, three persons were sentenced to life, 10 were awarded a fiveyear jail term for participating in the 2010 riots.



Source: India Today

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Allocation of coal blocks: Apex Court judgment today

The Supreme Court will begin a crucial hearing on Monday to decide the fate of 218 coal blocks, whose allocation it had declared "illegal and arbitrary" a week ago while slamming the government for not adopting transparent procedures and violating rules to "distribute largesse".

Going by a hint dropped by the bench headed by Chief Justice R.M. Lodha, the apex court is not expected to order immediate de-allocation of all the blocks, given the ramification for the economy in view of the decision in the 2G spectrum case.

In February 2012, the court had cancelled all 122 2G spectrum licences on the ground of arbitrariness.

The court is expected to appoint a committee of retired apex court judges and an amicus curiae (senior lawyer to assist the court) to help the judges arrive at a decision. It is also believed that uncertainty over the coal contracts will add to confusion among investors about doing business in India.

The court had stopped short of de-allocating the blocks-155 allotted by the previous UPA regime and 63 by the NDA-and said the issue required further deliberation. The matter will come up for hearing again on Monday.

"As we have found allocations made both under the screening committee route and government dispensation route are arbitrary and illegal, what should be the consequences is the issue which remains to be tackled. We are of the view that, to this limited extent, the matter requires further hearing," the bench headed by Lodha ruled on August 25.

"Entire allocation by screening committee from 14.07.1993 in 36 meetings and the allocation through the government dispensation route suffers from arbitrariness and legal flaws. Screening committee has never been consistent, it has not been transparent, there is no proper application of mind, it has acted on no material in many cases, relevant factors have seldom been its guiding factors, there was no transparency and guidelines have seldom guided it," the court said in its 163-page judgment.

"On many occasions, guidelines have been honoured more in their breach. There was no objective criteria, no criteria for evaluation of comparative merits. The approach had been casual. There was no fair and transparent procedure, all resulting in unfair distribution of the national wealth. Common good and public interest have, thus, suffered heavily. Hence, the allocation of coal blocks based on the recommendations made in all the 36 meetings of the screening committee is illegal."

The court scrutinised the allocations after PILs were filed by lawyers Prashant Bhushan and M.L. Sharma, seeking their cancellation on the ground that rules were flouted and certain companies were favoured. After the judgment, Bhushan had said the Supreme Court's order virtually meant the cancellation of most licences as only a few of the firms that got allocations had signed mining leases and begun mining, while large number of them were still holding allocation letters which now had no legal effect.

Attorney General G.E. Vahanvati had during the hearing pleaded against de-allocation of the coal blocks, saying companies holding letters of allotment deserved to be shown mercy after investing more than Rs.1,000 crore, but the bench shot back, saying, "They have done it at their own risk, in anticipation. It has gone down the drain...why did they do it in contemplation? Investment per se does not create a right in their favour."

Source: India Today

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A person does not cease to be an elector because of his being in custody or prison

In a major setback for the government, the Supreme Court of India on Tuesday dismissed its plea to review an earlier verdict holding that jailbirds can not contest elections during their incarceration.

Supreme Court rejects plea to review verdict on convicts in election. The apex court bank comprising of Justice Sudhanshu Mukhopadhyay and Justice AK Patnaik, referred to the amendment to the Representation of the People Act saying that, “”As a consequence of the aforesaid to the Representation of the People (Amendment and Validation) Bill, 2013, a person does not cease to be an elector only because of his being in custody or in prison and therefore can contest election to state assembly and parliament,” according to a Zee News report.

“The review petition is therefore rendered in fructuous,” Justice Mukhopadhyay noted during the verdict.

Meanwhile, additional solicitor General L Nageshwar Rao expressed his mind on the apex court’s stand by saying that review petition may not be looked into since it has become clearly in fructuous.

The Supreme Court, on a July 10 verdict, dismissed an appeal by the Chief Election Commissioner challenging a Patna High Court verdict that stated, “We do not find any infirmity in the findings of the High Court that a person who has no right to vote by virtue of the provisions of sub-section (5) of Section 62 of the 1951 (Representation of People) Act is not an elector and is therefore not qualified to contest the election to the House of the People or the Legislative Assembly of a State.”

The Patna High Court ruling also said that, “The name (of a convict undergoing sentence) is not struck off, but the qualification to be an elector and the privilege to vote when in the lawful custody of the police is taken away.”

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HC quashes govt order exempting BATL from trade union act

Govt had ordered exemption of BATL from the provisions of the Kerala Registration of Trade Union Act

The Kerala High Court has quashed a government order exempting BrahMos Aerospace Thiruvananthapuram Ltd (BATL), a subsidiary of BrahMos Aerospace, from the provisions of Trade Union Act.

Justice C K Rehim yesterday passed the order on a petition filed by the BrahMos Staff Association (INTUC) and the BrahMos Employees Union (CITU).

The impugned government order had exempted BATL, a subsidiary of Indo-Russian joint venture BrahMos Aerospace, from the provisions of the Kerala Registration of Trade Union Act.

The court held that the government had passed the order violating the principles of natural justice and hence it cannot be sustained in the eye of the law.

According to the petitioners, since BATL was a private company, exempting it from the act's purview was 'illegal'. The central government had only 50.5 per cent of equity shares in the company while the rest is held by the Russian government.

Petitioners contended that only a government company can be exempted from the provisions of the Act.

The court directed the government to initiate fresh proceedings on the application from the company seeking exemption from the trade union act.

The state had contended that if trade union activities were permitted at BATL, it would be difficult for the company to survive and make progress and this would affect the defence preparedness of the country.

The government had in March 2007 handed over the erstwhile Kerala Hi-Tech Industries Ltd (Keltec) to the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).


When the Keltec was taken over by BrahMos, the trade union leaders had agreed to stop union activites in the company and transform their union activities in the form of workmen welfare committee, the government stated.

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A Beautiful Observation by Lord Denning which every Judge and Lawyer should keep in mind

“The English language is not an instrument of mathematical precision. Our literature would be much poorer if it were. This is where the draftsmen of Acts of Parliament have often been unfairly criticised. A judge, believing himself to be fettered by the supposed rule that he must look to the language and nothing else, laments that the draftsmen have not provided for this or that, or have been guilty of some or other ambiguity. It would certainly save the judges trouble if Acts of Parliament were drafted with divine prescience and perfect clarity. In the absence of it, when a defect appears a judge cannot simply fold his hands and blame the draftsman. He must set to work on the constructive task of finding the intention of Parliament, and he must do this not only from the language of the statute, but also from a consideration of the social conditions which gave rise to it and of the mischief which it was passed to remedy, and then he must supplement the written word so as to give ‘force and life’ to the intention of the legislature. ... A judge should ask himself the question how, if the makers of the Act had themselves come across this ruck in the texture of it, they would have straightened it out? He must then do so as they would have done. A judge must not alter the material of which the Act is woven, but he can and should iron out the creases.”
                                                                                                            _LORD DENNING

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'Rule of Law is in safe hands'

By Express News Service - KOCHI

Supreme Court Judges Justice Jasti Chelameshwar and Justice Kurian Joseph sharing a word during the NJA South Zone Judicial Conference on ‘Role of Courts in Upholding Rule of Law’ at the High Court Auditorium on Sunday. HC Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice P R Ramachandran Menon are also seen | EXPRESS

Though the country follows a democratic set-up where the citizens have all freedom, the rule of law is never compromised. The public need not worry as the rule of law is in safe hands, Supreme Court Justice Jasti Chelameswar has said.

He was speaking at the valedictory function of the National Judicial Academy (NJA) South Zone Judicial Conference  on the ‘Role of Courts in Upholding the Rule of Law’ on Sunday. Kerala High Court Chief Justice Manjula Chellur presided over the function.

“The government comes to power through the votes of the majority. Despite boasting of a democratic set-up and one of the largest armed forces in the world, the governance in the country is based on well laid-out laws and regulations,” Chelamsewar said.

Supreme Court Justice Kurian Joseph spoke about the need for judges to respect the rights of the public.  “The courts play an important role in strengthening the trust of the public in a country where the constitution is the backbone of governance,” he said.

“If the trust of the public is to be strengthened, the judges need to remember to  respect the rights of the people. When the courts ensure that the rights of the citizens are upheld, the trust of the people will automatically increase,” Justice Joseph said.

He added that the judges should deliver judgements based on the merits of the judicial system. Also, they must remember that they are not exempt from the rulings of the court. “The courts also play an important role in upholding the principle of democracy in the land. The verdicts should be a pointer to the appropriate conduct of the citizens and prove useful for the betterment of the society,” Justice Joseph said.

Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court Justice Manjulla Chellur, Justice K T Sankaran, Justice P R Ramachandra Menon and Dr Balram Gupta, Director, National Judicial Academy, were also present at the function.

Former Supreme Court Justice K T Thomas, Justice S B Sinha, Justice P K Balasubramanian, Chief Justice of Andhra Pradesh High Court Kalyan Jyothi Sengupta and other members of the judiciary from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala were present on the occasion.

The regional conference was organised by the National Judicial Academy, in association with the High Courts of various states and the respective State Judicial Academies, with the objective of creating a mechanism to help develop a system of uniformity in understanding the legal principles and judicial structure throughout the country, with a view to promote best practices in a uniform manner.

The proposed theme on the role of courts in the rule of law was conceived for the seminar with an objective to inculcate an understanding of the Constitutional underpinnings of the rule of law in the district judiciary, and promote its application for fair administration of justice.

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