Courts Financial News

Arvind Kejriwal's arrest by the Enforcement Directorate in an excise policy-related money laundering case, calling it an attack on democracy and constitution. “The arrest of Jharkhand Chief Minister Champai Soren and Delhi Chief Minister is an attack on democracy and our constitution. This is the politics of revenge at play.

Nitin Gadkari has said it was not possible to run a political party without funds, and added that the Centre had introduced the electoral bonds scheme, now struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, in 2017 with a «good intention». The senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader said all political parties need to sit together and deliberate if the Supreme Court gives any further direction on the matter. He made the comments at an event organised by a media house in GIFT City near Gandhinagar on Friday. «When Arun Jaitely was (Union finance) minister, I was part of that discussion (regarding electoral bonds). No party can survive without resources. In some countries, governments fund political parties. There is no such system in India. Thus, we chose this system of financing political parties,» said Gadkari on a question about electoral bonds.

Jairam Ramesh on Saturday took a jibe at the BJP over the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, saying it was 'afraid' of the INDIA bloc going into the Lok Sabha elections. Speaking to ANI, Ramesh said, «The arrest of Jharkhand Chief Minister Champai Soren and Delhi Chief Minister is an attack on democracy and our constitution.» «This is politics of revenge at play. The BJP is afraid of the INDIA alliance. This is an attack on democracy and our constitution,» the Congress leader further said.

Enforcement Directorate (ED) office in Delhi. In the late hours of Friday, the medical team arrived at the ED's office to conduct a medical check-up on the Delhi Chief Minister. Earlier, Aam Aadmi Party minister Atishi expressed concern about the Delhi Chief Minister's safety and security on Friday.

electoral bonds scheme was struck down as “unconstitutional" by the Supreme Court. However, it was started by the central government with a “good intention", the BJP leader said. Gadkari said all political parties need to sit together and deliberate if the Supreme Court gives any further direction on the matter, PTI reported.

Mint analysis of the top 22 donors. These entities have donated more than ₹100 crore since 12 April 2019 through electoral bonds.

By Daina Beth Solomon and Alexander Villegas

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi for having "double standards" and said in Delhi, Wayand MP shows solidarity with Kejriwal's family while in Telangana he claimed that Delhi CM is «corrupt». Union Minister Smriti Irani said, «I would like to give a proof of how Rahul Gandhi rolls the dice on the same subject in diverse ways. On July 2, 2023 in Telangana, he said that KCR is also corrupt, there has been a liquor scam and all the agencies know about it… Ajay Maken had said that AAP used corruption money to defeat the Congress party in the Goa elections. So who was telling the truth? Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was on Friday remanded to the custody of the Enforcement Directorate for seven days i.e., till March 28, a day after he was arrested by the probe agency in connection with the Delhi Excise Policy case linked to a money laundering case.

Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti termed the arrest of Arvind Kejriwal as authoritarianism and feared that BJP government might use it to impose President’s rule in Delhi. “An important person in the opposition alliance has been arrested. Clearly this is linked to the elections…Some weeks ago Jharkhand CM was in a similar position,” Abdullah told reporters here. He further said that there is no party in the country which opposes BJP and hasn’t faced similar attacks. “This is unfortunately part of a process whereby democratic institutions in this country have gradually been eroded to the point where they almost now cease to exist,” he said. “During the emergency years of the 1970's people still had hope in the courts, but that hope seems to be non-existent now,” he said.

By John Kruzel

By Jody Godoy

Allahabad High Court on Friday declared the UP Board of Madrasa Education Act, 2004, as unconstitutional, ruling that it was violative of the principle of secularism, articles 14, 21, 21-A of the Constitution as well as section 22 of the University Grants Commission, Act of 1956. The court, considering the large number of madrasas and madrasa students in the state, directed the state government to accommodate these students in regular schools recognised under the primary, high school and intermediate education boards of the state. It also said that additional seats be created (in these schools) and even new schools be established, if needed. The court gave the verdict on a plea filed by advocate Anshuman Singh Rathore, who had challenged the constitutionality of the law passed by the then Mulayam Singh Yadav government .«No doubt the state has sufficient power to frame laws with regard to education to be provided at school level, both primary and thereafter up to intermediate; however, such education has to be secular in nature,» the court said. «The state has no power to create a board for religious education or to establish a board for school education only for a particular religion and philosophy associated with it. Any such action on part of the state violates the principles of secularism, which is in the letter and spirit of the Constitution of India.»

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal to custodial interrogation of the Enforcement Directorate till March 28. Terming Kejriwal as «kingpin and key conspirator» in the Delhi excise policy case, ED had sought 10 days' custody. Significantly, the remand paper filed by ED alleged that «Aam Aadmi Party has committed the offence of money laundering» through Kejriwal. This is the first time that the federal agency has accused AAP of money laundering in a court of law. As reported by ET on January 7, ED was contemplating invoking Section 70 (1) of PMLA to make AAP an accused in the case. As per the section: «Where a person committing a contravention of any of the provisions of this Act or of any rule, direction or order made thereunder is a company, every person who, at the time the contravention was committed, was in charge of, and was responsible to the company, for the conduct of the business of the company as well as the company, shall be deemed to be guilty of the contravention and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.»

Arvind Kejriwal continued as Delhi chief minister after his arrest, experts said that nothing barred him from remaining CM, though the future course of action would depend on Delhi's lieutenant-governor. Technically, Kejriwal can continue as CM till he is convicted in a case. However, there are other practicalities in administering a state from custody or jail. The jail manual lays down specifically that an undertrial is allowed meetings only twice a week. Conducting Cabinet meetings and maintaining secrecy of government files would be difficult if carried to the Tihar Central Jail. Undwrtrials are allowed only specific documents, including court applications and vakalatnamas. The practical difficulties, however, can be sorted if L-G Vinai Saxena exercises powers under the Prison Act to declare any facility as 'prison'. Former law officer of Tihar Central Jail Sunil Kumar Gupta told ET there have been at least two such precedents when earlier L-Gs exercised the power.

Arvind Kejriwal arrest news: A Delhi court on Friday remanded Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to six days custody of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) till March 28 in connection with the Delhi Liquor Policy case. The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) arrested Delhi CM Kejriwal on Thursday in connection with the alleged Delhi Liquor scam case. The AAP Chief was produced before the court of Special Judge Kaveri Baweja.

Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev in 1992 near Tamil Nadu's Coimbatore. The foundation host the Isha Yoga Centre. It is run "almost entirely" by volunteers.

Arvind Kejriwal arrest news: Delhi's Rouse Avenue court on Friday remanded Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to 6-day custody of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the Delhi excise policy case. Special CBI judge Kaveri Baweja passed the order and asked the federal agency to produce Arvind Kejriwal on March 28 at 2:00 PM. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was produced in the Rouse Avenue court amid high security.

Hermes is facing a class-action suit in California for 'forcing' customers to buy more of its accessories and trot up a 'sufficient purchase history' if they hope to purchase the French luxury design house's iconic Birkin bag. The plaintiffs are arguing this is anti-competitive behaviour that coerces consumer behaviour to become eligible for a 'sale'.

Three antitrust lawsuits filed by food businesses in federal court in Minnesota this week accuse some of the largest U.S. sugar-producing companies of conspiring to fix prices

The firing of Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter by the Los Angeles Dodgers over allegations of illegal gambling and theft has highlighted an issue many outside of California don’t realize: Sports betting is still against the law in the nation’s most populous...

Michigan attorneys have pressed a federal appellate panel in Cincinnati to move their lawsuit seeking to shut down a portion of an aging petroleum pipeline beneath the Straits of Mackinac from federal to state court