Courts Financial News

Calcutta High Court on Thursday directed the Centre to file an affidavit on a PIL alleging deactivation of Aadhaar cards of people by the authorities concerned. Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Ashoke Chakrabarti questioned the maintainability of the PIL, stating that no individual case of any person affected by such a deactivation has been cited in the petition. A division bench headed by Chief Justice T S Sivagnanam directed the Centre to file the affidavit within three weeks stating its position on the allegation made in the PIL, which claimed that Aadhaar cards of people were being deactivated in an arbitrary manner using provisions under Section 28A of the Aadhaar Act. Directing the petitioner to file their affidavit a week after that, the bench, also comprising Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya, said that the matter will be taken up for hearing again on April 25.

Bombay High Court has said banks and financial institutions should pass reasoned orders before declaring an entity or person a wilful defaulter under the Reserve Bank of India's Master Circular. A division bench of Justices B P Colabawalla and Somasekhar Sundaresan, in its order on March 4, noted that wilful defaulters are ostracized from access to the financial sector and hence, the discretion given to banks under the circular should be exercised with caution as mandated by the RBI. «Banks and financial institutions that seek to invoke the Master Circular to declare occurrence of wilful default, must share the reasoned orders passed by its Identification Committee and Review Committee,» the HC said. The bench was hearing a petition filed by Milind Patel, former joint managing director of IL&FS Financial Services Limited (IFIN), challenging an order passed by the Union Bank of India in February 2023 declaring the firm and its promoters wilful defaulters under the 2015 Master Circular issued by the RBI.

fact check unit rules notification issued by the Union Government on March 20 till the Bombay High Court finally decides the challenges to the IT rules amendment 2023. The top court said that the validity of the rule involves serious constitutional questions and impacts the fundamental right of freedom of speech and expression. The Chief Justice of India said, «Till the disposal of the issue by the HC, we are desisiting to deal on merits which may foreclose assessment by the third judge. We are of the view that notification dated March 20, 2024, after rejection of application of interim relief, need to be stayed.»

Prince Harry's lawyer says the cover-up of unlawful information gathering at British tabloids owned by Rupert Murdoch went all the way to the top

Sebi) on Wednesday informed the Bombay High Court that it will not take any action against Essel Group chairman Subhash Chandra for three weeks in connection with summons it had issued. Sebi's response came on a writ petition filed by Chandra, chairman emeritus of Zee Entertainment, on March 5 challenging the summons issued to him in connection with an ongoing probe by the market regulator.

Silicon Valley Bank plans to sell its entire stake in Indian subsidiary SVB Global Services India to lender First Citizens Bancshares, it said in a filing on Wednesday. SVB Financial Group is currently seeking approval from a bankruptcy court, with a hearing scheduled for April 9.

electoral bonds as 'hafta vasooli' (extortion), Union Home Minister Amit Shah stated that Rahul Gandhi should explain the source of the ₹1,600 crore he referred to as ‘hafta vasooli’. As reported by ANI, in response to Rahul Gandhi, who had referred to the bonds as 'hafta vasooli', “Gandhi also received ₹1,600 crore.

The chief executive of the cryptocurrency company Sam Bankman-Fried founded attacked the onetime crypto power player in a letter to a federal judge, saying his claim that customers, lenders and investors were not harmed was callously false

An appeals court in Montenegro has confirmed that cryptocurrency mogul Do Kwon will be handed over to his native South Korea

An Amsterdam court has ruled that Dutch national airline KLM made misleading statements about sustainable aviation in a case that accused the carrier of “greenwashing.”

An expected long legal battle has begun over a new rule that requires companies to disclose some emissions and climate-related information

A Texas man is accused of trying to sneak on board a flight by taking a photo of another passenger’s boarding pass, and authorities say he was caught because the flight was full and he didn’t have a place to sit

A Dutch court says the government has systematically put the interests of the aviation sector above those of people who live near Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport

Supreme Court on Wednesday expressed its deep concern on keeping an accused in custody without trial on the pretext of filing successive charge sheets by probe agencies. A division bench headed by Justice Sanjiv Khanna made these remarks, lamenting the Enforcement Directorate's practice of filing supplementary charge sheets in money laundering cases to defeat the accused's right of getting default bail. Justice Khanna verbally remarked that «this is just not done». The bench added that the probe agency ought to ensure commencement of the trial once it files a charge sheet. «How you conduct an investigation is your prerogative. But you cannot say that you will keep filing successive charge sheets and keep the accused in jail without trial,» justice Khanna verbally remarked on the plea of an accused booked by ED in a case of illicit mining. The bench noted that Prem Prakash, the accused, has been behind bars for the past 18 months.

Meta Platforms, Microsoft, X and Match Group filed a legal petition protesting Apple’s app store policies, objecting to how the tech giant has complied with a federal court ruling that ordered Apple to allow alternative payment methods. The four companies, which have some of the most popular apps on the app store, join Fortnite-maker Epic Games in protesting Apple’s plan to charge a commission for payments made outside the app store. The briefing underscores the extent to which Apple’s rivals and other technology players intend to continue fighting to force the iPhone maker to loosen its tight controls over third-party software.

Sebi) on Wednesday told the Bombay High Court it would not take any further action on the summons issued by it to Essel Group Chairman Subhash Chandra in an alleged fund diversion case. Chandra had filed a petition earlier this month challenging the summons and had sought for it to be quashed. The businessman's counsel, Ravi Kadam, sought for the entire proceedings initiated by the Sebi to be quashed and argued that the capital market watchdog was going ahead with the probe in a «predetermined» manner.

Zee Entertainment Enterprises Subhash Chandra in an alleged fund diversion case. Chandra had filed a petition in the court on 5 March, alleging that the summons issued by Sebi contained allegations couched in a language that indicated they had already been proved conclusively. He urged the court to declare the summons illegal and void.

Arizona launched a program to expand access to legal services for people who can’t afford or find lawyers. Three years later, the program is catching Wall Street’s eye. In most states, the owners of law firms need to be attorneys.

Prayagraj: The Muslim side on Wednesday objected to a plea seeking worship at 'Krishna Koop' situated on the Shahi Idgah premises in Mathura and asked the Allahabad High Court that no order on the application is required to be passed as the maintainability suit is pending before it. The Muslim side has challenged the maintainability suit that seeks «removal» of Shahi Idgah mosque which it claims has been built on 13.37-acre land of Katra Keshav Deo temple. After hearing the two sides, the high court fixed the next date of hearing in the case on April 1. On Wednesday, an objection was raised by the Muslim side on the application moved under Section 151 (inherent power of court) of Civil Procedure Code filed by Ashutosh Pandey.

India Inc. intends to use domestic arbitration more in future for the resolution of both small and large disputes, a survey conducted with about 110 respondents including general counsels and promoters of companies showed. The survey by law firm Khaitan & Co shared exclusively with ET, showed that companies will use domestic arbitration for both small disputes (75%) and large disputes (85%) over any other dispute resolution mechanism.

Narendra Modi-led government has alleged that the pleas just seek to stir up a political controversy on “bare, unsupported and pernicious statements". In an affidavit filed by Centre in the Supreme Court, the Live Law reported that the Union Ministry of Law has rejected the allegations of the petitioners claiming that Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu were ‘hastily’ appointed to pre-empt SC orders. "To indicate, as the petitioners suggest, that selection committees without judicial members, would invariably be biased is wholly incorrect," the affidavit read.