Courts Financial News

West Bengal government moved the Supreme Court against the Calcutta High Court order directing a CBI probe into the Sandeshkhali matter, which pertains to the attack on ED officials. Shahjahan Sheikh has been accused of extortion, land grabbing and sexual assault in Bengal's Sandeshkhali Earlier this year, in January, ED officials came under attack in the North 24 Parganas district while they were on their way to raid the homes of former Bongaon Municipality chairman Shankar Adhya and Trinamool Congress leader Sheikh Shahjahan in connection with the ration 'scam' case.

Reliance Capital have formally communicated with Hinduja Group, insisting on the prompt implementation of the resolution plan before March 31, 2024, the Economic Times reported citing sources. Despite the bankruptcy court allowing a 90-day window for the winning bidder, IndusInd International Holdings (IIHL), the legal counsel from Luthra and Luthra Law Offices stressed the importance of adhering to the specified timeline. Also Read | Multibagger stock: Electrosteel Castings zoomed over 380% in a year; is there more upside left? IIHL did not respond to queries, the report said.

₹2.5 lakhs per annum. A division bench of the Delhi High Court revised an earlier order by a single-judge that had increased the income limit for school admissions under EWS category. The income limit was earlier increased from ₹1 lakh to ₹5 lakhs per annum.

Bloomberg on Wednesday moved the Delhi High Court challenging the trial court's order directing it take down an article on Zee Entertainment claiming that SEBI has found accounting irregularities of nearly US $240 million at the company. The High Court allowed the urgent listing of the matter for March 7, 2024. On March 1, 2024, a city court directed Bloomberg Television Production Services India Pvt. Ltd. (Bloomberg) to remove a news article published against media major ZEE Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) from its online platform.

bitcoin reached a record high of more than $69,000. For believers, it was a moment of vindication after a 2022 industry downturn that sent several major companies into bankruptcy and tainted crypto’s reputation. But is crypto really back from the dead? While the numbers suggest the industry is starting to thrive again, there are major differences between this bull run and the euphoria that drove crypto prices to previous highs.

Emily Beecham and Clémence Poésy have joined the cast of the period drama series «King and Conqueror,» alongside James Norton and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. The series, based on the Battle of Hastings, will delve into the lives of Harold of Wessex and William of Normandy.

By Brendan Pierson

Flair Airlines CEO Stephen Jones says he still hopes to add several Lynx Air planes to his fleet, even after their tentative deal fell through when Lynx shut down last month.

Abhijit Gangopadhyay, who resigned as a judge of the Calcutta High Court on Tuesday, said that he would join BJP on Thursday. He claimed that West Bengal’s ruling party Trinamool Congress was “crumbling” and was “on the verge of collapse”. Addressing a press conference here, Gangopadhyay said BJP’s slogan of “zero tolerance towards corruption” was the main reason why he was joining the saffron party. “Trinamool Congress means corruption, corruption means Trinamool Congress,” Gangopadhyay reiterated while announcing his decision to join BJP on March 7. “Trinamool Congress is a party of miscreants — it is not a political party but a yatra (folk theatre) show — ‘Ma, Maati Manush,” he said.

Abhijit Gangopadhyay (retired) was the 'hero' of job seekers and victims of the alleged recruitment scam. He earned the moniker of people's judge for his frequent run-ins with the Trinamool Congress government and for his scathing verdicts against it. He was also involved in an unsavoury incident with fellow judges, prompting intervention from the Supreme Court. The unsavoury incident began with Gangopadhyay ordering a CBI probe on a writ petition last September by an MBBS aspirant who contended that students who did not belong to the Scheduled Tribes category were securing admissions in the state's medical colleges using fake certificates. However, a division bench of justices Soumen Sen and Uday Kumar stayed the verdict the same day, in an unusual turn of events. Justice Gangopadhyay, however, heard the matter and held the division bench's order 'illegal'. He accused justice Sen of misconduct and said he was 'acting on behalf of some political party in the state'. The SC intervened and transferred the case to itself. While becoming the first sitting judge of a higher court to join a political party by resigning from active duty, Gangopadhyay has raised questions on judicial ethics and code of conduct for judges. «Who will trust his judgements now? It makes mincemeat of the code of conduct for judges,» Supreme Court advocate Prashanth Bhushan posted on X.

Bombay High Court has acquitted Delhi University ex-professor GN Saibaba and five others, who were convicted under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, for want of proof apart from procedural flaws. The bench held that the prosecution failed to establish legal seizure of material and could not prove anything incriminating against the accused. The case was «unsustainable in the hands of law», the court said upholding the appeals of the defendants. The bench also said the trial was vitiated by an invalid sanction to prosecute the accused. The trial violated mandatory provisions of law and amounted to failure of justice, a division bench of justices Vinay G Joshi and Valmiki SA Menezes said in the verdict on Tuesday. Saibaba, 54, is wheelchair-bound and has been lodged in Nagpur central jail for years. In May 2014, the former DU professor was arrested by the anti-Naxal operations unit of the Maharashtra Police accusing him of being the 'urban contact' of banned CPI(Maoist).

Calcutta High Court on Tuesday ordered transfer of investigation into an attack on ED officials at Sandeshkhali on January 5 from the West Bengal government to CBI. It directed that documents and custody of suspended Trinamool leader Shahjahan Sheikh should be immediately handed over to CBI. Sheikh is at present in CID's custody after he was arrested by the West Bengal Police on February 29. HC, in its order, observed that Sheikh is «an elected representative of the public, holding the highest office in a Zilla Parishad, he was fielded as the candidate at the elections held for the said post by the political party which is ruling dispensation. Thus, it has become imperative and absolutely necessary for doing complete justice and enforcing the fundamental rights of the public...» «It is beyond one's comprehension that without a pre-planned effort more than thousand people or three thousand people...could have assembled in that area armed with deadly weapons to attack ED officials and CRPF… We agree with the submissions made on behalf of the appellant ED that except for one offence all were bailable offences and the state police have underplayed the entire situation,» it said.

the choice seems to be simple. Both political parties already have clarity over who their nominees will be, as Joe Biden (Democrat leader) and Donald Trump (Republican leader) have cruised through the early voting states. Super Tuesday is the primary election day the most states hold their primaries and caucuses and decide on the bulk of delegates for candidates in their respective parties.

NCLT) dismissed an application filed by Vistra ITCL to direct the resolution professional (RP) of realty developer Satra Properties India to include its additional claim of Rs 51 crore that would have taken its total admitted claim to over Rs 131 crore. Vistra informed the bankruptcy court that the RP had partially rejected the lenders’ financial claim, which should have been admitted in its entirety. Currently, the admitted amount against Satra Properties is around Rs 386 crore, wherein Vistra has a 22.25% voting share with admitted dues worth Rs 79 crore. Calculation of interest on outstanding non-convertible debentures (NCDs) formed a key component of the matter. In its application, Vistra argued that originally, it had agreed with Satra Properties to lend the funds at 18% interest per annum; however, the RP has calculated its dues at a lower revised rate of 9%.

anti-profiteering mechanism set up under the GST regime was an initial nudge aimed to ensure that companies passed on the 'benefit' — be it a fall in tax rates, or an enhanced input tax credit — arising from the GST roll-out to the end consumer by way of commensurate reduction in prices. The adjudicating authority, National Anti-Profiteering Authority (NAA) set up in 2017, had a two-year tenure. But this was extended twice, till November 2022, with the mantle passed on to CCI subsequently. This extension contrasts with international precedents, such as Australia's approach, where similar provisions were enforced, following the introduction of GST, although with a sunset clause. In late January, Delhi High Court, responding to many writ petitions filed by India Inc across sectors from FMCG to real estate, upheld the constitutional validity of the anti-profiteering provisions. It noted that the objective of Section 171 of Central GST Act, which mandates the passing on of GST benefits, is grounded in consumer welfare and equity principles.

SBI — or GoI — doesn't like, with Digital India galloping along like a bareback horse in a Ladakh landscape, one would have thunk that retrieving info regarding purchases of electoral bonds for political party funding would be easy-peasy. Unless, of course, it's hard.

the custody was supposed to be handed over today at 4:30 pm as per the high court order, the West Bengal CID did not hand over custody of Sheikh Shahjahan to CBI. Before the Bengal government's action, the Calcutta High Court had directed that the CBI be handed over the case of attack on ED officials at Sandeshkhali and the custody of suspended TMC leader Shahjahan Sheikh, while slamming the Mamata Banerjee government for “protecting" the accused.

Mahila Morcha in West Bengal on 7 March. The BJP seems to be going all out on the “Mahila" or the women-centric poll agenda ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections. Political analysts believe this very women centric agenda had brought Mamata Banerjee back in power in West Bengal, an agenda that BJP missed.

Byju's have filed their caveats in the Supreme Court, requesting to be heard before any order is passed on any petition likely to be filed against a National Company Law Tribunal order that allowed edtech firm to go ahead with its $200 million rights issue. Prosus, Sofina SA, Peak XV Partners Investments, and General Atlantic Singapore TL Pte Ltd have filed separate caveats in the SC on Monday.

By Tom Hals

Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday said that it has provisionally attached assets worth Rs 12.78 crore of suspended Trinamool Congress leader Shahjahan Sheikh, in immovable properties under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA). «ED, Kolkata has provisionally attached movable and immovable assets worth Rs. 12.78 Crore in the form of 14 immovable properties in the nature of apartment, agriculture land, land for fishery, land and building[s] etc. in Gram Serberia, Sandeshkhali and Kolkata and two bank accounts under the provisions of PMLA, 2002 in the matter of Shahjahan Seikh and others,» the ED said in a statement on X. Sandeshkhali, a village in the North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, had seen massive protests over the allegations against TMC leader Sheikh and several of his strongmen. Many local women had accused Sheikh and his supporters of land grabbing and sexually assaulting them under coercion.