Justice Financial News

Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Monday a plea by Sharad Pawar against the Election Commission’s decision to recognise the faction led by Ajit Pawar, Deputy Chief Minister of Maharastra, as the real Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). A bench of Justices Surya Kant, Dipankar Datta and KV Viswanathan is likely to hear the petition filed by the former cabinet minister plea on Monday i.e. February 19.

Jagran has reported. The top court had declared that Masih, the designated council member, must appear before the top court on February 19. Earlier on 5 February, the Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud-led bench which included Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra observed that the returning officer Anil Masih must be prosecuted as he was clearly seen defacing the ballot papers on video.

Mamata Banerjee said that rejecting secularism, democracy, or the Constitution is unacceptable, and ‘if someone claims that Constitution needs to be changed, then it is to please some ideology or some vision.’ West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo comments came while she was speaking at ‘The Telegraph’ national debate "If somebody says that secularism is bad, equality is unthinkable, democracy is dangerous and federal structure is a disaster, we cannot accept it," she said. Banerjee asserts the spirit of the Constitution is its preamble. The Constitution commends meticulous drafting, prioritizing democracy, federalism, and secularism.

Thaksin Shinawatra was released on parole early Sunday from a Bangkok hospital where he spent six months serving time for corruption-related offenses. Thaksin was seen wearing a neck support inside one of the cars in a convoy leaving the Police General Hospital just before sunrise, and he arrived at his residence in western Bangkok less than an hour later. A homemade banner with the words «Welcome home» and «We've been waiting for this day for so so long» was seen hanging at the front gate of his house.

(This Feb. 16 story has been refiled to fix a typo in 'blank-check' in paragraph 22)

Union Minister Ramdas Athawale on Saturday said he was contemplating contesting from either Shirdi or Solapur seat in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and would take a final call only after discussing with the BJP high command. Speaking at a press conference here, the chief of Republican Party of India (A) said, «My party does not have a single member in Lok Sabha. I am thinking of contesting from Shirdi or Solapur. I want to come to the Lok Sabha. I will discuss this with J P Nadda, Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi and decide.» Raking up the reservation issue, the Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment said, «In the beginning, 15 per cent reservation was given to SC community because their population was 15 per cent. ST was given 7.5 per cent because tribal population was 7.5 per cent. But now this population is nearly 25 per cent. Therefore, 2.5 per cent reservation should be increased to SC and ST that is the demand of many people. And, it is also my party's demand.»

Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra. The decision to resume the yatra from Prayagraj on Sunday afternoon was announced by the party, highlighting the significance of Gandhi's presence in his constituency amid pressing issues. Gandhi's visit to Wayanad follows a tragic incident wherein a man, seriously injured in a wild elephant attack, succumbed to his injuries at the Kozhikode medical college.

election commissioner and the chief justice were involved in poll-rigging in the recent election as he resigned from his post, taking the «responsibility for all this wrongdoing». Former Rawalpindi Commissioner Liaquat Ali Chattha's remarks came amidst jailed former prime minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party began nationwide protests against alleged rigging and stealing of its mandate in the February 8 elections. Speaking to reporters at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, Chattha said the candidates who were «losing» the elections «were made to win».

Supreme Court judge Sanjay Kishan Kaul on Saturday said a little bit of underlying friction between the judiciary and the executive is good to maintain checks and balances in a democracy. Addressing a function to confer the Sansad Ratna Awards on parliamentarians, Justice Kaul said the checks and balances of a democracy were enunciated in the Constitution which provides for an administration, a legislature and the court. «Since we have a democracy based on the first past the post concept where most governments would be having less than 50 per cent of the votes, the court plays an important role in maintaining a check and balance on the system,» he said. Justice Kaul, quoting a former chief justice, said «a little bit of underlying tension is good. If things are very hunky-dory between the judiciary and the executive, then we have a problem».

Sharad Pawar said on Saturday the Election Commission's decision to recognise the group led by his nephew Ajit Pawar as the 'real' Nationalist Congress Party was «not in accordance with law» and he has approached the Supreme Court against it. «It has never happened before that those who formed a political party were removed from the party. Not only this, but the party symbol was also taken away. This decision was not in accordance with the law. We have approached the Supreme Court in this matter. We will need to increase our public outreach,» said Sharad Pawar today. After losing the NCP party name and symbol, Sharad Pawar claimed on Saturday that the decision was not in accordance with the law.

DY Chandrachud on Saturday inaugurated a newly constructed arbitration centre in Allahabad High Court, he also launched a book 'Courts of Uttar Pradesh. Speaking at the inauguration the CJI said the Prayagraj arbitration centre is not dependent either on financing or support from the Allahabd High Court. «The idea of having an arbitration centre called Prayagraj arbitration centre is to truly indicate that this is the centre of arbitration that is not dependent either on financing or support from the High Court… By creating this venue, we want to create a process of arbitration which is efficient in terms of cost, timeline… If arbitration takes time as long as a suit takes in court then why people will go for arbitration» said CJI DY Chandrachud. The Chief Justice also spoke on the key role played by technology in the judiciary.

Madras High Court has directed the Petroleum and Explosive Safety Organisation (PESO) to conduct due enquiry while granting prior site approval and satisfy themselves that the site, where fuel outlets are to be located, satisfy all the criteria mentioned under relevant rules. According to PESO, formerly known as Department of Explosives, it is the nodal agency for regulating safety of hazardous substances such as explosives, compressed gas and petroleum. The first bench comprising Chief Justice S V Gangapurwala and Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy gave the directive in a recent order while disposing of a Public Interest Litigation filed by advocate VBR Menon, which among other things sought a direction to the authorities to formulate and notify, within a prescribed time limit, appropriate site inspection and verification procedures for adherence while issuing prior site approvals and final explosive licences in Form No.XIV to the Petroleum Retail Outlets. The bench said for aforesaid purpose, it was not necessary to carry out physical inspection in each and every case, but whenever any doubt arises or in any situation which they deem fit and proper, a physical inspection shall also be made by PESO.

Thailand in August, but within days had his sentence cut to one year by King Maha Vajiralongkorn. Speaking to reporters on Saturday before boarding a flight, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said Thaksin's release would be "on the 18th" and handled "according to the rule of law". It comes after Justice Minister Tawee Sodsong said earlier this week that Thaksin, 74, would be among 930 prisoners granted early release.

Putin prefers Biden's win for 2nd term over Trump, says ‘more experienced and…’ The fine was mostly based on the $168 million Trump saved by getting lower interest rates on four loans by lying about his wealth. It also includes the $127 million profit from the Old Post Office hotel deal in Washington and $60 million from the sale of Ferry Point golf course in New York, which the state says he wouldn’t have been able to purchase without inflating the value of his assets.

Donald Trump and his real estate company suffered a major defeat in New York’s civil fraud suit over his inflated asset valuations, after a judge barred the former president from running any business in the state for three years and ordered the return of $364 million in illegal profits. 

A class-action settlement that would see Toronto Dominion Bank pay out nearly $16 million has been approved – one of two multi-million-dollar payouts by the bank given the green light in recent weeks.The Ontario Superior Court of Justice granted the approval Thursday after a hearing this week for the settlement reached between TD Bank and Toronto law firm Koskie Minsky LLP over non-sufficient funds (NSF) fees.In its decision the court concluded that the “settlement, overall, is excellent, and in the best interests of the class.”A proposed settlement was reached in August 2023, less than a year after the court certified the case as a class action.Eligible customers will now share the benefits of the settlement, with an estimated $88 going into their accounts, according to the settlement agreement shared by the law firm with Global News.That amount will be directly deposited into customers’ accounts without having to file any additional paperwork, the law firm says.The total payout is worth $15.9 million but class counsel fees and disbursements, third-party litigation funding fees, an honorarium of $10,000 to the representative plaintiff and any charitable donations will be deducted and the rest will be available for distribution.People eligible to get paid must be Canadian residents who have an open personal deposit account with TD Bank that has been charged a non-sufficient funds fee by the bank on a re-presented pre-authorized debit transaction between Feb. 2, 2019, and Nov.

Lok Sabha privileges committee summoned Chief Secretary BP Gopalika, DGP Rajeev Kumar and other officials, a six member BJP’s Fact-Finding team, comprising two Union Ministers and four MPs, were stopped at Rampur, on their way to Sandeshkhali on Friday. The Committee urged the police to allow them but the area was barricaded and cordoned off. The team said they will meet Governor CV Ananda Bose in Kolkata today and complain to him on the issue. Apart from DGP Kumar and Gopalika, North 24 Parganas DM, Basirhat SP and additional SP have also been summoned for «oral evidence» in Delhi on Monday, based on a complaint of police brutality which led to Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar injuries in Taki “What else can the state government do? The government wants to suppress the fact and so they stopped us. We have come here to give justice to the people,” Union Minister of States (MoS)-Education Annapurna Devi said.

Supreme Court struck down the electoral bond scheme as unconstitutional and violative of the "right to information of voters" due largely to their anonymity in a far-reaching ruling on Thursday. Also scrapped were amendments made to the Income Tax Act, the Representation of People Act and the Companies Act to usher in the 2018 scheme. State Bank will stop issuing such bonds immediately and provide complete details on those issued since 2019 to the Election Commission of India, which will make this information public by March 13, the court said. Also, bonds issued and still within the 15-day validity period have to be returned and the money refunded to the purchaser. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been the leading beneficiary of the anonymous funding scheme and the court's decision comes just months before general elections set to be held in April-May. The scheme had been announced by then finance minister, the late Arun Jaitley, in the budget for FY18.

₹14,94,296 crore. The 2024-25 interim budget also saw an increase of 28.4% in the allocation for the social justice and empowerment ministry from the 2023-24 revised estimate. At the same time, we see that the total expenditure in subsidies fell in 2023-24 by 28.3% from the revised estimate of 2022-23.

MUMBAI : Senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy on Thursday moved the Delhi High Court alleging a scam of nearly ₹5,100 crore in the way Axis Bank sold and purchased shares of insurer Max Life Insurance Company. Max Life is a joint venture between Max Financial Services and private lender Axis Bank. On 6 February, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) approved Axis Bank’s proposal to purchase another 7% in Max Life for ₹1,612 crore.

Reuters. This ruling paved the way for the first-ever criminal trial of a former US president. For the case, Justice Juan Merchan set a trial date of March 25 – one of four criminal prosecutions Trump faces as he pursues the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden in the 5 November 5 US election. Earlier, Trump has asked Merchan to toss the 34-count indictment, which charges him with falsifying business records to cover up the $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election.