Justice Financial News

Supreme Court on Thursday banned electoral bonds that had become a major source of funding for political parties in India. The scheme, termed 'unconstitutional' now by the apex court contributed over Rs 16,000 crore to political parties' coffers since 2018. Among the beneficiaries, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) stands out, receiving a lion's share of around 55%, or approximately Rs 6,565 crore, PTI reported citing data from the Election Commission and the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR). These bonds, which allow for anonymous donations, have been a key component of political funding, with some regional parties relying heavily on them for financial support.

Supreme Court withdrew their pleas on Thursday, saying they have decided to move appropriate forums. A bench of Justices Bela M Trivedi and Pankaj Mithal, which had on Wednesday said it will not allow «proxy litigation» to challenge the vires of the anti-terror law UAPA, allowed as many as eight petitions to be withdrawn, after the petitioners' counsels said they would like to approach the jurisdictional high courts for relief. The bench had asked the counsel for petitioners to seek instruction by Thursday whether they want to approach the high court to quash the FIR in UAPA cases or they want to challenge the vires of the law in the top court. Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for three civil society members, including a journalist, who were booked under the anti-terror law by Tripura Police in 2021 over their social media posts on riots in the state, said he has received instructions from his clients to withdraw the petitions.

Supreme Court has declared the electoral bonds scheme as "unconstitutional," stating that anonymous corporate contributions to political parties are «violative of the right to information.» The decision was announced by a bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud on Thursday. The decision comes ahead of the Lok Sabha elections scheduled for April-May this year. Key Observations and Directions from the Bench

Supreme Court is set to announce its verdict regarding petitions challenging the validity of the electoral bonds scheme on February 15. The Constitution bench, headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, had reserved its decision on November 2 last year. In April 2019, the Supreme Court declined to stay the electoral bonds scheme, emphasising the need to reduce the cash component in the electoral process.

By Akash Sriram

Vedanta's Sterlite Copper plant in Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu. This comes in response to Vedanta's appeal against the closure of the plant by the Tamil Nadu government. The three-judge bench, led by Chief Justice D.Y.

Supreme Court questioning the validity of the criminal proceedings against him and others in a special court in Bengaluru for participating in a protest march on February 14, 2022, against a BJP minister. The CM also challenged the February 6 order of the Karnataka High Court, declining to quash the criminal proceedings and imposing a fine of Rs 10,000. He moved the apex court on the grounds that the special court proceedings would lead to harassment and they did not commit the kind of offence to warrant the criminal case booked by the Bengaluru Police. He also said the high court did not take note of the fact that the protest did not lead to any violence.

Vedanta's Sterlite copper plant in Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu. «We are clear that we won't allow you to restart (operations) now,» SC said. The proposed expert committee could look into any compensation, if due, for non-compliance. However, the Tamil Nadu government and others said that certain things cannot be compensated. They further alleged that Vedanta has persistently violated the High Court's orders.

Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party leader Arshid Mehmood Khan Wednesday joined the BJP along with a number of his supporters in Jammu. Khan, a three-time sarpanch from Dandesar village of Nowshera, and his supporters were welcomed into the BJP by the party's J&K president Ravinder Raina and other senior leaders, including former deputy chief minister Kavinder Gupta and MP Jugal Kishore. The former PDP leader had unsuccessfully contested the 2008 assembly elections from the Nowshera constituency of Rajouri district Addressing a press conference after the joining, Raina said the BJP was ready for elections in the Union territory.

The front-runner in Indonesia’s presidential election on Wednesday has endeared himself to young voters by projecting an image of a cuddly, cat-loving grandfather figure. But Prabowo Subianto has a checkered history. He was dismissed from Indonesia’s military 25 years ago on allegations he kidnapped democracy activists.

GREAT Scholarships 2024 program, offering Indian students the opportunity to pursue postgraduate taught studies in the UK starting from autumn 2024, across various fields of study. In collaboration with the British Council, a total of 25 UK universities will participate in the scheme this year, offering 26 postgraduate GREAT scholarships. Areas of study include a wide range of subjects including Finance, Marketing, Business, Psychology, Design, Humanities, Dance, and more. Each GREAT scholarship is valued at a minimum of £10,000, which will be allocated towards tuition fees for a one-year postgraduate course in the UK for the 2024-25 academic year. Do you meet the immigration criteria? Check here For the 2024-25 academic year there are postgraduate scholarships available at the following institutions:

Congress party announced on Wednesday the first list of candidates for the upcoming Rajya Sabha Biennial Elections to be held in various states. According to an official release from the All India Congress Committee (AICC), «Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge has approved the candidature of Sonia Gandhi from Rajasthan and Dr. Akhilesh Prasad Singh from Bihar.» Additionally, Abhishek Manu Singhvi has been fielded from Himachal Pradesh and Chandrakant Handore from Maharashtra.

Thousands of U.S. ride-hailing workers plan to park their cars and picket at major U.S. airports in what organizers say is their largest strike yet in a drive for better pay and benefits

Supreme Court reserved judgment on whether a state government is empowered to make sub-classification in SC/ST quotas for deprived and weaker castes in these groups in admissions and public jobs. The issue before the top court was whether the Punjab Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes (Reservation in Services) Act 2006 — which provided Balmikis and Mazhabi Sikhs with 'first preference' reservation over 50% of the total seats reserved for SCs — is valid.

Calcutta High Court set aside the declaration of prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC in North 24 Parganas district's Sandeshkhali on Tuesday. The HC, in another case, today took suo motu cognisance of allegations of sexual assault on women “at gunpoint” and transfer of tribal land at Sandeshkhali in West Bengal. Justice Joy Sengupta of Calcutta High Court today rejected the imposition of Section 144 in the entire Sandeshkhali. However, the court observed state has liberty to impose Section 144 in certain pockets after judicial review, people in the know said. Sandeshkhali has witnessed violent protests by women in the last one week and over allegations of atrocities on women and land grabbing by miscreants close to absconding Trinamool leader Shahjahan Sheikh. Additional forces of eight platoons will be deployed in Sandeshkhali, including deployment of the women forces, the court observed. Altogether 16 FIRs have been lodged in connection with Sandeshkhali, people in the know said.

Nokia Technologies and Guangdong OPPO Mobile Telecommunications Corp on Tuesday informed the Delhi High Court that they want to withdraw their suits including the patent infringement filed by the former, as they have resolved their disputes and reached a confidential litigation settlement last month. Dismissing the suits as withdrawn, Justice Pratibha M Singh said that the parties would be bound by the terms and conditions of the global settlement. The HC also allowed refund of pro-tem security with interest deposited by Oppo during the proceedings within two weeks. It also directed that the confidential documents furnished by the companies in sealed covers or otherwise shall be returned to them and even ordered deletion of their electronic records in the HC.

Supreme Court on Tuesday asked Attorney General R Venkataramani to inform it whether a prosecution has been carried out ever under the provision of mandatory capital punishment to an individual who fabricates false evidence against an innocent member of a scheduled caste or a scheduled tribe. A bench of Justices Surya Kant and K V Viswanathan was hearing a PIL filed by advocate Rishi Malhotra, who has sought striking down of the mandatory death penalty provision under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. Section 3 (2) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 stipulates mandatory death sentence in a case where an innocent member of a scheduled caste or a scheduled tribe is convicted and is executed in consequence of a false and fabricated evidence given by the concerned accused. As the hearing commenced, Venkataramani submitted that it is important to have some data as to whether offences under this provision have occurred at all.

NEW DELHI : The Adani-Hindenburg saga returned to the Supreme Court on Tuesday with a petitioner seeking a review of the apex court’s decision to dismiss a plea for a separate investigation into allegations against the Adani group. According to the petition filed by lawyer Anamika Jaiswal, which Mint has seen, there are apparent errors in the court’s 3 January judgment.

Calcutta High Court on Tuesday set aside the promulgation of prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC at Sandeshkhali, which has been witnessing protests over the last one week. A petition was filed by two residents of Sandeshkhali seeking a direction from the court for lifting the prohibitory orders in the area. Justice Jay Sengupta set aside the promulgation of Section 144 of CrPC by the district administration at Sandeshkhali in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas, holding that the manner in which it was done was not right. Petitioner's counsel Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya claimed that the foundation of promulgation of the prohibitory orders in Sandeshkhali was not there and that it was done to curtail the rights of people to protest.

Evercore ISI senior managing director Mark Mahaney makes the case for raising Uber's price target and explains why he's staying away from Snap Inc. on 'Varney & Co.'

Scheme is related to a legislative bailout for two Ohio nuclear power plants.