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Weekly Round-Up of Major Decisions of the Courts in India as also Legal Policy Developments

The controversy around the entry to Sabarimala temple refuses to die down. Parallel proceedings are going on in the Supreme Court and in the Kerala High Court. On 13th November, 2018, the Supreme Court heard the slew of review petitions filed against its very own judgment allowing entry of women into the temple, delivered on 28th September, 2018 (the Indian Young Lawyers Association & Ors. vs. Union of India & Anr.), and listed them for hearing in the open court in January, 2019. Importantly, the Court clarified that there was no stay on the original judgment. Meanwhile, many petitions are presently pending in the Kerala High Court, with both sides agitating against each other on the implementation of the Supreme Court order.

With the rejection of Central Government’s proposal to amend the Railway Protection Force Act by the States and Union Territories to provide for a single unified command and control system on Indian Railways, the Union Government is now contemplating to integrate the Central Police Forces together with the Railway Protection Force (RPF) for single security command and control on the railways to provide for a better coordinated and effective security for rail passengers and goods services. In such scenario, RPF may lose its integrity as a dedicated Force to protect railway properties and services.

The Supreme Court lined up the Vice Air Chief before it Wednesday to get a hang on Rafale and the controversy hovering over the fighter purchase by the Modi government. Asked ‘why the Rafale?’ IAF Vice Chief of Air Staff Anil Khosla told CJI Ranjan Gogoi it had to do with “stealth technology”; something that should have struck a chord because of all the stealth embedded in the purchase of Rafale.

That sense of déjà vu. Tuck it in the front pocket. What else? Ask, is there a streak of sadism in the Supreme Court? Can it explain “hearing of 49 review petitions in open court on January 22, 2019” while making it “clear there is no stay on the judgment of September 28, 2018”? Why, in the face of the oncoming invading horde, insist that the fort gates remain open?

The outcome of the 2018 midterm elections was a big victory for the American people, Democrats, and allied movements, despite GOP gains in the U.S. Senate. Republican monopoly of government has been broken and the political terrain significantly reshaped for battles ahead, including the 2020 elections.

BHOPAL: For the first time BJP rebels are not only posing serious difficulty for the party leadership but giving vent to their feelings in such language that is alien to this party which has been claiming it was a party with a difference.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Tuesday’s Supreme Court order on the Sabarimala issue has only deepened the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) government’s dilemma.

The Congress’s manifesto for the Madhya Pradesh elections would have made Jawaharlal Nehru squirm with embarrassment, especially the portion about the commercial utilisation of gaumutra (cow’s urine).

The Supreme Court Tuesday took up 50 petitions on the Sabarimala temple entry issue and agreed to hear the pleas in open court on January 22, a small victory for the ready to wait and a minor setback for the right to pray. Swami Ayyappa will be strumming the guitar in the Periyar tiger Reserve but Trupti Desai can continue to entertain hopes that one day maybe she can make it.