The Supreme Court on Thursday directed Attorney General K.K. Venugopal to consider the petition seeking evacuation of Indians stuck in Ukraine, while stating in a lighter tone, “Should I tell Russian President to stop the war?”

The matter was mentioned before a Bench led by Chief Justice (CJI) N.V. Ramana by Senior Counsel A.M. Dar.

Dar said this was a fresh petition regarding evacuation of Indians from the Ukraine-Romania border, most of which were girls.

“I read somewhere that it is being asked, what is CJI doing? Should I give direction to Russian President Vladimir Putin to stop the war?,” 

-asked CJI Ramana.

“The temperature is minus 7 degree Celsius. There are around 30 students, mostly girls, they are stuck there for the past six days,” the Counsel said.

The CJI then asked the lawyer to wait, stating that the Bench will seek the assistance of Attorney General K.K. Venugopal.

“We have all the sympathies. We will ask the Attorney General to assist us. You wait, we will take it up,” the CJI assured.

When the AG appeared, the CJI asked him to render necessary help in the matter. The AG asked if the students, in respect of  whom the petition has been filed, have crossed the Ukraine border.

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Senior Advocate Dar submitted that they haven’t crossed.

“The Government of India has sent a Minister to Romania to make sure once they cross they come back. So I want to know what’s the problem”, the AG submitted.

“They haven’t crossed as yet, where they are… it is in Ukraine, they weren’t allowed to travel, that’s the problem,” Dar said.
 
CJI Ramana asked the Counsel to give the copy of the petition to the AG. “Please look and see if you can help”, the CJI told the AG.

The Supreme Court was told by Sun TV founder Kalanithi Maran on Monday that it has refused the Rs 600 crore one-time settlement offer made by SpiceJet, to end a long-standing share-transfer dispute between the two.

The Apex Court had on Thursday asked Kal Airways, owned by Maran, to consider settling all ongoing disputes and pending proceedings with SpiceJet.

Maran, former promoter of SpiceJet Ltd, was represented by Senior Advocate Maninder Singh.

The Counsel told the Bench that they have decided not to accept the SpiceJet’s offer, as the total amount owed by them was more than Rs 920 crore.

Chief Justice (CJI) N.V. Ramana will now hear the matter on merits on March 2.

SpiceJet said that out of the principal amount of Rs 578 crore awarded in arbitration, it had already paid Rs 308 crore in cash and deposited a bank guarantee of Rs 270 crore.

After hearing both the parties, the top court of the country had asked Maran to consider the Rs 600 crore offer made by SpiceJet.

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In February 2015, Maran had transferred his shareholding in SpiceJet to Ajay Singh, the current Chairman and Managing Director of the airline, after the airline suffered a cash crunch.

Singh also took over SpiceJet’s liabilities of Rs 1,500 crore.

As part of the agreement, Maran and Kal Airways also made payments of Rs 679 crore to SpiceJet, under Singh, for issuing warrants and preference shares.

However, Maran approached the Delhi High Court in 2017, alleging the convertible warrants and preference shares were not issued, and nor was the money returned by the airline and Singh.

Chief Justice of India Justice N.V. Ramana on Sunday said the ethos of the democratic republic of India is based on the people’s commitment to the welfarist Indian Constitution.

Speaking at 18th convocation of the NALSAR University Hyderabad, the CJI said this commitment must be nurtured at an early age by creating social consciousness and inculcating a culture of lawfulness. The educational institutions of our country, such as NALSAR, play a pivotal role in fostering the spirit of the Constitution, he said.

The CJI also said the Constitution was framed as a radical document which bridged the gap between the aspirations of the past and expectations of the future but it shall thrive only when young citizens honour its principles with conviction.

Quoting renowned jurist John Rawls “Legal philosophers are political philosophers with a specialization that gives language a special importance”, he said a mark of a great lawyer is clarity of thoughts, command over the language and skills to communicate. Unless one is proficient in the language, be it the mother tongue or any other language, he or she cannot communicate their point of view effectively.

CJI Ramana said it’s a field where one measures every word. Whether the person is a lawyer, judge or policy maker, he/she must always be aware about the consequences and possible interpretations of the words and phrases.

The CJI also said the future of law is often dependent upon the understanding of the past and the present. Therefore, a successful practitioner of law must also be well versed with literature, philosophy, history, economics and politics of the land.

There is nothing more difficult in the world than to discover the truth. It requires trained minds to analyze all aspects of it and reach a logical conclusion. The greatness of a lawyer or judge lies in their ability to discover the ultimate truth, and thus secure justice accordingly.

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A great university is where the mind is freed from the notions of the past and the illusions of the present and a university can teach you this. “You must understand that there is no substitute for direct experience,” CJI Ramana said.

Read full text of CJI Ramana’s speech below

Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana on Tuesday told young lawyers that it was their duty to remain alert of social realities around them and be mindful about their role in responding to the same.

Speaking on a range of legal issues at the observance of the Legal Services Day at an event in Greater Noida’s Sharda University, CJI Ramana said students here are doubly privileged firstly to be educated in premier institutes, where information is available at their fingertips and secondly, being educated in law to be the voices of those, who have none.

During his speech, Justice Ramana, who is also the Patron-in-Chief of the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA), quoted Swami Vivekananda: “Don’t look back, look forward. “Infinite enthusiasm, infinite daring, infinite patience; then only alone can great deeds be achieved,” the CJI said, again quoting the Swami.

Justice Ramana said it is immensely beneficial for law students that through legal services authorities, they are coming face to face with the grass-root realities of the country. “What I find more beneficial is that these students are becoming major players in the legal aid movement. They are essential for expanding the outreach of legal services to every corner of the country,” he said.

Earlier, the idea of legal aid was to confined to courtrooms but over the course of 26 years, the legal services authorities have broken the traditional notions of legal aid and have given an expanded meaning to access to justice, CJI Ramana said.

“The decision to join the legal aid movement will pave the path for a great career. This will help you inculcate empathy, understanding and a sense of selflessness. Remember, unlike other professions, the legal profession is not about profit maximization, but about service to society,” he said.

Today, the role of legal services authorities is not constrained merely to the provision of court-based legal representation. They also work towards legal awareness, legal literacy, social action litigation, settlement of disputes through Alternate Dispute Resolution Mechanisms, among others, he said.

Recalling the importance of the occasion, Justice Ramana said November 9 is celebrated every year as Legal Services Day. It was first started by the Supreme Court in 1995 to provide help and support to the poor and weaker sections of society and a commitment to justice for all.

Speaking of Union Minister Kiren Rijiju and his contribution to the justice delivery system, Justice Ramana said, “In a general sense, we call fellow judges brothers. He is another brother Justice Rijiju. I want to use Justice Rijiju. I don’t understand the secret of Rijiju’s youth. He is more young and dynamic. He has taken all the interest in resolving so many problems. I thank Rijiju ji for recognizing the hard work and the service of the judiciary and judges and I can see that in recent times you are the only law minister or a politician who recognized our judicial hard work and appreciated us.”

In his speech, Law Minister Rijiju said he had no doubt that the legal aid awareness campaign on from Gandhi Jayanti would reach every nook and corner of the country after its launch by President Ram Nath Kovind, CJI Ramana and Justice Lalit. He commended Justice Ramana for devoting his busy time to ensure legal services get due attention.

“We want to ensure that people do not have to struggle to get the bare minimum justice,” he said.

“I was very happy to see Lok Adalat being conducted and in front of us many cases are disposed of.  Some people from villages will be scared to go to court. They don’t know how a court looks like, you tell an ordinary person to go to High Courts or Supreme Court, they will say “mujhe rehne dijiye, mujhe court nahi jana hai”,” Rijiju said. Dwelling on the pendency of cases, the Minister said more than 4 crore cases are pending in lower courts and that the government is taking steps to ensure proper infrastructure for the subordinate judiciary.

“It is not easy for an ordinary person to get justice. A person may sell off his property but not get a date,” the Minister said speaking of the hardships the poor face.

Rijiju recalled that four years ago Prime Minister Narendra Modi had committed that India must be made an international centre for arbitration. In the same manner, we will make India an attractive destination for mediation also, he said.

Dwelling on the debate over the primacy of fundamental rights over duties, Rijiju said, “There can’t be a compromise on fundamental rights. But I want to say is only fundamental rights or its preservation alone doesn’t make a country great. A country becomes great if along with constitutional rights everybody understands constitutional duties and obligations. If a nation or every member of the nation starts treating constitutional duty above constitutional rights, nobody can stop that country from becoming a great nation. We are not going to compromise on fundamental rights, but we have to ensure fundamental duties are the prime duties of every Indian.”

Supreme Court judge Justice U.U. Lalit, the Executive Chairman of NALSA, emphasized the importance of expression through art. He spoke of his experience of visiting a painting exhibition curated by the child sexual abuse victims, where he was surprised by the expression of such positivity and praised art as an important form of expression.

Justice Lalit enumerated different modalities such as direct contact, audiovisual method, pamphlets, prabhat pheris to reach each and every Indian, making them aware of their constitutional rights to free legal aid.

Justice Lalit revealed a very intriguing statistic, out of 100 criminal cases listed before the courts, legal aid is provided in only 1% of the cases. He attributed this statistic to a lack of awareness about various mechanisms of legal aid. Highlighting the need for eradicating the darkness of ignorance with the light of awareness, Justice Lalit recited a part of a Sanskrit prayer, from the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad: “Asato Ma Sad Gamaya, Tamaso Ma Jyotir Gamaya, Mrityor Ma Amritam Gamaya.”

Allahabad High Court Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal, also the Patron-in-Chief of the UP State Legal Services Authority (UPSLSA), said the launch of the 6-week nationwide pan-India outreach campaign is one of the examples of CJI Ramana and Justice Lalit’s dedication towards providing free legal aid.

Congratulating the winner and participants of the first moot competition organized by Symbiosis alongside NALSA, Justice Bindal said they are the torchbearers of the future.

Allahabad High Court Justice M.N. Bhandari, the Executive Chairman of the UPSLSA, was also present among the dignitaries.

Full speech of CJI Ramana

Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana has said people in rural areas of the country feel left out of the justice system since the proceedings are in English because of its colonial history. Further, the CJI said the justice system needs to be Indianised in that respect.

Speaking at an event organised by the Karnataka State Bar Council to pay tributes to late Justice Mohan M Shantanagoudar, who passed away on April 24 this year, the CJI said,

“Very often our justice delivery poses multiple barriers for the common people. The working and the style of courts do not sit well with the complexities of India. Our system, practices, rules being colonial in origin may not be best suited to the needs of Indian population.”

In this context, CJI Ramana said the need of the hour is the Indianisation of our legal system.

“When I say Indianisation, I mean the need to adapt to the practical realities of our society and localise our justice delivery systems. For example, parties from a rural place fighting a family dispute are usually made to feel out of place in the Court. They do not understand the arguments or pleadings which are mostly in English, a language alien to them.”

The Chief Justice of India added that judgments have become lengthy these days and have further complicated the situation for litigants. “For the parties to understand the implications of a judgment, they are forced to spend more money.”
Justice Ramana said courts also need to be focused on litigants and the delivery of justice should be simplified, transparent, accessible and effective.

“The common man should not be apprehensive about approaching the courts and authorities. While approaching the court, he should not feel scared of judges and courts. He should be able to speak the truth,” he said, adding it is the duty of lawyers and judges to make it comforting for the key stakeholders.

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CJI Ramana recalled Justic Shantanagoudar’s contribution to the jurisprudence of the nation.

“His judgments provide a deep insight into his years of experience, his depth of knowledge and his unending wisdom. But more than anything, his judgments showed simplicity, abundant common sense, and a practical approach. His tenure as a judge was marked by his concern for social equality, opportunity to all, and rights and liberties of the people.”

CJI Ramana conveyed his regards to the family of Justice Shantanagoudar, his wife Sunitha Shantanagoudar and children Shivaprasad and Pooja Shantanagoudar.

Read full speech here

The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to grant an early hearing to a petition seeking reopening of Baba Baidyanath Dham Jyotirlinga temple and Baba Basukinath in Jharkhand.

During the hearing of the petition, Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana asked the petitioner, what was the need for an early hearing in this matter?

The petitioner replied that there are less cases of Novel Coronavirus there.

The Panda Dharma Rakshini Sabha, a group of priests of Baba Baidyanath Jyotirlinga temple, had filed a petition in the Supreme Court, demanding the opening of the temple.

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The petition sought permission to the pandas/priests of Baba Baidyanath Jyotirlinga temple to perform the traditional Shravan puja during the month of Shravan along with the Ganges water collected from Sultanganj, Bihar with necessary Covid-19 guidelines.

The petitioner had also sought permission for the limited vaccinated panda to undertake the symbolic Kanwar Yatra following the protocol of Covid-19.

The Supreme Court of India today took suo moto cognisance over the increasing number of attacks on Judges and lawyers, in view of the death of Additional Sessions Judge Uttam Anand on Wednesday, who was killed after being hit by an auto-rickshaw near his home, which seem intentional.

Chief Justice of India NV Ramana noted, “It was brought to the attention of the court that there are several incidents taking place all over the country and we issued notice to all of the states.”

The bench further noted, “The unfortunate incident with the Additional Sessions Judge after hitting an auto rickshaw on Wednesday, this gruesome incident was rightly reported in newspaper and social media, the same was taken into consideration by the Jharkhand High Court. The similar incidents occurring at all over the places for Judges and at some places against the lawyers as well appearing in the matters.”

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The bench directed the state Secretary and the DGP of Jharkhand to file a report before the Registry in relation to the killing of ASJ Uttam Anand, while clarifying, “We are not interfering with the proceedings going on before the High Court of Jharkhand.”

The Supreme Court has today extended the release of prisoners released on parole to decongest jails in view of the Covid-19 pandemic till further orders while stating that that the High-Powered Committees are not following uniform criteria.

A special bench of the Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana, Justice L. Nageswara Rao and Justice A.S. Bopanna noted, “We, the amicus and all others are not aware of the guidelines being followed by the High-Powered Committee (HPC).”

The bench was hearing a suo motu plea initiated by the court to contain the spread of Covid-19 in prisons. Today the matter was taken up by the bench on an IA filed by advocate Shoeb Alam to consider the remission plea of prisoners.

Senior Advocate Dushyant Dave, appointed Amicus Curiae in the matter, submitted, “Milords, we don’t have any idea about the respective HPC guidelines”, to which the Chief Justice also said, “That is exactly what I have to say… there is no uniform criteria followed, like Haryana and another state has only taken under consideration the age and etc. and all other states have not taken these into consideration.”

Dave also submitted, “In the wake of impending third wave, should we wait for some instructions from the Union of India, SG may assist. Otherwise we’ll send them back to the jail and then leave them again.”

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However, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta submitted that as far as the extension of release is concerned they do not have any objection. The Bench has directed the Secretary of the National State Service Authority to submit state-wise criteria being followed by states for the release of the prisoners.

The bench while listing the matter for further hearing on August 3 has further directed the Secretary to collect information from all the states and submit a report.

Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana on Wednesday nominated the Division Benches for hearing extremely urgent miscellaneous matters during the Summer Vacation for the period between May 26 to June 2, 2021.

According to a statement issued here by the Supreme Court, the following Division Benches have been nominated for the second part of Summer vacation:

The First Bench will comprise Justice L. Nageswara Rao and Justice Aniruddha Bose, while there will be two Second Benches. The Second Benches will comprise Justice B.R. Gavai, Justice Surya Kant and Justice Krishna Murari.

The Third and the Fourth Benches for the period between June 3 to 10, 2021 will be notified later, the statement added.

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Source: ILNS