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Business News/ Politics / Policy/  From the courts: Top news makers you should keep watching
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From the courts: Top news makers you should keep watching

Here are six cases which made headlines during the week and should be watched as they progress

Photo: Pradeep Gaur/MintPremium
Photo: Pradeep Gaur/Mint

New Delhi: The legal sphere has been hustling with activity all week with several cases which are likely to continue to make waves in the future. While the Supreme Court entertained a plea to restrain Vijay Mallya from leaving the country for recovery of a massive debt of an estimated 9,091 crore owed by his grounded Kingfisher Airlines Ltd, the green tribunal allowed hosting of Art of Living’s cultural festival on the banks of the Yamuna river while imposing compensation and restoration costs.

The Patiala house court saw its own share of activity and demanded the personal presence of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and others in the next hearing, while summoning them in a criminal defamation case by finance minister Arun Jaitley.

In all, it has been an exciting week of important legal developments. We have lined up six cases which made headlines during the week and should be watched as they progress.

Vijay Mallya: a curious case

The “king of good times" came under some bad weather this week. Vijay Mallya, with his estimated debt of 9,091 crore, became the most sought after man, both off and on news. Off news, investigative agencies and banks sought the man, whereas news organisations tracked these developments.

Mallya resigned from his position as non-executive chairman of United Spirits Ltd with a $75 million payout from Diageo Plc. The Debt Recovery Tribunal stopped this payout after State Bank of India demanded the arrest of Mallya, the impounding of his passport and a full disclosure of his assets and liabilities. A consortium of banks also moved the Supreme Court seeking to restrain Mallya from leaving the country. Turns out, by then, Mallya had already left the country, although those close to him refute the fact that he’s fleeing these proceedings.

The Supreme Court issued a notice to Mallya over banks’ plea, and will hear the case next on 30 March. Watch this space for developments.

Art of Living foundation’s cultural event

The three-day World Cultural Festival being organized by the Art of Living foundation is set to begin on Saturday after getting a green signal from the country’s top environment court.

On 9 March, the National Green Tribunal (ngt) passed an order by virtue of which it allowed the event to continue and imposed costs of 5 crore on the foundation, payable before the commencement of the event. This amount is to be deposited with the Delhi Development Authority (DDA).

Subsequently, the court noted that the foundation will have to pay restoration costs for damage caused to the environment, ecology, biodiversity and aquatic life, which will be decided by a committee appointed by the court.

A farmers’ organization had approached the Supreme Court the next day against the tribunal’s order but was directed back to NGT. The foundation had not deposited the fine till Thursday evening. In case of failure by the foundation in depositing costs, as directed by the court, the petitioner may approach the court for contempt of courts’ order. For more, read here

Aadhaar Bill

Setting the ball rolling on the long-pending Aadhaar Unique Identification (UID) scheme and clearing the path for the so-called JAM trinity—Jan Dhan Yojana, Aadhaar and Mobile—the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government tabled the Aadhaar bill as a money bill in the Lok Sabha on 3 March.

The Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Bill seeks to make the use of Aadhaar mandatory for availing of government subsidies but at the same time tries to address concerns regarding privacy and protection of personal information.

The government on 9 March said that it was confident that the bill will be passed and national security will not be compromised at all. Read more here

In an interview with Mint, executive director at CIS Sunil Abraham flagged concerns about the Aadhaar Bill which still haven’t been addressed owing to technological flaws and a central point of failure for a data collection system.

Arvind Kejriwal and others summoned in criminal defamation case

In the criminal defamation case against Kejriwal, the Patiala house court summoned him and others who have been accused of making defamatory remarks against Jaitley on alleged siphoning of funds from the Delhi District Cricket Association (DDCA) when he was its president. Kejriwal and others have to appear personally in the Patiala House court on 7 April in response to the summons issued by chief metropolitan magistrate Sumit Dass. For more, read here

A civil defamation case is also being heard in the Delhi high court where the finance minister has sought damages worth 10 crore.

Cotton seed pricing and Monsanto

Days after Monsanto India threatened to re-evaluate its business strategy in India, the agriculture ministry notified the capped prices of BT Cotton seed, slashing royalty rates by a whopping 74%.

Meanwhile, Mahyco-Monsanto Biotech India Pvt. Ltd has challenged portions of the price control order, which allowed regulating the trait fee or royalty. The case will be next heard on 23 March.

B.S. Chauhan appointed as the chairperson of the 21st Law Commission

Law minister Sadananda Gowda announced the appointment after the post was lying vacant for over six months. Chauhan succeeds former Delhi high court judge A.P. Shah as commission chairperson. Under Shah, the commission presented 19 reports over the course of two years on key legal issues ranging from arbitration law, commercial courts to death penalty and electoral reforms.

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Published: 11 Mar 2016, 10:09 AM IST
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