Weekly Legal Updates Nov Week 1

1. Four New Supreme Court Judges appointed by the President, CJI gives oath of office:

The President of India in accordance with his power under Article 124 of the Constitution of India
appointed 4 Chief Justices of different High Courts as the new judges to the Supreme Court.

i. Justice M R Shah – Chief Justice of Patna High Court

ii. Justice Hemant Gupta – Chief Justice of MP High Court
iii. Justice R Subhash Reddy – Chief Justice of Gujarat High Court
iv. Justice Ajay Rastogi – Chief Justice of Tripura High Court

The collegium comprising of CJI Ranjan Gogoi, Justice Madan B. Lokur, Justice Kurian Joseph, Justice A K
Sikri and Justice S A Bobde (The 5 Senior Most Supreme Court Judges) had on October 30 th recommended
the above mentioned 4 High Court Chief Justices to be elevated as Supreme Court Judges. The
recommendations were accepted by the Central Government on 1st November and the President appointed
them the very same day. CJI Ranjan Gogoi on 2nd November gave them the oath of office.

With these appointments the total number of Supreme Court Judges is now 28 (27 Judges + CJI) as against
the total sanctioned strength of 31 judges.

2. Supreme Court now open for Public Visit and Guided Tour on Saturdays:

The Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi has opened the Supreme Court of India for public visit guided tour
on Saturdays from 10 AM to 1 PM. The tour shall consist of a visit to Court Room No. 1 (CJI’s Court
Room), Judges Library, Supreme Court Museum and the Lawns. The scheduling and appointment can be
taken through Court’s official website.

3. Supreme Court of India Establishes In-house Think Tank:

Chief Justice Gogoi inaugurated an In-house think tank for the Supreme Court i.e. Centre for Research and
Planning. This think tank will work towards giving inputs for judicial reforms, legal education, and
development of jurisprudence that the Supreme Court is building up. 
 Weekly Legal Updates Nov Week 1

4. Bar Council ID Cards is Valid Identity Proof for train journey: Indian Railways

Indian Railways issued notification in this regard following the 8 th August judgement of Kerala High Court
which directed Indian Railways to allow Bar Council ID cards as valid proof of identity in train journeys.

5. Contempt Notice issued by Delhi High Court against S. Gurumurthy:

The High Court of Delhi has issued contempt of court notice to S. Gurumurthy, editor of Chennai based
weekly ‘Thuglak’ magazine for his tweets against Justice Muralidhar (Delhi High Court Judge) after a
division bench headed by Justice Muralidhar had given order to release the Rights Activist Gautam Navlakha
who was kept in House Arrest for alleged involvement in the Bhima-Koregaon violence case and plotting of
killing the PM.

In August this year the Maharashtra Police conducted raids and arrested P Varavara Rao, Gautam Navlakha,
Sudha Bhardwaj, Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves for their suspected Maoist link and involvement in
the plot to kill the Prime Minister Modi. The raids were conducted at eight locations in Maharashtra,
Goa, Telangana, Delhi and Jharkhand in August. Later on the Supreme Court had ordered to keep
them in house arrest for investigations.

6. Live-in Partners can claim maintenance under the domestic violence act, 2005 : Supreme Court

7. Supreme Court modifies timing for bursting crackers, States allowed to fix their own timings
but shouldn’t exceed two hours in total.