Author: Anvita Dwivedi

The Supreme Court has declined to interfere with the Calcutta High Court’s refusal to grant the Trinamool Congress immediate access to three of its bank accounts frozen by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with a money-laundering investigation. At the same time, the Supreme Court has permitted the party to pursue its objections before the court-appointed special officer, thereby leaving open a controlled mechanism through which the party can seek access to funds for legitimate operational requirements. The proceedings are significant because they place at the intersection of the Enforcement Directorate’s powers under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, the constitutional…

The Delhi High Court has strongly criticised a line of cross-examination in a sexual harassment case in which questions were directed towards the clothes worn by the survivor at the time of the alleged incident, observing that a woman’s choice to wear jeans is a matter of personal choice and cannot be treated as a legitimate basis for questioning her character, credibility or entitlement to protection under criminal law. Justice Chandrasekharan Sudha expressed disapproval of the attempt to introduce the survivor’s clothing into the judicial examination of the allegations, observing that such questions were wholly irrelevant and appeared to be…

The Allahabad High Court has once again brought into focus an important principle governing appointments in institutions regulated by the Uttar Pradesh Intermediate Education Act, 1921: the existence of a statutory power to cancel an appointment does not mean that such power can be exercised arbitrarily, by an authority not empowered by law, or without giving the affected employee a meaningful opportunity of hearing. The issue assumes particular significance in the education sector, where appointments made years earlier are sometimes reopened on the basis of alleged procedural irregularities, changes in regulatory requirements or objections raised during subsequent inspections. The Court’s…

The Lok Sabha on Monday passed the Tribunals Reforms Bill, 2026, without a substantive debate, amid continued disruption in the House. The legislation proposes a significant restructuring of India’s tribunal framework and, at its centre, seeks to establish a National Tribunals Commission to oversee the appointment, administration and functioning of tribunals across the country. The Bill’s passage is therefore not an ordinary legislative development. Tribunals exercise adjudicatory powers in specialised areas of law and frequently decide disputes involving the Government itself. Their independence, therefore, is inseparable from the constitutional promise of fair and impartial adjudication. The fact that a legislation…

The Supreme Court has sought responses from the Union Government and the Assam Government on a plea seeking issuance of identity cards to persons whose names were included in the Final National Register of Citizens prepared for Assam. The proceedings bring back before the Court a question that has remained unresolved since the publication of the Final NRC on August 31, 2019: what is the legal and administrative consequence of inclusion in a register whose final statutory consequences have remained incomplete for nearly seven years? The issue before the Court is not merely about issuing another government identity document. At…

The Supreme Court has urged the Chief Justice of the Gauhati High Court to consider whether exclusive courts should be designated for cases arising out of the Manipur violence that are being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation and the National Investigation Agency, in a significant attempt to address the prolonged criminal-justice process surrounding the 2023 ethnic violence. The suggestion comes against the backdrop of the Court’s continuing monitoring of investigations and trials and its repeated concern that the passage of time should not become another impediment to justice for victims and witnesses. The Court’s intervention is particularly significant…

The Supreme Court has declined to interfere with the Delhi High Court’s decision holding TV Today Network Limited accountable for violating the privacy and confidentiality of a minor sexual-assault victim through a telecast aired on its Aaj Tak channel. The Supreme Court’s refusal to disturb the High Court’s decision assumes significance beyond the monetary compensation involved. At the centre of the controversy is a larger constitutional question: when a private media organisation performs the socially vital function of disseminating news, can it simultaneously contend that the function is purely private and therefore outside the reach of constitutional judicial review? The…

The Supreme Court Collegium has recommended the appointment of Chief Justices to four High Courts, setting in motion an important round of changes in the leadership of the higher judiciary. The recommendations assume significance not merely because they seek to fill vacancies in constitutional courts, but because the office of a High Court Chief Justice carries substantial responsibility for the judicial and administrative functioning of the institution. At a time when judicial vacancies and case pendency remain persistent concerns, the latest exercise reflects the Collegium’s attempt to ensure greater continuity and stability in the administration of the High Courts. The…

The Supreme Court has delivered an important judgment on the limits of retrospective taxation, holding that while a Legislature is competent to retrospectively alter the tax consequences of past transactions, such retrospective legislation cannot, by itself, justify the imposition of penalty upon taxpayers who had acted in accordance with the law as it stood at the relevant time. In Asia Sugar & Chemical Co., Devangere v. State of Karnataka & Ors., a Bench comprising Justice Aravind Kumar and Justice Prasanna B. Varale upheld the constitutional validity of Karnataka Act No. 5 of 2001, which retrospectively restricted the sales-tax exemption available…

In a significant development in the continuing judicial proceedings arising out of the ethnic violence in Manipur, the Supreme Court of India has permitted a Kuki civil society organisation to access the forensic analysis report prepared by the National Forensic Sciences University (NFSU) concerning controversial audio recordings allegedly attributed to former Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh. During the hearing, the Court was informed that the forensic examination undertaken by the NFSU indicated that the disputed audio recordings showed signs of manipulation or editing, thereby raising serious concerns regarding their evidentiary reliability. While the Supreme Court refrained from expressing any…