Legal briefs

 FIR against woman for carrying live cartridge in travel bag quashed

• The Delhi High Court has quashed an FIR against a woman for carrying a live cartridge in her bag while travelling to Goa from Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi
• A judge said there are orders of this court in which it had taken similar action on the ground that if the accused is not in conscious possession of the ammunition, she can't be punished for the offence under the Arms Act
• The woman, an IT professional, submitted that the ammunition belonged to her father, who holds a valid .32 bore revolver licence and it was inadvertently carried in her bag
• The advocate, appearing for the petitioner, said the woman was carrying her father's bag for travelling purposes inside which a live cartridge was left inadvertently without her knowledge
• The counsel said the woman had only a single live cartridge without there being any firearm itself showed that she was not in conscious possession of the ammunition

 Two former judges to mediate in Lalit Modi property dispute

• The Supreme Court on Thursday appointed two retired top court judges as mediators between Lalit Modi and his mother Bina Modi, wife of the late industrialist K K Modi, to resolve a long-pending property dispute in the family
• The top court was hearing Lalit Modi's appeal against the judgment of a division bench of the Delhi High Court that the anti-arbitration injunction lawsuit filed by Bina Modi against her son is maintainable
• A bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana okayed the names of former apex court judges Justices Vikramjit Sen and Kurian Joseph as mediators
• A lawsuit, earlier filed by Bina Modi, sought to restrain the arbitration proceedings initiated by Lalit Modi, a founder of the Indian Premier League, in Singapore over the dispute

3 additional judges to be made as permanent judges

• The Supreme Court Collegium has approved the proposal for the appointment of three additional judges of the Bombay High Court as permanent judges
• The three additional judges of the Bombay High Court whose names have been approved are Madhav Jayajirao Jamdar, Amit Bhalchandra Borkar and Shrikant Dattatray Kulkarni
• The Collegium also resolved to recommend that Justice Abhay Ahuja be appointed as additional judge of the Bombay High Court for a fresh term of one year with effect from March 4, 2022
• In another decision, the Collegium has approved the proposal for appointment of additional judge Aniruddha Roy of the Calcutta High Court as a permanent judge of the same high court

Rlys told to remove encroachment on its properties

• The Supreme Court on Thursday said the Railways is equally responsible for ensuring that there is no encroachment on its properties and it must initiate action against unauthorised occupants immediately
• The apex court was hearing two separate pleas which raised issues related to the removal of encroachment from railway land in Gujarat and Haryana
• A bench noted that the Surat-Udhna to Jalgaon Railway line project in Gujarat is still incomplete because of the unauthorised structures standing on the railway property to the extent of 2.65 kilometres
• The top court directed the Railways to issue notices to the occupants of these structures, falling within the stretch which is immediately required for commencing the remaining project work, and give two weeks time to the occupants to vacate the premises