Hindu woman entitled to equal property rights: SC

The Supreme Court ruled that the female inheritors would have succession rights and the same liabilities fastened on the property along with the male members.

A Hindu woman or girl will have equal property rights along with other male relatives for any partition made in intestate succession after September 2005, the Supreme Court has ruled.

A bench of justices R. M. Lodha and Jagdish Singh Khehar in a judgment said that under the Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005, the daughters are entitled to equal inheritance rights along with other male siblings, which was not available to them prior to the amendment.

The apex court said the female inheritors would not only have the succession rights but also the same liabilities fastened on the property along with the male members.

“The new Section 6 provides for parity of rights in the coparcenary property among male and female members of a joint Hindu family on and from 9 September 2005. The legislature has now conferred substantive right in favor of the daughters.

“According to the new Section 6, the daughter of a coparcener becomes a coparcener by birth in her own rights and liabilities in the same manner as the son. The declaration in Section 6 that the daughter of the coparcener shall have same rights and liabilities in the coparcenary property as she would have been a son is unambiguous and unequivocal,” Justice Lodha, writing the judgment, said.

The term coparcener refers to the equal inheritance right of a person in a property.

The apex court passed the ruling while upholding the appeal filed by Ganduri Koteshwaramma, daughter of late Chakiri Venkata Swamy, challenging the Andhra Pradesh High Court’s decision not to recognize equal property rights of women along with their male siblings.

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HC directs striking Maruti workers to vacate premises

The Punjab and Haryana high court on Thursday directed that there would be no sit-in strike within 100 meters of the premises of Maruti Suzuki's factory at Manesar. Justice Surya Kant of high court issued further directions that striking workers on dharna (sit-in protest) in the factory be taken out.

He also directed that the loyal workers be allowed to join their duties and those on strike should not be allowed to stop them.

The court's directions came on a petition filed by Maruti Suzuki, seeking the declaration of ongoing strike by its workers as illegal. Thursday was the seventh day of the strike.

Justice Kant further directed that Gurgaon police commissioner will decide the place of dharna, and ensure that it is peaceful. The court also asked the police authorities to see that the workers who wish to join dharna are not stopped, and police will enforce their right of work.

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Easier bail for evaders of customs, excise duty

The Supreme Court has ruled that offenses under the Customs Act and the Central Excise Act are non-cognisable and bailable. In non-cognisable offenses, the police have no authority to arrest a person without warrant. The central government argued in the case of Choith Harchandani vs Union of India, that the offenders under these two laws were not entitled to bail, quoting the Criminal Procedure Code. The court rejected the government’s arguments and allowed the appeals of the alleged offenders about arrest and bail. There were several appeals from high courts in excise and customs cases. All the offenders under these two laws were ordered to be released.

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Justice Katju appointed Chairman Press Council

In exercise of the powers conferred by the sub-section (2) of section 5 of the Press Council Act, 1978 (37 of 1978), the Central Government today notified the nomination of Justice Markandey Katju, retired judge of the Supreme Court of India as the Chairman of the Press Council of India.

Justice Markandey Katju was born on Sept. 20, 1946. His background is noteworthy because of his family’s achievements in the fields of Law and Politics. His father late Justice S.N. Katju, was a former judge of the Allahabad High Court and his grandfather Dr. Kailash Nath Katju was one of India’s leading lawyers and participated in the country’s freedom movement. Dr. K.N. Katju was the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, the Governor of West Bengal and Orissa, as well as the Union Law, Home and Defence Minister.

After practicising law in the Allahabad High Court, Justice Markandey Katju was appointed Judge of the Allahabad High Court in 1991, as its acting Chief Justice in Aug. 2004, as the Chief Justice of Madras High Court in Nov. 2004. He became the Chief Justice of Delhi High Court in Oct. 2005. He was appointed as the Judge of the Supreme Court of India in April 2006 and he retired on Sept. 19’ 2011.

Justice Markandey Katju has written several books which include publications such as ‘Law in the Scientific Era’, ‘Interpretation of Taxing Statutes’, ‘Mimansa Rules of Interpretation’, ‘Domestic Enquiry’.

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Views of former CJI MN Venkatachaliah and JS Verma called on Lokpal

The parliamentary panel examining the Lokpal Bill has sought the views of former Chief Justices of India MN Venkatachaliah and JS Verma on setting up an anti-corruption ombudsman.

Venkatachaliah and Verma have been invited for recording their views on the Lokpal before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice at its meeting to be held in the next 8-10 days.

Venkatachaliah was the Chief Justice of India between 1993-94 and also headed the National Commission to review the working of the Constitution.

He has reportedly said that any Lokpal set-up has its own limitations and would survive only if it takes into account the need to strengthen every other institution of constitutional safeguards.

Verma headed the first commission on the assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi and is known for several significant judgments including the ones in the infamous Hawala case and Ayodhya land dispute in which he ruled that acquiring the property of a mosque did not constitute an abridgement of a Muslim's right to freedom of religious belief and practice.

Verma is also known for his judgment in which he stated that Hindutva depicted 'a way of life which cannot be assumed to mean and be equated per se with narrow fundamentalist Hindu religious bigotry'.

He is known to have favoured keeping the higher judiciary and the prime minister out of the purview of the proposed Lokpal Bill.

Verma had also favoured a "separate mechanism" to make high court and Supreme Court judges accountable for misconduct.

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CBI challenges Salem order

The Portuguese High Court’s decision to revoke underworld don Abu Salem’s extradition to India is being viewed as downright illegal by the legal wing of the CBI, which has contested the decision at the Supreme Court in Lisbon.

In its appeal in the Portuguese Supreme Court, the CB has contended that there was no violation of rules during Salem’s trial in different cases in India.

Officials here said that there was no question of sending back such a hard-core terror mastermind back to Portugal when legal process was still on against him in India in as many as nine cases.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said that he would take up the issue of cancellation of Salem’s extradition with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). Salem is one of the main accused in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case.

The High Court in Lisbon had last month revoked the extradition citing breach of undertaking given by India to the Portuguese authorities. Salem had filed a petition in the Portuguese High Court alleging violation of Rule of Speciality under which he was handed over in 2005 to the Indian authorities for trial in various cases pending here.

The CBI, through Ministry of External Affairs, filed the plea in the Portuguese Supreme Court arguing that it was a matter of interpretation of Rule of Speciality by the Supreme Court of India, which is binding on all subordinate courts in the country. On the other hand, the High Court of Lisbon has interpreted the Rule of Speciality differently, official sources said.

India has said slapping of additional charges on Salem is very much within the ambit of Section 21(b) of Extradition Act, 1962, which states that additional charges could be imposed on an accused if they were of lesser offence under which the person had been extradited.

In its affidavit submitted with the Portuguese Supreme Court, New Delhi has assured that fresh charges levelled against Salem, a key accused in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case, attracted less jail term than the offences for which he had been extradited, the sources said.

There is no mention of death penalty in the affidavit in the review petition in that country’s Supreme Court as India is bound by an ‘executive assurance’ to Portugal that Salem would not be given death penalty or charged with any section of law which entailed jail term of more than 25 years.

Abu Salem had challenged the framing of charges for the lesser offences in the Supreme Court here alleging that there has been violation of Rule of Speciality. The apex court in its judgment on September 10, 2010 rejected the petition filed by Salem.

The SC considered the Rule of Speciality as available in the laws of the US, the UK and Portugal and the Indian Extradition Act, and held that there has been no violation of Rule, since the additional charges framed against Abu Salem are made out from the same facts, which were considered for his extradition and provide lesser sentence as compared to the sentence provided for the offences for which his extradition was granted.

Abu Salem was detained on the basis of an Interpol Red Corner Notice in Lisbon on September 18, 2002 and thereafter a request for his extradition was made by India in nine cases which were pending against him. After long-drawn legal battle, Abu Salem was extradited to India in November, 2005. Salem was charged with stringent MCOCA for allegedly making extortion calls to Delhi-based businessman Ashok Gupta in 2002 demanding Rs 5 crore as protection money.

The Portuguese High Court had contended that in view of the new charges, the authorisation granted for his extradition has been terminated as it violated the Principle of Speciality.

The underworld don is facing trial in nine cases which included the Mumbai serial blasts, two cases of forgery of passports in Lucknow, three cases of extortion in Delhi and two murder cases in Mumbai which included murder of Ajit Dewani, secretary of Bollywood actress Manisha Koirala.

Abu Salem was an active member of criminal conspiracy, hatched by Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar (designated Global Terrorist), Tiger Memon, Mohammad Dossa and others, to commit various terrorist acts including bomb blasts.

Abu Salem actively participated in transporting and distribution of sophisticated arms and ammunitions which were smuggled into the country in the beginning of 1993. The bomb blasts took place on March 12, 1993..

Following the blasts, Salem left India after obtaining a passport in an assumed name from the Lucknow Passport Office, and joined Anees Ibrahim Kaskar and others at Dubai.

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10th Annual Report of National Commission on Safai Karmcharies

The National Commission for Safai Karamcharies has called for taking action and remedial measures for ensuring social justice, empowerment, rehabilitation and dignity to the people of downtrodden community specially Safai Karamcharies, working at Government and Local Self Government level, Corporate and Private level in rural and urban areas.The Commission in its Annual Report for 2010-11 has recommended this. The report was presented to the Union Minister of Social Justice & Empowerment Shri Mukul Wasnik, in his office by the Chairman of the Commission Smt. Kamla Gurjar. This is the 10th annual report of this Commission.

The report is aimed at making the Government cognizant of the ground realities so that an effective action plan for mitigating the plight of Safai Karamcharies/manual scavengers is taken up on top priority at national level. The Commission is hopeful that the recommendations put forth, would receive their due consideration and suitable actions would be initiated so that the Safai Karamcharies/manual scavengers are treated equally within the society.

The Commission in its vision has expressed zero tolerance for dry latrines insisting on strong determination to complete elimination of manual scavenging and strict monitoring and implementation of the mandatory provision under the act. It has also desire to have a permanent status with adequate executive/quosi judicial powers as being given to the other National level Commissions viz. National Commission for Scheduled Castes, National Commission for Scheduled Tribes and National Commission for Backward Classes, thus enabling it to discharge its responsibilities and duties efficiently in an effective and respectable manner.

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