#SupremeCourt flags the need to assess whether more Commercial Courts are required across States, noting that speedy resolution of commercial disputes is integral to ease of doing business.

"The whole idea of Commercial Courts is to expedite the hearing... A part of ease of doing business is how fast a commercial dispute is decided by the courts": CJI

SC calls for State-wise data on the growing trend of commercial litigation and an assessment of additional Commercial Courts required. States have also been asked to place relevant information on record.

Matter to be taken up after two weeks CJI: Is there any evaluation of what is the pendency of cases or the trend of cases? How many cases have been filed under this Act?

Counsel: My Lords, that information, in fact, has not been placed on record. In fact, by way of Your Lordships' order of April 2025, that was a specific query that was put to the High Courts, to at least identify the time that is being taken.

CJI: Also, what is the trend of commercial litigation, the growing trend of litigation in different States? And keeping that estimated requirement in mind, how many courts, in a phased manner, are required?

Because with one direction, establishment of entire courts may sometimes not be feasible. It all depends on infrastructure, availability of officers. But this is a process which should be taken care of equally across States.

So prepare that data and also indicate in which States how many courts are right now immediately required. After that, we cannot afford to have long delays also in these States.

Maybe in some of these States, an immediate direction will be given that they need to establish [additional courts].

CJI: states should also be impleaded. We implead them.

Supreme Court declines to interfere with the Chhattisgarh High Court's refusal to reject an election petition against former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel at the threshold, leaving him at liberty to raise all pleas before the election tribunal.

The Court observed that Baghel has an arguable defence and clarified that the dismissal of his plea will not prejudice his right to raise all points and contentions during the trial of the election petition.

@bhupeshbaghel #SupremeCourtIndia Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal: We were given liberty to go back and raise the issue of maintainability, which we did. Just notice two dates. On 15 November, the election campaign stopped. On 17 November, I was not allowed to attend any meeting. The allegation is that on 16 November, I attended a meeting. It was a religious function. In any event, that does not matter. I am alleged to have violated Section 126. Kindly have a look at Section 126. It is an electoral offence. It is not a corrupt practice. Corrupt practice is dealt with under Section 123(7).

Justice Bagchi: Whether it has materially affected the result of the election is what you have to meet.

Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal: That is a question of fact. No, the issue of the result of the election does not arise because, according to them, there were only 200 people there. Therefore, the result of the election could not have been affected because I won by 20,000 votes.

Justice Mohana: There is no prayer to declare the petitioner elected either.

Supreme Court Advocates -on- Record Association lecture on The Future of Justice Delivery: Innovation, Inclusion and Integrity, welcoming Justice Abha Nayar Patel of the Supreme Court of Zambia

Justice V Mohana: Justice cannot be truly inclusive if it is available only to those who can afford to travel to a court, engage a lawyer, or understand a complex legal system. Our constitutional framework has, therefore, consistently moved towards bringing governance and justice closer to the people. Mechanisms such as Lok Adalats, mediation, and other forms of alternative dispute resolution have enabled disputes to be resolved more quickly and closer to the people.
#SupremeCourt Justice Mohana: Our Supreme Court has also recognised that the right to a speedy trial and free legal aid are integral facets of Article 21. Over the years, Article 21 has become an umbrella for a wide range of rights that give real meaning to the guarantee of life and personal liberty.
But access to justice is not merely about physical access to a courtroom. It is also about having a voice within that courtroom. That is what inclusion means.
For a country as vast and diverse as India, technology can help overcome one of the oldest barriers to justice..distance.

[Shiv Sena Name & Symbol Dispute

Supreme Court resumes hearing the Uddhav Thackeray faction's challenge to the Election Commission's decision recognising the Eknath Shinde-led faction as the "real Shiv Sena" and allotting it the party's name and bow and arrow symbol

@mieknathshinde #SupremeCourt Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal: The 1999 Constitution is not the original Constitution either. It was itself amended. What the respondents are now doing is amending the 2018 Constitution.

Their own resolution records that after the Election Commission directed Shiv Sena to introduce inner-party democracy, the party amended its Constitution. It further records that, after the demise of Balasaheb Thackeray, the leadership again amended the Constitution in 2018. They themselves say the 2018 Constitution was amended because they wanted to restore inner-party democracy. Therefore, they fully accepted the existence of the 2018 Constitution.

Supreme Court will shortly hear the dispute between late industrialist Sunjay Kapur’s mother Rani Kapur and wife Priya Kapur over the family trust and estate. The Court has appointed former CJI DY Chandrachud to mediate and resolve the dispute. Senior Advocate Siddharth Dave for Rani Kapur: The mediation is continuing. There is one difficulty we are having

Senior Advocate Sheryl Trehan for Priya Kapur: We had a session two days ago.

Court: Report seems to be positive.

Dave: There is a dispute on the fee. She is 80 years old and does not have the money.

Supreme Court to resume hearing today self-styled godman Asaram Bapu’s plea challenging the Rajasthan High Court's decision to uphold his conviction for sexually assaulting a minor devotee in Jodhpur in 2013.

Asaram has also sought interim bail on health grounds while his appeal remains pending.

Bench: Justices MM Sundresh and PB Varale On the last hearing, the Court perused a medical report filed by AIIMS saying Asaram does not require hospitalisation but he would need round the clock medical attention.

Read here: barandbench.com/news/litigatio…

Delhi High Court to take down certain obscene online content in Bollywood actor Tabu’s suit seeking protection of personality rights.

The matter is listed before Justice Jyoti Singh. Senior Advocate Swathi Sukumar appearing for Tabu stated that the memo of parties has been amended to add the correct entity of the social media intermediaries.

Supreme Court hears plea arising from the vacancy of the Pune Lok Sabha seat following the death of MP Girish Bapat.

The Court had earlier indicated that it would lay down guidelines on holding bye-elections when a seat falls vacant.

Bench: Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta Counsel for respondent: the issue really is can election be held if the period that survives in the term of the assembly is less than a year. Our argument is language of section is very clear. When seat falls vacant you must hold elections. Therefore, there is no excuse to delay the same.

Sr Adv Naidu reads section 151A of the RP Act.

J. Vikram Nath: the language of the section is simple. The reminder of the term is more than one year. What is your stand?

Naidu: Election commission has the discretion when it comes to holding within 6 months and preparation period of two months. Once that is taken into account. Then there should have been one year remaining. We don't shy away from holding elections we are more than willing but we don't cross lines when it comes to statutory limitations.

Sr Adv Abhishek Manu Singhvi: the issue here which requires consideration is Mylords that within 6 months hold elections. Now if you have already taken 6 months to notify. a) How can the high court interdict b) is this proviso mandatory? the one year proviso is not mandatory because a much higher principle applies that you are depriving the electorate of 18 months of representation. Your lordship paramount consideration is representation. That gets affected in democracy. High court in impugned order follows Sandeep.

Supreme Court hears plea concerning alleged police excess against NEET paper leak protesters

SG Tushar Mehta: First there was misconception regarding what to do with the FIRs. Govt is seriously considering this. I had a discussion with Adv Vrinda Grover. We are working on this. If the ones who led the protest can get in touch with govt, the semantics can be worked out. We are examining.

Justice Bagchi: Criminal law architecture permits withdrawal

SG: No my lord. It won't be allowed.

#SupremeCourt Adv Grover: I have a FIR from Patna which names 152 people and says 5,000 unknown. So anyone can be picked up. We need to work out with the state for a mechanism... It can be quashed also.

SG: Those who had criminal antecedents.. except them everything can be taken care of.

CJI: first FIR has to be segregated. One against students and then one against hardened criminals. Then you can examine.

Supreme Court judges Justice A.G. Masih and Justice Joymalya Bagchi will today interact with law students during a candid conversation on the theme

From Classrooms to Courtrooms: Syllogisms, Stories & Lessons of Life from the Bench, organised by the CAN Foundation as part of the 5th Justice H.R. Khanna Memorial National Symposium

#SupremeCourt Justice Masih: I wanted to be a manager. Had to do my Mba. Well did not meet the cut off list and here I am.

Justice Ujjal Bhuyan of the Supreme Court will shortly deliver the keynote address at the launch of "The Judicial Transparency Index: Assessing Disclosure of Information by the Supreme Court and the High Courts," a report by Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy's JALDI initiative.

A panel discussion will follow, featuring Senior Advocates Aditya Sondhi and Saurabh Kirpal

#SupremeCourt @Vidhi_India launch of "The Judicial Transparency Index: Assessing Disclosure of Information by the Supreme Court and the High Courts," a report by Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy's JALDI initiative released

Delhi High Court to hear today Umar Khalid's bail plea in the Delhi riots conspiracy case.

Hearing before a bench of Justices Prathiba M Singh and Vikas Mahajan.
#UmarKhalid #Delhiriots Bench assembles.

[Bombay High Court hearing constitutional validity of a provision in the Income Tax (IT) Act that grants tax exemption on gifts exchanged between “spouses"]

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta of a petition filed in Karnataka High Court praying for a similar relief.

SG: The plea is verbatim same. The lawyer for the petitioner here, is appearing there also. The learned ASG of Karnataka has started arguments and matter has remained part-heard. So, I have called for those papers so that our affidavits may not clash. Since that is part-heard and the counsel is common, I would request to have this on some other day.

#BombayHighCourt #IncomeTax #SameSex Advocate Dhruv Janssen-Sanghavi for the petitioners: The issue over there is identical in many ways, but slightly different in the in terms of the facts. But I do not think that bars one high court from deciding the issue.

#BombayHighCourt #IncomeTax #SameSex

Supreme Court to shortly resume hearing petitions challenging the 2023 law that replaced the Chief Justice of India with a Cabinet Minister on the selection panel for appointing the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners.

Bench: Justices Dipankar Datta and SC Sharma Hearing expected to commence at 2pm.

Supreme Court hears plea against the use of Pellet guns on protesting students at Jantar Mantar and other areas

Adv Vrinda Grover: It has a kinetic metallic projectile

Justice Joymalya Bagchi: But police rules allows the use in exceptional circumstances unless you challenge the rules itself.. one of the steps of graded approach is use of pellet guns

Grover: Give me 2 minutes. there can be rubber, plastic and metallic pellets. These were metallic and recovered from the bodies. Nature of the crowd will determine use of this as well. Was it a violent mob? No. These metallic pellets were fired.

@CPDelhi @Cockroachisback #SupremeCourt Justice Bagchi: We are not averse to examine use of pellets in an individual use. you have to show us if graded response use of pellets can be allowed when even bullets are used in some situations. If your convict uses a bullet...

CJI: in light of alleged excessive use.. your prayer should be that court lays down a protocol regarding the use

Grover: Yes only metallic pellets

Justice Bagchi: In Calcutta HC there was a rule that bullets should be fired at the chest to preserve amunition and not any other body area

SG: must be some colonial era..

Justice Bagchi: that rule was struck down. So you have to show us rules where use of pellets is arbitrary, etc.

#SupremeCourt begins hearing the batch of petitions challenging the reinstatement of the three-year minimum practice requirement for recruitment to the post of Civil Judge (Junior Division)

Senior Advocate Pinky Anand: if this happens then good people will not enter the profession. Women will not come.

We have suggestions... Selected candidates undergoing training for the post of Civil Judge may be attached, for a specified period, to designated Senior Advocates, Government Pleaders, Advocates General, Standing Counsel, and Assistant Legal Aid Defence Counsel under the Legal Aid Defence Counsel (LADC) Scheme, 2022.

A similar system has been adopted in Germany, where a candidate aspiring to judicial office must complete a university law degree followed by preparatory training under Section 5b of the German Judiciary Act, 1932. The training lasts for two years and includes placements in civil courts, criminal courts, public prosecution offices and other legal institutions.

At present, State Judicial Academies follow different induction and training systems. There is a need for a uniform national training framework, either through the National Judicial Academy or a permanent committee headed by the Chief Justice of India as ex officio Chairperson, to continuously develop and standardise training modalities for the subordinate judiciary.

We have also suggested reforms in legal education, including:

Optional, structured six-month practice modules during the three-year and five-year law degree programmes;

Specialised degree courses for judicial aspirants to identify, train and expose them to high-quality judicial education from the university stage itself. One such example is the BA LL.B. (Adjudication and Justicing) programme offered by an MNLU.

It is imperative that this issue is flagged. Ultimately, the merit, competence and ability of a Civil Judge are of concern to both the Bar and the Bench.

Accordingly, it is suggested that Civil Judges (Junior Division) be provided scholarships, administrative leave for higher legal education and specialisation, both in India and abroad, as well as opportunities for exchange programmes, placements and deputation. Sr Adv Anand: We have to bring the judges at the correct age.

Delhi High Court refuses to entertain a petition seeking withdrawal of a pending enquiry from the administrative control and supervision of police officer Sandeep Lamba, who was seen slapping a woman during the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) protest. The matter was listed before Justice Girish Kathpalia

The petition was filed by a 68 year old woman in a 2025 incident, where she complained of enquiry into illegally detention by police the entire night without any formal warrant or notice.

Supreme Court judge Justice Ujjal Bhuyan in his key note address at the Justice G.P. Singh 4th Memorial Lecture at the National Law University at Bhopal said:

Though I am a part of the Supreme Court, I am an insider. I am critical of the functioning of the Supreme Court to a great extent, and I don't mince my words. Perhaps for this reason, some are not happy, but leave it at that.

#JusticeUjjalBhuyan #SupremeCourt Justice Bhuyan: In a span of over 25 years, this university has established itself as a center of learning and excellence. It has done commendably well, for which the faculty and the students deserve all the praise. But one word I would like to put in: This university has done exceptionally well, there are many universities which are doing well. The question is, where do Indian universities stand today on a global comparison? Why is it that people with means, the first thing they do is to send their students, to send their children abroad? Why? We need to ask this.

#JusticeUjjalBhuyan #SupremeCourt

Sonam Raghuvanshi case: Supreme Court to shortly resume hearing the State of Meghalaya’s plea seeking cancellation of the bail granted to Sonam by the High Court.

Bench: Justices MM Sundresh and PB Varale Sonam is accused for the murder of her husband Raja Raghuvanshi during their honeymoon last year. She was granted bail by a trial court, which was upheld by the High Court.

Read here:

barandbench.com/news/litigatio…

Delhi High Court to hear the appeal filed by Gitanjali Angmo, wife of activist Sonam Wangchuk, challenging a single judge order rejecting her plea to discharge Wangchuk from Safdarjung Hospital and transfer to Medanta Hospital. The matter is listed before Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia.

Can a law graduate be denied enrollment as an advocate merely because there is a pending criminal case against them? Supreme Court hears

Bench: Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and R Mahadevan The case concerns KR Sudersan, a Chartered Accountant by profession who also completed his law degree. When he applied to enroll as an advocate, the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry rejected his application. The Bar Council cited a pending criminal case against him involving Section 120B (criminal conspiracy) read with Section 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).