Important matters heard by the Supreme Court on Monday, December 2: * The SC refused to relax the emergency measures under Stage 4 of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) dealing with air pollution in the national capital unless a consistent downward trend was noticed in the AQI level.
* The SC stressed on finding a permanent solution to the issue of air pollution in the Delhi-National Capital Region, saying a similar situation arose every year between October and December.
* The SC asked Punjab farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal, who is on a fast-unto-death at the Khanauri border point to press for the acceptance of farmers’ demands, to persuade the protesting farmers not to obstruct highways and cause inconvenience to people.
* The SC expressed concern over reinstatement of DMK leader V Senthil Balaji as Cabinet minister in Tamil Nadu just days after it granted bail in the money laundering case related to the cash-for-job scam, and agreed to examine a plea raising apprehensions on independence of witnesses in the case.
* The SC refused to stay the Kerala High Court’s 2021 decision invalidating the state cabinet’s decision to provide a government job to R Prasanth, son of late CPI(M) MLA K K Ramachandran Nair.
* Taking a dim view of a situation where the wives of top bureaucrats like chief secretaries and district magistrates held ex-officio posts in Uttar Pradesh’s cooperative societies, the Supreme Court asked the state to amend its rules to end the practice reflecting a “colonial mindset”.
* The SC sought the Election Commission’s response on a PIL challenging its decision to increase the maximum number of voters from 1,200 to 1,500 at every polling station, saying no elector should be excluded.
* The SC underlined it was the duty of the court to ensure free legal aid to a person not represented by an advocate and acquitted a rape accused after over 15 years.
* The SC said high courts cannot go into evidence and decide a person’s guilt at the stage of bail in a criminal case.
* The SC agreed to examine the crucial question of whether the Enforcement Directorate (ED) possessed powers under the anti-money laundering law to attach properties in the absence of a prior FIR for scheduled offences.
* In a relief to YSR Congress Party social media in-charge Sajjala Bhargav Reddy, the SC granted protection from arrest to him for two weeks to enable him move the high court for quashing of multiple FIRs lodged against him in Andhra Pradesh.
* The SC granted four weeks to the petitioners to file their stand after the Gujarat government filed its affidavit in the matter over the demolition drive in Gir Somnath district. PTI MNL HIG
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