Supreme Court Observer

🌆 Good evening! Here’s the first SCO.LR of the month! Volume 6 Issue 1 brings you key judgments from the first week of June 2025. Judgements this week deal with how courts should assess circumstantial evidence, their power to enhance sentences, the use of preventive detention and the recognition of criminal conduct equivalent to extortion. We’ve also launched a brand new SCO.LR page—now in HTML format. You can link to individual paragraphs in your research and assignments. Just look for the 🔗 on the right! Tell us if SCO.LR has helped your work or how we can make it better. Write to us at admin@scobserver.in. Happy reading! https://www.scobserver.in/journal/sco-lr-2025-volume-6-issue-1/

🌄 Good Morning! 🏛️ Last month, the Supreme Court reinstated its old logo with the Sarnath Lions. 👨🏻‍⚖️This replaces the insignia with a navy blue background and the Court's rotunda emerging from the Constitution unveiled by then Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud in September 2024. Does this mark a return to the Court's austere roots? Find out here: https://bit.ly/3ZY8I6D ⚖️ When CJI Chandrachud had unveild the new insignia of the Court, we had explored the value of judicial symbolism: https://bit.ly/3XART0O 🏗️ Does the Court's dome, design and architecture have hidden meanings? Legal historian Rahela Khorakiwala wrote about it as part of our special series commemorating 75 Years of the Court: https://bit.ly/4ku578D

🌳 Good Morning! 🏛️ On 20 May, the Supreme Court directed all states and Union Territories to identify and designate Protection Officers to oversee the implementation of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005. 📑 We the Women of India, an NGO had filed a petition praying for the Court to direct the Union and states to appoint Officers and provide ‘shelter homes’ under Sections 4 to 11 of the Act: https://bit.ly/43ID4eA 🌼 In May 2025, the Court saw three appointments, two retirements and released key data on judicial appointments for the first time. More in our monthly review: https://bit.ly/43JQS8v

✨ Good Morning! 🗓️ The Court recently renamed its Vacation Days as Partial Court Working Days. But, is this indicative of a change in approach to work during the summer break? We explore: https://bit.ly/4kNYsWz 🏛️ A closer look suggests that though the Court may have officially done away with the word ‘vacation’, with its evocation of idleness, it may not be enough to erase the feeling that the Court needs to be more ‘productive’. More in our latest newsletter: https://bit.ly/3SzsNw7 👨🏻‍⚖️ The summer vacation commenced just a little over a week after CJI Gavai assumed office. In our latest video, we decode what lies ahead for the new Chief when the Court resumes work with full functionality in July: https://bit.ly/459lMcR

🌅 Good Morning! 👩‍⚖️ On 30 May, Justices N.V. Anjaria, Vijay Bishnoi and A.S. Chandurkar took oath as judges of the Supreme Court. They were recommended by the Collegium led by Chief Justice B.R. Gavai on 26 May. Their appointments were notified by the Union in three days. 📍 With this, the Gujarat and Bombay High Courts now have three judges on the Supreme Court Bench. The Rajasthan High Court also sees an increase in representation from one to two judges. 🎥 What do these elevations bring to the top court? Watch our explainer here: https://youtu.be/QiEHeim0Vp8?si=BgSCaYobNLiWJJEy

🌼 Good Morning! 🗓️ The Supreme Court recently renamed Vacation Benches as “Partial Court Working Days Benches." But is this enough to combat the feeling that the Court needs to be more ‘productive’? We explore in our latest newsletter: https://bit.ly/3SzsNw7 📜 The latest Issue of the Supreme Court Observer Law Reports (SCO.LR) is now up. We summarise five key Judgements from the last week of May. Read them all on our new HTML pages here: https://bit.ly/4kSbYst 🏛️ The recently appointed three judges increase representation from the Gujarat, Rajasthan and Bombay High Courts at the Supreme Court. We explore what regional representation at the top court looks like here: https://bit.ly/43B6j2U

🌆 Good evening! We’re pleased to present *Volume 5, Issue 4* of the Supreme Court Observer Law Reports (SCO.LR). In this edition, we spotlight five significant Supreme Court decisions delivered in the final week of May. The judgements cover a diverse range of issues: the legality of imposing dual taxes on broadcasting services, evolving standards for lawful arrest, the state’s liability in POCSO-related matters, the delicate balance between population control measures and maternity benefits and the enforcement of PUCL guidelines on police encounters. All featured decisions are now available in HTML format on our newly launched SCO.LR page. Judgements are organised in reverse chronological order by date of delivery. You’ll also find access to earlier issues and their decisions on the same page: https://www.scobserver.in/supreme-court-observer-law-reports-scolr/ Explore the latest developments—start reading now: https://www.scobserver.in/journal/sco-lr-2025-volume-5-issue-4/

🪾Good Morning! 📹 Last week, the Supreme Court initiated contempt proceedings against journalist Ajay Shukla. It took suo moto cognisance after his scandalous remarks against a senior Supreme Court judge on his YouTube channel. The Bench directed YouTube to take down the video immediately: https://bit.ly/43Ib5vA 6️⃣ Three new judges joined the Court last week. With the Court now at its sanctioned full strength of 34 judges, we wrote about regional representation on the Bench. Judges from 6 out of 25 high courts have not been recommended for elevation since 2018: https://bit.ly/43B6j2U 3️⃣ Find out more about the three new judges: https://bit.ly/4kB7W7r

🌼 Good Morning! 🏛️Today: Justices N.V. Anjaria, Vijay Bishnoi and A.S. Chandurkar will take oath as judges of the Supreme Court. Read about what their elevation means for the Court: https://bit.ly/4kB7W7r 📃 Read about their career trajectories on our judge profiles page: 👨🏻‍⚖️ Justice Anjaria: https://www.scobserver.in/judges/n-v-anjaria/ 👨🏻‍⚖️Justice Bishnoi: https://www.scobserver.in/judges/vijay-bishnoi/ 👨🏻‍⚖️ Justice Chandurkar: https://www.scobserver.in/judges/a-s-chandurkar/ ⚖️ Recently, in a rare Judgement, the Supreme Court held that imprisoning the POCSO convict would lead to a deterioration of the victim’s life. Find out why: https://bit.ly/4khQfdF

🌄 Good Morning! ❓President Droupadi Murmu recently sought the Supreme Court’s advice under Article 143 on the powers of Governors and the President while granting assent to state bills. We traced 15 past instances of a Presidential reference here: https://bit.ly/4mDhmRS 📜 The 14 questions in the reference stem from the top court's recent decision in the Tamil Nadu Governor case. The Court set timelines within which Governors must make their decision. Were any of the questions in the President's reference answered in the judgement? Find out: https://bit.ly/43ola0m 📖 We've summarised the 415-page decision here: https://bitly.cx/ciC3K

☕ Good Morning! 🏛️ On 30 April 2025, the Supreme Court held that courts have a limited power to modify arbitral awards under Sections 34 and 37 of the Arbitration Act. We published a couple of commentaries by practitioners on the Judgement: 📜 Vikram Hegde and Chitwan Sharma argue that the Judgement offers hope to parties who are thrust into arbitrations without fully understanding the concept. But they also note that it will take legislative recognition to draw a line under the matter: https://bit.ly/4jmhdiI ⚖️ Aditya Vikram Jalan and Durga Priya Manda suggest that though the decision reaffirms speed and economy, it may not be the last we’ve heard from the Court on the topic: https://bit.ly/3Hs6K85

☀️ Good Morning! 📃 Yesterday, the Collegium recommended Justices N.V. Anjaria, Vijay Bishnoi and A.S. Chandurkar to be elevated to the Supreme Court. 👨🏻‍⚖ This is the first Supreme Court recommendation by the Collegium in CJI B.R. Gavai's term. If the Union notifies these appointments, the sitting strength of the Court will be 33 judges. 5️⃣ The recommendation comes days after a reshuffle in the Collegium after the retirement of Justice A.S. Oka. The new Collegium consists of CJI B.R. Gavai with Justices Surya Kant, Vikram Nath, J.K. Maheshwari and B.V. Nagarathna: https://bit.ly/3F2JA7M 📊 We analysed the Collegium trends during the tenure of preceding CJI Sanjiv Khanna: https://bit.ly/43qrEvS

☔ Good Morning! 🏛️ Last week, the Supreme Court granted bail to Ali Khan Mahmudabad, a political science professor at Ashoka University. He had been arrested for a Facebook post on Operation Sindoor. 📜 The Court took special efforts to clarify that the bail was only to facilitate the investigation against him. It also constituted an SIT to probe the post. In our latest newsletter, we explore this Order and the Court's reasoning (or the lack of it): https://bit.ly/4mLlyPE 👨🏻‍⚖️ The Chief Justice of India leads the Collegium, the body responsible for recommending judges to the higher judiciary. Here is a deep dive into the activity of the Collegium led by former CJI Sanjiv Khanna: https://bit.ly/43qrEvS

🌤️ Good Morning! 🎉 We are pleased to announce the launch of the website landing page for the Supreme Court Observer Law Reports (SCO.LR)! Find 5 judgements from the last week in an HTML-friendly, readable format: https://www.scobserver.in/supreme-court-observer-law-reports-scolr/ 👀 Stay tuned for upcoming issues! 👨‍⚖️ Today is Justice Abhay S. Oka’s last working day at the Supreme Court. Justice Oka was elevated in 2021 and had a tenure of almost four years. Our profile: https://bit.ly/43ucGVF ❓ Earlier this month, invoking its advisory jurisdiction, the President referred 14 questions to the Supreme Court on the powers of the Governor. Have some of these questions already been decided? More: https://bit.ly/43ola0m

🌆 Good Evening! 🔊 We are pleased to bring you the Supreme Court Observer Law Reports (SCO.LR) *landing page*—a new space on our website where you can easily access structured summaries of five key Supreme Court judgements each week. ✋🏻This week, we bring you Judgements from 15 to 21 May 2025. 🆕 On our new page, each Judgement is presented in a reader-friendly HTML format. 📃 You can now filter Judgements by Year, Volume and Issue for easy access. Check out our page now: https://www.scobserver.in/supreme-court-observer-law-reports-scolr/ 🔎 Also, find all the Judgements in this week’s SCO.LR here: https://www.scobserver.in/journal/scolr-supreme-court-observer-law-reports-volume-5-issue-3/

⛈️ Good Morning! 🏛️ Today, the Supreme Court will continue hearing challenges to the 2025 Waqf Amendment Act. Yesterday, the Union argued that registration was mandatory for all waqfs, including waqf by user, even before the 2025 amendments. Further, they argued that waqf by user was a statutory right, not a fundamental right: https://bit.ly/3Sg7oYQ ⚖️ Yesterday, the Supreme Court granted interim bail to Ashoka University professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad to assist with the ongoing investigation against him. He had been in judicial custody over two social media posts related to Operation Sindoor. The Bench constituted a three-member SIT to “holistically understand” the context and content of the posts. https://bit.ly/3ZoFmOr

🪴 Good Morning! 🏛 Yesterday, the Supreme Court heard petitions seeking an interim stay on provisions of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025. The petitioners argued that the implementation of the provisions can cause irreparable injury to waqf properties and to the Muslim community: https://bit.ly/3S9NDlA 🗃 Some of the issues include: denotification, eligibility of establishment, deletion of 'waqf by user' properties. We highlighted the key objections and the Union's responses: https://bit.ly/3YkKmDs 📝 This commentary by Rutba Peerzada and Muhammad Mutahhar Amin argues that the amendment contains a few welcome elements of reform but, overall, tilts heavily towards political and bureaucratic control: https://bit.ly/3GyVir8

☔ Good Morning! 🏛️ Recently, the President referred 14 questions about the assent of state bills by Governors and the President to the Supreme Court under Article 143(1). Has the Court already answered these questions in the TN Governor Judgement? We explore: https://bit.ly/43ola0m 🪑The Supreme Court Collegium responsible for recommending judges to the higher judiciary is now led by CJI Gavai. Who else is part of it and what changes could it see during his term? Find out: https://bit.ly/3F2JA7M *Today in Court:* ⚖️ A Bench led by CJI Gavai is scheduled to hear arguments in the challenges to the Waqf Amendment Act 2025. The Court will consider whether interim relief must be granted to the petitioners. More: https://bit.ly/4lOhEFc

🌤️ Good Morning! 🗓️ Last week, Bhushan Ramakrishna Gavai took oath as the 52nd Chief Justice of India. He will serve six months in office before retiring in November. What does his brief tenure have in store for him? We explore: https://bit.ly/3SbbuBm 📃 CJI Gavai inherits from CJI Sanjiv Khanna a 'stable court'. But the former Chief's tenure isn't immune to critique. In our latest commentary, Advocate Kaleeswaram Raj suggests that CJI Khanna did not directly confront the Executive at a time when it was growing in power: https://bit.ly/3YPVKrh 👩‍⚖️ The top court recently altered the process of designating Senior Advocates by removing the points-based evaluation system. Does this mark a retuen to a less transparent system? Read: https://bit.ly/3SFjx9I

☕ Good Morning! 📜 Yesterday, we published *Volume 5, Issue 2* of the Supreme Court Observer Law Reports (SCO.LR). This Issue brings you five key Judgements from 8-14 May. Read here: https://bit.ly/4knEphI 🏛️ Yesterday, a Bench led by Chief Justice B.R. Gavai decided to hear detailed arguments on interim stay of the 2025 Waqf Amendment Act on Tuesday 20 May. Our case background summarises what's at stake: https://bit.ly/4lOhEFc ⚖️ In his brief six-month tenure as Chief, the now retired Sanjiv Khanna took administrative decisions that increased disposal rates, addressed a crisis in the higher judiciary and responded to concerns about Collegium transparency. Advocates Balaji Srinivasan and Rohan Dewan reflect on them here: https://bit.ly/43m9wDv