Important cases heard in the Delhi High Court on Tuesday, February 20:
* Seeking to resolve the stand-off over the suspension of seven BJP MLAs, HC asked them whether they were prepared to apologise to the lieutenant governor for repeatedly interrupting his address to the legislative assembly that prompted action against them.
*HC dismissed an appeal by Jharkhand Mukti Morcha chief Sibu Soren against an order refusing to interfere with the proceedings initiated against him by the Lokpal on the basis of a complaint by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey.
*HC sought responses from the Centre and the Delhi government on a plea challenging the constitutional validity of various provisions of the law which allows manual scavenging and creates an “unreasonable classification” between those cleaning sewers and septic tanks manually and those doing it while using protective devices.
*HC said right to adopt a child cannot be raised to the status of a fundamental right under Article 21 of the Constitution and the prospective adoptive parents do not have any right to choose who to adopt.
*HC observed that illegal construction is going on in the heart of the national capital at a scale previously unheard of, despite multiplicity of authorities and an elaborate system of checks and balances.
*HC said “gross delay” in finally deciding the case shows a “sorry state of affairs” in the constitutional courts where poor are forced to fight tooth and nail to get justice.
*HC rejected a plea seeking a direction to Centre to notify the details of the “Designated Officers” of the social media intermediaries like Facebook in terms of the Information Technology Rules of 2009.
