Important cases heard by the Supreme Court on Friday, October 13:
* The delay in deciding the disqualification petitions against Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Shiv Sena MLAs loyal to him Friday came under strict scrutiny by the Supreme Court which came down hard on the Maharashtra assembly speaker, saying the proceedings cannot be a “charade” and he cannot defeat its orders.
* The Supreme Court sought a report from the medical board of the AIIMS on whether the 26-week foetus of a married woman, who is seeking permission to undergo termination of pregnancy, is suffering from any abnormality.
* The Supreme Court refused to interfere with an order to transfer Justice D C Chaudhary from the regional bench at Chandigarh to Kolkata, saying there was no reason to doubt the “administrative discretion” of the chairperson of the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) who had a “stellar reputation” as a judge.
* Terming child adoption a “human thing”, the Supreme Court flagged the issue of “great delay” in the process and said several children are awaiting adoption in hope of a better life.
* The Andhra Pradesh police told the Supreme Court they will not arrest TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu in the FiberNet case till October 18 due to the pendency his petition related to the Skill Development Corporation scam in the apex court.
* The Supreme Court sought responses from the Centre and others on a plea raising legal and ethical questions over live broadcast of surgical procedures, with the petitioners likening it to Virat Kohli batting and commentating at the same time.
* The Supreme Court sought the response of the Centre and others on a plea by the ad-hoc committee constituted to run the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) challenging a stay imposed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court on holding elections to the wrestling body.
* The Supreme Court junked as “frivolous” a PIL seeking a direction that Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya be sworn in again as the Bombay High Court Chief Justice as the oath was not taken as prescribed under the Constitution.
* The Supreme Court dismissed a PIL challenging Darwin’s theory of evolution and Einstein’s theory of special relativity that expresses the equivalence of mass and energy.
* The Supreme Court sought a response from the Uttar Pradesh government on an appeal filed by gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari challenging an order of the Allahabad High Court sentencing him to five-year imprisonment in a 23-year-old case related to the Gangster Act.
* The Supreme Court dismissed a plea challenging the Delhi High Court’s decision refusing to direct the lieutenant governor to give assent to or return a 2015 bill which proposed a ban on screening children for nursery admissions.
