Important cases heard by the Supreme Court on Wednesday, May 17:
* SC granted the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) time till August 14 to complete its probe into the allegations of stock price manipulation by the Adani group and asked the market regulator to place on record an updated status report of the probe.
* Giving the lieutenant governor the power to nominate aldermen to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi will mean he can destabilise an elected civic body, SC observed and wondered whether these nominations were of so much concern to the Centre.
* SC directed the Manipur government to take steps to “foster confidence and ensure peace and tranquillity” in the ethnic violence-hit state, saying it can ensure that the political executive exercises its power and does not turn “a blind eye” to the situation.
* In a relief to Indian Youth Congress president B V Srinivas, SC granted him interim protection from arrest in a case lodged by an expelled woman leader of the party from Assam accusing him of causing mental agony.
* Supreme Court judge Sanjay Karol recused himself from hearing a plea filed by the Bihar government challenging a Patna High Court order granting a stay on the caste survey it was conducting.
*SC adjourned to July 14 the hearing on CBI’s plea that challenged a Karnataka High Court order granting an interim stay on the probe into a disproportionate assets case against Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president D K Shivakumar.
*SC refused to stay the Rajasthan High Court order acquitting four men, who were handed down death penalty by a trial court in the 2008 Jaipur serial blast case.
* SC stayed an order of the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) asking ITC to pay Rs 2 crore to a model as compensation for a faulty haircut at a hotel owned by the conglomerate.
* SC dismissed a plea challenging the Delhi High Court order that restrained the manufacture and sale of sweet beverage concentrate ‘Sharbat Dil Afza’ during the pendency of a lawsuit by Hamdard Dawakhana which sells ‘Rooh Afza’ for alleged trademark infringement.
