Important cases heard in the Supreme Court on Tuesday, March 14
* SC dismissed the Centre’s curative plea seeking an additional Rs 7,844 crore from the Union Carbide Corporation’s (UCC) successor firms to extend higher compensation to the victims of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy that left over 3,000 people dead and caused environmental damage.
* The ruling Eknath Shinde camp in Maharashtra told the SC the rival side led by Uddhav Thackeray wanted the Speaker of the state assembly to “usurp” the powers of the Election Commission when the ultimate test of majority in a democracy- the floor test- was ordered by the governor during the 2022 political crisis.
* SC said the trial in the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence case, in which Union minister Ajay Kumar Mishra’s son Ashish is among those facing prosecution, is not “slow paced” and directed the concerned sessions judge to keep apprising it about the future developments of the trial.
* SC agreed to hear plea of the Karnataka Lokayukta against grant of anticipatory bail by the high court to BJP MLA Madal Virupakshappa, the main accused in the Karnataka Soaps and Detergents (KSDL) contract scam.
* SC said a court is required to be circumspect, separate the chaff from the grain and seek further corroboration from reliable testimony, direct or circumstantial, in cases where evidence is partly reliable and partly unreliable.
