Heena Sharma Blog

  A PIL in the Delhi High Court Monday urged it to direct the Delhi government to cap the price of High Resolution Computerised Tomography (HRCT) which is used for detecting the presence and severity of COVID-19 infection in the lungs of patients. A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jasmeet Singh issued notice to the Delhi government and sought its stand on the plea by Shivleen Pasricha, a lawyer, who has claimed that for detection of COVID-19 amongst suspected/ probable patients, the most widely recommended test is RT-PCR. "At present, the price for getting HRCT done in Delhi is somewhere between Rs 5,000 to Rs 6,500. As such, regulation of price of the same has become the need of an hour. "That in light of the present gruesome circumstances in Delhi, regulating the price of HRCT, becomes all imperative and necessary," the petition has said. Read More

  The Delhi High Court on Wednesday held that wearing of a mask while driving alone in a private vehicle was mandatory during COVID-19 , noting that the face covering is like a 'suraksha kavach' amid the pandemic. Justice Prathiba M Singh also refused to interfere with the Delhi government's decision to impose challans for not wearing a mask while driving a private vehicle alone and dismissed the pleas challenging the same. The court said the mask was like a 'suraksha kavach' (protective shield) during the prevailing pandemic. Read More

  The Centre on Monday told the Delhi High Court that WhatsApp was treating Indian users differently from its European ones with regard to opting out of its new privacy policy, and this was a matter of concern for the government which is looking into it. The central government told the high court that it was also a matter of concern that Indian users were being "unilaterally" subjected to the change in privacy policy by social networking platform WhatsApp. The submissions were made before Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva by Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma during hearing of a petition by a lawyer against the new privacypolicy of the social networking platform owned by Facebook. Duringthe hearing, Sharma told the court that by not giving Indian users the optionto opt out of sharing their data with other companies of Facebook, WhatsApp prima facie appears to be treating users with an "all or nothing approach". Read More

  The Delhi High Court on Monday said accepting the new privacy policy of social messaging app WhatsApp was a "voluntary" thing and one can choose not to use or join that platform if one did not agree with its terms and conditions. "It is a private app. Don't join it. It is a voluntary thing, don't accept it. Use some other app," Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva said to the petitioner, a lawyer, who has challenged WhatsApp's new privacy policy which was slated to come into effect in February but has been deferred till May. The court also said that if the terms and conditions of most mobile apps are read, "you would be surprised as to what all you are consenting to". "Even Google maps captures all your data and stores it," the court said. The court further said it could not understand what data would be leaked according to the petitioner and since the issue requires consideration, it will be listed on January 25 due to paucity of time

The Delhi High Court on Monday dismissed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) plea seeking revocation of the pardon granted to businessmen and accused-turned-approver Rajiv Saxena in AgustaWestland chopper deal case. Justice C. Hari Shankar, upholding Saxena approver status, said, "Resultantly, I find myself in agreement with the view, expressed by the learned Special Judge, that, before the recording of his statement under Section 306 (4) of the Cr PC, the application, of the petitioner (ED), as preferred before him, was not maintainable." The court noted that a preliminary objection had been advanced by Saxena's counsel RK Handoo that the CrPC does not contemplate "revocation of pardon". Handoo has said that pardon, once granted, can neither be revoked nor withdrawn or cancelled. Read More

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) will conduct Class 12 board exams from February 15 to April 3 and Class 10 board exams from February 21 to March 29. To give students sufficient time between consecutive papers, the CBSE has released the schedule seven weeks before the exam date. The Board said the exam schedule has been fixed in a way that it doesn't coincide with the dates of competitive exams. Last year, the Board had to reschedule the Class 12 physics paper because it clashed with the JEE Main exam date. "While preparing the date sheet, the admission schedule of Delhi University has also been considered," said Dr Sanyam Bhardwaj, Controller of Examinations. Earlier, the Delhi High Court had asked the Delhi University to fix the cut-off dates for admission to under graduate courses only after CBSE results are declared including result for re-evaluation. The CBSE offers 40 vocational subjects in Class 12 and 15 in Class 10. The exams

The plea alleges that certain scenes and dialogues in the show defame former PM Rajiv Gandhi Current Affairs News : The Delhi High Court on Monday sought to know whether it could hear as a PIL a plea claiming that some scenes in the Netflix series "Sacred Games" are derogatory to former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi and should be removed.  A Bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Chander Shekhar asked the petitioner's advocate to first advance his submissions on the point of maintainability of the plea as a public interest litigation (PIL) and listed the matter for further hearing on July 19. The Bench said it has gone through the CD of the series, placed on record by the petitioner, and there was nothing urgent in it as all the episodes have been aired. It also asked how the actors could be held liable for enacting their characters. The court said a person is entitled to express his views, which may be right or wrong, and asked the petitioner to satisfy it

Justice A K Pathak asked Chidambaram to join and cooperate in the questioning session as and when called by the CBI Current Affairs News : The   Delhi High Court   on Thursday granted former Union minister   P Chidambaram   interim protection from arrest till July 3 in the Central Bureau of Investigation's INX Media corruption case. Justice A K Pathak asked Chidambaram to join and cooperate in the questioning session as and when called by the   CBI. The court also sought the investigating agency's response on the Congress leader's anticipatory bail plea and listed the matter for further hearing on July 3. Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the CBI, opposed the anticipatory bail plea saying he was merely called for questioning. Chidambaram had on Wednesday rushed to a trial court for protection from arrest in   Aircel-Maxis case before approaching the   Delhi High Court   in connection with the INX Media case, in which he has b