Constitutional law

The conflict between the right of media to report criminal proceedings by pronouncing innocence or guilt of the parties, and its impact on the individual’s right to dignity, reputation and privacy, under the constitution was examined by a Five Judge Bench of the High Court of Kerala, in Dejo Kappan v Deccan Herald & Others [2024:KER:82715].

The Record of the Trial Court should not be referred to as Lower Court Record (LCR). Instead, it should be referred as the Trial Court Record (TCR), says the Supreme Court (SC) in Sakhawat & Another v State of Uttar Pradesh [2025 INSC 777].

A perverse verdict may probably be defined as one that is not only against the weight of evidence but is altogether against the evidence. Perverse can be defined as “turned the wrong way”; not right; distorted from the right; turned away or deviating from what is right, proper, correct, etc, says the SC in Ramakant Ambalal Choksi vs Harish Ambalal Choksi [2024 INSC 910].

In the Constitutional Bench decision in Supreme Court Bar Association vs Union of India & Another [AIR 1998 SC 1895], the Supreme Court (SC) held that wider the amplitude of the power of the SC under Article 142, the greater is the need for it to see that the power is used with restraint.

Every constitutional authority, howsoever high he or she remains, comes under the powers of judicial review of the constitutional courts. The scope of judicial review may vary, but no power is beyond the purview of the courts, says the Supreme Court (SC) in The State of Tamil Nadu v The Governor of Tamil Nadu [2025 INSC 481].

The Supreme Court (SC), in Canara Bank v Ajithkumar G K [2025 INSC 184], says indigence of the dependants of the deceased employee is the fundamental condition to be satisfied under any scheme for appointment on compassionate ground.

The service matters concerning recruitment and service conditions of state employees, including suspension review, fall within exclusive jurisdiction of administrative tribunal, which must be approached first before directly seeking high courts intervention in such matters, says the High Court of Kerala in Sadiq M M v State of Kerala [2025:KER:251].

Illegal promotions granted in the past cannot serve as a basis for continuing illegal promotions, says the Supreme Court ( SC) in Jyostnamayee Mishra v The State of Odisha & Others [2025 INSC 87].

Compassionate appointment is not a vested right. A claim for compassionate appointment by the dependent of the deceased employee may not be entertained after a lapse of a considerable period since the death, says the Supreme Court (SC) in State of West Bengal v Debabrata Tiwari & Ors.

Eligibility criteria for the selection process notified at the commencement of the recruitment process cannot be changed midway during the recruitment process unless the extant rules so permit, says the Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court in Tej Prakash Pathak & Others v Rajasthan High Court & Others [2024 INSC 847].

The Supreme Court (SC) says that a Writ Petition under Article 226 of the Constitution cannot be entertained against a private education society for adjudication of private service disputes, in Army welfare education society, New Delhi v Sunil Kumar Sharma & Others [2024 INSC 501].

The distinctions between Article 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India have been clearly spelt out in the three-member Bench judgement of the Supreme Court (SC) in Radhey Shyam v Chhabi Nath. The SC, based on some survey, found that the distinction between the two jurisdictions stands almost obliterated in practice.