Supreme Court 2010 Judgements Highlights

• The year 2010 was a memorable one for the Supreme Court and Chief Justice of India S.H. Kapadia as it asserted its supremacy, particularly in protecting human rights and in exposing corruption at high levels by ordering a thorough probe into the 2G spectrum scam.
• Concerned at poor infrastructure in the subordinate judiciary, the CJI has taken upon himself the task of providing basic facilities to the judiciary at all levels.
  

• In the area of human rights, the court declared "illegal" use of narco-analysis, brain-mapping and polygraph tests on suspects and held that these tests could not be conducted on any person, whether he or she is an accused or suspect, without his or her consent.

• Expanding the scope of Article 21 of the Constitution (right to life and liberty) the court expressed concern over lacunae in implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. It said: "The legislative scheme of the Act clearly places the 'right to livelihood' on a higher pedestal than a mere legal right." It asked the Centre and the Orissa government to show cause why the CBI should not be directed to investigate this matter in accordance with law.

• Observing that great ignominy attached to the arrest of a person, the court held that it would not be proper for the trial court or the High Court to grant anticipatory bail for a limited duration and thereafter ask the accused to surrender and seek regular bail.

Removal of Governor

The court held that a Governor could not be removed on the ground that he/she was out of sync with the policies and ideologies of the Union government or the party in power at the Centre. Nor could he/she be removed on the ground that the Union government lost confidence in him/her.

It held that a change in government at the Centre was not a ground for removal of Governors to make way for others favoured by the new regime.

In the biggest corporate legal battle between the Ambani brothers, the court held that gas is a national asset and that the Centre's pricing policy would prevail over any private agreement.

It directed Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) of the Mukesh group to initiate renegotiations with Reliance Natural Resources Ltd. (RNRL) of the Anil group for fixing the price of gas to be supplied to RNRL. This judgment paved the way for a fruitful settlement of the dispute between the brothers.