Legal Recap: Uddhav Faction Moves SC, Delhi HC Rules on RBI's Rs 2000 Move

The Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena has approached the Supreme Court, seeking instructions to the Speaker of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly for a prompt decision on the pending disqualification petitions against MLAs associated with both the Chief Minister Eknath Shinde faction and the Thackeray faction.This plea has been filed at a time when Ajit Pawar, a leader from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), along with eight Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) including Praful Patel and Chhagan Bhujbal, have joined the Shinde government.The plea submitted to the Supreme Court has been filed by Sunil Prabhu, an MLA representing the Shiv Sena (Uddhav faction).The Delhi High Court has ruled that as long as ₹2,000 notes remain valid legal tender, the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) instructions to banks about not issuing of such notes from their currency chests cannot be classified as 'demonetisation'.The Division Bench, consisting of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad, observed that the RBI's notification regarding the exchange of ₹2,000 notes mentions that this currency has fulfilled its purpose and that their production was halted during the 2018-19 fiscal year.During a hearing at the Supreme Court, Senior Advocate Harish Salve, representing the directors of realty group M3M said that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has been vested with enormous powers in probing money laundering cases and should be reined in lest it endangers individual liberty."These are drastic powers given to the ED. If Lordships do not rein them in, no one is safe in this country. See how the arrest was done. They were cooperating. Arrest was in violation of my rights then surely this Court can... These powers need to be reined in. 14 days they have been inside," Salve said, according to Bar and Bench.The Supreme Court was considering a set of petitions, including challenges against a recent order by the Delhi High Court. The high court had declined to intervene in the arrest of M3M directors, Basant Bansal and Pankaj Bansal, who were implicated in a money laundering investigation linked to a bribery case involving a former judge.The Supreme Courtdjourned the hearing in a set of appeals filed by the Enforcement Directorate against orders of the Madras High Court, in a habeas corpus petition filed against the arrest of Tamil Nadu minister V Senthil Balaji. This comes after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested him on last month, after a long session of questioning regarding a money laundering case.Earlier in the day, a two-judge bench of the high court delivered a split verdict on the question of whether the arrest of the legislator amounted to illegal detention.The division bench of the Supreme Court, comprising Justices Surya Kant and Dipankar Datta, declined the request of the central agency to decide the legal questions in the case. Instead, they chose to wait for the outcome of the ongoing litigation in the high court, as they had done previously.However, the Supreme Court requested the Chief Justice of the Madras High Court to refer the habeas corpus petition filed by Senthil Balaji's wife, Megala, to a larger bench for an expeditious decision.The Supreme Court deferred the appointment of Justice Umesh Kumar as chairman of Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC), as it agreed to hear the Delhi Government's challenge to his appointment.The former Allahabad High Court judge was previously slated to take oath on Thursday morning.The apex court, however, has listed Delhi Government’s petition challenging Justice Kumar’s appointment for next Tuesday and said:“It is understood that the administration of oath to the former judge shall stand deferred.” The Patiala House court in Delhi has issued a notice to the complainant/father in the POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) case against BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. The court set the date for August 1 and took into account the cancellation report filed by the Delhi Police in the case.Special POCSO judge Chhavi Kapoor issued the notice after reviewing the arguments presented by Special Public Prosecutor Atul Srivastava on behalf of the Delhi Police. The court issued the notice and requested the complainant's response for the upcoming hearing.