Important cases heard in Supreme Court on Monday

Important cases heard in the Supreme Court on Monday, January 2:

* In a big win for the Narendra Modi government, the SC, in a 4:1 majority verdict, gave its stamp of approval to the Centre’s 2016 decision to demonetise the Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 denomination currency notes, saying the decision-making process was neither flawed nor hasty.

* SC sought to know the status of cases pending before different high courts challenging controversial state laws regulating religious conversion due to interfaith marriages and said if all cases are similar in nature, it may transfer them all to itself.

* SC refused to entertain a plea by West Bengal minister Birbaha Hansda challenging a Calcutta High Court order which banned registration of fresh FIRs against BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari without its prior permission.

* SC agreed to hear on January 4 the Uttar Pradesh government’s appeal challenging an Allahabad High Court order quashing its draft notification on urban local body elections and directing it to hold the polls without reservation for Other Backward Classes.

* SC ordered an ad-interim stay on an Allahabad High Court order convicting former Uttar Pradesh MLA Mukhtar Ansari for threatening a jailer with a pistol in hand and sentencing him to seven years in jail.

* SC refused to entertain a plea of a man, who was earlier detained “illegally” in the UAE over mistaken identity, seeking framing of guidelines to ensure the safety of Indians in foreign countries.