Clean Chit to Arvind Kejriwal; Anil Ambani; NCERT Textbooks; SpiceJet & More

“In our scheme of things, constitutional morality must outweigh the argument of public morality, even if it be the majoritarian view. For a constitutional court, it is the constitutionality of the issue before it which is relevant and not the dominant or popular view.”
—Supreme Court judge Justice Ujjal Bhuyan while speaking at a seminar in Hyderabad

A Week of Legal Heat for Anil Ambani
It was an eventful week for Anil Ambani who found himself in the eye of a legal storm with multiple probing agencies gathering pace in their investigation against him and his Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group of companies following a Supreme Courtorder.

Shortly after the Bombay High Court permitted tagging Anil Ambani’s accounts as fraud lifting a stay on this action, he also faced action from the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate. While the CBI filed fresh criminal cases, the ED raided and attached his properties.

These agency actions may appear sudden and almost like a pressure tactic but they are not without reason. The top court had earlier rapped the probing agencies over their laxity in the investigation while hearing a PIL by a former bureaucrat. The court asked both the agencies to conduct time-bound and speedy inquiries into the issue, making the raids and attachments along expected lines.

This is not to say that Anil Ambani is not having a particularly scandalous phase currently given his troubles continue to mount from all aspects. Being named in the controversial Epstein files to facing stern action from courts and facing the repercussions of probing agencies’ investigations – Anil Ambani has surely seen better days.    

Key Rulings:

• A Delhi court discharges former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and former ministers like Manish Sisodia from all charges in the liquor policy case

• National Company Law Appellate Tribunal holds that committee of creditors not a juristic person but can litigate in IBC disputes

Courts: 

• A petition challenging some key provisions of the Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India Act (SHANTI Act) has been filed in the Supreme Court

• Supreme Court orders status quo in Byju’s case on the issue of legal status of the company’s committee of creditors

• SpiceJet’s Ajay Singh’s plea against order to deposit 1.44 billion rupees dismissed by the Supreme Court; Singh gets slapped with costs of 100,000 rupees

• In a setback for the Enforcement Directorate, the Supreme Court upholds quashing of money laundering case against Razorpay and rejects the agency’s appeal

• A PIL petition filed in Bombay High Court seeks a court monitored probe in the incident of plane crash that killed Maharashtra’s deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar last month

• Top court bans NCERT textbook with chapter on corruption in judiciary  

• Delhi High Court rejects PIL petition seeking disclosure of details of Air India flight crash on June 2026

• Delhi High Court protects actor Kajol’s, Baba Ramdev’s, and singer Jubin Nautiyal’s personality rights in separate cases

• After years of monitoring the issue, the Supreme Court closes suo moto case it initiated over polluted rivers, noting the matter should have been left to the NGT

• WhatsApp tells Supreme Court it will comply with NCLAT order and give users greater say in their data sharing by March 16

• Aviation ministry tells Supreme Court that the air ticket surge during festivals being examined at highest level

• Bombay High Court permits resumption of action against Anil Ambani in fraud tag case, lifts stay

Others:

• Lok Sabha reconstitutes panel to probe allegations of corruption on Justice Yashwant Varma

The Big Listings:

• Most courts on recess for Holi break

• March 26: NCLT Allahabad to continue hearing case relating to Jaiprakash Associates insolvency case

• Mar 9: Delhi High Court to hear appeal by CBI against discharge of Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, others in liquor policy case

• Mar 16: Supreme Court to hear WhatsApp, Meta and CCI appeals in data sharing policy case 

• Mar 19: Delhi High Court to hear Apple Inc.’s plea against India’s competition law’s provisions on global turnover-based penalties on MNC

• Apr 7: Supreme Court constitution bench to hear Sabarimala temple reference case

• Apr 8: Delhi High Court to hear Indigo’s petition seeking 9 billion rupees in refund from customs over re-imports

• Apr 17: Securities Appellate Tribunal to hear appeal by Jane Street challenging SEBI’s move to allegedly refuse access to important documents to the firm in the case against it

• May 5: Supreme Court to hear challenge to Citizenship Amendment Act

* The dates of hearing can change and a concrete list is prepared just a day before

Legal Moves: 

• Supreme Court collegium recommends:

• Nine advocates to be made judges at the Patna High Court

• Punjab & Haryana High Court judge Justice Lisa Gill to be made chief justice of Andhra Pradesh high court

• Kerala High Court’s judge Justice SA Dharmadhikari to be made chief justice at the Madras High Court

• Prof Shruti Vidyasagar appointed academic dean at Bengaluru School of Law

• Varun Bhutani joins YesMadam as Legal Head

• Sudipta Chakraborty made whole-time director at Sanofi India

• Sharon Thomas made Director and Associate General Counsel at Kroll