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  • Allahabad HC said that the UP Police is acting as law unto themselves as they detained a person unlawfully even before his arrest
  • Kolkata witnesses traffic snarls on the first day of the Durga Puja festival as revellers start pnadal-hopping
  • Neha Bora was subsequently released and Dipke is to appear before a magistrate today at noon
  • Delhi Police detained Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke, Neha Bora of AISA, student leaders and supporters ahead of a rally in Connaught Place demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar's resignation. The protest followed the detention and jailing of two CJP leaders earlier in the week over demonstrations at Jantar Mantar
  • The Reserve Bank of India is considering further monetary tightening to counter capital outflows and increase the cost of betting against the rupee, according to bankers and analysts cited by Reuters. The measures follow recent rate increases and steps to drain liquidity as pressure on the currency and inflation concerns persist
  • India directed oil marketing companies to stop diverting sugar-based feedstocks for ethanol production in the 2026–27 supply year, according to a new tender issued on Friday. The companies have invited bids for 11 billion litres of ethanol made from alternatives including corn and broken rice, amid concerns about domestic sugar supplies and prices
  • Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said India's trade imbalance with China was growing sharply and attributed the problem partly to restrictions on Indian goods and services entering the Chinese market. China subsequently said it was ready to work with India to address mutual economic and trade concerns; India's trade deficit with China reached $69 billion in the first half of FY2026–27, up 27% year-on-year
  • Indian equity benchmarks extended their recovery on Friday, with the Sensex rising 413.66 points to close at 74,729.27 and the Nifty 50 gaining 148.80 points to settle at 23,146.15. Information technology shares, including Tech Mahindra, Infosys and TCS, helped lift the indices
  • India defeated Zimbabwe by four wickets in the opening women's T20 International in Raipur, taking a 1–0 lead in the three-match series. Deepti Sharma and Niki Prasad combined in an 82-run stand after India's top order collapsed, helping the hosts chase down Zimbabwe's total of 114 for five
  • Indian wrestler Komal won bronze in the women's 59 kg category at the Under-23 World Wrestling Championships in Las Vegas, defeating Kazakhstan's Viktoriia Khusainova 7–2. Fellow Indian Amruta Pujari advanced to the women's 72 kg final after recording two pinfall victories
  • Indian shuttler Jagsher Singh Khangurra secured a bronze medal at the BWF World Junior Badminton Championships in Cairo
  • The Supreme Court of India upheld the Bombay High Court's decision quashing the 2020 write-off of ₹8,415 crore in additional tier-1 bonds issued by Yes Bank (Yes Bank). The court ruled that the bank's administrator lacked the authority to extinguish the bonds under the final reconstruction scheme, strengthening bondholders' claims
  • The Supreme Court issued notices to the Election Commission of India, Delhi Police and opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav, in separate petitions concerning electoral-roll revision and protests held in Delhi on October 10–12. The court also directed the preservation of CCTV footage linked to allegations of police excesses
  • The Supreme Court ruled that a person converting from Hinduism to Islam cannot automatically claim backward-class reservation benefits in the new religious community solely on the basis of their previous caste status. The judgment upheld the Madras High Court's decision striking down a 2024 Tamil Nadu government order that permitted such certification for specified communities
  • The Election Commission of India ordered a Special Summary Revision of electoral rolls in 14 states and three Union Territories, using January 1, 2027, as the qualifying date for voter eligibility. The draft rolls are scheduled for publication on November 12, claims and objections will be accepted until December 11, and the final rolls are due on January 4, 2027
Delhi HC refuses to ban CJP's Tiranga rally at Central Park in Connaught Place today /////// Police says will control and regulate it /////// NDMC closes the park for the public on Friday and Saturday
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Why It Took So Long And Why Were There So Many Twists & Turns?

By A Special Correspondent
First publised on 2024-04-12 14:31:12

What happens when courts reverse earlier decisions, including an arbitral award, multiple times? Ease of doing business and the confidence of companies in policies and rule of law goes for a toss. Valuable time is lost and capital remains blocked. This is what happened in the case between government-owned public utility Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) and Delhi Airport Metro Express Private Limited (DAMEPL), a Reliance Infrastructure subsidiary owned by Anil Ambani. In 2008, DAMEPL had entered into an agreement with DMRC to develop the Airport Express line for the Delhi Metro. Due to some differences over curing of defects, DAMEPL terminated the agreement, forcing DMRC to invoke the arbitration clause in 2012. The arbitration panel voted in favour of DAMEPL in 2017. DMRC approached the Delhi HC which upheld the award. But on appeal, a division bench of the same court set it aside. The matter reached the Supreme Court and in 2021, the apex court reversed the Delhi HC division bench order to uphold the arbitral award and ordered DMRC to pay Rs 2782.3cr plus interest till the date of payment (which now stands at nearly Rs 8000cr) to DAMEPL. Now, the Supreme Court has set aside its 2021 order and DMRC is not to pay anything to DAMEPL.

In reversing its earlier decision, the apex court was of the view that there was a "miscarriage of justice" in the earlier order and it "erred in interfering with the decision of the Division Bench of the High Court". This, the court said, had resulted in saddling a "public utility with an exorbitant liability". It also said that the Delhi HC division bench was right in holding that the award was "perverse, irrational and patently illegal" and had "overlooked crucial facts and evidence on record".

Although the latest order will be music to the ears of the DMRC management and rights a blatant wrong which could have resulted in a private company getting "undeserved windfall", the case holds many lessons for policy makers and regulators and even the judiciary. It took too long to arrive at a closure - such cases should be decided faster and if the courts are pressed for time, there is an urgent need for an independent regulator for such cases. 

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