Author: kkslawoffices

The Competition Commission of South Africa (Commission) has referred a complaint to the Appellate Tribunal against Sasol Gas (Pty) Ltd. (Sasol) for excessive pricing, with mark-ups of up to 72%, of natural piped gas. Sasol is the only supplier of natural piped gas in South Africa and supplies gas to gas traders and end-users in the country through pipelines. Commission relied on publicly available information, like gas landing cost that Sasol provides to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission each financial year, to assess the prices charged by Sasol. Commission was set to prosecute Sasol, but owing to procedural bar, that only affords the Commission a period of one year to investigate a complaint, it referred the complaint to the Appellate Tribunal.

The Allahabad High Court (AHC) in a plea to terminate a 25-week pregnancy of a juvenile rape victim held that a woman cannot be forced to give birth to the child of a man who had sexually assaulted her. The AHC noted that Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971 has specifically laid down rape and minority of the mother as grounds to terminate a pregnancy up to 24 weeks. Further, the AHC, directing a medical hospital to examine the victim, noted that constitutional Courts have allowed the termination of pregnancies beyond 24 weeks in exceptional cases.

The Swedish Competition Authority (Konkurrensverket) found two companies, Frigoscandia AB and the Norrmejerier Cooperative, to have concluded a collaboration agreement in the market for temperature-controlled transport in northern Sweden, from 2011 till 2021, including an agreement to refrain from competing for one another’s customers. Frigoscandia AB reported the breach to the Konkurrensverket and thus, claimed immunity under the Swedish leniency programme. Therefore, Konkurrensverket imposed SEK 7 million in administrative fines on Norrmejerier Cooperative.

The Delhi High Court (DHC) has rejected an appeal filed by PepsiCo. against the order of Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Authority (Authority) that revoked PepsiCo.’s registration for a potato variety grown exclusively for its Lay’s potato chips. The Authority had revoked the registration on the grounds that the Certificate of Registration had been issued based on incorrect information regarding the date of the first sale of FL 2027 potato plant variety and its categorization been marked as “new” instead of “extant.”

The Belgian Competition Authority (BCA) has sent statement of objections to three private security sector companies, Securitas, G4S and Seris Security, after forming a preliminary view that these entities have been involved in cartelization in private security services market. According to BCA these companies have, for several years, engaged in fixing minimum prices determined within the sectoral trade association, exchanges of information and coordination in tenders and reciprocal non-solicitation agreement for each other’s employees

The Telangana High Court (Tel. HC) has held that the Telangana Eunuchs Act, 1919 (Act) regress into the private sphere of an individual and violates fundamental rights of the Transgender (Eunuchs) on the ground that it criminalises the entire community of Eunuchs. Therefore, the Tel. HC opining that “This legislation is violative of the human rights of the third gender community besides it is an intrusion into their private sphere as well as an assault on their dignity. It is thus offensive of both the right to privacy and the right to dignity of transgender persons. It is not only violative of Article 14 but is also clearly violative of Article 21 of the Constitutional of India” held the Act unconstitutional.

The Supreme Court (SC), setting aside the order passed by the Madras High Court (Mad. HC) under section 482 of Cr.PC. quashing the order passed under section 14 of the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002 (SARFEASI Act) on the ground that the Magistrate’s order was passed ex-parte, opined that “any remedy against such order can be availed only under the SARFAESI ACT, 2002”.

The Supreme Court (SC) set aside an interim order passed by the Division Bench of Calcutta High Court (Cal. HC) directing fresh selection of 32,000 teacher posts, before the end of August 2023, in relation to School Jobs for Cash Scam in West Bengal. The SC, setting aside Cal. HC order, accepted the fact that call for selection and interview of 32,000 teachers within the time frame would not be possible and that it would be an expensive exercise.

The Supreme Court (SC), in an appeal against the Allahabad High Court order reducing the quantum of sentence from 10 years, under aggravated penetrative sexual assault, to 7 years under penetrative sexual assault, despite the fact that section 5(m) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO Act) provides that penetrative sexual assault on a child less than 12 years old would amount to aggravated sexual assault, held that “When a penal provision uses the phraseology “shall not be less than….”, the Courts cannot do offence to the Section and impose a lesser sentence. The Courts are powerless to do that unless there is a specific statutory provision enabling the Court to impose a lesser sentence.”

The Supreme Court (SC) has held that the right to possess land in notified reserved forests is not only limited to Adivasis, notified forest-dwellers or backward communities alone, but also extend to those having legitimate claims over the forest land. SC while pointing out that “these other groups, who do not get recognition under the law as a forest dwelling community due to several socio-political and economic reasons, are also an integral part of the said forest communities and are essential to their functioning,” further, held that even persons not belonging to such notified communities have a right to be heard before they are evicted from the forest land they possess.