Madhya Pradesh High Court

Disposing of a public interest litigation, the Madhya Pradesh High Court at Gwalior directed the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways to frame, within 60 days, a policy on plying of e-rickshaws, including their numbers on a city's roads and route permits, and to circulate it to all States (para 3). The Union's and the State's counsel had agreed that the problem is a national one (para 2). Madhya Pradesh must notify a comprehensive policy within 120 days (para 3).

A Division Bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court headed by the Acting Chief Justice struck down the rules and circulars under which directly recruited Class III and IV employees were paid 70%, 80% and 90% of the minimum pay scale in their three years of probation (paras 7-8). Holding that full work must bring full pay and that the scheme discriminated against them, it ordered full salary for the probation period (paras 5, 8).

A Division Bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court at Jabalpur upheld the conviction of Ram Narayan @ Bhanu Dhimar for the rape and murder of a girl aged two years and five months in Shahdol district, but commuted his death sentence to life imprisonment for at least 25 years without remission (paras 94, 97, 99). It also set aside the criminal-intimidation convictions of two co-accused, his wife and Rajkumar Dhimar (para 101).