Important matters heard by Supreme Court on Dec 17

Important matters heard by the Supreme Court on Tuesday, December 17: * SC granted bail to an alleged middleman arrested in connection with a money laundering case linked to alleged irregularities in Rajasthan's Jal Jeevan Mission scheme.

* SC set aside the death sentence imposed on a convict in a sexual assault and murder case of a four-year-old minor boy in 2016, and substituted it with a 25-year jail term without remission.

* A synopsis cannot run into 128 pages, SC said and asked its registrar (judicial) to take note, particularly in cases where litigants were allowed to appear in person.

* Allahabad High Court judge Shekhar Kumar Yadav, who purportedly gave controversial statements at a Vishwa Hindu Parishad function, appeared before the Supreme Court collegium on Tuesday, sources said.

*Considering the plight of the hassled homebuyers, SC asked the Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority (GNIDA) to submit a proposal for grievance redressal and imposed Rs 5 lakh cost on it for failing to file a timely response.

* Calling it a "ruthless order", SC set aside an NGT verdict directing the removal of a centre for leprosy patients running since 1960 in Pune.

* SC set aside an order of the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission which reduced the amount of payable insurance from Rs 5.02 lakh to Rs 53,543 for an insured vehicle that met with an accident in 2013.

* In a significant judgment, SC said unauthorised constructions cannot be legitimised merely due to administrative delays, passage of time, or monetary investments and issued a slew of directions to curb illegal constructions. PTI PKS NB