Important matters heard by the Supreme Court on Tuesday

Important matters heard by the SC on Tuesday, July 16: * SC castigated Justice (retd) L Narasimha Reddy, the chairperson of the one-man Commission of Inquiry set up to probe alleged irregularities in the power sector during the tenure of ex-Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, for making observations about the merits of the matter at a press conference.

* SC sought responses from the CBI and the ED on AAP leader Manish Sisodia's pleas seeking bail in the corruption and money laundering cases linked to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam.

* SC rapped defaulter states for the delay in verification of migrant labourers registered on the eShram portal for issuance of ration cards and directed them to complete the exercise within four weeks.

* SC agreed to list for hearing the pleas on the vexed legal question of whether a husband should enjoy immunity from prosecution for the offence of rape if he forces his wife, who is not a minor, to have sex.

* SC sought responses from Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh within six weeks on a plea seeking an investigation into illegal sand mining cases and the termination of leases of entities involved in it.

* SC will on July 22 hear the Haryana government's plea challenging a high court order giving it a week to remove barricades at the Shambhu border near Ambala where farmers have been camping since February 13.

* SC judge Sanjay Kumar recused himself from hearing a plea challenging the arrest of Hyderabad-based businessman Abhishek Boinpally in a money laundering case related to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam. PTI MNL DIV DIV