National

A three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant on 1 September invoked Article 142 to close all FIRs over the July protests linked to the NEET-UG 2026 paper leak. The court also directed the Centre to frame a pan-India policy to compensate the families of students who died by suicide after the leak.

The Supreme Court held on 3 September that the Bar Council of India and its chairperson Manan Kumar Mishra have no jurisdiction to discipline or penalise law students, and that only the universities where they are enrolled may act. The ruling came over the BCI’s action against NALSAR students who had protested a convocation invitation.

More than six crore names have been removed in the third phase of the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, covering 16 States and three Union Territories. Draft rolls for the 17 States and UTs published so far show the electorate falling 15.7%, from 35.50 crore at the 2024 Lok Sabha election to 29.93 crore.

The Union government on 5 September advanced the Population Enumeration phase of Census 2027 in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Goa to 16 November 2026 to 4 January 2027, ahead of the nationwide enumeration set for February 2027. The Census in Manipur was formally deferred “till further declaration”.

The regulation creating a permanent Bench of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court in Ladakh, promulgated by the President on 27 August, came into force on 5 September. Lieutenant-Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena called it a historic step that will cut the long travel now needed for litigants from the Union Territory’s remote areas.

A special NIA court in Jagdalpur, Chhattisgarh, convicted ten Maoists on 5 September for the 2013 Jheeram Valley attack in Sukma, one of the deadliest Maoist strikes in the country. Twenty-seven people, including senior Congress leaders of the State, were killed when their convoy was ambushed while returning from a rally.

Hearing a petition by advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay on 1 September, the court asked the Centre to respond on using totalisers — machines that aggregate votes from several EVM control units without revealing booth-wise trends — as a fall-back option. The Election Commission opposed the move, citing the absence of any legal framework.

The Central Bureau of Investigation carried out searches at 89 locations across 20 States on 4 September in three cases of ‘digital arrest’ cyber fraud, in which callers posing as police or investigating officers confine victims on video calls and extort money.

The Tamil Nadu Assembly adopted a resolution on 3 September seeking recognition of Tamil as the principal language of the Madras High Court. Under Article 348 of the Constitution, the use of a regional language in a High Court requires the previous consent of the President.

The Consumer Affairs Ministry notified the Legal Metrology (Indian Standard Time) Rules, 2026 on 27 August, making IST the single reference for legal, administrative, commercial and other official purposes across the country. The rules come into force 180 days after publication in the Official Gazette. They stress reducing dependence on foreign satellite-based time sources and enable the use of NavIC, India’s indigenous satellite navigation system.

The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2026, published on 23 August, inserts Section 9D barring States from imposing taxes, cesses or other levies on mineral rights and mineral-bearing lands without the Centre’s authorisation. The Jharkhand unit of the Congress staged a Statewide protest on 27 August. Former Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik wrote to BJP MPs on 29 August seeking a reversal, saying control over the State’s minerals had been taken away.

The 60-member Meghalaya Assembly adopted a resolution on 26 August opposing uranium mining and the establishment of any uranium ore-processing facility in the State. Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma moved the resolution. Local communities in Domiasiat, Lostoin, Mawthabah and Wahkaji in South West Khasi Hills district have resisted exploration since the Atomic Minerals Directorate drilled there in 1993.

The Mizoram Assembly unanimously adopted the Mizo patriotic song “Ro Min Rel Sak Ang Che” as the official State song on 27 August. Chief Minister Lalduhoma moved the resolution.

The Special Intensive Revision in Karnataka removed more than 1.07 crore names from the draft electoral rolls, the largest deletion reported in the exercise so far. The scale of the deletions drew objections from the Opposition, and the Supreme Court sought data on appeals in the parallel West Bengal revision as municipal elections approached.

The Petroleum Ministry has paused the release of new LPG connections, calling it a temporary measure forced by the geopolitical situation. Distributors are pushing 5-kg free-trade cylinders and 10-kg composite cylinders as alternatives. Six months into the war, the Strait of Hormuz remains practically closed: average flows are about 0.25 million barrels a day against 15 million before the conflict.