Important cases heard in Supreme Court on Monday

Important cases heard in the Supreme Court on Monday, December 12: * Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud administered the oath of office to Justice Dipankar Datta as a Supreme Court judge.

* SC asked the Uttar Pradesh government as to how long Ashish Mishra, the son of Union minister Ajay Kumar Mishra, can be kept in custody and directed the sessions court to specify the tentative time schedule for concluding the trial in the October 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence.

* SC sought a response from the Centre and others on a plea challenging the third extension granted to Enforcement Directorate chief Sanjay Kumar Mishra.

* SC bench hearing a petition against forced religious conversions asked the petitioner's lawyer to consider moderating the averments made in the plea after a senior advocate said ''serious and vexatious'' allegations have been made about followers of some religions that they were ''perpetuating rape and murder''.

* SC asked the Odisha government to apprise it as to what steps it is going to take to ensure there is no disruption of court proceedings in the state where members of bar associations in some districts are agitating.

* SC said that it would consider early ''listing by circulation'' of a plea seeking review of its earlier order by which it had asked the Gujarat government to consider the plea for remission of 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano gang-rape case.

* SC refused to entertain a plea filed by jailed Delhi minister Satyendar Jain against an order of the Delhi High Court which sought a response from the Enforcement Directorate on his plea seeking bail in a money laundering case, saying the apex court is not there to fix the HC's roster.

* ''If you reduce public debate to this level, you have to face the consequences,'' the SC said while hearing a petition by Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia challenging a Gauhati High Court order dismissing his plea for quashing a criminal defamation case filed against him by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.

* SC set aside an Allahabad High Court order issuing non-bailable warrants against senior IAS officer and Chief Executive Officer of Noida Ritu Maheshwari in a contempt case related to a land acquisition matter.