Important cases heard by the Supreme Court on Thursday, April 17: * The Centre on assured the Supreme Court that it will neither denotify waqf properties, including “waqf by user”, nor make any appointments to the central waqf council and boards till May 5.

* In a major relief, the Supreme Court extended till December 31 the services of terminated teachers found untainted by the CBI.

* The Supreme Court held homebuyers have a right to protest peacefully against builders for their grievances and it doesn’t amount to defamation.

* The Supreme Court deprecated lawyers for filing “bulky” appeals which run into a number of pages and annexing unnecessary documents.

* The Supreme Court slammed for its “casual approach” the AIIMS medical board, constituted to assess the condition of the kin of a convict in the Nitish Katara case.

* The Supreme Court hinted at appointing an inquiry commission for a “deeper probe” into the affairs of sports associations in the country and said aside from sporting activities “all kinds of things are happening” in them.

* The Supreme Court granted three more weeks to the Election Commission to respond to the pleas of Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh and others against the recent amendments to the 1961 election rules.

* The Supreme Court agreed to examine the contentious issue of whether Muslims can be governed by secular Indian succession law to deal with ancestral properties instead of the Shariat without renouncing their faith.

* The Centre informed the Supreme Court that a forensic report on the authenticity of leaked audio clips alleging the role of former Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh in the ethnic violence in the state was ready and would be filed shortly in a sealed cover.

* Observing that road accidents are on the rise, the Supreme Court directed states and Union Territories to develop swift response protocols so that victims get help immediately. PTI SJK RHL