Nalsar tops India Today: Nalsar Hyderabad displaced NLSIU Bangalore at first place in India’s top 25 law colleges this year according to India Today. NLSIU, Delhi University, NUJS Kolkata, NLIU Bhopal, GNLU Gandhinanar, Symbiosis Pune, NLU Jodhpur, ILS Pune, AMU Aligarh, BHU Varanai and Amity Law School Delhi follow Nalsar, in that order. [Rankings via India Today]

Sweeping marriages: As social media buzz continued about the Madras HC maintenance order on sex and marriages, former Madras HC judge K Chandru “warns against the tendency to make sweeping statements in family matters”, saying that the Justice CS Karnan’s judgment reported yesterday is likely to be “misunderstood” by subordinate courts, which might force people into relationships merely because they have had sexual intercourse. [Times of India] Karnan, in turn, today defended the judgment, saying it was misunderstood, and “not only for the purpose of giving relief to the victim woman, but also to maintain the cultural integrity of India” [Hindu]

Suicidal state of affairs: “Treating a person who is driven to take such a drastic step as a hard-core criminal violates basic human dignity in a way few other actions do,” argues psychiatrist Dr Ashoka Jahnavi Prasad about the law criminalising suicide attempts. He says that India should follow the example of 59 countries who have decriminalised attempted suicide. [Newslaundry]

Anti-PRISM PIL: Ex-Delhi University law prof, Professor SN Singh, files PIL to stop government using US internet companies’ services, and prays for government to take action against for breach of privacy, after US internet companies were revealed to have shared data of non-US citizens with US spies in leaked top secret documents [PTI]

Manu Singhvi disclosures: Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi has dsiclosed an undeclared income of Rs 11 crore and deposited Rs 3.26 crore in tax on it, however the income tax department claims that his actual undisclosed income is Rs 22.86 crore taking his tax liability to Rs 7 crore, for the year 2010-11. IT department investigators suspect undisclosed income from other years as well [Express]

Sha(r)king it off: Chief Justice of India Altamas Kabir says lawyers should foster a more socially responsible image by doing more legal aid work, to avoid being depicted as sharks in cartoons on them [Firstpost]

Burying paid news: The Standing Committee on Information Technology submitted a report to the Lok Sabha on 6 May, on the practice of paid news, and recommended amendments to make the Press Council of India’s decisions binding and paid news an offence. Most media outlets buried the news. [WSJ Blogs]

Malaysia lawyer FIFO ban lifted: Malaysia has lifted its prohibition on foreign lawyers fly-in-fly-out. The Malaysian Bar Council agreed to amend the Legal Profession Amendment Act 2012 on 10 June to lift the ban. The amendment will be implemented by January 2014 [International Lawsociety]

Judge knows best: “The attempt to restore the predominant voice of the political class in judicial appointments and transfers will amount to subverting the basic structure of the Constitution and will be a recipe for disaster,” argues Supreme Court advocate Anil Divan in the Hindu.

HCs v RTI: The high court’s internal administrative decisions cannot be disclosed to an RTI applicant, reiterates the Madras high court [Hindu]

TN NLS late: The Rs 100 crore campus Tamil Nadu National Law School in Trichy, which vowed to admit its first batch of students this year, has still not clearly stated its admission process [TOI]

Doctrine of frustration: A lawyer appointed as friend of the court in a litigation pending for nine years before the Nagpur bench of the Bombay high court, files an application to withdraw the litigation “out of sheer frustration” [TOI]

Compat deposit cemented: The Supreme Court yesterday rejected the plea of cement companies against the Competition Appellate Tribunal’s (Compat) order to deposit Rs 630 crore out of a Rs 6,307 crore penalty that was slapped on them for cartelisation [Telegraph]

Dragon saga ends: Investment bank Goldman Sachs was held professionally negligent by a US court after it sold its client Dragon System’s product - which invented the sophisticated speech recognition software Dragon NaturallySpeaking – to a fraudulent company, but gave no remedy to the husband and wife founders. Tragic 13-year tale. [Dealbreaker / Bloomberg]

Open-air Tihar: Five- to 12-year term inmates in India’s central jail – Tihar – are now eligible for being housed in the open jail, while female inmates will be trained to be employed in beauty parlours after their release [PTI]

Coal scam resignations: Competition Commission of India (CCI) member HC Gupta has resigned. Gupta is likely to face charges in the coal scam during which he was coal secretary. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has received sanction from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) to probe him [ET]

Landing in CCI: After tyre, cement and petrol companies the CCI is now investigating airlines for cartelisation. Jet Airways, SpiceJet, Air India, GoAir and IndiGo have allegedly tried to levy uniform fuel surcharges on air cargo [Business Standard]

De-labouring committee: The apex committee on child labour in India has met only once since its launch today two years ago resulting in about 7 per cent efficiency in rescuing India’s 40,000 child labourers [TOI]

SEBI recommended classes: “One page release on SEBI website on Chandrasekhar Committee reccos on harmonising foreign portfolio investor routes” [SEBI via @thefirmupdate]

Publicity interest litigation? SC judges GS Misra and Madan Lokur told Ranbaxy PIL petitioner advocate ML Sharma, who had prayed for cancellation of its licence for allegedly selling spurious drugs, this his allegations were “unfounded”. The judges told Sharma: “Do some serious research on it and only then, we will see it. You are taking a very serious issue and we should not entertain it just because of its publicity value.” [PTI]

NLS rape trial: Trial in the October 2012 rape of an NLSIU Bangalore student is starting tomorrow (12 June), reports the New Indian Express, thoughtfully reminding readers that it was a “sensational gang rape case” with “eerie parallels to the Delhi gang-rape case”.

Striking lawyers: The Tamil Nadu Advocates Association today boycotted proceedings in the Madras HC to press its demand for the dismissal of the state police chief after he refused to register their complaint against the Kanyakumari district police for attacking lawyers. [PTI]

Creative lobby lawyers? Visiting Harvard Law School researcher Bhargavi Zaveri analyses the Disclosure of Lobbying Activities Bill, which seeks to regulate political lobbying in India where lobbyists often “creatively couch themselves as political aides, public relations officers and advocates for policy change”. Also, he asks, would the Bar Council of India permit lawyers to engage in lobbying practice? [EPW]

Advocates sexiest (too)? The UK’s GQ magazine has ranked criminal barristers (but not solicitors) as having the seventh-sexiest job in the world. “These are proper lawyers,” writes celeb journo and Guardian columnist Victoria Coren, who ‘compiled’ the rankings for the July edition of the magazine. “They wear wigs and gowns, which is pleasingly kinky. And they're constantly resentful that they don't make enough money. All women know that a combination of adrenaline, resentment and strange costumes can make for a truly enjoyable weekend.” [Legal Cheek]