Bar, Bench & Litigation

The defence counsel of a man accused of killing and injuring two motorists while driving under the influence of alcohol on Marine Drive, has argued that section 304(II) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) – culpable homicide – could not apply because the accused had no prior intention of hitting the other vehicle.

The accused’s lawyer Satish Meshinde relied on the case of Bollywood actor Salman Khan, who had successfully defended himself in against a charge of culpable homicide in the 2002 alleged drink-driving hit-and-run case in Bandra that killed one pavement dweller and injured three.

Full story at DNA India.

Bar, Bench & Litigation

Advocates from Rajasthan High Court are protesting the most recent exam for the post of additional district judge, in which they allege non-lawyers have been selected. A number of lawyers in Jaipur and 29 colleagues from Jodhpur have announced an “indefinite strike” and kept work at the court suspended yesterday, according to the Times of India. The protesting advocates want the exam voided.

The full Times of India story.

News

Indian qualified lawyers will currently not be able to apply to practise law in England and Wales under the new Qualified Lawyers Transfer Scheme (QLTS) since yesterday (1 September), due to an oversight by the Bar Council of India (BCI), said the countries’ Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA).

Bar, Bench & Litigation

Competition Law

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) is looking into investigating the Commonwealth Games for its award of key contracts, according to the the Financial Express. Unnamed sources told the Financial Express that several contracts were awarded to private players without conducting a fair tendering process. “There are serious competition violations. We are collecting all information on the bidding process following which we will take a decision on whether to conduct a suo moto probe into it or not,” a senior CCI official told the paper, which contravened sections 3 and 4 of the Competition Act 2002.

Read the full Financial Express article.

Law schools

The Bar Council of India (BCI) has published the preparation materials and model questions and answers for the new all India bar exam that is proposed to take place on 5 December 2010.

Law firms

The law ministry is considering setting up a law firm regulator with a code of conduct to govern law firms in order to end the “free environment without any regulations”, reported the Hindustan Times.

Bar, Bench & Litigation

The Supreme Court has reopened the Bhopal gas leak disaster case today after a curative petition filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), seeking harsher punishments for the accused after convictions in June resulted in a two-year suspended jail sentence for those responsible.

Bar, Bench & Litigation

The Chief Justice of India has granted a two month extension that magistrates will be allowed to issue domicile certificates – a power that was planned to be transferred to bureaucrats which could have ended the work of up to 10,000 advocates in Maharashtra and Goa who were either partially or fully dependent on the system, according to petitioners.

News

A thinktank said that any plans for economic reforms may have lost momentum as the Congress-led government is preparing for the state elections, lacks consensus and would struggle forcing through legislation, reported the Economic Times. Legal market liberalisation was not expressly mentioned in the article.

Full article by the Economic Times. Thanks to a commenter for sending us the link.

Bar, Bench & Litigation

The Supreme Court has issued notice to ex-Satyam director B Rama Raju and four others following the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) challenge of the High Court’s grant of bail to the defendants, who were allegedly responsible for the Rs 7,000 crore scam that almost brought the IT company to its knees.

Full story at the Times of India.

Law firms

Luthra & Luthra has hired DSK Legal associate partner Deepak THM as a private equity and M&A partner in its growing Mumbai office, taking the total headcount to five partners.

Law firms

Law firms

Mooting

News