The Bench and the Bar

Organisers claimed that more than 10,000 Patna high court lawyers went on strike on Friday to protest the lack of seating arrangements for them in court, reported The Hindu:

lawyers who have to keep standing or moving throughout the day in thecourt because they do not have a chair and table to sit and work inside the Court premises. There are about 10,000 lawyers practicing in the Patna High Court but seating arrangements are available for only 3,000, Mukesh Kant, young lawyer of the court told The Hindu.

The Delhi High Court’s pecuniary jurisdiction’ enhancement to Rs 2 crore, from the current Rs 20 lakh, crossed another small hurdle today as the Delhi High Court (Amendment) Bill 2014 was passed by the Rajya Sabha’s standing committee, reported PTI and others.

The standing committee on law and personnel, which passed the bill, also stated in its report that the pecuniary jurisdiction of all high courts in the country should be made uniform. The bill will now pass two more readings in the Rajya Sabha before it can get the nod of the Lok Sabha and ultimately become law.

The amendment, which was introduced by the UPA government after a recommendation by former Delhi high court chief justice D Murugesan, faced opposition from the Delhi High Court Bar Association (DHCBA) since 2012, while Delhi’s district lawyers went on a strike this year due to the delay in passing the bill and demanded its passage by the parliament’s winter session.

The Congress’ Maharashtra unit Wednesday moved Bombay high court challenging the constitutional validity of the Devendra Fadnavis-led BJP government and seeking its dismissal.

Former minister M Naseem Khan filed a writ petition before the court questioning the constitutional validity of the nearly month-old government and terming it as “illegal”.

Justice VM Kanade has posted the matter for hearing Friday (Nov 28), he said.

After the Oct 15 elections, Maharashtra threw up a fractured verdict in which the Bharatiya Janata Party secured 123 seats (which came to 122 after a legislator’s death), the Shiv Sena got 63, the Congress 42 and the Nationalist Congress Party 41, with the remaining 18 going to independents and smaller parties.

“Fadnavis approached the Governor C V Rao to stake claim to form the government claiming it had the requisite majority in the 288-member assembly, and was asked to prove it (majority) within 15 days,” Khan, a legislator from Mumbai, told IANS

However, Khan said that the vote of confidence in the assembly Nov 12 was passed by a voice vote.

“Nobody knows how many MLAs (legislators) voted in favour of the government or against it in the voice vote. Our stand is that this remains a minority government which does not enjoy the confidence of the house and must be dismissed immediately,” he contended.

Later the Congress and Shiv Sena had led separate delegations to Governor Rao questioning the validity of the Nov 12 trust vote.

Khan also claimed that all the major decisions taken by this government are “illegal” and must be set aside.

Former additional solicitor-general of India B A Desai and former solicitor-general of India TR Andhyarujina will appear on behalf of Khan in the case.

Fadnavis was sworn-in as chief minister Oct 31 at the head of a 10-member ministry which is likely to be expanded shortly.

Supreme Court advocate Nipun Saxena argues for a young bar and why the Bar Council of India (BCI) should not curtail the practice of young lawyers any further.