The Bench and the Bar

Ex-Supreme Court judge Justice Markandey Katju will be replaced as Press Council of India (PCI) chairman by ex Supreme Court judge Justice CK Prasad, reported the PTI.

Katju’s three-year term ended on 11 October, reported The Hindu yesterday.

Katju has been recently busy on his blog and in public, promoting a possibly upcoming tell-all book about the Indian judiciary.

Presumably his book will also tackle one or two other issues, judging by Katju’s prodigious and eclectic output that ranges from his campaign for the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) to his love of both Sanskrit and Urdu, and oftentimes also the plain nonsensical...

The Times of India reported that the purchase of laptops by over 300 judges of the lower courts will be examined by Delhi chief justice G Rohini and a panel, after discrepancies were raised into how the money was spent, with allegations that some may have bought TVs or home theatre systems rather than computers.

Due to alleged impropriety in using the Rs 1.1 lakh grant by one district judge, meant for the purchase of laptops and computers, the elevation of a batch of five district judges including him has also been stalled, according to another report by the Times of India.

Pending inquiry against the accused judge by Rohini, the process for elevating all the five judges whose names had been recommended for elevation to the Delhi high court, is in limbo.

The Supreme Court’s e-committee has rejected the government’s proposal to start recording court proceedings stating that it was not acceptable at present, reported the Times of India, quoting sources, though it did not report further details on the reason.

The government had mooted the proposal in August in an advisory council meeting of the law ministry, held in Delhi. Starting with all 15,000 subordinate courts as a pilot project, it was proposed to move it up to all levels, to increase transparency.

The Delhi High Court Bar Association had also vowed to meet the law ministry at the end of the court’s summer vacations, with the proposal to initiate audio video recording of court proceedings.

Allowing litigants and lawyers to independently record court proceedings has also been a long-running cause pushed by Delhi advocate Deepak Khosla.

Chief justice of India HL Dattu has withdrawn the practice of his predecessor RM Lodha, who had asked high courts to consult non-collegium judges before sending their judge-recommendations to the Supreme Court, reported the Economic Times.

The high court collegium, which consists of the chief justice of a given high court along with his two senior most colleagues send their nominations for judgeships to the Supreme Court collegium. Former CJI Lodha had asked the high court collegiums to also consult two judges outside the collegium, before forwarding the final list of names for elevation to the SC.

CJI Dattu has withdrawn this request, after the high court cited “difficulties” in following the practice.