The Bench and the Bar

Moneylife Journalists Debashis Basu and Sucheta Dalal may not be compensated with Rs 1.5 lakh each by the National Stock Exchange (NSE), after the Bombay high court stayed its own order that had fined the NSE to pay them, reported DNA.

The NSE had filed a Rs 100 crore defamation claim against the journalists for reporting, on 8 July, that some NSE employees were allegedly guilty of insider-trading, according to Mint.

Bombay high court justice Gautam Patel had fined the NSE to pay Basu and Dalal instead, as he reportedly found the NSE’s defamation suit and conduct to be “attempts at deflection and evasion”. However the division bench of justices VM Kanade and Shalini Joshi have stayed justice Patel’s order.

Sniffer dogs, armed commandos and Rajputana Rifles personnel might soon be common citings at the Supreme Court which is being audited for parliament-style campus security, reported the Times of India.

Emailed threats after the recent Yakub Menon verdict by the Supreme Court, prompted the move. SC public relations officer Rakesh Sharma told /TOI/ that, “public must know that we are looking at the security aspect closely”.

Once the audit report is finished, more steps might be taken as the report would assess the possibility of attack from high rises as well as use of drones for perpetration. Some sources were also cited stating that the security protocol of the SC premises would be at par with that of the Parliament including electronic scanning of car registration plates and increase in electronic surveillance.

The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transexual (LGBT) community in Nepal now stands out as the only LGBT community in Asia to have the right to equality and non-discrimination, reported Catch News.

Articles 12, 18 and 42 in Nepal’s first federal constitution guarantee citizens the right choose their gender – male, female or other – on their citizenship document and the right not to be discriminated against based on their gender or sexual minority status, obligate the government to take affirmative action for gender and sexual minorities and list gender and sexual minorities among the groups of citizens who have a right to participate in state mechanisms and public services.

The Supreme Court of Nepal had in 2007 ordered the government of Nepal to guarantee equality to the LGBT community.

The Rajasthan assembly on Monday passed a legislation to curb vexatious litigation, becoming the fifth state in India to do so.

The Rajasthan Vexatious Litigation (Prevention) Bill 2015, was passed by voice vote, to cover both civil and criminal cases in the high court and subordinate courts.

Introducing the bill, Law and Legal Affairs Minister Rajendra Singh Rathore said: “Rajasthan will be the fifth state to have such an act after Maharashtra, Goa, Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh.”

According to the bill, the tendency to file vexatious litigation was increasing. The courts have shown their anguish by imposing heavy costs on vexatious litigants.

These litigants persistently file baseless cases and misuse the process of law to settle personal scores.

Besides harassing the innocent, these also put strain on the already overburdened judicial system.

“Over 2.28 lakh cases are presently pending in the Rajasthan High Court, and almost 10-15 percent fall under this category,” said Rathore.

The Delhi high court on Monday issued notice to central government and The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and its chief RK Pachauri on the plea of a woman employee who levelled sexual harassment allegations against the environmentalist.

The Rajasthan assembly on Monday passed a legislation to curb vexatious litigation, becoming the fifth state in India to do so.

The Rajasthan Vexatious Litigation (Prevention) Bill, 2015, was passed by voice vote, to cover both civil and criminal cases in the high court and subordinate courts.

Introducing the bill, Law and Legal Affairs Minister Rajendra Singh Rathore said: “Rajasthan will be the fifth state to have such an act after Maharashtra, Goa, Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh.”

According to the bill, the tendency to file vexatious litigation was increasing. The courts have shown their anguish by imposing heavy costs on vexatious litigants.

These litigants persistently file baseless cases and misuse the process of law to settle personal scores.

Besides harassing the innocent, these also put strain on the already overburdened judicial system.

“Over 2.28 lakh cases are presently pending in the Rajasthan High Court, and almost 10-15 percent fall under this category,” said Rathore.

Indian district courts’ complete case pendency records are now available online.

Indian Law Partners (ILP) advised Toshiba Corporation which bought Rs 400 crore ($60.7m) worth of shares in Noida based water services company UEM India from India Value Fund (IVF) and UEM’s promoter Krishnan Kshetry. IVF was advised by DSK Legal and Kshetry was advised by Amicus Services.

ILP partner Gopika Pant, senior associate Vineet Gupta and associate Sehar Aijaz acted for Toshiba.

Amicus partner Shivi Agarwal acted for Kshetry and DSK partner Narendra Digankar and manager Rishabh Mastaram acted for IVF

The Rs 400 crore sale now leaves IVF’s stake in UEM at 20 per cent, reported the Economic Times adding that Toshiba had already bought 26 per cent in UEM in March 2014.