The Bench and the Bar

A Bombay high court bench of justices VM Kanade and Revati Mohite Dere had held on Friday (26 August) that the ban on women entering the sanctum sanctorum of the Haji Ali Dargah of Mumbai, contravened Articles 14, 15 and 25 of the Constitution.

Just FYI, more than one month after a CBI court convicted three Bar Council of India (BCI) members to jail and after a PTI report on the judgment, The Hindu on 25 August 2016 is now the only mainstream media outlet (other than http://www.livemint.com/Politics/oS1IH3Hf1bc5dSMmD4fYVP/Bribery-case-exposes-the-rot-in-legal-education.html Mint) to have done a news story:

The Supreme Court will hear on 29 August a plea contending that the top court appointed oversight committee headed by former Chief Justice RM Lodha was going beyond its mandate of monitoring the work of Medical Council of India (MCI).

In a historic verdict, the Bombay high court today permitted the entry of women up to the restricted grave area of the famous Haji Ali Dargah, located on the rocks off the Worli seashore.

The Supreme Court today said that criticism of public policy could not be a ground for slapping defamation suit as it issued fresh notice to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on a plea alleging abuse of power by her.

On 17 August, before it broke for a long weekend of four days, a three-judge Supreme Court (SC) bench of justices Ranjan Gogoi, Prafulla Chandra Pant and AM Khanwilkar referred a challenge to its immunity from the Right to Information (RTI) Act to a five-judge constitution bench. The decision, made after a brief hearing, was a surprise as well as a disappointment.

In the row over the suicide of student Sushant Rohilla at Amity Law School Delhi (IP), its director Prof Dr BP Singh Sehgal and political science professor Dr Isheeta Rutabhasini have both resigned.

A five-judge Constitution bench will decide whether the Supreme Court is exempted from disclosing information including file noting and correspondence on the appointment of judges to higher judiciary and other information under the Right to Information Act (RTI).

The Board of Control for Cricket India in India (BCCI) on Tuesday moved the Supreme Court seeking the review of its 18 July verdict asking the country’s apex cricketing body to implement the Justice Lodha Committee recommendations for transparency and accountability in its functioning and limiting the involvement of ministers and government officials.

The Bar Council of India (BCI) has stayed its order of 24 July that had suspended, without notice or due process, 126 Tamil Nadu advocates who had allegedly been involved in the strikes against the Madras high court’s controversial new disciplinary rules.

So, one of the longest fasts in world history has come to an end with the Iron Lady of Manipur, Irom Sharmila, abandoning her ineffective fast to force the Government to repeal the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA).

The first female Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court, Manjula Chellur, has been named the new Chief Justice of the Bombay high court.

So, after some time out, ex-Supreme Court judge Justice Markandey Katju (Retd.) is in the news again, seemingly putting a spanner in a variety of works.

So, finally, the Delhi high court ruled in favour of the Lt. Governor of Delhi, Najeeb Jung, and the Central Government, in their turf war with Delhi’s Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal.

On 26 November, 2005, the Gujarat police killed Sohrabuddin Sheikh, while he was in police custody. The police claimed he was involved in alleged criminal extortion racket, arms smuggling, and murder cases. Thereafter, Sheikh’s wife, Kauser Bi disappeared. A year later, Sheikh’s associate, Tulsiram Prajapati, a witness to Sheikh’s killing, was killed in another encounter with the state police.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Tuesday appointed former Supreme Court judge Markandey Katju as the head of a legal panel to guide the board in understanding the recommendations of the Justice RM Lodha Committee which have been approved by the apex court.