The Bench and the Bar

The Bombay high court on Monday overruled the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) recommended 13 cuts for Bollywood film "Udta Punjab" and cleared the film for release with one cut and three disclaimers by the filmmakers here.

Linklegal India Law Services advised Lightspeed, Cyber Agent Asia, and GrowXon their Rs 215 million ($3.2m) investment in online tech solutions provider Oku Tech which was advised by Themis Associates.

Justice Amitava Roy of the Supreme Court's vacation bench asked counsel for the respondent in a motor accident insurance claim case, whether he knew the time of the day. The question left his colleague on the bench, Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose, as well as the counsel, surprised and trying to figure out where he was going.

The Supreme Court today said that the provisions of Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act could not be invoked by the alleged sex workers to resist their eviction from the places being used as brothel that have been directed to be closed by the courts.

Supreme Court Advocates on Record (AoR) need not verify their right to practice under the Bar Council of India’s (BCI) Certificate of Practice Rules 2015.

The censor board on Friday told the Bombay high court that some of the scenes recommended for deletion in the Hindi movie "Udta Punjab" were "very vulgar".

Prashant Reddy reviews the major decisions of Justice Manmohan Singh of the Delhi high court (mostly) in the field of IP law, in the first of a series of posts that will mull on what criteria should be considered in appointing persons to the position of chairperson of the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB).

Read more on Spicy IP.

Naik Naik & Company managing partner Ameet Naik with senior advocate Ravi Kadam acted for Phantom Films in their Bombay high court appeal against the censor board’s decision to ban the film Udta Punjab.

The Bar Council of India (BCI) has been a victim of the “sinister game” of a “mischief doer” who forged the BCI’s ‘LIFT’ restrictions notice that went viral on Saturday, BCI chairman Manan Kumar Mishra told Legally India via email.

The heavy backlog of cases and delays in the Indian judicial system are once again the topic of much discussion, with everything from government callousness to over-litigiousness to judicial activism being blamed for the 35 million cases pending in the courts at all levels.

"Highly-placed sources in the government said today that in November, 2013 the collegium had recommended appointing a member of the state judicial services as additional judge to the Patna High Court. But the government had then returned the file to the collegium requesting it to "reconsider" the decision. The government's move was based on an Intelligence Bureau report," reported the PTI.

The Madras High Court Advocates Association (MHAA) registered its protest against the Advocates Act amendment that enables the high court to debar errant lawyers, by leading a 5000 person rally, reported the Deccan Chronicle.

In November 2013 the Bar Council of India (BCI) amended its Legal Education Rules 2008 and, for years following that (as reported by us last week), has been sending repeated letters to law schools, telling them it was obligatory to buy lakhs worth of products of the All India Reporter (AIR).

A special sessions court, which was to pronounce the quantum of sentence for those convicted of the massacre of 69 people at the Gulberg Housing Society here in 2002, on Monday put off its decision to 9 June with the arguments still continuing in the case.

A judge of the Kerala high court on Monday said he was offered money to influence his judgement in a smuggling case.

The Bar Council of India (BCI) chairman Manan Kumar Mishra will deduct one day’s salary from BCI staff “below the rank of assistant secretary” and “sweepers or other outsourced employees” who are caught using lifts at the BCI’s Rouse Avenue office in Delhi.