The Bench and the Bar

On 12 April, during the hearing of case 20 before justices Dipak Misra and Prafulla C Pant in Court 4 yesterday morning, senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan was angrily objecting to the appearance of the intervener-in-person, SN Shukla, a former IAS officer.

The Supreme Court’s constitution bench hearing on the sharing of river water through the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal, took an interesting turn this afternoon with Punjab’s counsel, senior advocate, Ram Jethmalani, making a strong pitch for the return of the Presidential reference on the issue unanswered.

Staking claim over the treasures lost ages ago, a public interest litigation (PIL) petition has been filed before the Supreme Court of India seeking a writ of mandamus to the ‘High Commissioner of United Kingdom' for returning the world famous Koh-i-Noor diamond and several other treasures belonging to various Indian rulers, books etc., which currently lie in the United Kingdom.

The London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) will shut down its India-based operation after a lack of uptake.

A court today granted bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and five others in a criminal defamation case filed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

A lower court announced the bail to Kejriwal and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders Kumar Vishwas, Ashutosh, Sanjay Singh, Raghav Chadha and Deepak Bajpayee.

Kejriwal and the others were summoned in March to appear before the court on 7 April.

Jaitley accused Kejriwal and other AAP leaders of giving “false and defamatory” statements against him in a case related to the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA), thereby harming his reputation.

The AAP leaders had alleged corruption in the DDCA, which Jaitley headed for 13 years until 2013. Jaitley has denied the allegations.