The Bench and the Bar

Senior advocates are now temporarily outside the service tax net, as the Delhi high court today stayed the imposition of this tax on them, reported Mint.

Justices S Muralidhar and RK Gauba ordered the stay on the Delhi High Court Bar Association’s (DHCBA) plea that charging senior advocates on the services they provide to their clients, as well as charging the clients on the services they take from senior advocates, amounts to double taxation and is unconstitutional.

The stay order was passed in order to maintain consistency with a similar stay order by the Guajarat high court on 30 March, according to Mint.

The DHCBA had also contended that the function of senior advocates – aiding the court in administration of justice – is not a “taxable service”, according to Live Law which published a copy of the DHCBA’s petition in the Delhi high court.

The union budget 2016 had withdrawn the exemption provided to senior advocates from service tax, effectively increasing the cost of instructing them by 14 per cent, as reported by [legallyindia.com/news/budget-catches-senior-advocates-tribunals-with-wider-service-tax-net

The budget provisions which had taken away the senior advocates’ exemption were to be effective from today. Previous unsuccessful attempts of the government to levy service tax on lawyers came in 2011 and 2012.

The much-expected floor test in Uttarakhand legislative assembly will not take place on 31 March.

In line with tradition, Kalaiyarasan, Gokuldas, Bharathidasan, S Sunder, MV Muralidharan and D Krishnakumar today signed in the Devanagari script in court to become Madras high court judges, high court sources told The Hindu, after Madras high court chief justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and the Supreme Court collegium cleared the names.

Bar Council of India (BCI) member S Prabhakaran and 11 other Madras advocates are now senior advocates in the Madras high court, reported the Times of India.

NL Rajah, R Vaigai, Sathish Parasaran, A Sirajudeen, Isaac Mohanlal, R Singaravelan, TP Manoharan, Veera Kathiravan, Karthik, Anand and Xavier Arulraj are the other new senior advocates part of this round of designations in the high court.

This is the first batch of senior designations affected under the new senior designation norms that exist since 2013. Before 2013, advocates could simply nominate themselves for their own designation and if two-thirds of the full court of judges voted in favour of such nomination, the designation was complete. Under the new norms, only advocates who are invited to nominated themselves for the designation, are eligible to apply.

Additionally, only those advocates can be invited who have at least Rs 7 lakh as income tax returns for three previous financial years and publication of a minimum of 15 judgments in reputed law journals.

After this round, the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry will have 122 senior advocates on its rolls, according to a statement by the state bar council’s chairman D Selvam to TOI

Senior counsel Dushyant Dave is now officially Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) president again, after his short-lived resignation in mid-February was held by the executive committee to have been void.

When an undertrial gets produced in court thrice a year it costs the government Rs 1,000. But now, undertrials need not be produced in courts as trial court proceedings can go ahead through video conferencing, which will help the government save Rs 100 crores per year. The facility is being installed at almost all district courts through the eProject piloted by the Supreme Court’s eCommittee headed by Justice Madan Lokur.

reported the Times of India.

The Supreme Court collegium is learnt to have stood by its decision to transfer Delhi HC judge Rajiv Shakdher after the law ministry sent back his case for reconsideration, said several persons aware of the outcome. The law ministry had asked for a review after lawyers protested against Shakdher’s transfer.

reported the The Economic Times.

As first reported by Legally India on 24 February, several senior counsel had written to the Supreme Court collegium to reverse its order, in light of the respect he enjoyed at the bar.

The ET wrote in its report that five senior counsel had protested in writing about the transfer because “they objected to his being transferred along with [Madras high court Justice CS] Karnan, whose case was regarded in a different light”.

100 per cent Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in online marketplaces is now allowed, reported the PTI.

Websites such as Flipkart, Amazon and others which provide a platform to various sellers to sell their products can now take 100 per cent FDI, but any websites owned by the sellers themselves have not yet been given this allowance. The former is the “marketplace model”, whereas the latter is the “inventory-based model” as defined by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP).

The DIPP has clarified that an e-commerce firm follows the marketplace model only if less than 25 per cent of its total sales are from one vendor or such vendor’s group companies.The government has already allowed 100 per cent FDI in business-to-business e-commerce.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed market regulator SEBI to go ahead with the sale of _Sahara _properties whose unencumbered title deeds are in its possession. The step is being taken to recover investors’ money that Sahara groups’ two companies had collected from public through Optionally Fully Convertible Debentures.

The apex court bench headed by Chief Justice TS Thakur said that the market regulator would appoint an agency to decide the mechanism for the sale of Sahara properties.

The court said that properties would not be sold at a price that is less than 90 percent of the prevailing circle rates.

The SEBI will appoint an agency to work out the mechanism for the sale of properties which are stated to be worth Rs 40,000 crore.

The entire process would be undertaken under the supervision of former Supreme Court judge Justice BN Agarwala and Sahara would be kept informed about the steps being taken for the sale of its properties.

Meanwhile, Sahara head honcho Subrata Roy remains in jail on contempt, now for more than two years.

If you are attacked by a bull while walking on a street, what are the chances of your making a successful claim for compensation from the municipal authorities, who have a responsibility to keep stray cattle away from the public streets?

In the history of political parties in India, the rise and fall of Janata Party must form an important chapter.

A Hyderabad court today granted bail to 25 students and two faculty members of University of Hyderabad, arrested last week for ransacking the office of Vice Chancellor P Appa Rao and attacking police while protesting his return after two-month leave.

The 25th Metropolitan Magistrate’s court at Miyapur pronounced the orders on the bail pleas as the Telangana government choose not to oppose the petitions.

The court asked the accused to arrange surety of Rs 5,000 each and appear before Gachibowli police station every week till the final disposal of the case.

Earlier, the public prosecutor did not file a counter to the bail plea, paving the way for grant of the leave.

The students and faculty members, currently lodged in Cherlapally Jail, may be released late Monday evening or Tuesday.

A section of varsity students want the sacking and arrest of Appa Rao, holding him responsible for the suicide of Dalit research scholar Rohith Vemula.