The Bench and the Bar

Taking serious note of threats to the president of the petitionerassociation, the Indian Young Lawyers Association, whose PIL the SupremeCourt is currently hearing, the three Judge bench led by Justice DipakMisra on 18 January made it clear that access to justice can’t be dented byanybody.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said patent fees for start-ups will be cut by 80 per cent to support and protect intellectual property rights of new entrepreneurs.

“Patent fee for start-ups will be reduced by 80 percent. India’s future lies in innovation and creativity. Newcomers should get equal opportunities,” Modi said while addressing at the ‘Start-up India, Standup India’ event.

He also said start-ups will be helped through facilitation centres by lawyers to file patents without any charges. Delays in patent approvals, he added, need to be reduced.

Talking about intellectual property rights (IPR) Modi rued that India was lagging behind in IPR “We have enough youth property (YP), but we don’t have enough intellectual property (IP),” the prime minister said.

A case was filed on Saturday against Bollywood stars Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan in a court in Meerut for hurting the sentiments of the Hindu community.

The case was filed before the special judicial magistrate’s court by the Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha, accusing the two actors of showing disrespect to the Hindu community by shooting with their shoes on in a temple of Goddess Kali in a promo of reality TV show “Bigg Boss”. The episode was aired on Colors channel on 19 December and 20.

The case has been listed for hearing on 18 January.

Bharat Rajpur, city president of the organisation, said the act was deliberate and aimed at hurting the religious sentiments of Hindus.

He said he had already brought up the matter with the producer, director and programme head of the TV channel but to no avail.

“I brought this to the notice of the district magistrate and senior superintendent of police but no action has been taken.

“So now, I have knocked the doors of the court and I am ready to go up to the Supreme Court for the cause,” he said.

The Bar Council of Kerala will now start constructing the MK Nambyar Academy for Continuing Legal Education, as its foundation stone was laid by Chief Justice of India (CJI) TS Thakur yesterday, reported The Hindu.

At the inauguration ceremony, CJI Thakur defended the high litigation fees charged by Supreme Court lawyers and said that these top Indian lawyers also take up many cases pro bono. Legally India and Mint revealed 42 Delhi senior advocates’ fees last year.

Thakur said that the legal profession should not only bring recognition to its practitioners but should be a rewarding one as well. He also said that continuing legal education will empower lawyers to be more effective in the conduct of their cases, and to do justice to the profession.

The leader of the opposition party in the state VS Achuthanandan said that steps should be taken to end the practice of lawyers collecting high fees from clients.

Supreme Court justice Kurian Joseph who was also present at the inauguration, said that the practice of law graduates taking professional oath en-masse should be replaced with them taking oath in the presence of a high court judge so that they “would consider the profession seriously”, reported the New Indian Express.

History was made today, with three Constitution benches sitting at the same time in the Supreme Court at 2 pm.

Advocate Pradeep Dwivedi, represented by advocate Anupam Dwivedi, has filed a criminal contempt and sedition complaints against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for allegedly using “defamatory and seditious” words against prime minister Narendra Modi, which would spread disharmony,reported Firstpost:

"On 15 December, 2015, the accused posted the remarks on his Twitter account which reads as, ‘Modi is a coward and a psychopath’. The remarks were made against the democratically elected Prime Minister of the largest democracy of the world,” it said.

The complainant alleged that Kejriwal had “intentionally” used defamatory words with a view to spreading a sense of “hatred and contempt” towards the prime minister.

They seek prosecution of Kejriwal from Delhi metropolitan magistrate Jagminder Singh, who posted the matter for 26 February clarification arguments.

In the ongoing Extra Judicial Execution of Victim Families Association vs Union of India, being heard by justices Madan B Lokur and UU Lalit, the Attorney General had alleged that an article published in The People’s Chronicle (English) and Poknapham (Manipuri) carried certain “highly objectionable statements” by Babloo Loitongbam, who has been reporting the case.

The Delhi high court ordered the Delhi government’s “road safety” committees to hear two Delhi lawyers on the efficacy of “box junctions”, and to consider introducing these box junctions on Delhi’s roads if convinced about their effectiveness.

Retired Supreme Court judges justices Gyan Sudha Mishra, CK Prasad and Balbir Singh Chauhan, were nominated by the apex court to head the proposed Lokpal ombudsman. Also in the running is retired Jharkhand high court chief justice and current Appellate Tribunal for Electricity chairman M Karpaga Vinayagam

The Supreme Court on Thursday declined to hold an urgent hearing of a plea challenging the Delhi high court’s order allowing, on trial basis, the odd-even policy for private cars for 15 days here.

Declining to hold an early hearing of the plea, the bench headed by Chief Justice TS Thakur wondered if the plea by a young advocate was a publicity stunt.

Why a young advocate is having difficulty in reaching the court, the court observed. The plea was moved by petitioner advocate B Badrinath.

The odd-even policy, under which private cars with registrations ending in even numbers could ply only on even dates, and vice versa for those with odd-numbered plates, was announced by the state government from January 1-15 after the Delhi high court said the national capital had turned into a gas chamber.