India sides with Obama: Salman Khursheed, former law minister, defends US spies’ electronic snooping, saying it’s not “snooping” and “only computer analysis of patterns of calls and e-mails sent”. Minister gets slammed by rivals [Hindu]

Niche education: Law colleges have increasingly started offering ‘niche courses’ such as nuclear, space, business, cyber crime and other laws, reports [Business Standard]

Rape trial access: Foreign correspondents petition Delhi high court to cover Delhi gang rape trial day-to-day [Deccan Chronicle]

Destressed Nalsar: An Andhra Pradesh HC bench told the University Grants Commission (UGC) to examine proposals made by Nalsar Hyderabad’s nine-member committee to reduce stress and suicides of students [New Indian Express]

Dominant ratings: The Competition Commission of India (CCI) is to probe whether TV rating agency TAM Media Research has abused its dominant position [Times of India]

Bombay in Tamil: Bombay HC allows litigant, who doesn’t speak Hindi, to depose in Tamil [Business Standard]

Rape compensation PIL: Bombay HC to hear PIL proposing to set up fund to compensate victims of sexual violence [Times of India]

Judges’ busy hols: Delhi high court rejects PIL asking for a reduction in judges’ holidays, arguing that “most judges spend a substantial part of vacation time in writing the judgments” [WSJ] A similar petition was also filed in Chennai in May

Pro-India DOMA: The US’ pro-gay-rights Supreme Court verdict may be a boon for Indian jurisprudence [Mint]

IB nixes terrific collegium: A collegium of judges in a state affected by militancy had six months ago recommended an advocate, who was linked to a terrorist outfit, for elevation to the high court. The Prime Minister’s Office ordered an Intelligence Bureau (IB) scrutiny of all the persons recommended; when the IB rang alarm bells the recommendation was pulled out of the list [ET]

Lest CBI be judged: The union cabinet has decided to supervise the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) through an external panel of three judges. “It will be like making us report to two sets of judges and having to share with them our investigations,” a CBI officer said [TOI]

CJI for judicial reservations: Chief Justice of India-designate Justice P Sathasivam has favoured reservations for higher court and apex court judges [Telegraph]

Demonstrating for good judges:The lawyers in the Madras high court are agitating for ‘good and competent’ judges by holding a lunch-hour dharna on Monday inside the court premises “to highlight the need for transparency in the appointment of judges” [Deccan Chronicle]

Soli vs political RTI ordinance: Former Attorney General of India Soli Sorabjee said that the government’s proposal to bring an ordinance to keep political parties out of the purview of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, is an abuse of constitutional power. “Ordinance should be brought in only in extraordinary situation when a law needs to be brought about urgently. What is the urgency in this case? Why can't they challenge the CIC order in High Court or the Supreme Court?” he said [IBN Live]

Khaitan Sr for foreign firms: Khaitan & Co senior partner Pradip ‘Pinto’ Khaitan says foreign law firms should be allowed in because they’d benefit Indian lawyer by adding to the talent pool and knowledge ecosystem [Hindu Businessline]

Magistrate arrested for rape: S Thangaraj, judicial magistrate of a fast track court in Coonoor in the Nilgiris district, was arrested by the Palladam women police in Tirupur district on Saturday for allegedly raping a female sub-inspector [TOI]

More bong benchers for Delhi: Observing that there weren't many Calcutta High Court judges in the Supreme Court, Chief Justice of India (CJI) Altamas Kabir on Friday said they needed more of them “to shake up Delhi” [Zee News]

Muslim minor marriages challenged: Three writ petitions were filed on Wednesday in the Kerala High Court questioning the recent state government circular legalising underage marriages between Muslims older than 16 and providing for their registration [Hindu]

Dodgy degrees: Madras HC lawyer files for bar on graduates from certain Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka law universities from practicing as advocates, alleging that the universities were selling law degrees without them having actually studied at them. The HC issued notices to the Secretaries of the Union Law and Human Resource Development Departments, Bar Council of India (BCI), Law Commission of India and the UGC Chairman [NIE]

Boycott raj: Lawyers boycotted Tamil Nadu courts condemning the arrest of a lawyer who allegedly attacked police sub-inspector Serena last October [TOI]

MHAA recalls judge choices: Madras HC Advocates Association (MHAA) petitions the CJI to reject the list of 15 proposed judges sent by the Madras HC collegiums to him, on the ground of it being below “constitutional standards”. “It appears that the names have been proposed on extraneous criteria such as caste, religion, office affiliations and political considerations. We at the Bar are deeply distressed, concerned and even alarmed at the partisan manner in which the selection is made,” said the MHAA in its representation to the CJI [Hindu]

HC Nagpur bench boost: Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court ups pre-vacation all time state-wide low bench strength (48 against sanctioned 75) by elevating tow lawyers Atul Chandurkar and Zaka Haq. The elevations were made after a gap of four years and there are now 12 judges at the Nagpur bench which still experiences a shortfall of 16 [TOI]

US SC for gay marriage: The US Supreme Court has struck down the US federal law that effectively banned gay marriage in the country and also dismissed an appeal against same sex marriage laws in California, restoring the right to gay marriage in the largest US state and nearly doubling the number of Americans living in states where gay marriage would be legal [Guardian]

Ramlu young training: RMLNLU Lucknow will hold a training session next month for young advocates under a new state-sponsored scheme – the Rajiv Gandhi Adhivakta Prashikshan Yojna’ (Rajiv Gandhi Advocate’s Training Scheme) to upgrade professional knowledge and skills of young advocates [HT]

No say on NSA: The Supreme Court today asked Ex-Delhi University law professor SN Singh to bring evidence on Friday (28 June) of violation of fundamental rights of internet users. His PIL alleges that nine US-based internet companies in India are sharing user data with the National Security Agency (NSA) without the consent of Indian users. The bench said: “Our jurisdiction is not over the entire world. American people and government is not covered under Article 21.” [PTI]

Indo-Bangla judicial overreach: The Bangladesh Supreme Court’s most senior judge, Surendra Kumar Sinha, impressed with India’s state and national judicial academies for lower and higher judiciary, asked for Indian judges’ assistance in training his country’s quota-bridled judiciary [TOI]

Dodging PILs: Karnataka high court imposed a total cost of Rs 75,000 on three different advocates who had brought their own public interest litigations (PIL), dimissing their PILs saying that “this will not bring them any credibility” [Deccan Herald]

Can be jailed: Mumbai Sessions Judge, U B Hejib rejected Bollywood actor Salman Khan’s plea against a Bandra Magistrate Court’s order that had enhanced the charges levelled against him in his 11-year old rash driving case. Khan will now be tried under Section 304 (ii) for culpable homicide and could be sentenced to 10 years jail [DNA]

Social media GCs: Facebook general counsel Ted Ullyot and Twitter legal director Nicole Wong are on their way out of the two social media websites. Facebook has promoted deputy general counsel Colin Stretch to the position, while Wong is joining the White House to advise on internet and privacy policies [Global Legal Post/GLP]

Women-centric Karnataka courts: The Karnataka government will soon set up 10 special courts exclusively to try cases relating to atrocities and crimes against women, according to state home minister KJ George’s Tuesday announcement [Deccan Herald]

Lawyers mourn telegram: The closure of India’s telegram service has left lawyers in the lurch, reports the New Indian Express, adding that lawyers will now have to find another way of making representations to authorities on behalf of clients. “In registered post, there is no guarantee of the content you send as the receiver could even say there was nothing in the envelope. But telegram is personally developed (sic) and you get a certified copy, which is a great evidence,” a Madras HC lawyer told the paper

Madras judiciary transfers: Madras HC transferred 31 judicial officers yesterday, posting 26 as chief judicial magistrates across the state [Hindu]

Cops snub bar council: The Tamil Nadu Deputy General of Police (DGP) rebuffed the petition of the Tamil Nadu bar council’s vice-chairman, who wanted the DGP removed for allegedly refusing to file lawyer’s FIR. The DGP replied that if the petitioners had fixed an appointment in advance, had approached in a delegation of a reasonable size, and not facilitated a confrontation with officers, they would have been welcomed like the scores of others who visited his office [New Indian Express]

Immaterial Ranbaxy PIL: The Supreme Court has dismissed serial PIL filer advocate ML Sharma’s petition against Ranbaxy seeking a cancellation of its license for manufacturing spurious drugs. Sharma has however been allowed to file a fresh petition if he can bring in evidence. “Your entire argument is based on proceedings in US. We have no jurisdiction over it. Show us material that things are happening in India and it adversely affects right to life of people here,” the bench observed adding: “Where is the material against Ranbaxy.” [TOI]

Sweet 16 marriages: The local administration’s principal secretary directed civic bodies in Kerala to register marriages of Muslim men below 21 years and women between 16 and 18 years old. Legal commentators in the state have condemned this direction. Kerala HC lawyers said that the move was made to “to woo the orthodox section of the Muslim community” [Hindu]

Ramlu wants moolah: RMLNLU Lucknow on Saturday decided to raise its fees from the current Rs 80,000 per year to an, as yet, undecided amount, which “will be at par with other national law schools”. However, “the university will consider the financial status of students who come from UP before finalising the fees”, according to university sources [TOI]

CCI short staffed: The Competition Commission of India’s (CCI) director general AK Chauhan has asked for direct recruits for his office up to at least 25 per cent of the CCI’s total employees, after being faced with a manpower crunch. [ET]

Inadequate drug tests: Serial PIL filer, who started a PIL against Ranbaxy in the Supreme Court this month, has argued that the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) suffers from inadequate infrastructure and staff shortages, causing new drugs to be approved for the Indian market by short-circuiting testing (and in some cases not testing them at all on Indian patients) [BS]

Outlook ranks NLS: Outlook India magazine ranked NLSIU Bangalore as India’s “best” law college, ahead of Nalsar Hyderabad, NLIU Bhopal, NUJS Kolkata, ILS Pune and NLU Jodhpur, Symbiosis Pune, GNLU Gandhinagar. Ninth was Amity Delhi, followed by New Law College Pune BVDU, Jamia Islamia Delhi, VHU Varanasi, MS Ramaiah Bangalore, Osmania University Hyderabad and Bangalore Institute of Legal Studies [Ranking, via Bar & Bench]. Rival weekly India Today ranked Nalsar Hyderabad as India’s “best” law school last week. Legally India has reduced coverage of third party law school rankings since last year.

8 new Bom HC judges: The Bombay HC elevated eight lawyers to judgeship. The new judges: Advocates Suresh Gupte, Z A haq, K R Shriram, Gautam Patel, Atul Chandurkar, Revati Mohite Dhere, Mahesh Sonak and Ravindra Ghuge [TOI]

DoT V TRAI: Telecom regulator TRAI and the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) are in conflict again after TRAI decided not to waive roaming charges on mobile phones; however, the DoT had already announced they would be waived as part of the National Telecom Policy 2012 [Hindu BL]

Secret CJI inquiry: The home ministry has rejected RTI activist SC Aggarwal’s application seeking the finance ministry’s inquiry report against former Chief Justice of India KG Balakrishnan, and informed him that no ground was made out to make a presidential reference to the Supreme Court seeking Balakrishnan’s removal from his current post as the National Human Rights Commission’s (NHRC) chairperson [HT]

3 new Orissa HC judges: The Orissa HC got three new judges taking its total strength to 15 against the sanctioned strength of 22. The new judges are: Bidyut Ranjan Sarangi, Biswajit Mohanty and Akshaya Kumar Rath [TOI]

Suspended judge: A Bombay civil judge was suspended after the prosecution in a murder case he was earlier trying complained to the Supreme Court that the judge had threatened him with dire consequences and that there was danger to his life [Mumbai Mirror]

Obscene justice? A 61-year old doctor threatened a Supreme Court bench today that she would commit suicide if her case of malicious prosecution was sent back to the Delhi HC. She alleged that a Delhi HC judge had been sending her obscene messages and had colluded with BSES Rajdhani to falsely implicate her in a case of drawing electricity illegally after she had rejected his sexual advances. [Telegraph]

Judicially endorsed? A Kerala High Court Judge today refuted media reports stating that he had endorsed the products of a solar-panel company accused of a scam: “As we were conducting various programmes on environmental protection, pollution, global warming etc, I gave a message congratulating the proposal as it would save electrical energy and not cause any pollution. Apart from any such message I have never given any letter either to Team Solar or any other person for promoting their products.” [Outlook]

Political prosecutors: Following the Bombay HC’s direction, the Maharashtra state government has appointed a six-member committee headed by the law secretary to weed out political interference in the appointments of public prosecutors in lower and district courts. The HC had directed that politicians, ministers or bureaucrats should not be part of the decision-making process [TOI]

Enlightened humans on judges: Supreme Court justice Krishna Iyer on judges’ appointments - “We require a public discussion of a well-thought-out draft proposal where the Bar will get to express its views and the higher judiciary too will give its views. But it shall be the product of national debates, symposia, parliamentary discussions and expression of views by academics, intellectuals and other enlightened sections of humanity.” [Hindu]

Nalsar tops India Today: Nalsar Hyderabad displaced NLSIU Bangalore at first place in India’s top 25 law colleges this year according to India Today. NLSIU, Delhi University, NUJS Kolkata, NLIU Bhopal, GNLU Gandhinanar, Symbiosis Pune, NLU Jodhpur, ILS Pune, AMU Aligarh, BHU Varanai and Amity Law School Delhi follow Nalsar, in that order. [Rankings via India Today] Legally India has reduced coverage of third party law school rankings since last year.

Sweeping marriages: As social media buzz continued about the Madras HC maintenance order on sex and marriages, former Madras HC judge K Chandru “warns against the tendency to make sweeping statements in family matters”, saying that the Justice CS Karnan’s judgment reported yesterday is likely to be “misunderstood” by subordinate courts, which might force people into relationships merely because they have had sexual intercourse. [Times of India] Karnan, in turn, today defended the judgment, saying it was misunderstood, and “not only for the purpose of giving relief to the victim woman, but also to maintain the cultural integrity of India” [Hindu]

Suicidal state of affairs: “Treating a person who is driven to take such a drastic step as a hard-core criminal violates basic human dignity in a way few other actions do,” argues psychiatrist Dr Ashoka Jahnavi Prasad about the law criminalising suicide attempts. He says that India should follow the example of 59 countries who have decriminalised attempted suicide. [Newslaundry]

Anti-PRISM PIL: Ex-Delhi University law prof, Professor SN Singh, files PIL to stop government using US internet companies’ services, and prays for government to take action against for breach of privacy, after US internet companies were revealed to have shared data of non-US citizens with US spies in leaked top secret documents [PTI]

Manu Singhvi disclosures: Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi has dsiclosed an undeclared income of Rs 11 crore and deposited Rs 3.26 crore in tax on it, however the income tax department claims that his actual undisclosed income is Rs 22.86 crore taking his tax liability to Rs 7 crore, for the year 2010-11. IT department investigators suspect undisclosed income from other years as well [Express]

Sha(r)king it off: Chief Justice of India Altamas Kabir says lawyers should foster a more socially responsible image by doing more legal aid work, to avoid being depicted as sharks in cartoons on them [Firstpost]

Burying paid news: The Standing Committee on Information Technology submitted a report to the Lok Sabha on 6 May, on the practice of paid news, and recommended amendments to make the Press Council of India’s decisions binding and paid news an offence. Most media outlets buried the news. [WSJ Blogs]

Malaysia lawyer FIFO ban lifted: Malaysia has lifted its prohibition on foreign lawyers fly-in-fly-out. The Malaysian Bar Council agreed to amend the Legal Profession Amendment Act 2012 on 10 June to lift the ban. The amendment will be implemented by January 2014 [International Lawsociety]

Judge knows best: “The attempt to restore the predominant voice of the political class in judicial appointments and transfers will amount to subverting the basic structure of the Constitution and will be a recipe for disaster,” argues Supreme Court advocate Anil Divan in the Hindu.

HCs v RTI: The high court’s internal administrative decisions cannot be disclosed to an RTI applicant, reiterates the Madras high court [Hindu]

TN NLS late: The Rs 100 crore campus Tamil Nadu National Law School in Trichy, which vowed to admit its first batch of students this year, has still not clearly stated its admission process [TOI]

Doctrine of frustration: A lawyer appointed as friend of the court in a litigation pending for nine years before the Nagpur bench of the Bombay high court, files an application to withdraw the litigation “out of sheer frustration” [TOI]

Compat deposit cemented: The Supreme Court yesterday rejected the plea of cement companies against the Competition Appellate Tribunal’s (Compat) order to deposit Rs 630 crore out of a Rs 6,307 crore penalty that was slapped on them for cartelisation [Telegraph]

Dragon saga ends: Investment bank Goldman Sachs was held professionally negligent by a US court after it sold its client Dragon System’s product - which invented the sophisticated speech recognition software Dragon NaturallySpeaking – to a fraudulent company, but gave no remedy to the husband and wife founders. Tragic 13-year tale. [Dealbreaker / Bloomberg]

Open-air Tihar: Five- to 12-year term inmates in India’s central jail – Tihar – are now eligible for being housed in the open jail, while female inmates will be trained to be employed in beauty parlours after their release [PTI]

Coal scam resignations: Competition Commission of India (CCI) member HC Gupta has resigned. Gupta is likely to face charges in the coal scam during which he was coal secretary. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has received sanction from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) to probe him [ET]

Landing in CCI: After tyre, cement and petrol companies the CCI is now investigating airlines for cartelisation. Jet Airways, SpiceJet, Air India, GoAir and IndiGo have allegedly tried to levy uniform fuel surcharges on air cargo [Business Standard]

De-labouring committee: The apex committee on child labour in India has met only once since its launch today two years ago resulting in about 7 per cent efficiency in rescuing India’s 40,000 child labourers [TOI]

SEBI recommended classes: “One page release on SEBI website on Chandrasekhar Committee reccos on harmonising foreign portfolio investor routes” [SEBI via @thefirmupdate]

Publicity interest litigation? SC judges GS Misra and Madan Lokur told Ranbaxy PIL petitioner advocate ML Sharma, who had prayed for cancellation of its licence for allegedly selling spurious drugs, this his allegations were “unfounded”. The judges told Sharma: “Do some serious research on it and only then, we will see it. You are taking a very serious issue and we should not entertain it just because of its publicity value.” [PTI]

NLS rape trial: Trial in the October 2012 rape of an NLSIU Bangalore student is starting tomorrow (12 June), reports the New Indian Express, thoughtfully reminding readers that it was a “sensational gang rape case” with “eerie parallels to the Delhi gang-rape case”.

Striking lawyers: The Tamil Nadu Advocates Association today boycotted proceedings in the Madras HC to press its demand for the dismissal of the state police chief after he refused to register their complaint against the Kanyakumari district police for attacking lawyers. [PTI]

Creative lobby lawyers? Visiting Harvard Law School researcher Bhargavi Zaveri analyses the Disclosure of Lobbying Activities Bill, which seeks to regulate political lobbying in India where lobbyists often “creatively couch themselves as political aides, public relations officers and advocates for policy change”. Also, he asks, would the Bar Council of India permit lawyers to engage in lobbying practice? [EPW]

Advocates sexiest (too)? The UK’s GQ magazine has ranked criminal barristers (but not solicitors) as having the seventh-sexiest job in the world. “These are proper lawyers,” writes celeb journo and Guardian columnist Victoria Coren, who ‘compiled’ the rankings for the July edition of the magazine. “They wear wigs and gowns, which is pleasingly kinky. And they're constantly resentful that they don't make enough money. All women know that a combination of adrenaline, resentment and strange costumes can make for a truly enjoyable weekend.” [Legal Cheek]