Madras HC 12-judge-names appeal: The Madras HC through its registrar general will move the SC against its own division bench decision that had stayed the appointment of the 12 recommended Madras HC advocates as judges whose recommendations has courted controversy at the HC [TOI]

Madras HC advocates against opacity, subjectivity in judge selection: Madras High Court Advocates Association President RC Paul Kanagaraj says that in the absence of transparency in the collegium process the judges panel recommending names for judgeships is easily prone to favouritism. Kanagaraj is opposed by a faction of lawyers of the HC who feel that consulting bar associations is a process prone to subjectivity and not entirely fair [New Indian Express]

Delhi needs 100 more judges: Delhi law minister Somnath Bharti has advised the Delhi HC to recruit 100 judges for various courts in the capital [Business Standard]. Last year Legally India reported how the Delhi district judges recruitment machinery falls remarkably short of the need faced in the capital.

Delhi gets 47 new courts: Delhi HC chief justice NV Ramana today ordered setting up of 47 new courts in the capital. The new courts, which will come up in six district court complexes from January 15, will deal with heinous crimes, civil cases, and motor accident claims [PTI]

MMB Legal first partner: Wipro senior corporate counsel Sonal Basu joined former MMB Legal partner Talha Salaria’s Bangalore-based start-up L.A.W as a partner. Basu, who has had stints at JSA Bangalore and at Nokia, will focus on L.A.W’s Information Technology/ITeS and telecom practices [Bar & Bench]

3 new Kerala HC judges: Kerala high court additional judges, justices Babu Mathew P Joseph, Ambazhavelil Velayudhan Pillai Ramakrishna Pillai and Pannipuzhayil Divakaran Rajan have become permanent judges in that HC [Net Indian]

Karnataka Lokayukta on anti-corruption cell: Karnataka’s Lokayukta Justice Y Bhaskar Rao has written to Karnataka HC Chief Justice D H Waghela seeking intervention in helping the general public file complaints before the state’s anti-corruption cell with support from the Karnataka Legal Services Authority and legal volunteers under it in rural areas [TOI]

Slow special child abuse case disposal law: “More than a year after Parliament passed a special law to ensure the speedy disposal of cases of child abuse, just 38 of over a thousand cases filed in Maharashtra have been disposed of with only nine convictions,” reports [DNA India]

Useful ordinance? 1/615: Out of 615 ordinances promulgated in India between 1958 and 2006, the only one justifiable ordinance is the one introduced by former Prime Minister Morarji Desai in 1978—where currency notes in denominations ofRs.1,000/5,000/10,000 were demonetized—because they thought it was one way of dealing with corruption and inflation, according to a study conducted by  NUJS Kolkata graduate and Singapore Managment University assistant professor Shubhankar Dam [Mint]

SC introduces online visitor sign-in: The Supreme Court has introduced an online system to sign in clients and other guests to the apex court via the so-called Supreme Court Visitor Management System (SCVMS). After signing in with details including the name of the court, case and advocate, visitors will receive an SMS or email, which can be used to enter the court. [Link: SCVMS]

ILS Pune suicide student’s scores change some: The re-evaluated scores of ILS Pune first-year student Saumitra Dhoble, who had on Saturday reportedly committed suicide an hour after his first semester exam results were declared, have not changed much. Two of Dhoble’s failing grades (zero marks in history and 40 in economics) were confirmed after re-evaluation but in English the grade was elevated to 28 marks from five [TOI]

Read PIL to get Kejriwal to take security: Advocate Anoop Prakash Awasthi filed a PIL in the Delhi high court seeking to force newly elected chief minister Arvind Kejriwal to accept a security detail [Full petition / Financial Express]

Karnan, the controverisal Madras HC judge: Madras HC judge has a knack for raising eyebrows, reports the New Indian Express, be it by storming into courtroom yesterday to intervene in a petition against the 12 name-recommendations for judgeships at the HC, or before that becoming the first judge to lodge a formal complaint of caste-based discrimination against him by brother judges, or in June when he delivered the progressive yet infamous “Sex equals marriage” judgement [Deccan Herald]

Jet-Etihad appeal: The Jet-Etihad combination approval by the CCI now faces a COMPAT appeal from Air India’s former executive director who asserts that due to the CCI’s failure to assess all competition issues, passengers are likely to be deprived of airline choices on key routes, pay higher prices and have fewer options on aircraft, timings and service quality [PTI]

Hauz Khas Village curse continues, as Green Tribunal orders closure of 12 restaurants in the hip Delhi ‘hood [NDTV]

Court orders cow DNA test: “Bizarre! But SO cool! Kerala court orders DNA test on cow to settle ownership dispute!” tweets @vakeel_saheba [NDTV]

AAP law minister calls for judicial reforms opposed: Somnath Bharti called for a meeting of Delhi’s district judges to encourage reforms but he was faced with opposition in the house and a letter to Delhi HC chief justice NV Ramana from Delhi principal law secretary AS Yadav, who said he saw it as an attack on the independence of the judiciary [PTI]

Madras HC advocates crowded the HC’s chief justice’s chambers yesterday, shouting slogans against the 12 names recommended for judgeships in the HC [TOI]

SC advocate HS Phololka joins AAP: Phololka, who is spearheading the 1984 riot victims’ case, is joining the political party Aam Aadmi Party whose leaders Arvind Kejriwal, Shanti Bhushan and Manish Sisodia contributed in the mission to get justice for the riot victims, at various times [TOI]

Dismissing a 75-year-old’s petition seeking a ban on the “your lordship” address of judges – which he asserted was a “relic of the colonial era” – the Supreme Court yesterday said: “Don't address us as lordship. We don't say anything. We only say address us respectfully." [PTI]

Madras HC senior R Gandhi has petitioned against the 12 names recommended for judgeships in the HC on the ground of under-representation of competent lawyers from certain communities and over representation of certain other communities, beyond merit, due to a regional bias among the judges forwarding the names [TOI]

The Competition Commission of India is seeing red as the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) attempts to end its status as India’s only competition watchdog, by proposing a parallel TRAI regime. The CCI has warned the corporate affairs ministry in writing that the TRAI’s plans are not supported by statute [Business Standard]

Delhi HC has confirmed that the Comptroller and Auditor General has power to audit the accounts of telecom companies, and not just central and state governments. But the audit has to be restricted to the companies’ receipts [The Hindu]

In a bid to protect unmarried boys from false rape charges the Delhi HC ruled that every act of sexual intercourse between consenting adults on the promise of marriage does not become rape. However the judge went to add that pre-marital sex is “immoral” and “against the tenets of every religion”. The observation, on cue, sparked outrage. Legally India previously wondered whether it was within judges to restrain themselves from shrouding progressive judgments in bizarre wording [DNA India/Judgment]

Bombay HC new judges
The Bombay HC got five new additional judges today in lawyers Vinay Manohar Deshpande, Ajey Gadkari, Nitin Sambre, Girish Kulkarni and B S Colabawalla [PTI]

NGT not HC-enough for suo motu
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has no power to take cognisance of cases on its own, said the Madras HC, restraining the NGT’s southern bench from suo motu cases [TOI]

Costly NLUD fees are fine, says HC 
Dismissing a student’s plea against NLU Delhi’s fee structure and compulsory residential university status which is otherwise not mandatory under BCI rules, the Delhi HC said comparing the university with any old engineering college will be like comparing apples with oranges [PTI]

Cash-at-judge’s-door
The SC has given the go ahead for initiating trial court proceedings against former Punjab & Haryana HC judge Nirmal Yadav for the cash-at-judge’s-door scam [Indian Express]

Chamber allotment struggles
The Rohini District Court Lawyers Allotment Committee allegedly arbitrarily denied allotment of a chamber to a disabled advocate despite him not only fitting all eligibility criteria but there also being a quota for the physically challenged in the court. The Committee has now assured the Delhi HC to give the advocate a fresh hearing [PTI]

Irresponsible executive criticism of #377
Chief justice of India P Sathasivam decried as irresponsible the statements of four union minister’s criticising the apex court’s judgment re-criminalising gay sex. “Except making our displeasure we can’t do anything. Though the statements are not appreciable we are not inclined to entertain the petition," he added while dismissing a social activist’s petition seeking disqualification for the four ministers on the ground that through their statements they “violated the secrecy of oath” [NDTV]

CBI to probe false allegations against judge
The CBI may soon probe the case of lobbyist TG Nandakumar who sent a letter to the Supreme Court Chief Justice and others falsely claiming that Madras HC judge C.K. Abdul Rahim had SIMI connections and close links with crime syndicate leader Dawood Ibrahim [Deccan Chronicle]

UK lawyers go on strike over legal aid cuts
In first-ever boycott of work, barristers (and solicitors) of England and Wales didn’t turn up to court for a half-day to protest a 30 per cent slash down in legal aid fees. “The legal aid dispute has become more polarised as the MoJ attempts to portray criminal lawyers as overpaid fat cats” -criminal lawyers disagree, reported The Guardian

Back to court-kindergarten
The Madras HC has launched a course titled “Redefining Legal Practices” for advocates with at least a 10 year PQE to teach them court craft, drafting and arguments [TOI]

Krishna Iyer J on JAC
Former Justice Krishna Iyer argues that the judicial appointments commission (JAC) must be totally independent and immune to legal proceedings in The Hindu

Kerala bar suspends colleague over sexism post
Before being suspended by the Calicut Bar Association, she wrote on her Facebook wall that male colleagues “address women as ‘sugar candy’ ‘dear’ and follow them with comments such as ‘you are so beautiful’ and the like. All of them follow the ‘Prem Nazir’ style of old Malayalam films. They dont seem to be familiar with newer films. It’s the same old way of making women either lovers or sisters; destroying them either by ‘caring’ for them or ‘keeping’ them. I pity all those who follow such a style.” [Kafila / India Today]

Rajasthan HC judge accused of locking up daughter over ‘wrong’ caste boyfriend
Rajasthan high court Justice Raghvendra Singh Rathore has allegedly locked his 30-year-old daughter up at home to stop her marrying a man from another caste, who has now filed a Supreme Court petition against the illegal detention [IBN Live] Update: The Supreme Court has ordered the release of the daughter. “She is a major and has the liberty to make her choice in marriage,” said Justices HL Dattu and C Nagappan [AFP]

TN bar council locks horns with BCI over upper age-limit for LLBs
TN bar council Although the Bar Council of India (BCI) has abolished the controversial upper age limit of 35 years for students taking law degrees, the Tamil Nadu bar council has retained the age ceiling, and reinforced it in a resolution on Saturday (14 December). The conflict has left thousands of students in the state, who enrolled in law courses between 2008 and 2011, in limbo, said the BCI, which is looking into the matter [TOI]

CJI: Bench must understand new phenomenon of frivolous litigation
CJI Sathasivam said that long-pending mercy petitions and other frivolous litigations are a new challenged that the bench must learn to understand in order to tackle effectively [The Hindu]

NLS safe but BU campus isn’t one year after rape
NLSIU Bangalore campus now safe after curfew and more guards, one year after the rape of a student near the adjoining Bangalore University campus, where ‘fear still stalks varsity students’, reported the New Indian Express

Delhi HC confirmation of gang rape verdict likely in Jan
The Delhi high court’s verdict on whether the death sentence of the four rapists convicted in the December 2011 Delhi gang rape will likely be delivered in January [IANS]

Nokia assets unfrozen in Delhi HC: The Delhi HC has come to the rescue of Nokia by revoking the Tax Department order freezing its assets. Nokia can now complete its deal with Microsoft to transfer its India assets, including its biggest phone-making factory, to the global software giant [The Hindu Businessline]

IPC distrusts women: The Indian Penal Code’s requirment for prosecution of false complaints is only in relation to gender-related offences, while corroboration of evidence in rape cases through medical examination is also ridden with unscientific and stereotypical practices. Our penal provisions reek of disbelief in women, argues NLU Delhi associate professor Mrinal Satish in an interview to the [Mint]

Jet-Etihad deal in danger: The Jet-Etihad deal’s Competition Commission of India clearance is facing an appeal by Air India’s former executive director, arguing that the CCI failed to assess the impact of certain commercial pacts of the two air carriers on competition [Business Standard]

Nashik Bar Association wants space: Fed up of congestion, the Nashik Bar Association today moved the Bombay High Court for a five-acre plot of land for the construction of a new court building adjacent to the existing premises [PTI]

Gujarat gets fourth Lokayukta after decade
Gujarat finally has a Lokayukta in retired Gujarat HC judge DP Buch after 10 years of the seat lying vacant and three years of a feud over the issue between state chief minister Narendra Modi and the governor [PTI]

Constitutional status for JAC
The Judicial Appointments Commission for appointments to the higher judiciary may end up getting constitutional status if a Parliamentary Standing Committee recommendation is accepted [TOI]

CCI tightens noose around chemists’ supply restrictions
The Competition Commission of India has asked the All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists to “cease and desist” from restricting supply of pharmaceutical drugs in the market, and has slapped a Rs 5.61 lakh fine on the Assam Drug Dealers Association for abusing its position causing such restriction [Financial Express]

Apple wins Samsung away match
Apple products iPhone and iPad are not Samsung products’ imitations, a South Korea court has ruled, throwing out Samsung’s $95,100 claim for damages in a long patent battle [Reuters]

SC Singhvi retires, leaves legacy
The Supreme Court’s justice GS Singhvi, most famous for his stern treatment of the 2G and the land acquisition cases, retired today just after overturned the progressive Delhi HC judgment that had decriminalised homosexuality [The Hindu]

Madras HC advocates for Ganguly
Madras HC advocates yesterday took out a rally in support of sexual harassment accused former Supreme Court judge AK Ganguly, asserting that he was being targeted because of his stern dealing of sensational cases [TOI]

CCI’s giant Coal India fine
Coal India is facing Rs 17.7 billion ($290m) Competition Commission of India fine for abusing its dominant position and imposing unfair conditions in fuel supply agreements with customers [Reuters]

E&Y legal to launch Singapore with HSF partner
“Former Herbert Smith Freehills’ Singapore partner John Dick has joined Ernst & Young Singapore as a partner as the “big four” accounting firm mulls legal services launch,” reported [The Lawyer]

PIL reveals crippled IPAB
A PIL in the Madras HC has brought attention to the “crippled” state of the Intellectual Property Appellate Board due to insufficient funds to have permanent premises for its principle and circuit benches [TOI]

Maha-NLS dream remains distant
Maharashtra CM Prithviraj Chavan “dodged” the Times’ query regarding schedule of setting up of Nagpur NLS, even though its proposal was earlier promised to be tabled in the winter session of the state legislative assembly. The paper now writes it could be a distant dream [TOI]

BCI cozies up to NaMo
A delegation led by Bar Council of India (BCI) chief Manan Kumar Mishra met Narendra Modi on Saturday, inviting him to address the valedictory function of the Gujarat bar Council. According to a Gujarat state press release, the BCI respected Modi’s nationalism, while Modi called for better application of technology and faster disposal of criminal cases by improving forensic science education [TOI]

SC settles TDSAT-TRAI turf war: TRAI wins
Telecom tribunals’ TDSAT and TRAI’s three-and-a-half-year-long turf war has been finally put to rest by the Supreme Court which has held that the TDSAT has no business interfering in TRAI-made regulations. TDSAT can only hear and dispose of appeals against TRAI orders [Business Standard / SC judgment]

Crowds admire Kerala HC astrological garden
Kerala high court now has its very own astrological plant garden with 27 varieties of medicinal saplings that relate to the 27 constellations. Crowds thronged the HC complex on Friday in search of their medicinal star-sign flower pot [IANS]

AP HC allows lower courts to accept PILs
We haven’t succeeded in putting our finger on the legal provision Andhra HC chief justice KJ Sengupta has employed in reaching this conclusion: “The common man need not approach the high court for filing of PILs as it involves a cost factor. The filing of PILs can be done at munsiff magisterial courts also.” Can you? [PTI]

Madras HC asked for anti-sex harass cell: After the Allahabad HC is done constituting its anti-sexual harassment cell, the Madras HC is now also under the wave of demand for the cell after a PIL was filed in the HC asking for a mechanism to deal with the problem in all Tamil Nadu courts [TOI]

Bombay HC prioritises ‘younger’ senior citizens’ cases, lowers age limit 
The “precedence age” – the age at which a litigant can get his case listed on priority in the Bombay HC – has reduced from 65 to 60. On 3 December the HC has issued a circular that if even one of the litigants party to a case have attained the age of 60, their case will be listed for final hearing and disposal on priority basis, on their request. In 1999, this age was fixed at 65 [PTI]

Madras HC lawyers against SC lawyers as their judges: Madras HC lawyers will have a 25 per cent empty roster rather than “importing a stranger” to fill judge seats in the HC, if their opposition to the appointment of three SC lawyers to the HC’s judgeship is anything to go by. The Advocates Association of the HC swears that the move will ‘'completely distort the present selection process”, because the appointment will not be made by the collegium’s recommendation but on the request of the SC’s Advocates-on-Record association [The Hindu]

Lawyer punches pesky customs officer for clients: A Madras HC lawyer has managed to make headlines for taking his solemn duty for his client a tad too seriously by roughing up the customs officer who held up his clients after their questioning at the unit was over [TOI]

SC probes PwC accounts, FDI, FEMA fudging
A Chief-headed bench will examine an NGO’s allegations of financial and accounting irregularities at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and its locally allied auditing firms. PwC and others “are apparently indulging in activities in violation of various statutes and polices like evasion of income tax, violations of FDI policy, RBI guideline, Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) and other rules” raising “serious apprehensions about the end use” of cash [PTI]

Delhi HC bans IIPM from advertising without court permission
The Delhi high court has passed an order affirming the UGC’s order debarring Arindam Chaudhary’s university IIPM from publishing ads in any medium without prior court permission [Firstpost]

Telangana-AP High Court Draft Reorganisation Bill
Telangana and Andhra Pradesh will have a common HC with the expenditure apportioned between the two according to state population ratio, according to the Andhra Pradesh Draft Reorganisation Bill [Deccan Chronicle]

CBI too challenges Guwahati HC unconstitutionality order
The CBI’s challenge to the Guwahati HC’s order declaring it unconstitutional, has been joined in the Supreme Court’s chief’s court to the Department of Personnel and Training’s challenge to the order [Firstpost]

Plea dismissed banning section 144 around India Gate: Delhi HC has dismissed a petition seeking a ban on imposing Section 144, CrPC, around India Gate. Section 144 prohibits the assembly of five or more people at and around India gate. It was imposed during the 16 December Delhi rape protests last year [TOI]

Coimbatore lawyers want Madras bench, Chennai don’t
Lawyers demand a Coimbatore bench of the Madras HC 10 years after Madurai got a bench of the HC, but lawyers in Chennai oppose the demand [TOI]

Advocate commission to check town planning
The Madras HC deputed three of its advocates in a commission to check improvement of facilities in Rameswaram and the Ramanathaswamy temple [PTI]

SC wants life sentence for milk-tampering
The SC has asked state governments to make laws that punish with life in prison the selling and production of adulterated milk injurious to humans [TOI]

Kalam faces faulty voting machine
Former president APJ Abdul Kalam was yesterday temporarily among the large number of Delhi voters who could not exercise their right to vote locally due to malfunctioning electronic voting machines (EVM). Kalam waited, went back home without voting, then came back to vote once the fault was corrected [Outlook]

Linklaters breaks strict associate lockstep
UK magic circle law firm Linklaters has introduced a merit-based discretionary pay element to its associate lockstep for the first time, to reward associates above two years of PQE, departing from the previous system of “strict ladder according to PQE” plus year-end bonus [The Lawyer]

Tejpal should pay Rs 25 lakh for wasteful Delhi bail application
Tehelka founding editor and rape accused Tarun Tejpal should be awarded exemplary costs of Rs 25 lakh – which should then be donated to the legal aid cell – for wasting the Delhi HC’s time with his anticipatory bail application, argues senior advocate and former additional solicitor general of India KN Bhat. Bhat says that Rs 25 lakh is equivalent to the amount of funds the court ended up wasting on the two days it entertained the application [Asian Age]

Sexual violence in India higher than US or under-reported?
Global statistics state that a woman is sexually abused in India every twenty minutes and that one in every six women experiences sexual violence in the US is an example of under-reporting, say experts [TOI]

Advocates PIL for Delhi HC sex harass cell
Two practicing advocates have filed a PIL for the formation of a sexual harassment committee for the protection of women working in the Delhi HC [TOI]

Tenndulkar’s Ratna challenge dismissed
The Madras HC has dismissed a petition challenging the prestigious Bharat Ratna national award on cricketer conferred on Sachin Tendulkar and scientist CNR Rao, for allegedly violating presidential norms of such grants [PTI]

GLC Ernakulam unrest continues over Facebook abuses
GLC Ernakulam is on top form with protests and unrest continuing throughout its campus. Causes this time: A defamation complaint by one student against another for his Facebook post, lack of transparency in attendance procedures and casteist abuses allegedly hurled by an assistant professor at a student [Deccan Chronicle]

DU prof pushes #InternJudge FIR: Former Delhi University law faculty dean SN Singh and retired IAS officer Promila Shankar have written to the Chief Justice of India to get an FIR registered on the basis of SJ’s complaint of sexual harassment against former Supreme Court justice AK Ganguly [Telegraph India]

Nokia $1bn tax settlement rejected
Nokia faces tax liabilities as its offer to settle Rs 6,500 crore liability with Rs 2,250 crore has been rejected by the tax department [NDTV Profit]

Delhi ‘11 HC blast accused claims wrongfully charged
The accused in the September 2011 Delhi HC blasts asked the HC to set aside a trial court order cancelling his bail, and has alleged that the National Investigation Agency wrongfully implicated him for the offence of waging war based on a vague FIR [PTI]

Dec 16 rape convicts say Hindi judgment illegible
Two of the four accused asked the Delhi HC for time to approach the SC claiming that the Hindi translation of the trial court’s judgement against them and its trial records were not legible. The Delhi HC is hearing the reference from the Saket court to confirm their death sentence [PTI]

Mumbai mobile traffic court on fast track
The Mumbai police’s proposal to start five mobile courts in the city to clamp down on traffic offenders is on the fast track after the chief metropolitan magistrate forwarded it to the Bombay HC’s chief justice for approval [Free Press Journal]

National Lok Adalat reduced case load by 7.1m
Between November 23 and 25 India’s case pendency score reduced by 71.5 lakh through the National Lok Adalat, which setlled 20.81 lakh pre litigation matters and 5.22 lakh traffic challans [PTI]

Delhi HC midweek-weekend
The general elections tomorrow have given the Delhi HC and lower courts a mid week break tomorrow. A new schedule has already been fixed to hear cases scheduled for the day; next Saturday is a working day for the lower courts [Notification]

A permanent office for the 11 year old IPAB (Intellectual Property Appellate Board) is now finally in the works in Kovalam, near Chennai, as the state has also invited applications to fill up its vacancies – after pressure from advocates pointing out its mounting workload [Business Standard]

Judges should introspect to keep fit, principles reduce rape in India: Karnataka HC judge AS Pachhapure said “for hours together the judges sit and also be at home, hence it is always better to have proper excise [sic], meditation and spirituality to keep themselves fit”. The HC’s judge L Narayanaswamy said that India has less than 25 per cent the number of America’s rape cases, despite a bigger population “because of our principles” [TOI]

Bench-bar tiffs shouldn’t amount to contempt of court, said UP advocate general Vinay Kumar Mishra in his felicitation address, adding that the bar and the bench are complementary to each other [TOI]

Corporate HR heads are working overtime to sensitise male employees about what is borderline behaviour causing discomfort to women colleagues and may cause the men to end up “unfairly maligned” [TOI]

‘False promise rape’ complaints on the rise: Touching and tragic portrait of family opposed to love marriage, unwanted pregnancy and a rape complaint resulting in marriage [WSJ] as part of a bigger examination of the rape complaints made by women hoping to avoid single parenthood under the ‘broken promise to marry’ doctrine [WSJ]

Nalsar reservations to split between AP / Telangana: Nalsar Hyderabad’s 16 reserved seats, out of a total of 68 LLB seats per batch, will be distributed equally between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana domiciled students post bifurcation of the state [Deccan Chronicle]

TN Lok Adalat settles Rs 1,000 crore: In Tamil Nadu’s Lok Adalat, part of the recent massive National Lok Adalat, more than 13 lakh cases were resolved and Rs 1,041 crores settled [PTI]

Delhi gang rape parents ask SC to try juvenile: The parents of the December 2012 Delhi rape victim have asked the Supreme Court for the 17-year-old accused’s fresh trial in an ordinary criminal court, challenging proceedings against him before the Juvenile Justice Board [TOI]

Madurai judges lost case documents and now have to show cause to the Madras high court. The judges include Madurai’s principal district judge and a few other judicial officers [TOI]

Pick and choose, said the Madras high court while lambasting the state government for contesting all and sundry cases that come to it instead of choosing the deserving ones [Zee News]

Vodafone Rs 1300 cr TP writ sent to DRP: The Bombay HC said that the Vodafone transfer pricing tax writ petition of the department’s transfer pricing adjustment of Rs 1,300 crore, should be referred to the tax department’s dispute resolution panel (DRP) [Mint]

CCI checks Ericsson-Micromax royalties: CCI has begun a probe to examine whether Ericsson cellphone patent royalties of 1.25% to 2% from Indian phone maker Micromax, are too high by virtue of abuse of its alleged dominant position [WSJ]

DHCBA election rules argued: Delhi HC reserves judgment on Delhi District Court Bar Association plea, filed by bar council Delhi member Rajiv Khosla, seeking amendments Delhi High Court Bar Association (DHCBA) over upcoming 13 December elections [PTI]

Lalu fodder scam bail notice to CBI: The SC’s chief justice P Sathasivam and Justice Ranjan Gogoi issue notice to the CBI in Rashtirya Janata Dal leader Lalu Prasad’s bail petition – argued by senior counsel Ram Jethmalani - over the fodder scam case [IBN Live]

Gruesome Kerala robbery decapitation death sentence commuted by SC justices BS Chauhan and SA Bobde for not being one of “gravest cases of extreme culpability” [The Hindu]

Sunburn’s stolen Powerpoint: Sunburn festival moves Bombay HC at Goa to restrain rival festival from using Sunburn’s Powerpoint presentations [TOI]

SC: Live-in couples deserve protection: An apex court bench of Justices KS Radhakrishnan and Pinaki Chandra Ghose has asked for an amendment to bring couples in non-married relationships into the ambit of Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act [The Hindu / BBC]

Slicing Kerala HC benches? Minister Shashi Tharoor asks for Kerala HC bench in Thiruvananthapuram, going against the views of eminent ex-SC judge VR Krishna Iyer [PTI]

SC: Don’t over-examine state decisions: SC bench of justices KS Radhakrishnan and AK Sikri says: “If every decision taken by the State is tested by a microscopic and a suspicious eye, the administration will come to a standstill and the decision-makers will lose all their initiative and enthusiasm.” [PTI]

Bank can publish defaulters’ photos: Bombay HC says it’s ok for SBI to publish defaulters’ photos in newspapers, as being in public interest [PTI]

Reprieve in TN lawyer clash: Madras’ Madurai bench grants interim stay in criminal proceedings against leader of opposition, Vijayakanth, relating to violence in clashes with advocates in district court on 1 July [TOI]

Mumbai autos move writ on gas supply [DNA]

Law means Tejpal raped, says journalist who was allegedly raped by Tehelka editor-in-chief Tarun Tejpal, in a forceful and tightly-argued statement: “I don’t know if I am ready to see myself as a ‘rape victim’, for my colleagues, friends, supporters and critics to see me thus. It is not the victim that categorizes crimes: it is the law. And in this case, the law is clear: what Mr. Tejpal did to me falls within the legal definition of rape” [Statement] In the meantime, Tejpal has reportedly landed in Goa to meet police there [Firstpost live blog]