SCBA for JudgeCam: SCBA president MN Krishnamani called for the installation of CCTV camera in judges’ chambers in his law day address. “Serious allegations are coming up against judges. The fixing of cameras inside judges' chambers can be done,” he said. Others, including law minister Kapil Sibal, disagreed [PTI]

Sexual harassment in law: A female Vadodara lawyer is currently grappling with inaction over her sexual harassment complaint of September made to the city police against a senior advocate. The Baroda Bar Association and the district court do not have a sexual harassment cell [TOI]

Advocates Association runs canteen: The Advocates Association Bangalore (AAB) will start its own canteen from 2 December, after being fed up of the allegedly bad food quality and exorbitant rates of the Karnataka HC canteen. The AAB has already met with the chief justice of the HC for permission to start its own canteen [Bangalore Mirror]

Madras lawyers like Aarushi judgment language: Madras HC lawyers found the language of the CBI Court’s judgment in the Aarushi Talwar case like a ‘breath of fresh air’ at a time when the quality of language in judgment writing is dipping, reported the [New Indian Express]

Madras Advocates versus police: Over 100 lawyers of the Madras HC Advocates’ Association (MHCAA) and the Women Lawyer’s Association staged a demonstration to protest the “high-handed” behaviour of the state police which allegedly registers false complaints against them to obstruct them in appearing for their clients. The MHCAA president alleged that the association has received at least six complaints of police high handedness within a week [TOI]

Failed sex harassment complaint: The Bombay HC today restrained the NCW from proceeding on the sexual harassment complaint of a former KPMG employee who had alleged she was harassed during her employment there between 2005-06 [Indian Express]

New MP HC CJ: 56-year-old AM Khanwilkar took over as the chief justice of the Madhya Pradesh HC on Tuesday. Justice KK Lahoti has been officiating as the CJ of the MP HC since former chief justice SA Bobde was elevated to the SC in April 2013 [TOI]

Tejpal still bail less: Tehelka founding editor Tarun Tejpal’s bail hearing has been postponed till Friday – until then the Goa police could arrest him. [Bail arguments summary NDTV / Deccan Chronicle]. The Goa police was represented by senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, as senior KTS Tulsi was on for Tejpal [The Hindu]. The alleged victim has recorded her FIR statement in the meantime [DNA], as Goa police has requested Tejpal to appear for questioning before 3pm on Thursday [Zee Liveblog]

Cash-at-judge’s door could see SC: A CBI court allowed former Punjab & Haryana HC judge Nirmal Yadav – accused in the “cash-at-judge’s-door” scam – 2 weeks to move the Supreme Court against the P&H HC’s order dismissing her application for stay on the CBI court’s trial of the scam [IBN Live]

26/11 Taj sued in London: A British paralysed victim of the 2008 terror attacks on the Taj Hotel in Mumbai, is suing the hotel in London’s high court, for failure to deploy enough security at the premises despite warnings of an imminent terror attack [Zee News]

Dainik courts sex harassment: A former employee of the Dainik Bhaskar group’s MY FM radio station with two other colleagues, has pressed on with claiming against the station’s CEO Harish Bhatia for sexual harassment and intimidation. The woman journalist has made the complaint before the National Commission for Women and the Delhi HC [The Hindu]

NOTA law: If a majority of voters exercise the recently introduced “None of the Above (NOTA)” option during polls, the election commission cannot be directed to hold fresh polls, said the Supreme Court while dismissing a PIL seeking this remedy. The SC said that it is for the legislature to suitable amend the law after seeing how voters respond to NOTA [IBN Live]

Speedy Karnataka judiciary: The Karnataka judiciary has settled over 91,000 cases in the state in the last 90 days, through Lok Adalats conducted by the Karnataka State Legal Services Authority. 83,023 of these cases were pending for adjudication in various courts across the State, 9,169 cases were at pre-litigation stage before legal services committees in various districts [The Hindu]

Nalsar student suicide committee: None of the Universities in Andhra Pradesh have implemented the Nalsar Committee’s recommendations on measures to alleviate student suicides in the state. The nine member committee hosted by Nalsar Hyderabad had recommended examination pattern and curriculum changes, suicide probe task force, student grievance cells, restorative justice centre [TOI]

Anon RTIs: A Right to Information application can now also be made using only a Post Box number instead of the applicant’s name and address, the Calcutta HC has ruled [HT]

Loco Adalat: 300 benches of the National Lok Adalat on Saturday disposed of 3.44 lakh cases and disbursed a total compensation amount of Rs 39.89 crore [PTI]

Shah for LawComm: Former Delhi HC chief justice AP Shah has been appointed to succeed former SC justice DK Jain as chairman of the 20th Law Commission after Jain resigned to preside over the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission [PTI]

Bombay HC new 6: Bombay HC additional judges Abhay Mahadeo Thipsay, Justice Utkarsh Vishvanath Bakre, Justice Manoj Shivlal Sanklecha, Justice Ramesh Deokinandan Dhanuka, Justice Sunil Prabhakarrao and Justice Nitin Madhukar Jamdar have been elevated as permanent judges in that HC [PTI]

Caveat emptier: The appointment of 11 presidents and 23 members to Karnataka’s district consumer forums have been in limbo for almost three months now after a writ challenging the propriety of the procedure for their selection is pending in the Karnataka HC [TOI]

Antiquated construction of museum: The Madras HC museum is 70 per cent complete nine months into its construction. Paraphernalia includes a 1915 Mahatma Gandhi speech, pre-HC era British judgments, retrograde judge uniforms and wood pens used to write judgements in the 1900s [The Hindu]

SC allows jailed candidates: The SC has approved an amendment in the Representation of People Act, which allows jailed politicians to contest elections while in police custody, unless they are held guilty and convicted by a trial court [ANI]

Lawyers challenge DHCBA election bona fides: Delhi bar council member advocate Rajiv Khosla, on behalf of the Delhi District Court Bar Association, told the Delhi HC that the Delhi High Court Bar Association (DHCBA) constitution’s election-related amendments are “malafide and illegal”, and were made “unlawfully and arbitrarily” [PTI]

Sexual harassment committee demands: P&H HC lawyers are demanding setting up of a gender sensitisation and internal complaints committee in the premises of the HC and subordinate courts of Chandigarh, Punjab and Haryana [TOI]

Mega Karnataka Adalat: Five Karnataka high court judges are expected to dispose of 900 miscellaneous first appeals on insurance claims in six days. The claims have been pending in the HC since 2011. Dubbed the ‘mega adalat’, the initiative is part of a series of Lok Adalats being held in the state from 1 to 23 November [Bangalore Mirror]

SC examines death row pardon in extreme brutality: The Supreme Court will hear a PIL on whether the President can commute death penalties in cases of extreme brutality. The petitioner Pinki Virani’s plea referred to five death sentences of convicted rapists of children, which former President Pratibha Patil had commuted [NDTV]

Technical porn block feasible, asks apex court to the Department of Telecommunications. Justice BS Chauhan, heading the bench, queried whether websites with pornographic content (particularly child pornography) could be blocked technically [PTI]

AP-split PIL rejected: Supreme Court justices HL Dattu and Madan B Lokur reject PIL on Telangana Andhra Pradesh bifurcation [PTI]

Madras HC judgeships: As Madras HC’s 15 judge recommendations await the SC’s approval, the next list of recommendations is already in the offing to fill the court’s 25 per cent vacant roster [TOI]

Delayed judge transfers: Himachal HC chief justice Ajay Manikrao Khanwilkar was today transferred to Madhya Pradesh HC as chief justice, four months after the SC’s recommendation. Sources said that the delay in his transfer was because of a representation made by a senior Madhya Pradesh High Court judge to the President [Deccan Chronicle]

CCI vs CAT: The Competition Commission of India (CCI) will not take the Competition Appellate Tribunal’s ban on its practice of imposing high penalties, sitting down. The CCI plans a Supreme Court challenge [ET]

CCI can rule on petrol? The CCI, which is currently looking into suspected unfair trade practices by state-run oil marketing firms while setting petrol prices, will rule on its own jurisdiction to examine the issue this month [PTI]

Lacking SHRCs: Tripura and 10 other states and Union territories are yet to set up a human rights watchdog - a State Human Rights Commission (SHRC). Except Assam no other north eastern state has a full-fledged SHRC. However, Manipur and Meghalaya are in the process of constituting such a body. The NHRC is presently looking into 60,000 human rights violations [TOI]

Consti bench rules police must file FIR: A five-judge constitution bench of CJI P Sathasivam and justices B S Chauhan, Ranjan P Desai, Ranjan Gogoi and S A Bobde ruled in the Lalita Kumari case yesterday that action must be taken against police officers who do not register a First Information Report (FIR) in a cognisable offence [PTI / Order]

Videoing the courtroom: The law ministry’s advisory committee has unanimously agreed that court proceedings must be recorded on video and that appropriate technology for this must be put in place [PTI]

Short circuit: Work at the Madurai bench of the Madras HC is suffering, say practicing lawyers, after one of the two division benches in the circuit has gone to the principal bench until 15 November [TOI]

CCI clears Jet-Etihad merger: The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has approved the merger between Jet and Etihad Airways, with member Anurag Goel dissenting, arguing the deal could adversely affect international air travel competition. [PTI / Majority / Dissenting] Law firms Amarchand, ELP, Gagrats and senior counsel Harish Salve advised on the takeover

Tamil lawyers want a break from 7-day week: Tamil Nadu lawyers fed up with the seven-day week imposed on them by setting up India’s first weekend family courts in the state in 2010, are of the view that lawyers and judges shouldn’t be made to slog extra without statutory sanction [TOI]

CCI tamed by COMPAT: The COMPAT’s order on guiding principles to be applied by the CCI before imposing penalties, offers hope that the CCI’s arbitrary imposition of humongous penalties may be a thing of the past, law firm competition law experts tell Money Control

“Wired for crime” is good defence: US criminal defence counsel are increasingly relying on brain scans and genetic evidence to use inherent defects in the brain of those accused of crimes, as a defence. The number of neurolaw cases rose from 100 to 250 a year between 2005 and 2012 [The Guardian]

Dec 16 rape trial: The Delhi December 16 rape convicts’ defence counsel are on the verge of losing their roles to amicus curiae after the Delhi HC expressed frustration with their repeated absence from the death sentence confirmation hearings [Zee News]

Sathasivam for speed in women cases: Women, corruption, arbitration and environment should be high priority subjects in disposing off cases, said CJI Sathasivam while speaking at the 99th birth anniversary of former SC justice VR Krishna Iyer [PTI]

Protect courts’ ‘lady officers’ from hostility, SC: The Supreme Court told off Gujarat district and high court judges for not protecting a female junior judicial officer from unwarranted inquiry and getting her job terminated for extraneous reasons. Reinstating her, the SC held: “We would like to take this opportunity to emphasise that the high courts must see to it that the hostile work environment for junior judicial officers, particularly the lady officers, is eliminated.” [PTI]

Judge disposes 382 cases in few words: Justice K B K Vasuki of the Madras High Court disposed of a possible-record 382 criminal original petitions in a single day by passing a common order of two sentences. The judge, in essence, told cops to investigate the crimes before it. Of the 382 petitions, three were filed in 2009, 29 in 2010, two in 2011, 37 in 2012, and 311 this year. [New Indian Express]

Jain arbitration: The Jain International Organisation – an NGO that was inaugurated last week, has started the International Settlement Forum (ISF) - an institutionalised arbitration service at its Churchgate office in Bombay. ISF will deliver quick decisions within a few weeks to people of all communities - the only condition is that the parties must agree to abide by the verdict. [TOI]

Foreign editors’ fate hangs: The Delhi high court on Friday reserved its decision on the issue of foreigners holding editorial position in Indian newspapers. Politician Subramanian Swamy’s petition had questioned S Varadarajan holding the position of editor in the national daily The Hindu, without being an Indian citizen [Mint]

Bombay HC to examine mass juvenile release: The Bombay High Court has suo motu decided to hear appeals against the order of the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB), Pune, which disposed of 82 cases in a single day on September 16 last year by releasing juveniles on probation after recording the plea of their guardians although they had attained majority [PTI]

MP slayed RTI activist? The use of RTI by a Gujarat-based environment activist, against a member of parliament’s (MP) involvement in illegal mining in the Gir forest, led to his alleged murder by the MP and his aides. The MP has now been arrested after a CBI report [NYT]

Menaka Guruswamy interview: Mint does a pithy interview with Menaka Guruswamy – the lawyer for the petitioners in Thursday’s bureaucrats judgment of the SC. Guruswamy was also among the leading lawyers challenging Section 377 of the IPC

Fake advocate: The Madras HC has on procedural defects suspended the jail term of a man being tried under the IPC for enrolling with the Tamil Nadu Bar council on a bogus law degree [The Hindu]

AP HC in Vizag: The Vishakhapatnam Bar Association has reiterated its demand for an Andhra Pradesh HC bench in Vizag, “since Seemadhra advocates were facing hostile attitude from Telangana advocates” [The Hindu]

New UP Adv Gen: Former BCI chairman and Allahabad HC senior advocate Vinay Chandra Mishra yesterday took charge as the advocate general of Uttar Pradesh [TOI]

Ambitious Sibal: Kapil Sibal today called a meeting of the advisory council of the National Mission for Justice Delivery and Legal Reforms, headed by the law minister to deliberate on important issues, including the litigation policy and making audio-video recording of all court proceedings mandatory. Sibal purports to achieve in six months what his predecessors failed to made any progress in in more than 4 years [TOI]

Lawyer authors profiled: The Hindu succinctly profiles lawyers-and-writers NLSIU Bangalore grads Satyajit Sarna and Aditya Sudershan, BMS College of law Bangalore grad Rishi Kumar and Osmania University grad Kalyan Kankanala

Death row worthiness: SC justices AK Patnaik and Gyan Sudha Mishra rendered a 33-page judgment ruling on the principle that courts should record “special” reasons while awarding death penalty and “must” take into account the crime and the character of the criminal which should reflect “extreme depravity” to deserve such a punishment [PTI]

Tribunal refunds: The high court of Bombay at Goa has ordered that the tribunals shall issue certificates for refund of fees paid by the claimants after their petitions are settled before the Lok Adalats [TOI]

CBI exposed: “Fascinating insight into how the CBI actually works, manpower and expertise shortage and all,” tweets @CourtWitness1 [Caged parrot or a poor man’s Hercule Poirot? Business Standard]

Lawyer myths: NLSIU Bangalore grad and Singapore’s Nanyang Tech B-school lecturer Krishna Udayasankar has penned down a mythological trilogy – the Aryavarta Chronicles. Interview by [Bangalore Mirror]

TOI didn’t defame: The Times of India is off the hook for criminal defamation after the Madras HC dismissed the Tamil Nadu government’s case against the paper for a 28 March news item exposing an irregular public auction. “The court taking cognizance of a complaint against the press must follow due diligence. Before taking a prima facie view, the news item should be analysed and an attempt should be made at least to indicate the basic reasons, which would attract the offence of defamation and as to whether the news item made a reference to the government or minister with an intention to defame or tarnish the image,” said the HC judge [TOI]

SC Tarun Chatterjee to UP HRC: Former Supreme Court justice Tarun Chatterjee has been appointed as the UP state human rights commission’s chairman [Jagran Post]

Dec 16 rape confirmation: The Delhi HC has begun confirmation hearings for the death sentence reference by the Saket trial court in the 16 December Delhi gang rape case [PTI]

Law school paycheques: ET reports breathlessly that national law schools have broken the business consultancy glass ceiling with Bain Capital creating its first legal position after hiring from NLSIU Bangalore this year – also the campus from where McKinsey and Deutsche Bank have made an offer each so far. At Nalsar Hyderabad, between 25 2014 graduates hired so far the average salary is, reportedly, Rs 14.5 lakh per annum, while the highest international pay package is 40,000 pounds. The average salary at NUJS Kolkata is Rs 9 lakh per annum – marginally up from last year

Forced MP: Congress MP from Vijayawada L Rajagopal has petitioned the Delhi HC to rid him of his MP post, alleging that he is being forced to carry on as MP despite handing over a resignation on 2 August in protest against the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh [India Today]

Infosys US soup: India’s second largest software exporter Infosys will pay $35m to avoid restrictions on its use of US work visas under a potential resolution of the company’s use of entry permits. It received a federal grand jury subpoena seeking records related to its sponsorships for B-1 business visas and its use of them and reserved $35 million for a settlement tied to the probe [Bloomberg]

Vodafone bullish on India: World’s second largest mobile operator Vodafone Plc of UK on Tuesday sought FIPB approval to invest Rs 10,141 crore in raising its stake in the Indian arm to 100 percent [Money Control]

Mumbai nightlife out of licence shackles: Mumbai restaurateurs now need only 19 instead of 38 clearances to open up joints in the city. Discontinued licenses and permits include that for rolling shutters, medical certificates for employees, permit room licence, pollution NOC, police registration certificate, live orchestra, permit for chimney and the DJ licence from police. Several other licences and permits will be combined to clear the clutter. For instance, there will be now a combined licence for signages, neon signs and stall boards [Mumbai Mirror]

Indian business sense(lessness): India’s rank has experienced no noticeable change in the World Bank and IFC’s Doing Business Rankings’ 2014 edition, suggesting that reforms have had minimal impact. India has dropped three places from 131 to 134 out of a total 189 countries [India Corp Law]

Patent suits: A barrage of patent infringement suits against generic drug companies since 2009 threatens to overturn the compulsory licensing regime, argues Frontline

SEBI vs Sahara: The Sahara Group has been ordered by the Supreme Court to hand over title deeds of properties worth Rs.20,000 crore to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) after hearing three contempt of court petitions filed by SEBI against the group's owner Subrata Roy [ANI]

Fearless judiciary: Miffed with politician VS Achuthanandan’s remarks on the judge hearing his petition, the judge said: “"I'll teach him how the courts function. This court is functioning without any fear or submissiveness. He should use other methods to get applause." [TOI]

Court wage: Refusing to show sympathy to Class 3 and 4 staff in government pleaders’ offices the Bombay high court remarked on a petition for increase in their salary, that the condition of court staff was worse off [Asian Age]

Vadra PIL dismissed: The Supreme Court has rejected a licence allocation PIL against Gandhi-dynasty-in-law Robert Vadra and other developers as “cheap publicity” [TOI]

Magistrate arrested: The Madras HC is hearing petitions for necessary action against top police officials of Tiruppur district for arresting Thangaraj, then Judicial Magistrate of Coonoor, in total violation of the norms and guidelines framed by the Supreme Court [New Indian Express]

Madras HC revenue norms on designating senior advocates: An advocate should have at least 15 years of experience arguing cases, some of them should be landmark judgements and should have earned at least Rs 7 lakh annually from lawyering for three years immediately before being considered to be elevated [The Hindu]

Madras bar opposes JAC: The Madras Bar Association (MBA) in a memorandum to the president of India has opposed the constitutional amendment that establishes the Judicial Appointments Committee. The MBA has likened the amendment to the British Rowlatt Act 1919 – which delimited all civil liberties [TOI]

Research better, says judge: Lawyers should do better research before arguing a case in court, in order to help the judges do their job better said a Madras HC judge [The Hindu]

JR for admin tribunals? Administrative tribunals should also have the power of judicial review, like the judiciary does [Zee News]

Pizza Hut under DTAA lens: The Delhi High Court is set to rule whether a US company can simultaneously avail of the benefit of a lower tax rate under the Indo-US Double Tax Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) and exemptions on payments of royalty under the Income Tax (I-T) Act [Financial Express]

SC slams IR flip-flop litigation: Revenue shouldn't "be allowed to flip-flop on the issue and it ought to let the matter rest, rather than spend the tax payers' money in pursuing litigation of its own sake... There was no need for it to continue this litigation when it was quite clear that not only was it fruitless but also that it may not have added anything to the public coffers", says SC [Business Standard]

Jayalalithaa asks SC to extend judge tenure to hear graft case: TN CM Jayalalithaa and others faces disproportionate assets probe in Karnataka HC, write SC asking for new judge's appointments to be quashed in order for old judge's tenure to be extended to hear the case [NDTV]

Photographic defaults: Banks' practice of publicising defaulters' pictures could be on thin ice, legally, lawyers tell TOI [TOI]

CC’s presentation tips for women: UK legal giant Clifford Chance issued a memo to its women retainers with advice such as: “Don’t giggle; Don’t squirm; Don’t tilt your head; No one heard Hillary the day she showed cleavage” [Above The Law/Think Progress]

Jaising slams progress on sexual violence: ASG Indira Jaising, in a personal capacity, writes how women remain as vulnerable under the system as they were before December 2012, despite protests and promises of reform in the Delhi gang rape: “Bias is embedded in the practice and procedure of trials… The patronising attitudes of law enforcement agencies are truly dangerous… The problem is that we have fostered an environment of impunity for the act and that is why we have not succeeded in changing the attitude.”  [Indian Express]

DoT to revise telecoms M&A norms, upping max merged market share to 50%: The Department of Telecommunications is considering allowing a 50 per cent market share to merged telecoms entities, instead of the earlier 35 per cent, as well as permitting retention of two blocks of 3G spectrum in its new M&A guidelines to be discussed on Tuesday [Zee News]

Orissa circuit bench hopes recede: The prospects for southern and western circuit benches of the Orissa HC have become bleak, after union law minister Kapil Sibal told the state chief minister that his recommendation means nothing in the absence of the HC’s chief justice’s consent [New Indian Express]

Maha circuit bench talks: A delegation of the Pune Bar Association (PBA) on Wednesday had its second hearing with the justices DY Chandrachud and SJ Vazifdar panel of the Bombay High Court, which is looking into the lawyers’ demands of setting up a high court bench in Pune [Express]

Andhra scam: A Rs 500 crore scam has surfaced in the Andhra Pradesh state government’s largest revenue generator – the commercial taxes department – in the form of alleged illegal refunds made to 61 firms [Deccan Chronicle]

Super-ceded forest regulator: The union government has rejected the Supreme Court’s suggestion made two years ago to set up a ‘super regulator’ for the single-window grant of environment and forest clearances for projects [TOI]

Clinical trials on ice: The Supreme Court has blocked 157 global clinical trials in India that were approved by the government, while asking the regulators re-examine whether the trials are for the benefit of people [Indian Express]

Gov mulls Sanjay Dutt leniency: The home affairs ministry has asked the Maharashtra government whether actor Sanjay Dutt and two others, who were given jail terms for involvement in the 1994 Bombay serial blasts, should be released early on “humanitarian grounds” [The Hindu]