Bar, Bench & Litigation

"Yes I have recommended saying it is a fit case for appeal” for the Karnataka government special prosecutor BV Acharya, who was responsible for getting the initial trial court verdict against J Jayalalithaa, told the Times of India as well as the Hindu Businessline.

Acharya had said earlier this week after the Karnataka high court had set aside Jayalalithaa’s conviction that an appeal was likely because the prosecution had not been allowed to make oral arguments.

In addition, there were several other potential issues with the judgment, including potentially questionable arithmetic.

The Delhi high court Bar Association on Wednesday called off its strike protesting the clearance of bill by the Rajya Sabha to increase pecuniary jurisdiction of the high court as parliament adjourned before it could be passed by the Lok Sabha.

The Bar Council of Delhi (BCD) has filed a complaint against Delhi LawMinister Jitender Singh Tomar and sought a probe into his alleged’fake law degree’ case, according to a letter by BCD to the DelhiPolice.

“The Bar Council of Delhi has observed that Jitender Singh Tomar hasenrolled himself in the council as an advocate by misrepresenting thefacts. Both universities claimed that the documents are forged,” saidBCD Secretary Puneet Mittal in his written complaint to DCP Hauz Khasarea.

The complaint was filed on May 11 after the two universities whosecertificates Tomar had furnished, claimed the degrees were fake.

The complaint letter stated that Tomar had claimed to have obtained agraduate degree from Ram Manohar Lohiya Avadh University, Faizabad inUP which the aforesaid university claimed to be forged.

As per the letter, Bihar’s Tilka Manjhi Bhagalpur University, statedthat the provisional Ll.B certificate bearing a serial number as 3687,submitted by Tomar at the time of his enrolment, was a fabricateddocument.

“It is, therefore, requested that a detailed preliminary enquiry may beconducted with respect to the alleged forged documents for commission ofoffences punishable under the Indian Penal Code. The report in thisconnection may be submitted before the council on or before May 28,"wrote Mittal in his complaint letter to the police.

As Vikram Hegde explained in a Legally India column on Livemint yesterday, former Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa was acquitted by the Karnataka high court in appeal because it found that only 8 per cent of her assets were illegal (because there was no proof of their origin).