Harish Salve
OP Khaitan & Co managing partner Gautam Khaitan - who had spent more than three months in jail during the CBI’s AgustaWestland chopper scam investigation in late 2014 - had provided a reference for a client to work with the controversial Panama-headquartered law firm Mossack Fonseca, reported the Indian Express as part of its ongoing Panama Papers coverage.
Senior counsel Harish Salve, whose name appeared in the so-called Panama Papers leak of more than 11 million financial documents from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca, published in India by the Indian Express, told Legally India that including his name was unfair, since his use of a British Virgin Islands-based (BVI) shell company was legal and transparently declared in his tax returns.
Adding to his list of failed litigations, Supreme Court of India has dismissed a public interest litigation filed by advocate Manohar Lal Sharma, in which Sharma had urged the Court to take judicial note of a statement made by actor Salman Khan’s father Salim Khan that the Khan family had spent Rs 25 crore on the litigation involving 2002-hit and run case.
The curative petition of Yusuf Mohsin Nulwala, a convict in the 1993 Mumbai blast case, will be heard by the Supreme Court tomorrow by the bench comprising the three senior-most Judges, namely, the CJI, TS Thakur, and justices Anil R Dave and JS Khehar beween 1:40 and 1:45 pm in their chambers tomorrow.
The new report by legal directory Chambers & Partners, which compiles an annual tiered ranking of law firms and partners in various practice areas, has seen Khaitan & Co take the top spot by number of "ranked" lawyers, reported The Economic Times, while AZB & Partners, Khaitan & Co and both erstwhile Amarchand Mangaldas co-managing partner Shroff brothers have lost dominance.
The Supreme Court’s two constitution benches in adjacent court rooms of 1 and 3 heard two governors simultaneously at 2pm today: one a former governor, and an alleged victim of political vendetta, and the other a sitting governor, who allegedly conspired with the Centre to topple a duly-elected government by recommending President’s rule.
History was made today, with three Constitution benches sitting at the same time in the Supreme Court at 2 pm.
Justices Anil R Dave, Kurian Joseph and Adarsh Kumar Goel will hear in their chambers at 1.45 pm today the review petitions filed by the CBI and the Association of Victims of Uphaar Tragedy (AVUT) against the judgment delivered by them on 23 September 2015 substituting the sentences of the convicts, Sushil Ansal and Gopal Ansal with a fine of Rs 30 crore to be paid by each.
While Sushil Ansal got relief on the ground of old age, Gopal Ansal’s sentence was substituted on the ground of parity.
When the CBI’s counsel, Harish Salve and AVUT’s counsel, KTS Tulsi expressed the grievance that they were not heard before the bench decided to substitute the sentences of the convicts, Justice Dave had advised Salve to file a review petition, raising the same grievance.
The 23 September judgment had led to considerable outrage.
The AVUT, in its review petition filed separately, has sought the hearing of the petition in open court. If the Judges agree to do so, it will be listed separately for hearing in open court, for hearing arguments from both the sides. If the judges do not see merit in the plea for open court hearing, the review petition may be dismissed in chambers without any reasons being given.
In view of the dissatisfaction with the 23 September 2015 ruling, observers expect the bench to agree to open court hearing of the review petitions.
Legally India will update after the chamber hearing.
The Supreme Court today sought a response from Nestle and the Maharashtra government on an FSSAI plea seeking a stay of the Bombay high court order prohibiting food testing by government labs not accredited under new food safety law.
An apex court bench of Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Prafulla C Pant also issued notice on a FSSAI plea for putting the sale of Maggi on hold as it was a proprietary product and it’s sale was contrary to the Section 22 of the FSSAI Act.
However, Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi told the court that FSSAI for now was not pressing for this prayer.
The court directed the hearing of the matter on 16 January as Nestle, represented by the senior counsel Harish Salve, said that it would file its response by 5 January.
Harish Salve said he has materials to show that “dance bar is an animal in itself”, while acting for Maharashtra which defended its defiance of the Supreme Court’s order that had directed it to begin accepting bar licence applications, reported Indian Express.
Salve asked a bench of justices Dipak Misra and PC Pant, for additional time to produce materials highlighting the harmful sociological effects of dance bars, and submitted that the Maharashtra government will, in the interim, comply with the court’s 12 October order that had stayed its prohibitive law on dance bars.
The bench said: “We must remind the authority that the court order has to be respected. We have stayed your new law that prohibited dance performances. Now our order has to be complied with without any deviation.” “Are they (organisations) puritans? Dance performances do not take place only at these bars. Dance has been a respectable concept in India for centuries. You are calling it a social evil but this may only be a problem relating to law and order which can be regulated. We have already said no to obscenity so can you now prohibit them citing some social norms?”
The Supreme Court on Monday asked the central and Delhi governments as to why pollution compensatory charge be not levied on the trucks and commercial vehicles entering national capital and further contributing to already alarming air pollution in the city.
Association Of the Victims of Uphaar Tragedy president, Neelam Krishnamoorthy expressed dismay over the reasoned judgment delivered by Justices Anil R Dave, Kurian Joseph and Adarsh Kumar Goel yesterday (Wednesday, September 23) in the Uphaar criminal appeal.