Markandey Katju

Not sitting pretty: West Bengal advocate general Bimal Chatterjee sparked off courtroom drama in the Calcutta HC with his comments on state election commissioner Meera Pandey’s demand for extra security cover, which he called “arbitrary” and “whimsical”. He said: “Every day, new demands are being made one after another like a beautiful lady.” [NDTV]

Pfizer fires IP: Pfizer’s chief IP counsel told the Indian Pharma Alliance that “the parlous environment for patent rights in India has set the ground to render each and every one of those cited Pfizer patents without meaning in the Indian legal environment” [ET]

Katju probity for IPL probe? Ex-IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi's counsel Mehmood Abdi suggested PCI chairman Markandey Katju's name to conduct probe into the IPL spot-fixing scandal. He said: “Justice Katju is known for his professed views and action on issues of probity in public life, corruption, fairness and above all impartiality” [Indiatimes]

Nalsar voyeur action: Nalsar Hyderabad executive council has vowed to set up a committee to take short and long term action against the victimisation of women by voyeuristic media. This follows Friday’s incident where TV channels aired and uploaded distorted news segments of an altercation involving party-going female Nalsar students outside a city pub [Hindu / Firstpost]

Hack to check Katju: Markandey Katju “hungry for cheap popularity, “would cause much more harm to Indian society in his remaining term” if not “checked” says journalist Arvind Pansare’s petition in the Bombay HC challenging the Press Council Act 1978 for not providing a process for removal of the PCI chairman [TOI]

Lawbreaker lawmin? Lawmin Ashwini Kumar does not deny charges of vetting the CBI’s status report on the coal blocks allocation controversy, along with other PMO officials. BJP demands his resignation for misuse of the CBI [IE]

Tackling school suicides: Nalsar organises 21 April meet to discuss student suicides in universities; two-judge bench of the Andhra Pradesh HC orders all state universities to attend [TOI]

Pondering porn: SC’s chief justice bench admits PIL on making watching pornography a non-bailable offence. Senior advocate MN Krishnamani appearing for the petitioner asserts that porn is affecting “peace of mind, health and wellness, happiness and human potential” [TOI]

Nalsar fights media: Nalsar Hyderabad students launch online campaign and vow to sue for slander over local television channels that allegedly forcefully filmed them and edited telecast to show them as drunk and topless outside a city pub where they were celebrating their farewell [Hindu/TOI]

Fashionable arbitration: The Karnataka high court’s arbitration centre – India’s second high court arbitration centre after Delhi – gets launched in Bangalore with arbitration fees ranging from Rs 50,000 and Rs 8 lakhs [New Indian Express]

Canning Katju: Bombay high court admits petition challenging the Press Council Act that does not allow for removal of Press Council of India (PCI) chairman (vis ex-Supreme Court judge Markandey Katju). [Spread_law via Twitter]

Pre-legal aid: Mumbai University Legal Aid Clinic in collaboration with the Maharashtra State Legal Services Authority will now offer pre-litigation mediation and arbitration services to citizens [TOI]

Top billing: GNLU Gandhinagar third-year student Tanya Nayyar wins Pravin Gandhi College of Law’s national legislative drafting competition, for her draft Mobile Towers (Installation and Regulation) Bill (2013), which will now be submitted to the DoT. NLIU Bhopal stands second [HT]

Declining judicial aspirations: Bombay high court chief justice Mohit Shah urges state bar council to train candidates for judgeship. Cites finding only 55 suitable judges in a 2012 advertisement for 159 posts, as compared to 41 judges for 100 posts in 2011, and 100 for 100 in 2010 [HT]

Katju NGO, with “mandate of the people”, to be inaugurated on 15 April.

A 21-year-old woman and her friend were arrested for allegedly posting and endorsing a comment on Facebook that was critical of the two-day bandh following the death of Mumbai politician Bal Thackeray on Saturday, according to several independent media reports.

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Current affairs, media and culture blog Newslaundry’s Madhu Trehan asks former Supreme Court Justice Markandey Katju, now the chairman of the Press Council of India (PCI), some tough questions about himself and freedom of speech (46 minute video interview). Is Katju’s bark not already bad enough, she asks, that you need more bite? As the interview proceeds, Katju’s fuse is lit several times, and barks and giggles ensue. Click through for a potted digest…

A lot of the recent frictions between the judiciary and the media are little more than misunderstandings, argues Kian Ganz.

Justice Markandey Katju, chairman of the Press Council of India (PCI), said that the PCI would challenge in the Supreme Court the Allahabad High Court’s order directing the government to prevent the media reporting troop movements.

Katju also added that that the Indian Express, which had come under fire and faced government denials for its story on army movements near Delhi, could not be faulted for its report.

Press Council of India (PCI) chairman Justice Markandey Katju issued a press release today with his latest essay on the sensible limits of freedom of speech in an India only “partially emerged from the dark, feudal age”, Salman Rushdie’s prose, the Jaipur Literature Festival and why no one cares about Nobel prize winners.