HL Dattu

Chief Justice of India (CJI) HL Dattu is not far from matching a new record: since he became CJI on 28 September 2014, he has confirmed the death sentences of 10 persons in five cases.

"For those of you who follow former Supreme Court Justice and former Press Council of India (PCI) Chairman, Justice Katju on Facebook, you would have learnt two things over the last couple of months: first he’s holidaying in the US with family and second he’s making very serious allegations of corruption against the sitting Chief Justice of India HL Dattu...”

“So, for Justice Katju to accuse the sitting CJI of corruption and not be served with a contempt notice, is indeed a big leap for the Indian judiciary – maybe they are finally open to the idea of some public scrutiny and criticism,” asks Prashant Reddy in The Hoot

The countrywide national Lok Adalat for the settlement of bank recovery, cheques bounce and dishonoured cheques cases Saturday witnessed the settlement of 56,000 cases involving more than Rs 265 crore.

The day-long Lok Adalat for the amicable settlement of such cases was organized by the National Legal Services Authority, whose executive chairman is Justice TS Thakur, the senior most judge after Chief Justice of India HL Dattu.

“More than 56,000 cases, which include pending and pre-litigation matters have been settled. The banks and financial institutions and others who participated were able to arrive at final settlements worth Rs.265 crores and more,” said a statement issued by NALSA based on the information available with it Saturday evening.

“It is evident that the National Lok Adalat has greatly benefitted the common man and it has been achieved not only because of the legal services authorities/committees but also because of the cooperation extended by the judges, lawyers and various authorities including banks and financial institutions,” it said.

In the Supreme Court, four benches took up more than 200 cases for settlement. Two of these former apex court judges Arijit Pasayat, Gyan Sudha Misra, BS Chauhan and Ranjana Prakash Desai.

Of the other two courts, one had Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Kurian Joseph and the other had Justice Arun Mishra asnd Justice Prafulla C Pant.

Chief Justice of India (CJI) HL Dattu and the apex court’s most senior judges have decided to continue holding collegium meetings to recommend new judges, reported the Indian Express, despite law minister DV Sadananda Gowda late last month warning that there would be no new judges until the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) was functioning and the writs challenging the body were disposed of.

No names have been finalised yet by the collegium, reported the Express, but sources said that the collegium felt that without the NJAC and constitional amendment having been notified, the collegium should continue meeting and recommending names for appointment to the bench.