law minister
The new Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Wednesday that "comprehensive consultations" were required before taking steps towards a Uniform Civil Code (UCC).
Communications and Information Technology minister and lawyer Ravi Shankar Prasad has been made the law minister again in today's cabinet reshuffle, replacing DV Sadananda Gowda, reported DNA and others.
DV Sadananda Gowda, commenting on the US Supreme Court’s national country-wide legalisation of gay marriage last week, said that the government could de-criminalise gay sex under section 377 of the Indian Penal Code and might even consider gay marriage as an option.
“The mood appears to be in favour of it. But it can be done only after widespread consultations and taking all views into account,” he told the Economic Times.
Update: Gowda has told ANI News that he was "totally misquoted": "When I was asked about the judgment that was given by the US court, I said that it is not an easy task in our country. So, the people of that country might have accepted it but here it has to be widely debated. Only then can something be done. Otherwise, it is not an easy task. So, we have no idea of scrapping or doing anything about [Section] 377."
Hat-tip: @mohitsingh8 and @sayantan_b on Twitter
Ex Karnataka chief minister and former railways minister DV Sadananda Gowda has become the latest minister of law and justice in the first major cabinet reshuffle of the new government, following telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, who held the law portfolio from 26 May 2014, reported PTI.
Gowda will not hold any other ministry portfolios.
BJP veteran, senior advocate Ravi Shankar Prasad has been assigned the union law ministry, tweeted journalist Ashok Bagariya.
Prasad was designated a senior at the Patna high court in 1999 and at the Supreme Court in 2000, the same year as he also became a member of parliament. He became the Minister of State (Coal and Mines) in 2001 and Minister of State in the Ministry of Law and Justice in 2002, where he prepared a bill amending the Representation of People Act and sped up the process of fast track courts, as reported by the Business Standard.
With Lok Sabha elections now scheduled to start on 7 April it is fair to ask: what has the current government done for India's legal profession? And can any of the others do better?
Telecom minister Kapil Sibal is the fifth law minister in less than five years after Ashwini Kumar resigned from the post on Friday.
Breaking: Senior advocate Ashwani Kumar, the minister of state for parliamentary affairs and planning, will be minister of law and justice, after Salman Khursheed was elevated to head up the foreign affairs ministry in today’s Congress cabinet reshuffle.
Union law minister Salman Khursheed said that the entry of foreign lawyers should be left for the bar to decide, welcomed the All India Bar Exam (AIBE), said the government was thinking about reforming the collegium system of judicial appointments, while admitting that pendency was a huge problem, in an interview with legal website Bar & Bench published today. Legally India brings you the digested read and highlights.
Mumbai, exhibiting that clichéd resilience much loved by commentators, continued with its business despite taking shocks and wild media rumours that would dent the spirits of many other cities. While the financial capital continues to live, the legal profession faced its own share of shocks: one new Anglo-Indian best friendship, a new law minister and the loss of its solicitor general and probably also the Bar Council of India (BCI) chairman.
Salman Khursheed has replaced Veerappa Moily as the new law minister with Moily taking on the corporate affairs portfolio in the second cabinet reshuffle just announced by prime minister Manmohan Singh-led UPA government this year.
The Union law minister Veerapa Moily has publicly said for the first time that the entry of foreign law firms was more of a "transitional problem" rather than "perennial" and that minds should not be shut to "big ideas", while reasserting the need for "proper capacity building".
Law minister Veerappa Moily has reiterated his stance on liberalisation and vowed to set up four super-charged "law schools of excellence" throughout India.
The Government will set up specialised high-value commercial courts in the large metros, Law Minister Veerappa Moily said today.
Law and Justice Minister Veerappa Moily wants India to "become the resource reservoir of the global legal fraternity" after upgrading the quality of its legal education system.
The Bar Council of India has cemented its strong opposition to the entry of foreign law firms after its first official meeting with new Minister of Law and Justice Veerappa Moily, reported news wire Bloomberg today.
The new Minister of Law and Justice Veerappa Moily made his first statements about legal sector liberalisation last Friday (5 June), suggesting that he could continue the pro-liberalisation course followed by his predecessor HR Bhardwaj.
Top Indian lawyers are stumped by Veerappa Moily's appointment as Minister of Law and Justice, which was announced late last night defying all observers' expectations.
Moily (pictured) is a seasoned Congress politician and practicing lawyer in Bangalore but unlike the candidates expected to be shoo-ins for the job, he is an unknown quantity.
One top Mumbai lawyer said: "I have no idea what this will do to things."
"It is a real surprise," added another Delhi partner. "Now it's very hard to tell what will happen. I know reforms will be on the agenda but I don't know how quickly. I think there will have to be renewed lobbying."
With continuity being a prized quality in Indian political progress, it is still unclear who will get the law and justice portfolio and whether the existing course of reform will be held.
One Delhi lawyer, who preferred not to be named, said: "If he had come in, we would probably be looking at a December opening. But now that he is not and some non-descript person is slated to come in, I think it is open for speculation."