Legally Wired

Protect courts’ ‘lady officers’ from hostility, SC: The Supreme Court told off Gujarat district and high court judges for not protecting a female junior judicial officer from unwarranted inquiry and getting her job terminated for extraneous reasons. Reinstating her, the SC held: “We would like to take this opportunity to emphasise that the high courts must see to it that the hostile work environment for junior judicial officers, particularly the lady officers, is eliminated.” [PTI]

Judge disposes 382 cases in few words: Justice K B K Vasuki of the Madras High Court disposed of a possible-record 382 criminal original petitions in a single day by passing a common order of two sentences. The judge, in essence, told cops to investigate the crimes before it. Of the 382 petitions, three were filed in 2009, 29 in 2010, two in 2011, 37 in 2012, and 311 this year. [New Indian Express]

Jain arbitration: The Jain International Organisation – an NGO that was inaugurated last week, has started the International Settlement Forum (ISF) - an institutionalised arbitration service at its Churchgate office in Bombay. ISF will deliver quick decisions within a few weeks to people of all communities - the only condition is that the parties must agree to abide by the verdict. [TOI]

Foreign editors’ fate hangs: The Delhi high court on Friday reserved its decision on the issue of foreigners holding editorial position in Indian newspapers. Politician Subramanian Swamy’s petition had questioned S Varadarajan holding the position of editor in the national daily The Hindu, without being an Indian citizen [Mint]

Bombay HC to examine mass juvenile release: The Bombay High Court has suo motu decided to hear appeals against the order of the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB), Pune, which disposed of 82 cases in a single day on September 16 last year by releasing juveniles on probation after recording the plea of their guardians although they had attained majority [PTI]

MP slayed RTI activist? The use of RTI by a Gujarat-based environment activist, against a member of parliament’s (MP) involvement in illegal mining in the Gir forest, led to his alleged murder by the MP and his aides. The MP has now been arrested after a CBI report [NYT]

Menaka Guruswamy interview: Mint does a pithy interview with Menaka Guruswamy – the lawyer for the petitioners in Thursday’s bureaucrats judgment of the SC. Guruswamy was also among the leading lawyers challenging Section 377 of the IPC

Fake advocate: The Madras HC has on procedural defects suspended the jail term of a man being tried under the IPC for enrolling with the Tamil Nadu Bar council on a bogus law degree [The Hindu]

AP HC in Vizag: The Vishakhapatnam Bar Association has reiterated its demand for an Andhra Pradesh HC bench in Vizag, “since Seemadhra advocates were facing hostile attitude from Telangana advocates” [The Hindu]

New UP Adv Gen: Former BCI chairman and Allahabad HC senior advocate Vinay Chandra Mishra yesterday took charge as the advocate general of Uttar Pradesh [TOI]

Ambitious Sibal: Kapil Sibal today called a meeting of the advisory council of the National Mission for Justice Delivery and Legal Reforms, headed by the law minister to deliberate on important issues, including the litigation policy and making audio-video recording of all court proceedings mandatory. Sibal purports to achieve in six months what his predecessors failed to made any progress in in more than 4 years [TOI]

Lawyer authors profiled: The Hindu succinctly profiles lawyers-and-writers NLSIU Bangalore grads Satyajit Sarna and Aditya Sudershan, BMS College of law Bangalore grad Rishi Kumar and Osmania University grad Kalyan Kankanala

Death row worthiness: SC justices AK Patnaik and Gyan Sudha Mishra rendered a 33-page judgment ruling on the principle that courts should record “special” reasons while awarding death penalty and “must” take into account the crime and the character of the criminal which should reflect “extreme depravity” to deserve such a punishment [PTI]

Tribunal refunds: The high court of Bombay at Goa has ordered that the tribunals shall issue certificates for refund of fees paid by the claimants after their petitions are settled before the Lok Adalats [TOI]

CBI exposed: “Fascinating insight into how the CBI actually works, manpower and expertise shortage and all,” tweets @CourtWitness1 [Caged parrot or a poor man’s Hercule Poirot? Business Standard]

Lawyer myths: NLSIU Bangalore grad and Singapore’s Nanyang Tech B-school lecturer Krishna Udayasankar has penned down a mythological trilogy – the Aryavarta Chronicles. Interview by [Bangalore Mirror]

TOI didn’t defame: The Times of India is off the hook for criminal defamation after the Madras HC dismissed the Tamil Nadu government’s case against the paper for a 28 March news item exposing an irregular public auction. “The court taking cognizance of a complaint against the press must follow due diligence. Before taking a prima facie view, the news item should be analysed and an attempt should be made at least to indicate the basic reasons, which would attract the offence of defamation and as to whether the news item made a reference to the government or minister with an intention to defame or tarnish the image,” said the HC judge [TOI]

SC Tarun Chatterjee to UP HRC: Former Supreme Court justice Tarun Chatterjee has been appointed as the UP state human rights commission’s chairman [Jagran Post]

Dec 16 rape confirmation: The Delhi HC has begun confirmation hearings for the death sentence reference by the Saket trial court in the 16 December Delhi gang rape case [PTI]

Law school paycheques: ET reports breathlessly that national law schools have broken the business consultancy glass ceiling with Bain Capital creating its first legal position after hiring from NLSIU Bangalore this year – also the campus from where McKinsey and Deutsche Bank have made an offer each so far. At Nalsar Hyderabad, between 25 2014 graduates hired so far the average salary is, reportedly, Rs 14.5 lakh per annum, while the highest international pay package is 40,000 pounds. The average salary at NUJS Kolkata is Rs 9 lakh per annum – marginally up from last year

Forced MP: Congress MP from Vijayawada L Rajagopal has petitioned the Delhi HC to rid him of his MP post, alleging that he is being forced to carry on as MP despite handing over a resignation on 2 August in protest against the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh [India Today]

Infosys US soup: India’s second largest software exporter Infosys will pay $35m to avoid restrictions on its use of US work visas under a potential resolution of the company’s use of entry permits. It received a federal grand jury subpoena seeking records related to its sponsorships for B-1 business visas and its use of them and reserved $35 million for a settlement tied to the probe [Bloomberg]

Vodafone bullish on India: World’s second largest mobile operator Vodafone Plc of UK on Tuesday sought FIPB approval to invest Rs 10,141 crore in raising its stake in the Indian arm to 100 percent [Money Control]

Mumbai nightlife out of licence shackles: Mumbai restaurateurs now need only 19 instead of 38 clearances to open up joints in the city. Discontinued licenses and permits include that for rolling shutters, medical certificates for employees, permit room licence, pollution NOC, police registration certificate, live orchestra, permit for chimney and the DJ licence from police. Several other licences and permits will be combined to clear the clutter. For instance, there will be now a combined licence for signages, neon signs and stall boards [Mumbai Mirror]

Indian business sense(lessness): India’s rank has experienced no noticeable change in the World Bank and IFC’s Doing Business Rankings’ 2014 edition, suggesting that reforms have had minimal impact. India has dropped three places from 131 to 134 out of a total 189 countries [India Corp Law]

Patent suits: A barrage of patent infringement suits against generic drug companies since 2009 threatens to overturn the compulsory licensing regime, argues Frontline

SEBI vs Sahara: The Sahara Group has been ordered by the Supreme Court to hand over title deeds of properties worth Rs.20,000 crore to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) after hearing three contempt of court petitions filed by SEBI against the group's owner Subrata Roy [ANI]

Fearless judiciary: Miffed with politician VS Achuthanandan’s remarks on the judge hearing his petition, the judge said: “"I'll teach him how the courts function. This court is functioning without any fear or submissiveness. He should use other methods to get applause." [TOI]

Court wage: Refusing to show sympathy to Class 3 and 4 staff in government pleaders’ offices the Bombay high court remarked on a petition for increase in their salary, that the condition of court staff was worse off [Asian Age]

Vadra PIL dismissed: The Supreme Court has rejected a licence allocation PIL against Gandhi-dynasty-in-law Robert Vadra and other developers as “cheap publicity” [TOI]

Magistrate arrested: The Madras HC is hearing petitions for necessary action against top police officials of Tiruppur district for arresting Thangaraj, then Judicial Magistrate of Coonoor, in total violation of the norms and guidelines framed by the Supreme Court [New Indian Express]

Madras HC revenue norms on designating senior advocates: An advocate should have at least 15 years of experience arguing cases, some of them should be landmark judgements and should have earned at least Rs 7 lakh annually from lawyering for three years immediately before being considered to be elevated [The Hindu]

Madras bar opposes JAC: The Madras Bar Association (MBA) in a memorandum to the president of India has opposed the constitutional amendment that establishes the Judicial Appointments Committee. The MBA has likened the amendment to the British Rowlatt Act 1919 – which delimited all civil liberties [TOI]

Research better, says judge: Lawyers should do better research before arguing a case in court, in order to help the judges do their job better said a Madras HC judge [The Hindu]

JR for admin tribunals? Administrative tribunals should also have the power of judicial review, like the judiciary does [Zee News]

Pizza Hut under DTAA lens: The Delhi High Court is set to rule whether a US company can simultaneously avail of the benefit of a lower tax rate under the Indo-US Double Tax Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) and exemptions on payments of royalty under the Income Tax (I-T) Act [Financial Express]

SC slams IR flip-flop litigation: Revenue shouldn't "be allowed to flip-flop on the issue and it ought to let the matter rest, rather than spend the tax payers' money in pursuing litigation of its own sake... There was no need for it to continue this litigation when it was quite clear that not only was it fruitless but also that it may not have added anything to the public coffers", says SC [Business Standard]

Jayalalithaa asks SC to extend judge tenure to hear graft case: TN CM Jayalalithaa and others faces disproportionate assets probe in Karnataka HC, write SC asking for new judge's appointments to be quashed in order for old judge's tenure to be extended to hear the case [NDTV]

Photographic defaults: Banks' practice of publicising defaulters' pictures could be on thin ice, legally, lawyers tell TOI [TOI]

CC’s presentation tips for women: UK legal giant Clifford Chance issued a memo to its women retainers with advice such as: “Don’t giggle; Don’t squirm; Don’t tilt your head; No one heard Hillary the day she showed cleavage” [Above The Law/Think Progress]

Jaising slams progress on sexual violence: ASG Indira Jaising, in a personal capacity, writes how women remain as vulnerable under the system as they were before December 2012, despite protests and promises of reform in the Delhi gang rape: “Bias is embedded in the practice and procedure of trials… The patronising attitudes of law enforcement agencies are truly dangerous… The problem is that we have fostered an environment of impunity for the act and that is why we have not succeeded in changing the attitude.”  [Indian Express]

DoT to revise telecoms M&A norms, upping max merged market share to 50%: The Department of Telecommunications is considering allowing a 50 per cent market share to merged telecoms entities, instead of the earlier 35 per cent, as well as permitting retention of two blocks of 3G spectrum in its new M&A guidelines to be discussed on Tuesday [Zee News]

Orissa circuit bench hopes recede: The prospects for southern and western circuit benches of the Orissa HC have become bleak, after union law minister Kapil Sibal told the state chief minister that his recommendation means nothing in the absence of the HC’s chief justice’s consent [New Indian Express]

Maha circuit bench talks: A delegation of the Pune Bar Association (PBA) on Wednesday had its second hearing with the justices DY Chandrachud and SJ Vazifdar panel of the Bombay High Court, which is looking into the lawyers’ demands of setting up a high court bench in Pune [Express]

Andhra scam: A Rs 500 crore scam has surfaced in the Andhra Pradesh state government’s largest revenue generator – the commercial taxes department – in the form of alleged illegal refunds made to 61 firms [Deccan Chronicle]

Super-ceded forest regulator: The union government has rejected the Supreme Court’s suggestion made two years ago to set up a ‘super regulator’ for the single-window grant of environment and forest clearances for projects [TOI]

Clinical trials on ice: The Supreme Court has blocked 157 global clinical trials in India that were approved by the government, while asking the regulators re-examine whether the trials are for the benefit of people [Indian Express]

Gov mulls Sanjay Dutt leniency: The home affairs ministry has asked the Maharashtra government whether actor Sanjay Dutt and two others, who were given jail terms for involvement in the 1994 Bombay serial blasts, should be released early on “humanitarian grounds” [The Hindu]

Community radio PIL: The Supreme Court, hearing a PIL by NGO Common Cause, will examine the rules that bar private FM radio channels and community radios from broadcasting news and current affairs [DNA]

Eggplant on official's face in prelim BT Brinjal ruling: The Karnataka HC has ruled that prima facie an offence is made out against officials of the University of Agricultural Science who violated the Biodiversity Act by signing agreements with US private firm Monsanto to develop the “Bt Brinjal” using local varieties of aubergine / eggplant [The Hindu]

Asaram aide surrenders: Shilpi, the warden of Asaram's Chindwara 'ashram' in Madhya Pradesh - a key accused and associate of controversial self-styled godman Asaram Bapu -  today surrendered before a Delhi district court [PTI]

AP HC 9 new judges: The SC collegium has approved the names of nine district judges who are to be elevated to the Andhra Pradesh HC, increasing its strength to 35, including the chief justice. The sanctioned strength of the AP HC is 49 [Deccan Chronicle]

Manipur HC CJ: Former Allahabad HC justice Laxmi Kanta Mohapatra was sworn in as a judge of Manipur HC yesterday. He will act as the acting chief justice until a chief justice is appointed at the HC [PTI]

Madras HC CJ: Madras HC acting chief justice RK Agarwal has been appointed as chief justice of that court. He was transferred to the Madras HC after becoming a permanent judge at the Allahabad HC this year [The Hindu]

Maha circuit benches: The joint action committee (JAC) of lawyers from six districts has been invited for a meeting with the chief justice of the Bombay high court in Mumbai at 5.30pm today to discuss the issue of new circuit benches [TOI]

Clifford Chance lies in Singapore? UK legal giant Clifford Chance is facing the Singapore law minister’s allegation that it issued misleading statements about the scope of work it could provide in Singapore – local litigation advice [Reuters]

Lily Thomas scalp: Lily Thomas claims its first scalp with convicted Congress leader Rashid Masood. Lok Sabha MPs Lalu Prasad Yadav and Jagdish Sharma are likely to follow suit [PTI]

AC for HC: The Karnataka government has finally cleared the Rs 8 crore proposal to install air conditioners and noise insulation all through the Karnataka high court [Bangalore Mirror]

NGT greening interiors: The National Green Tribunal is busy interior decorating its new permanent premises with the color green for furniture and courtrooms [PTI]

Policing the police: The Karnataka Police Complaints Authority has been created to receive complaints from victims of police brutality, for any grievances like misconduct, arrest or detention without due process of law, custodial death and abuse of power [TOI]

Unsensitised courts: The video link option for testimony, available to rape victims, is hardly implemented reports IBNLive as the Mumbai photojournalist rape-survivor collapsed in court when shown a porn clip and asked to testify if her attackers made her watch the clip

Circuit bench protests: The Kangra District Bar Association (DBA) has submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister, Chief Justice of India and the union law minister in protest against the decision of the state high court, wherein it ordered district and sessions court and additional district and sessions court judges to hold circuit courts at various subdivisions of the district for faster disposal of the cases [HT]

P&H HC judge: Punjab & Haryana HC has got a new additional judge in Navita Singh [Orissa Diary]

Happy bday NGT: To celebrate its third day of founding, the National green Tribunal (NGT) is finally getting its own Delhi office in Faridkot house, moving from is current makeshift homes. It is also getting a third bench to share the caseload of its two current benches [PTI]

SC to listen to sadhu dreams: A petition has asked the apex court to monitor the digging for 1,000 tonnes of buried gold, which a local holy man claimed he saw in a dream buried under a village [IANS]

Tribunal woes: The Sales Tax Tribunal is facing pendency of 4,000 cases at the moment because its members do not have accommodation and either don’t resume duty or leave soon after being appointed to the job [PTI]

Madras Trade Unions: The Madras HC has directed the Tamil Nadu government to amend the Trade Unions Act to prevent outsiders from being elected to the office of trade unions [PTI]

Thumbs up for Shahid movie: Rave reviews for Shahid – the biopic released today on lawyer and human rights activist Shahid Azmi’s battle with India’s justice system, where those arrested on terror charges are labelled terrorists even before facing trial [WSJ]

Retail FDI flop: With Walmart’s announced exit from India, due to excessive red-tape and the rule that 30 per cent of products must be sourced from local producers, not a single multinational is taking advantage of last year’s much debated government decision to allow 51 per cent FDI in multi-brand retail. Finance minister P Chidambaram hit back, calling Walmart a “speck” in the Indian market and if it was “still not satisfied, so be it”. [WSJ]

SC sees Radia criminal leads: After analysing the Radia tapes the Supreme Court told the CBI to inquire into at least six possibly criminal issues raised by the infamous leaked phone conversations between lobbyist Niira Radia and others. “Radia's conversations reveal deep-rooted malice by private enterprises in connivance with government officials for extraneous purposes,” said the court headed by Justice GS Singhvi [PTI]

Polygamous judge-to-be-no-more: “Marrying a man who already has a wife will go down as one of the 'rarest of rare' ways of losing out on the opportunity to become a judge,” writes the Bangalore Mirror in its report on 33-year-old judicial aspirant who lost out on a bench seat despite ranking 41st among 232 candidates

Goa reduces appeal rights: The Goa government has introduced The Goa High Court (Hearing of Writ Petitions by Division Bench and Abolition of Letters Patent Appeals) Bill 2013, which will ban filing appeal against the ruling of a single judge of the Bombay High Court before its division bench, in order to reduce excessive litigation and pendency [PTI]

Furlough a birth right?: How does Bollywood mega star Sanjay Dutt’s 28-day prison holiday on ‘Furlough’ compare against other prisoners’ cases? Newslaundry looks into it.

Sibal wants cyber fight: Indian telecom minister Kapil Sibal argued for Indian court jurisdiction over cyber security attacks from outside that affect India [PTI]

Court bars advocate from filing, orders psych: Delhi high court advocate Uma Shankar Pandey was barred from filing petitions in the court and was ordered to undertake psychiatric treatment, by justices Pradeep Nandrajog and V Kameswar Rao after hearing his six-hour-long arguments for three days. The right to access courts can be restricted to pursue “legitimate and proportionate aims”, observed the bench [IE]

New Madras HC judges: The president has finalised 7 new madras high court judgeships: R Mahadevan, K Kalyanasundaram, PN Prakash, S Vaidyanathan and a lawyer Pushpa Sathyanarayana and two service candidates V Ravi and G Chockalingam [Hindu]

End of Swiss bank secrecy: Switzerland, well-known for its anonymous numbered bank accounts and tight banking secrecy rules, became the world’s 58th nation on Tuesday to sign the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters – a document, which paves the way for automatic exchange of tax information, thus ending baking secrecy in Switzerland [Hindu]

Bar Assoc against Telangana: Visakhapatnam Bar Association have decided members will meet BJP leaders Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley and request them not to extend their support to the proposed Bill for creation of Telangana State [Hindu]

Indo-brazil internet security: Brazil and India have agreed to share information of internet security strategies to devise internet regulations in order to protect online privacy from snooping by other countries [Hindu]

NSA knows your friends: The National Security Agency has been sifting through millions of contact lists from personal email and instant messaging accounts around the world including those of Americans in its effort to find possible links to terrorism or other criminal activity, according to a published report [Hindu]