Legally Wired

Why HC judges decline SC judgeship: Abhinav Chandrachud, Stanford Law doctoral student and son of the current Allahabad HC chief justice, illustrates that an obsession with hierarchy and seniority weren’t always the defining characteristics of India’s judiciary, and perhaps shouldn’t be, in a percipient history lesson starring former Bombay high court chief justice MC Chagla, who declined the Supreme Court judgeship [Frontline]

Justice Karnan accuses CJI: Madras HC judge CS Karnan yesterday accused Chief Justice of India P Sathasivam of having “usurped” the powers of the collegium in declining the 12 names recommended for the HC’s judgeships, which have been the cause of recent controversy. So far Karnan has barged into the middle of court proceedings on the issue, barged into the HC’s chief justice’s chambers accusing him of bias and shot off a complaint against the chief justice to the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes [PTI]

Delhi law min closet skeletons: “Law minister Somnath Bharti is also a ‘spammer’” read a Hindustan Times headline today reporting how Bharti’s relatives ran a company sued for spamming. Over the fortnight Bharti’s career went from newly appointed law minister to professional misconduct accused, criminal-assault accused spammer who is presently under the Bar Council of Delhi’s scanner [Via “OMG.. A Law Breaker & Spammer becomes The Law Minister under the Swaraj of Kejriwal.. Really, its a systemic change.. Dr. Manish Kumar (@DrManishKumar1)”]

NLU Nagpur almost done: The National Law University Nagpur cleared another hurdle with the Maharashtra government taking the ordinance route to set it up and the cabinet approving the ordinance. Once the draft of the ordinance is sent to the governor for promulgation, the way would be clear to appoint a vice chancellor and other statutory officers for the university [TOI]

Bar council may suspend Delhi law min: The Bar Council of Delhi yesterday issued a notice to Delhi law minister Somnath Bharti asking him to show cause on 7 February, why his name should not be removed from advocate rolls for allegedly tampering with evidence while representing a client before a CBI special court in August [PTI]

ML Sharma vs Kejriwal: The Supreme Court has admitted advocate ML Sharma’s petition against Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and law minister Somnath Bharti for “creating chaos in the heart of the capital by going on in an unprecedented 10-day sit-in protest” [India Today]

MHAA strikes some more: The Madras High Court Advocates Association continues working on the demand for recall of the list of judgeship recommendations at the HC, by shunning work yet again – courts were boycotted again today and additionally a “day long hunger strike” from 10am to 4pm was launched. The MHAA also resolved to urge dropping of the ten-year old Supreme Court contempt proceedings against Tamil Nadu Advocates Association president S Prabhakaran [New Indian Express]

Kejri for president’s rule? Former Delhi high court judge RS Sodhi said he sees AAP leader and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s protest as a face-saving tactic to bring about president’s rule and quit from his post as a “gullible martyr” as the party has realised it is beyond its power to govern the city [Telegraph India]

Delhi HC CAG audit order appealed: The Association of Uniform Telecom Service Providers of India has moved the Supreme Court against the Delhi high court verdict allowing the Comptroller and Auditor General the power to audit their accounts [The Hindu Businessline]

Delhi law min under bar council lens: The Delhi Bar Council decided to meet today to discuss disciplinary action against Delhi law minister Somnath Bharti against whom reports of “tampering with evidence” as an advocate last year, emerged last week. Bharti meanwhile also faces an FIR relating to an alleged assault of a Ugandan women by unnamed persons in a Delhi basti, and the National Human Rights Council has also taken cognisance of the matter [Zee News]

AAP vs Delhi police: Delhi may see the arrest of its chief minister (CM) as newly elected CM Arvind Kejriwal and his AAP party stage protests at the home ministry today to press for the suspension of five policemen who disobeyed Delhi law minister Somnath Bharti’s orders to arrest Ugandan women suspected of drug trafficking. AAP has demanded that the Delhi police be brought under the Delhi government [IBN Live / NDTV’s live blog]

Delayed MP bar council polls: The delayed Madhya Pradesh state bar council elections pushed a contestant – advocate Dwarkadhish Chowdhary – to write to the Bar Council of India (BCI) requesting for a special committee to to take charge of the elections in the state bar “to save and maintain fairness” [Free Press Journal]

Additional judges in Kerala HC: Justices Alexander Thomas, Muhamed Mustaque Ayumantakath, Ala Kunnil Jayasankaran Nambiar and Anil Kalavampara Narendran were appointed additional judges of the Kerala high court on Friday [PTI]

Editors Guild on Swatanter gag: The Editors Guild has taken exception to the Delhi high court’s “gag order” restricting media reporting news of the sexual harassment case against former SC justice Swatanter Kumar, calling it “a mockery of the rule of law” [TOI]

Indira Jaising, by Outlook: Outlook profiles Additional Solicitor General Indira Jaising as the staunch supporter of women’s rights who is due to retire in April. “I’d rather be remembered as a woman who raised the issue of integrity in the highest court of the land,” says Jaising

Swatanter wins media blackout: The Delhi HC has provided former SC judge Swatanter Kumar interim relief in the defamation suit he had filed against three media houses. The HC prohibited the media from publishing anything beyond the court’s orders in his ex-intern’s sexual harassment PIL against him, including his photographs [Hindustan Times]

Bar boycott of Swatanter’s NGT: The All India Bar Association has asked its over 10,000 Delhi members to boycott the National Green Tribunal’s Delhi bench until its current head Swatanter Kumar quits the post. Kumar is accused of sexual harassment by his former intern from NUJS Kolkata [PTI]

Judges immune from sex harassment complaints: The Supreme Court was yesterday stuck on the question of absence of mechanism to deal with sexual misconduct cases against its sitting and retired judges, while hearing the ex-intern’s sexual harassment case against Swatanter Kumar. The matter has been posted to 14 February for further hearing [DNA India]

CBI to get more autonomy: CBI on the road to autonomy has gained central government secretary-rank status for its chief and power to approve spending up to Rs 15 crore, as opposed to earlier when it infamously waited 100 days for government approval on a laptop’s purchase and three months for a mobile phone [TOI]

Publicity shy CJI: The Chief Justice of India P Sathasivam refused permission to publish his photograph in a September advertisement for the release of India’s first customised PIN code for the apex court, an RTI has revealed [PTI]

Lower court jurisdiction enhancement: The Delhi government is giving final shape to a proposal to enhance Delhi’s lower courts’ pecuniary jurisdiction from Rs 20 lakh to Rs 2 crore, to reduce burden on the Delhi HC [PTI]

Prosecutorial vacancies ad inept: Prosecutors decried the Delhi government advertisement for 20 prosecutorial vacancies as an ad-hoc measure that is bound to fail. The ad, which comes a month after the Delhi HC’s direction to the government to fill prosecutorial vaclawyerancies, stated that only retired prosecuting officers and assistant public prosecutors with at least 2 years in the post could apply [Indian Express]

Delhi law min bad PR salvage: Delhi law minister Somnath Bharti attempted to rebut bad press that followed yesterday’s reports by a an ex-judge accusing him of professional misconduct, while he was practising as a lawyer. Bharti released a press statement saying that he “had let go of [his] disagreement with lower court and then HC’s orders/judgements” because after his then-client already got bail, there was no reason left to challenge the order [TOI]

Pendency spiral: MJ Antony takes a look at arrears and incidental matters: All Indian courts: 32 million pending cases; SC – 66,349; Delhi HC – over 1,20,000 cases. Another commentator bemoans that the SC has stopped publishing its quarterly review Court News regularly after 2009. Also adds that 10 out of 29 current judges are retiring in the next few months, this year will see three chief justices, the Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2013 will be shelved and tribunal vacancies are a different tale altogether [Business Standard]

Delhi law min tarnished personal record: Delhi law minister Somnath Bharti has, to his name, observations by a former CBI special judge in August for tampering with evidence during a trial. The judge observed in her order: “The conduct of accused Pawan Kumar and his advocate (Bharti) is not only highly objectionable, unethical but also amounts to tampering with evidence.” [TOI]

Bharat Ratna sought for Krishna Iyer: Former SC judge Krishna Iyer, who is hailed as one of India’s leading jurists and who celebrated his 99th birthday recently, must be conferred with a Bharat Ratna, the Bar Council of India has urged to the President of India, supported by Fali S Nariman, PP Rao, Soli Sorabjee, Ashok Desai, KK Venugopal, RKP Shankardass, Dispankar Gupta, KN Bhat, Surendra G Desai, Mukul Rohatgi and Lalit Bhasin [Deccan Chronicle]

Murugesan chairing KHRC protested: Former Delhi HC chief justice D Murugesan has expressed reluctance to chair the Karnataka State Human Rights Commission, after protests by Kannada organisations over his selection ostensibly due to his inability to communicate in the local language. The state government is trying to convince Murugesan to take the post which lies vacant since July 2012 [The Hindu]

Sibal’s fresh stab on JAB: Union law minister Kapil Sibal has given a fresh push to the Judicial Accountability Bill, with a new provision covering even former judges heading various tribunals and other statutory bodies who do not face the possibility of legal action other than a presidential reference [TOI]

Manu Singhvi telecom diaries: The Economic Times profiles senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi’s tryst with shaping the course of India’s telecom sector, including setting up of telecom regulator TRAI, through his advisory roles for the biggest telecom players since 1993. “His fees sometimes border on extortion, but the results of his cases are seldom undesired," a junior lawyer told the ET about the senior who became the highest tax-paying Indian advocate last year with earnings crossing Rs 70 crore

Datar laments woeful corp fraud justice: Senior advocate Arvind P Datar who argued for the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) in its 5-year long battle with Sahara, laments the flimsy conviction rate and sluggish trials that corporate frauds face in India, as compared to other jurisdictions [Money Life]

Swatanter Kumar lashes back: Former SC judge and National Green Tribunal head Swatanter Kumar – who was accused of sexual harassment by an ex-intern from NUJS Kolkata according to Friday’s media reports – sent a legal notice to three media houses demanding an apology from them within 24 hours for publishing “incredulous and false” allegations against him [PTI]

Clifford Chance now CV-blind to nix Oxbridge bias: UK-magic circle firm Clifford Chance has introduced the “CV-blind” policy for graduate recruitment, giving no information of a candidate’s institutional affiliation to final interviewers at the firm, to reduce the Oxbridge bias in its intake. In its first year of operation the scheme saw 100 recruits from 41 different educational institutes – a 30 per cent rise in the number representation from last year [Independent]

Delhi judiciary transfer lists released: The transfer lists for the Delhi lower and higher judiciary have been released. All six joint registrars of the Delhi HC have now been replaced, and two new registrars have also been added with creation of two new courts for them. 49 judges from the lower judiciary have been promoted to the higher judiciary with the creation of 39 new courts in he higher judiciary for them [DK Mahant]

Bombay HC pendency busting judge: Bombay HC justice Gautam S Patel has, targeting pendency reduction, realigned his case schedule according to urgency of matters. He has also drawn a weekly working schedule for the court and categorised all pending cases [New Indian Express]

Himachal HC judges retire: Himachal Pradesh HC judtices Kuldip Singh and DD Sud will retire, respectively, on 17 January and 18 February [Hindustan Times]

Madras HC 12-judge-names appeal: The Madras HC through its registrar general will move the SC against its own division bench decision that had stayed the appointment of the 12 recommended Madras HC advocates as judges whose recommendations has courted controversy at the HC [TOI]

Madras HC advocates against opacity, subjectivity in judge selection: Madras High Court Advocates Association President RC Paul Kanagaraj says that in the absence of transparency in the collegium process the judges panel recommending names for judgeships is easily prone to favouritism. Kanagaraj is opposed by a faction of lawyers of the HC who feel that consulting bar associations is a process prone to subjectivity and not entirely fair [New Indian Express]

Delhi needs 100 more judges: Delhi law minister Somnath Bharti has advised the Delhi HC to recruit 100 judges for various courts in the capital [Business Standard]. Last year Legally India reported how the Delhi district judges recruitment machinery falls remarkably short of the need faced in the capital.

Delhi gets 47 new courts: Delhi HC chief justice NV Ramana today ordered setting up of 47 new courts in the capital. The new courts, which will come up in six district court complexes from January 15, will deal with heinous crimes, civil cases, and motor accident claims [PTI]

MMB Legal first partner: Wipro senior corporate counsel Sonal Basu joined former MMB Legal partner Talha Salaria’s Bangalore-based start-up L.A.W as a partner. Basu, who has had stints at JSA Bangalore and at Nokia, will focus on L.A.W’s Information Technology/ITeS and telecom practices [Bar & Bench]

3 new Kerala HC judges: Kerala high court additional judges, justices Babu Mathew P Joseph, Ambazhavelil Velayudhan Pillai Ramakrishna Pillai and Pannipuzhayil Divakaran Rajan have become permanent judges in that HC [Net Indian]

Karnataka Lokayukta on anti-corruption cell: Karnataka’s Lokayukta Justice Y Bhaskar Rao has written to Karnataka HC Chief Justice D H Waghela seeking intervention in helping the general public file complaints before the state’s anti-corruption cell with support from the Karnataka Legal Services Authority and legal volunteers under it in rural areas [TOI]

Slow special child abuse case disposal law: “More than a year after Parliament passed a special law to ensure the speedy disposal of cases of child abuse, just 38 of over a thousand cases filed in Maharashtra have been disposed of with only nine convictions,” reports [DNA India]

Useful ordinance? 1/615: Out of 615 ordinances promulgated in India between 1958 and 2006, the only one justifiable ordinance is the one introduced by former Prime Minister Morarji Desai in 1978—where currency notes in denominations ofRs.1,000/5,000/10,000 were demonetized—because they thought it was one way of dealing with corruption and inflation, according to a study conducted by  NUJS Kolkata graduate and Singapore Managment University assistant professor Shubhankar Dam [Mint]

SC introduces online visitor sign-in: The Supreme Court has introduced an online system to sign in clients and other guests to the apex court via the so-called Supreme Court Visitor Management System (SCVMS). After signing in with details including the name of the court, case and advocate, visitors will receive an SMS or email, which can be used to enter the court. [Link: SCVMS]

ILS Pune suicide student’s scores change some: The re-evaluated scores of ILS Pune first-year student Saumitra Dhoble, who had on Saturday reportedly committed suicide an hour after his first semester exam results were declared, have not changed much. Two of Dhoble’s failing grades (zero marks in history and 40 in economics) were confirmed after re-evaluation but in English the grade was elevated to 28 marks from five [TOI]

Read PIL to get Kejriwal to take security: Advocate Anoop Prakash Awasthi filed a PIL in the Delhi high court seeking to force newly elected chief minister Arvind Kejriwal to accept a security detail [Full petition / Financial Express]

Karnan, the controverisal Madras HC judge: Madras HC judge has a knack for raising eyebrows, reports the New Indian Express, be it by storming into courtroom yesterday to intervene in a petition against the 12 name-recommendations for judgeships at the HC, or before that becoming the first judge to lodge a formal complaint of caste-based discrimination against him by brother judges, or in June when he delivered the progressive yet infamous “Sex equals marriage” judgement [Deccan Herald]

Jet-Etihad appeal: The Jet-Etihad combination approval by the CCI now faces a COMPAT appeal from Air India’s former executive director who asserts that due to the CCI’s failure to assess all competition issues, passengers are likely to be deprived of airline choices on key routes, pay higher prices and have fewer options on aircraft, timings and service quality [PTI]

Hauz Khas Village curse continues, as Green Tribunal orders closure of 12 restaurants in the hip Delhi ‘hood [NDTV]

Court orders cow DNA test: “Bizarre! But SO cool! Kerala court orders DNA test on cow to settle ownership dispute!” tweets @vakeel_saheba [NDTV]

AAP law minister calls for judicial reforms opposed: Somnath Bharti called for a meeting of Delhi’s district judges to encourage reforms but he was faced with opposition in the house and a letter to Delhi HC chief justice NV Ramana from Delhi principal law secretary AS Yadav, who said he saw it as an attack on the independence of the judiciary [PTI]

Madras HC advocates crowded the HC’s chief justice’s chambers yesterday, shouting slogans against the 12 names recommended for judgeships in the HC [TOI]

SC advocate HS Phololka joins AAP: Phololka, who is spearheading the 1984 riot victims’ case, is joining the political party Aam Aadmi Party whose leaders Arvind Kejriwal, Shanti Bhushan and Manish Sisodia contributed in the mission to get justice for the riot victims, at various times [TOI]

Dismissing a 75-year-old’s petition seeking a ban on the “your lordship” address of judges – which he asserted was a “relic of the colonial era” – the Supreme Court yesterday said: “Don't address us as lordship. We don't say anything. We only say address us respectfully." [PTI]

Madras HC senior R Gandhi has petitioned against the 12 names recommended for judgeships in the HC on the ground of under-representation of competent lawyers from certain communities and over representation of certain other communities, beyond merit, due to a regional bias among the judges forwarding the names [TOI]

The Competition Commission of India is seeing red as the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) attempts to end its status as India’s only competition watchdog, by proposing a parallel TRAI regime. The CCI has warned the corporate affairs ministry in writing that the TRAI’s plans are not supported by statute [Business Standard]

Delhi HC has confirmed that the Comptroller and Auditor General has power to audit the accounts of telecom companies, and not just central and state governments. But the audit has to be restricted to the companies’ receipts [The Hindu]

In a bid to protect unmarried boys from false rape charges the Delhi HC ruled that every act of sexual intercourse between consenting adults on the promise of marriage does not become rape. However the judge went to add that pre-marital sex is “immoral” and “against the tenets of every religion”. The observation, on cue, sparked outrage. Legally India previously wondered whether it was within judges to restrain themselves from shrouding progressive judgments in bizarre wording [DNA India/Judgment]

Bombay HC new judges
The Bombay HC got five new additional judges today in lawyers Vinay Manohar Deshpande, Ajey Gadkari, Nitin Sambre, Girish Kulkarni and B S Colabawalla [PTI]

NGT not HC-enough for suo motu
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has no power to take cognisance of cases on its own, said the Madras HC, restraining the NGT’s southern bench from suo motu cases [TOI]

Costly NLUD fees are fine, says HC 
Dismissing a student’s plea against NLU Delhi’s fee structure and compulsory residential university status which is otherwise not mandatory under BCI rules, the Delhi HC said comparing the university with any old engineering college will be like comparing apples with oranges [PTI]

Cash-at-judge’s-door
The SC has given the go ahead for initiating trial court proceedings against former Punjab & Haryana HC judge Nirmal Yadav for the cash-at-judge’s-door scam [Indian Express]

Chamber allotment struggles
The Rohini District Court Lawyers Allotment Committee allegedly arbitrarily denied allotment of a chamber to a disabled advocate despite him not only fitting all eligibility criteria but there also being a quota for the physically challenged in the court. The Committee has now assured the Delhi HC to give the advocate a fresh hearing [PTI]

Irresponsible executive criticism of #377
Chief justice of India P Sathasivam decried as irresponsible the statements of four union minister’s criticising the apex court’s judgment re-criminalising gay sex. “Except making our displeasure we can’t do anything. Though the statements are not appreciable we are not inclined to entertain the petition," he added while dismissing a social activist’s petition seeking disqualification for the four ministers on the ground that through their statements they “violated the secrecy of oath” [NDTV]

CBI to probe false allegations against judge
The CBI may soon probe the case of lobbyist TG Nandakumar who sent a letter to the Supreme Court Chief Justice and others falsely claiming that Madras HC judge C.K. Abdul Rahim had SIMI connections and close links with crime syndicate leader Dawood Ibrahim [Deccan Chronicle]

UK lawyers go on strike over legal aid cuts
In first-ever boycott of work, barristers (and solicitors) of England and Wales didn’t turn up to court for a half-day to protest a 30 per cent slash down in legal aid fees. “The legal aid dispute has become more polarised as the MoJ attempts to portray criminal lawyers as overpaid fat cats” -criminal lawyers disagree, reported The Guardian

Back to court-kindergarten
The Madras HC has launched a course titled “Redefining Legal Practices” for advocates with at least a 10 year PQE to teach them court craft, drafting and arguments [TOI]

Krishna Iyer J on JAC
Former Justice Krishna Iyer argues that the judicial appointments commission (JAC) must be totally independent and immune to legal proceedings in The Hindu

Kerala bar suspends colleague over sexism post
Before being suspended by the Calicut Bar Association, she wrote on her Facebook wall that male colleagues “address women as ‘sugar candy’ ‘dear’ and follow them with comments such as ‘you are so beautiful’ and the like. All of them follow the ‘Prem Nazir’ style of old Malayalam films. They dont seem to be familiar with newer films. It’s the same old way of making women either lovers or sisters; destroying them either by ‘caring’ for them or ‘keeping’ them. I pity all those who follow such a style.” [Kafila / India Today]

Rajasthan HC judge accused of locking up daughter over ‘wrong’ caste boyfriend
Rajasthan high court Justice Raghvendra Singh Rathore has allegedly locked his 30-year-old daughter up at home to stop her marrying a man from another caste, who has now filed a Supreme Court petition against the illegal detention [IBN Live] Update: The Supreme Court has ordered the release of the daughter. “She is a major and has the liberty to make her choice in marriage,” said Justices HL Dattu and C Nagappan [AFP]

TN bar council locks horns with BCI over upper age-limit for LLBs
TN bar council Although the Bar Council of India (BCI) has abolished the controversial upper age limit of 35 years for students taking law degrees, the Tamil Nadu bar council has retained the age ceiling, and reinforced it in a resolution on Saturday (14 December). The conflict has left thousands of students in the state, who enrolled in law courses between 2008 and 2011, in limbo, said the BCI, which is looking into the matter [TOI]

CJI: Bench must understand new phenomenon of frivolous litigation
CJI Sathasivam said that long-pending mercy petitions and other frivolous litigations are a new challenged that the bench must learn to understand in order to tackle effectively [The Hindu]

NLS safe but BU campus isn’t one year after rape
NLSIU Bangalore campus now safe after curfew and more guards, one year after the rape of a student near the adjoining Bangalore University campus, where ‘fear still stalks varsity students’, reported the New Indian Express

Delhi HC confirmation of gang rape verdict likely in Jan
The Delhi high court’s verdict on whether the death sentence of the four rapists convicted in the December 2011 Delhi gang rape will likely be delivered in January [IANS]

Nokia assets unfrozen in Delhi HC: The Delhi HC has come to the rescue of Nokia by revoking the Tax Department order freezing its assets. Nokia can now complete its deal with Microsoft to transfer its India assets, including its biggest phone-making factory, to the global software giant [The Hindu Businessline]

IPC distrusts women: The Indian Penal Code’s requirment for prosecution of false complaints is only in relation to gender-related offences, while corroboration of evidence in rape cases through medical examination is also ridden with unscientific and stereotypical practices. Our penal provisions reek of disbelief in women, argues NLU Delhi associate professor Mrinal Satish in an interview to the [Mint]

Jet-Etihad deal in danger: The Jet-Etihad deal’s Competition Commission of India clearance is facing an appeal by Air India’s former executive director, arguing that the CCI failed to assess the impact of certain commercial pacts of the two air carriers on competition [Business Standard]

Nashik Bar Association wants space: Fed up of congestion, the Nashik Bar Association today moved the Bombay High Court for a five-acre plot of land for the construction of a new court building adjacent to the existing premises [PTI]

Gujarat gets fourth Lokayukta after decade
Gujarat finally has a Lokayukta in retired Gujarat HC judge DP Buch after 10 years of the seat lying vacant and three years of a feud over the issue between state chief minister Narendra Modi and the governor [PTI]

Constitutional status for JAC
The Judicial Appointments Commission for appointments to the higher judiciary may end up getting constitutional status if a Parliamentary Standing Committee recommendation is accepted [TOI]

CCI tightens noose around chemists’ supply restrictions
The Competition Commission of India has asked the All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists to “cease and desist” from restricting supply of pharmaceutical drugs in the market, and has slapped a Rs 5.61 lakh fine on the Assam Drug Dealers Association for abusing its position causing such restriction [Financial Express]

Apple wins Samsung away match
Apple products iPhone and iPad are not Samsung products’ imitations, a South Korea court has ruled, throwing out Samsung’s $95,100 claim for damages in a long patent battle [Reuters]