Bar, Bench & Litigation

When an uncharacteristically subdued Katju rose from the Bench in the Chief’s Court for the last time on Monday, one half of the bar and the media sighed wistfully and the other half sighed with relief. One lot would miss the mayhem, humour, and quotability of the average Katju day in the Supreme Court. The other lot would be grateful for never having to go through the mayhem, humour, and quotability of the average Katju day in the Supreme Court.

Click on through for a detailed analysis of the Supreme Court’s performance in clearing its backlog in August 2011.

Swearing in ceremonies, such as Tuesday’s induction of three newcomers, are those rare occasions when every single judge of the Supreme Court can be found in one place. It is also when you realise for the first time that the metaphorically larger than life Justice Markandeya Katju is, in fact, actually larger than life. He stands a full head taller than almost every other judge and dominates proceedings without having to say a word.

Exclusive: The Maharashtra and Goa Bar Council has implemented the first initiatives of its youngest member Karan Bhosale, having started a laptop and legal database buying scheme for advocates with heavy discounts.

Exclusive: The Bombay High Court has designated 15 new senior counsel, including Lakshmi Kumaran and Sridharan managing partner V Sridharan and the co-founder of the Lawyers Collective NGO and United Nations Human Right Council (UNHRC) special rapporteur Anand Grover, but again not a single female advocate was given the nod.

A large explosion went off outside Delhi High Court this morning, injuring 47 and killing at least 9.

Court Witness: In Facebook terms the relationship status of the nation’s higher judiciary and the press would say “It’s complicated”.

Exclusive: Delhi senior advocate Maninder Singh said he would take legal action against the Delhi police, which detained him at a police station yesterday alleging that he was a supporter of anti-corruption campaigner Anna Hazare. Police released him two hours later after intervention from a court registrar and other advocates who proved that Singh was not connected to the protests and was making his way to argue before a tribunal, where proceedings had to be abandoned.

We bump into each other in the long corridor adjacent to Court 5. It’s cruel, I know I shouldn’t be asking but then I do anyway. “Got any briefs yet?” I see the furrows on his forehead. Anxiety. I know what it feels like. Only two minutes earlier, after some small talk he had confided in me: “I’m independent these days.”

Exclusive: Click through for more stats, data and an explanation of The Pendency Project.

The other day, in the corridor outside the government law officers’ chambers in the Supreme Court a well-dressed man sat outside the solicitor general’s office. Visibly uncomfortable on one of the rickety wooden benches, he was also livid with rage and his gaze seemed intent on burning a hole through the firmly shut door to the SG’s chambers.

Supreme Court Postcard: Chief Justice SH Kapadia does not preside over the Chief Justice’s Court so much as dominate its vaulting, almost cavernous interiors with his presence. In part his impact is a product of his voice - a booming thunder somewhere between tenor and baritone - which is what you’d expect to hear from the Grand Inquisitor as you are confronted with heresies you have allegedly committed.

But if Kapadia is to have a place of pride in Indian judicial history – and everything so far signifies that he might - it will be for his administrative role as the Chief Justice of India even more than for his purely judicial output. Like Hercules before him Kapadia is in the midst of cleaning the Augean Stables that the Supreme Court of India has become under his predecessors but only part of the task is done.

The Bar Council of India (BCI) has elected a new chairman and vice chairman after solicitor general Gopal Subramanium resigned as solicitor general, according to Law et al. News.

Supreme Court senior advocate Rohinton Nariman will be the new solicitor general after Gopal Subramnium unexpectedly resigned from the post two weeks ago.

The Kolkata High Court proceedings in the Tata Motors Singur matter that were disrupted earlier today resumed with Tata’s counsel making the company’s intent of using the Singur land for alternate investment clear to the court.