Bar, Bench & Litigation

Exclusive: Delhi Bar Council member Rajinder Singh Rana is understood to have withdrawn his bail plea in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) of alleged law school accreditation bribes, as the Delhi High Court has now also denied anticipatory bail to the co-accused BCI vice-chairman R Dhanapal Raj after the end of four weeks of the Madras High Court-granted interim bail.

Exclusive: Vidhii Partners and senior advocate Rafiq Dada are representing Adarsh Cooperative Society in its Bombay High Court writ petition against the revocation of its occupation certificate by the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) after the 31-storied building’s construction was declared illegal last year following the unearthing of the multi-crore housing scam last year.

Exclusive: Senior advocate Anil Divan, whose public interest litigation (PIL) with Ram Jethmalani and others over the problem of black money stashed abroad, has slammed the government for equating the problem to mere tax evasion while commenting on the future of the case concerning up to Rs 70 lakh crore ($1.4trn) of wealth that is believed to be parked by Indians in foreign banks and tax havens.

Chennai advocate Elizabeth Seshadri has condemned the endemic exchange of votes in Tamil Nadu bar council elections for promises of cash and called for the Bar Council of India (BCI) to intervene following a Times of India report alleging that a bar council candidate had offered Rs 19 lakh to a lawyers’ association in the state’s southern district in exchange for 800 votes.

The Delhi High Court has rejected the third bail application of Bar Council of India (BCI) member Rajinder Singh Rana, who with two other lawyers is accused of taking a bribe to accredit a law college.

The court held that bar council members were “public servants” and the Prevention of Corruption Act would apply, also agreeing with the CBI’s argument that Rana’s influential status would hamper investigations if released on bail.

Read on for the full allegations, evidence and chronology of events, according to court documents.

Senior advocate Fali Nariman has written to former justice V R Krishna Iyer supporting his call for a judicial probe into allegations of unaccounted wealth accumulated by ex-CJI (Chief Justice of India) Balakrishnan’s relatives as another such case is being brought to fore.

Senior advocate and BJP (Bhartiya Janta Party) leader Ram Jethmalani and senior congress leader Digvijay Singhhas have offered to defend activist medical doctor Binayak Sen who was recently convicted of sedition against the Chhattisgarh state and sentenced to life imprisonment by a trial court there.

Former Chief Justice of India (CJI) KG Balakrishnan and his family have been accused of amassing wealth exceeding their declared sources, according to a number of media organisations.

Following the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) detaining Bar Council of India (BCI) member Rajinder Singh Rana and another lawyer for allegedly taking a bribe to accredit a law college, Delhi lawyers have gone on strike against and allegedly intimidated the CBI while the BCI has suspended college inspections for three months.

The Supreme Court has stayed the Madras High Court suspension of the state bar council chairman R K Chandramohan while former CJI Balakrishnan denied that he suppressed allegations that a Madras High Court judge was influenced by Chandramohan and former telecoms minister A Raja.

A group of non-government organisations including the Centre for Public Interest Litigation and a number of public interest litigants have jointly moved the Supreme Court seeking cancellation of telecom licenses and 2G spectrum granted by tainted telecom minister by A Raja during his tenure.

The Supreme Court has demanded a one per cent commission on the Government’s withdrawal of the Rs 2,500 crore deposited earlier in the court by Vodafone as a prerequisite to hearing the appeals against the Bombay High Court’s verdict, reported the Times of India.

The Supreme Court today offered little relief by way of clarification while dismissing Allahabad High Court’s application to expunge the apex court’s earlier castigating remarks that “something was rotten” in the lower court amid a prevalence of “uncle judges syndrome”, while holding that there were “excellent and good judges too” and incorrigibles should be transferred.