Bar, Bench & Litigation
SCOI Reports
The petitioners' alleged affiliations don't bode well for the apex court inquiry into BH Loya's death, which would affect other lower court petitions into the matter.
The Caravan reported:
The Backgrounds of the Loya Petitioners in the Supreme Court Raise Questions About the Legitimacy of Their Petitions
The Supreme Court is presently hearing two petitions seeking a probe into the mysterious death of the judge BH Loya. At the time of his death, Loya was presiding over the trial in the Sohrabuddin encounter case, in which Amit Shah, now the president of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, was the prime accused. The two petitions were filed, respectively, by Tehseen Poonawalla, who claims to be a “political trendsetter” on his Twitter profile, and Bandhuraj Sambhaji Lone, who has been referred to in the media as a journalist from Maharashtra. The backgrounds of the petitioners, and the manner in which the petitions have been listed and heard since they were clubbed together on 12 January, merit close scrutiny.
While the media has identified Poonawalla as a Congress leader and Lone as a journalist, these labels appear to be of questionable validity. The leaders of the Congress have been forthrightly clear that the party has nothing to do with Poonawala’s petition. “The Congress party has not filed this petition,” Kapil Sibal, the party leader and Supreme Court lawyer, told me. “I was not consulted and I have nothing to do with it.” Lone did have a career as a journalist, but several of his former editors and colleagues told me that he was no longer working as one, and that he was informally attached to the public-relations office of Ashish Shelar, the head of BJP’s Mumbai unit. “He is one of those journalists who switch over to the personal staff of politicians,” one of Lone’s former editors, who requested not to be identified, told me. Lone, when contacted, denied this.
I spoke to three of Lone’s former editors and two of his colleagues, most of whom did not want to be identified. They helped piece together some of the history of the man. Lone worked for around a decade as a reporter for Mahanagar, a Marathi daily, before moving to another daily, Loksatta, where he was given the prestigious assignment of covering the Bombay Municipal Corporation. A former editor and a former colleague of his said that Lone liked to wax eloquent about the ideas of Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, Jotirao Phule and BR Ambedkar. “He fancied himself a revolutionary,” his former colleague said. “But it was mostly just talk.”
SCOI Reports
The reasassignment to a CJI-headed bench follows the recusal of the junior bench that had been assigned by Misra to look into the allegations of foulplay in Justice BH Loya's death, which had led to the four-most senior apex court judges, other than the CJI, to hold a press conference about Misra's alleged trend trying to manipulate cases through is power of bench assignments.
The Hindu reported:
Chief Justice decides to hear PILs on CBI judge Loya’s death
A three-judge Bench led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra will hear on January 22 two PILs for an independent probe into the death of CBI judge B.H. Loya.
Justice Loya, at the time of his death in December 2014, was hearing the politically-sensitive Sohrabuddin Sheikh police encounter case.
On January 16, a Bench of Justices Arun Mishra and Mohan M. Shantanagoudar recused themselves from hearing the PILs any further by inserting a line in their order saying “put up case before appropriate Bench.”
Bar, Bench & Litigation
The senior counsel who successfully argued in the case faces ire of fringe outfit opposing film based on a true fictional character.
NDTV.com reported:
"Padmaavat" Row: Senior Lawyer Harish Salve Gets Threats
Mr Salve's office received calls threatening physical harm to him. The callers claimed they were from the Karni Sena, which has led violent protests against the film "Padmaavat" and has been trying to block its release. Security has been increased at his office in Delhi.
Delhi Police sources tell NDTV that there has been communication from Mr Salve's office and as soon as a complaint is received, Delhi Police will file an FIR.
Yesterday, the Supreme Court, following strong arguments made by Mr Salve, ruled that "Padmaavat" cannot be banned by states on grounds of potential law and order problems.
SCOI Reports
Farooqi had been convicted by the trial court of rape but acquitted by the Delhi high court.
Bar, Bench & Litigation
The Uttar Pradesh bar council deleted more than half of the state's enrolled advocate strength from its provisional electoral roll, which now consists of around 1.6 lakh advocates who will be eligible to vote in its upcoming bar elections.
Bar, Bench & Litigation
The Karnataka bar council's elections that are nearly four years overdue will see only up to 43,566 advocates voting, despite the number of enrolled advocates in the state having gone up by almost 15% since its last elections.
SCOI Reports
The final hearings in the challenges against the beleaguered Aadhaar scheme have begun before a five-judge Supreme Court constitution bench, with petitioners again commencing their attacks against the pseudo-compulsory ID card scheme.
Attacks included charges that Aadhaar would "terrorise citizens", leading to a "totalitarian regime", would be the death of civil rights, and exhibited a lack of consent in giving up of biometrics.
The Digital Lenders Association of India also sought to be impleaded in the case, to argue in support the Aadhaar scheme.
The final hearings in the challenges against the beleaguered Aadhaar scheme have begun before a five-judge Supreme Court constitution bench, with petitioners again commencing their attacks against the pseudo-compulsory ID card scheme.
Attacks included charges that Aadhaar would "terrorise citizens", leading to a "totalitarian regime", would be the death of civil rights, and exhibited a lack of consent in giving up of biometrics.
The Digital Lenders Association of India also sought to be impleaded in the case, to argue in support the Aadhaar scheme.
The Hindu reported:
Key takeaways from arguments on pleas challenging Aadhaar Act
A five judge Constitution Bench led by CJI Dipak Misra on Wednesday took up all Aadhaar related petitions. A series of public interest cases, led by a batch of 27 petitions challenging the Aadhaar scheme are being heard back-to-back.
On the first day, senior advocate Shyam Divan began the argument with an overview of his submissions for petitioners challenging the Aadhaar. He said the issue is complicated and the Supreme Court will have to get ready for a long haul.
Whether Aadhaar is violative of the abiding values of the Constitution and does it precipitates a future where the all-intrusive State does not recognise an individual but a number? This was the basis of Mr. Divan's argument.
Bar, Bench & Litigation
The Bar Council of India (BCI) has yet again hidden the exorbitant application fees of at least $2,000 for the February 2018-scheduled 13th qualifying exam for Indians holding foreign law degrees, from its notification announcing the exam.
Bar, Bench & Litigation
The Maharashtra & Goa bar council has rejected 65,000 persons who had been advocates enrolled on its state rolls, with 17 days to go before closing its voter list in the run-up to long-overdue state bar council (SBC) elections.
SCOI Reports
Just yesterday, BCI chairman Manan Kumar Mishra and attorney general KK Venugopal claimed 'all was well' in the Supreme Court of India.
Bar, Bench & Litigation
20 months after Justice Rajiv Shakdher had been transferred from the Delhi high court to the Madras high court despite protests from senior counsel at losing Shakdher, he is now coming back to Delhi.