Allahabad high court

After the Supreme Court had rejected all appeals against the convict in the Noida-based Nithari killings, Surinder Koli, the Allahabad high court commuted his death sentence in public interest litigation (PIL) of the People’s Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR).

Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice PKS Baghel commuted his sentence to life in prison on the basis of the Uttar Pradesh governor’s three-and-a-half year delay in disposing his mercy petition and the “misapplication” of rules, reported The Hindu

The Allahabad high court terminated 11 trainee judicial officers from the lower judicial service last week after a drunken brawl in Lucknow in which the 11 were involved, reported the Times of India.

The 11 had visited a restaurant on 7 August to celebrate the completion of their training on 8 August, had allegedly consumed liquor and then engaged in a scuffle with people present at the restaurant. The footage of this was recorded on the restaurant’s CCTV camera.

The HC’s administrative committee had already recommended the suspension of 20 trainee judges who were originally accused of misbehaviour, according to several local news sources, but the full court headed by chief justice DY Chandrachud decided to terminate the services of 11 out of those 20. The full court also transferred three additional directors at their institute, who had allegedly tried to hush up the incident.

A female trainee judge was the target of their misbehaviour in the inebriated condition, reported ENI.

The Allahabad high court on Tuesday directed GNLU Gandhinagar to allow two 21-year-old Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) 2014 aspirants to appear in the entrance exam.

Every HC bench strength to grow by 25%: The central government has decided to increase the judges’ strength of each high court in India by 25 per cent and has invited proposals from all chief justices on additional facilities concerning courtroom, quarters and support staff for the enhanced number of judges [TOI]

SC to consider banning red beacons outright: After its ban on the widespread ‘misuse’ of red beacon lights on cars, the Supreme Court has yesterday agreed to look into the meaning and constitutional validity of the term “high dignitaries”, as only allowing them to use the lights could be contrary to the “democratic ethos” and reflective of “Raj mentality”. Justices RM Lodha and Shiva Kirti Singh, with amicus curiae Harish Salve, will examine the arguments [Express]

Mysore DCs to become more efficient with self-service kiosks: Mysore becomes the second city in India after Bangalore to have kiosks around its district court campus, where case details can be retrieved by punching in the case number. Three kiosks were inaugurated on Sunday [TOI]. The city aims to reduce over 63 per cent of its case pendency in its ongoing Lok Adalats [Deccan Herald]

Krishna Iyer’s disdain for recusing judges: Jurisprudential luminary and retired Supreme Court justice VR Krishna Iyer commented on the rampant practice of judges recusing themselves from cases. In letters to the Kerala high court chief justice and governor he said: “Vast powers have been vested in judges under the Constitution and they are bound to adjudicate every case posted before them. That is a great duty from which they cannot retreat. Not hearing cases or declining to do justice is breach of the solemn obligation vested in them. To default or decline to exercise this sublime power is to invite impeachment by Parliament or dismissal by the President.” [TOI]

Karntaka SLSA appointment: Karnataka high court justice NK Patil has been appointed executive chairman of the Karnataka State Legal Services Authority [TOI]

Aadhar facility in Gujarat jails: Gujarat high court has asked the state government to facilitate issuing Aadhar cards in prison, after a prisoner’s wife applied for his bail for the purpose of enabling him to apply for his Aadhar card [TOI]

PIL vs Kejriwal: The closing up of several public roads and metro stations in Delhi thanks to protests and demonstrations carried out by the newly elected Arvind Kejriwal government, has spurred a second petitioner to file a public interest litigation against the government [Mizo News]

12 new Allahabad HC judges: Four Allahabad high court lawyers and eight higher judicial service officers have taken oath as Allahabad HC additional judges [TOI]

The Allahabad high court yesterday constituted a committee to deal with “unfair treatment of women counsels” and “complaints of eve teasing and molestation” of women working in the court

Tamilian judgmnents: The assurance that Tamil Nadu lower courts' judgments will now only be written in Tamil, from Madras HC chief justice RK Agarwal, caused advocates there to end their three-day fast yesterday [PTI]

Criminal politicians judgment: Disqualifying convicted politicians from contesting elections, while they appeal their conviction, is tantamount to judging them without a hearing; and arresting politicians for using illegal means to generate cash is ironical since the amount of cash required to buy votes to win elections cannot be generated legally, argues Gurgaon law firm N South managing partner Ranjeev Dubey [Business World]

Allahabad HC new CJ: Allahabad HC judge LK Mohapatra is now the acting chief justice of that HC after chief justice SK Singh was elevated to the Supreme Court. Singh took oath in the SC today [TOI]

All Boys Clubs: Yet another column discusses the gender-motivated glass cieling in the legal profession – women lawyers are unable to join the ‘All Boys Club’ of senior advocates and judges despite apparently having ‘merit’ because they lack ‘lobbying’ skills. What kind of ‘merit’ and what kind of ‘lobbying’ gets you there? The column discusses the one without touching the other [Yahoo]

The Supreme Court will have two new judges in Allahabad high court chief justice (CJ) Shiva Kirti Singh and Orissa High Court CJ C Nagappan, reported the Hindu. Both will serve three-year tenures at the SC, taking its judges’ strength up to 30.

Justice Singh is the third judge representing Bihar in the SC, while Nagappan is the third from Tamil Nadu. Singh has been the acting chief justice of the Patna HC in 2009, and again in 2010 before being transferred to the Allahabad HC where he became the acting chief justice in November 2012 and chief justice in February this year.

Justice Nagappan became judge of the Madras HC in 2000 and a permanent judge in 2002. He was appointed CJ of the Orissa HC in February this year.

Editor's note: An earlier version of the story mentioned justice Singh as the second judge representing the state of Bihar in the SC which is an incorrect fact reported in the Hindu story which this story is linked to. Justice Singh is the third representative from Bihar after justice GS Misra and justice CK Prasad.

Allahabad high court justice Yatindra Singh yesterday took oath as chief justice of Chhatisgarh high court after 13 years at the bench in Allahabad. Singh enrolled at the bar in 1973. [BS/Chhatisgarh high court]