Bombay high court
Bombay high court judges SA Bobde and RG Ketkar suddenly, and mysteriously, recuse themselves from hearing the Adarsh housing society petitions against 13 retired bureaucrats, politicians and defence personnel, for alleged money laundering. They had been hearing the matter for several months now.
“Not before us”, the bench tells senior advocate Amit Desai who was arguing the case for quashing charges against former Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan. The bench offers no explanation for the recusal [The Hindu]
Terror became more than a familiar background noise last week for lawyers as a bomb killed and maimed outside Delhi’s High Court.
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.
Bombay High Court turns 150: senior advocate TR Andhyarujina celebrates with an ode and potted history [Hindu]
Two editorials in Express family papers today condemn SC’s new journalist control rules; But for Mint and Express other MSM remain strangely mute [Financial Express / Indian Express]
Former Amarchand COO Bithika Anand’s consulting firm Legal League Consulting enters into strategic alliance with Edge International [Press release]
K’tka HC sets aside compensation for Mangalore Air India crash [IBN]
Chargesheets land on Amar Singh, politicians and aides in nuclear cash-for-votes scam [Hindu]
Special Delhi HC bench to hear Reliance KG basin gov’t ‘cheating’ allegations [UNI]
Hearings close on whether gov’t covertly tried to keep CBI out of RTI ambit, verdict soon [TOI]
Pune could get a division bench of the Bombay High Court said law minister Veerappa Moily.
The Bombay High Court was granted six new judges today to hit 61 sitting judges out of a quota of 75.
In the last two decades the Delhi and Mumbai High Courts appointed only three female senior counsel each out of a total of 122 and 81 new senior advocate designations awarded by the courts reveals Legally India’s exclusive year-on-year analysis of senior counsel elevations in the country’s top two high courts.
But the senior prospects at the bar are actually bleak for both sexes.
The Chief Justice of India has granted a two month extension that magistrates will be allowed to issue domicile certificates – a power that was planned to be transferred to bureaucrats which could have ended the work of up to 10,000 advocates in Maharashtra and Goa who were either partially or fully dependent on the system, according to petitioners.
Mulla & Mulla & Craigie Blunt & Caroe has led Anil Ambani Group company Reliance Natural Resources (RNRL) in its multi-million dollar High Court victory against Mukesh Ambani-promoted Reliance Industries (RIL).
India needs to enhance its arbitration offerings and overhaul its courts’ processes to give its backlog of cases any chance of closure before the year 3000.
A trip to the neo-Gothic Bombay High Court is an entertaining experience that should be on every visiting lawyer’s travel itinerary. Once past the sandbagged machine gun emplacements outside, loosen your tie and spend a few hours wandering about open-air corridors between throngs of locals, hundreds of offices with unfathomable purposes and court rooms filled beyond bursting point.
Also spare a thought for the unfortunate litigants, who will most likely not find the experience as enjoyable.
The running joke in India goes that, if you litigate here, your sons and daughters will inherit your dispute.