Calcutta high court

Supreme Court justices SJ Mukhopadhaya and NV Ramana have set aside declined to interfere with a Calcutta high court order that declined to cancel the bail of former NUJS Kolkata assistant registrar Siddhartha Guha, who is accused of having sexually harassed another staff member at the college, reported the Times of India.

Correction: We understand that the Times of India story was erreneous and we regret republishing their report. The Supreme Court did not interfere with the lower court's order, but said on 11 November:

There is nothing on record to suggest that the petitioner brought to the notice of the High Court that the accused/Respondent No.2-Siddhartha Guha who has been granted bail is threatening the petitioner. In that view of the matter, we are not inclined to interfere with the impugned order refusing cancellation of bail but give liberty to the petitioner to move before the High Court for cancellation of bail, in case of threat given by accused-respondent No.2. If any such petition is filed for cancellation of bail on the ground of threat given by the accused respondent NO.2, the Court may consider the same uninfluenced by the earlier order passed by the High Court or this Court.

The alleged victim, represented by advocates Siddharth Dave and Phiroze Edulji, alleged before the apex court that Guha had threatened her with an acid attack, as set out in a police complaint. The Supreme Court told her to approach the high court with evidence of why Guha should not be granted bail.

The Calcutta high court is set to get its first female chief justice, as Kerala high court chief justice Manjula Chellur gets trasnferred to Calcutta after its CJ Arun Mishra was elevated as a Supreme Court judge, reported the New Indian Express.

Justice Chellur became a Karnataka HC judge in 2000 and replaced now SC justice Chelameswar as Kerala HC’s CJ in November 2011.

Soli vs political RTI ordinance: Former Attorney General of India Soli Sorabjee said that the government’s proposal to bring an ordinance to keep political parties out of the purview of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, is an abuse of constitutional power. “Ordinance should be brought in only in extraordinary situation when a law needs to be brought about urgently. What is the urgency in this case? Why can't they challenge the CIC order in High Court or the Supreme Court?” he said [IBN Live]

Khaitan Sr for foreign firms: Khaitan & Co senior partner Pradip ‘Pinto’ Khaitan says foreign law firms should be allowed in because they’d benefit Indian lawyer by adding to the talent pool and knowledge ecosystem [Hindu Businessline]

Magistrate arrested for rape: S Thangaraj, judicial magistrate of a fast track court in Coonoor in the Nilgiris district, was arrested by the Palladam women police in Tirupur district on Saturday for allegedly raping a female sub-inspector [TOI]

More bong benchers for Delhi: Observing that there weren't many Calcutta High Court judges in the Supreme Court, Chief Justice of India (CJI) Altamas Kabir on Friday said they needed more of them “to shake up Delhi” [Zee News]

Rajasthan’s high court (HC) chief justice of two years and former NLSIU Bangalore general council chairman Arun Mishra was appointed chief justice of the Calcutta HC. Kerala HC got three new permanent judges, and Karnataka HC got one new permanent judge also.

57-year-old Mishra practised as an advocate from 1978 to 1999, in which year he was appointed an additional judge of Madhya Pradesh HC. He was appointed a permanent judge of the court in 2001.

He was transferred to Rajasthan HC in September 2010, and in November he became the chief justice.

Kerala HC’s additional judges NK Balakrishnan, V Chitambareh, and AM Shaffique were made permanent judges of the court. Karnataka HC’s additional judge Arvind Kumar became a permanent judge of the court. [Netindian]

Khaitan & Co has won a temporary victory against alleged Bollywood plagiarism in the Calcutta High Court. The firm is representing movie producer Vipul Shah against Sri Venkatesh Films over the currently screening Bengali movie Poran Jay Joliya Re, which Shah alleges is a scene-by-scene "copy-paste" of his film Namastey London.