Coalgate

The Supreme Court has appointed senior advocate RS Cheema as the special public prosecutor (SPP) in the Coalgate scam special court trial, reported the PTI, presided over by additional sessions judge Bharat Parashar.

A week ago the bench of Chief Justice RM Lodha, Justice Madan B Lokur and Justice Kurian Joseph had heavily pushed for Gopal Subramanium, who bowed out of the apex court judgeship process, to become SPP.

Chief Justice of India (CJI) RM Lodha said that senior counsel Gopal Subramanium, who recently withdrew from the process to become a Supreme Court judge after government leaks about his suitability, should be the special public prosecutor in the Coalgate scam cases, reported the PTI.

Lodha, who had expressed his regrets about Subramanium's withdrawal from the judgeship process, told the bar appearing before him and two other judges: "If I failed in something you [lawyers appearing in the matter] persuade [Subramanium]... We want a person of impeccable integrity and fine legal mind."

SC solves mystery of missing coalgate files: criminality and an attempt to tamper with evidence. Has set a two week deadline for unearthing documents [TOI]

Hot coals: Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Siddharth Luthra recused himself from acting for the Centreal Bureau of Investigations (CBI) in the Coalgate scam yesterday. CBI’s previous counsel was senior advocate Uday Lalit, who recused himself after he came under pressure for having represented mining companies owned by Naveen Jindal in the past [Zeenews]. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court slammed the government’s opaque allocation of mining rights after the CBI filed its third stats report in the case [Mint]

Bangalore dress-up: Karnataka state submits female bartender and waiter dress code proposal to high court, after petition by the Bangalore Ladies’ Working Bar and Restaurants Owners’ Association, which wants the dress code to prevent police shutting down bars on the grounds of female staff’s “indecent” dress. The proposed dress code includes full trousers and full shirt, or T-shirt with or without a blazer or a salwar kameez [Free Press Journal]

AP Shah for collegium reform: Former Delhi high court Chief Justice Ajit Prakash Shah calls for reform of judicial appointments to reflect merit and social diversity, but argues against the “reactionary move” of setting up a judicial appointments commission (JAC) [TOI]