Competition Commission of India (CCI)
Delhi high court advocate Sudipto Sircar argues that the Competition Commission of India’s (CCI) surprisingly deficient market research before approving the Jet-Etihad combination on 11 December, has put an otherwise desirable investment into jeopardy by exposing the combination to inevitable litigation.
Gujarat gets fourth Lokayukta after decade
Gujarat finally has a Lokayukta in retired Gujarat HC judge DP Buch after 10 years of the seat lying vacant and three years of a feud over the issue between state chief minister Narendra Modi and the governor [PTI]
Constitutional status for JAC
The Judicial Appointments Commission for appointments to the higher judiciary may end up getting constitutional status if a Parliamentary Standing Committee recommendation is accepted [TOI]
CCI tightens noose around chemists’ supply restrictions
The Competition Commission of India has asked the All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists to “cease and desist” from restricting supply of pharmaceutical drugs in the market, and has slapped a Rs 5.61 lakh fine on the Assam Drug Dealers Association for abusing its position causing such restriction [Financial Express]
Apple wins Samsung away match
Apple products iPhone and iPad are not Samsung products’ imitations, a South Korea court has ruled, throwing out Samsung’s $95,100 claim for damages in a long patent battle [Reuters]
SC Singhvi retires, leaves legacy
The Supreme Court’s justice GS Singhvi, most famous for his stern treatment of the 2G and the land acquisition cases, retired today just after overturned the progressive Delhi HC judgment that had decriminalised homosexuality [The Hindu]
Madras HC advocates for Ganguly
Madras HC advocates yesterday took out a rally in support of sexual harassment accused former Supreme Court judge AK Ganguly, asserting that he was being targeted because of his stern dealing of sensational cases [TOI]
CCI’s giant Coal India fine
Coal India is facing Rs 17.7 billion ($290m) Competition Commission of India fine for abusing its dominant position and imposing unfair conditions in fuel supply agreements with customers [Reuters]
E&Y legal to launch Singapore with HSF partner
“Former Herbert Smith Freehills’ Singapore partner John Dick has joined Ernst & Young Singapore as a partner as the “big four” accounting firm mulls legal services launch,” reported [The Lawyer]
PIL reveals crippled IPAB
A PIL in the Madras HC has brought attention to the “crippled” state of the Intellectual Property Appellate Board due to insufficient funds to have permanent premises for its principle and circuit benches [TOI]
Maha-NLS dream remains distant
Maharashtra CM Prithviraj Chavan “dodged” the Times’ query regarding schedule of setting up of Nagpur NLS, even though its proposal was earlier promised to be tabled in the winter session of the state legislative assembly. The paper now writes it could be a distant dream [TOI]
Vodafone Rs 1300 cr TP writ sent to DRP: The Bombay HC said that the Vodafone transfer pricing tax writ petition of the department’s transfer pricing adjustment of Rs 1,300 crore, should be referred to the tax department’s dispute resolution panel (DRP) [Mint]
CCI checks Ericsson-Micromax royalties: CCI has begun a probe to examine whether Ericsson cellphone patent royalties of 1.25% to 2% from Indian phone maker Micromax, are too high by virtue of abuse of its alleged dominant position [WSJ]
DHCBA election rules argued: Delhi HC reserves judgment on Delhi District Court Bar Association plea, filed by bar council Delhi member Rajiv Khosla, seeking amendments Delhi High Court Bar Association (DHCBA) over upcoming 13 December elections [PTI]
Lalu fodder scam bail notice to CBI: The SC’s chief justice P Sathasivam and Justice Ranjan Gogoi issue notice to the CBI in Rashtirya Janata Dal leader Lalu Prasad’s bail petition – argued by senior counsel Ram Jethmalani - over the fodder scam case [IBN Live]
Gruesome Kerala robbery decapitation death sentence commuted by SC justices BS Chauhan and SA Bobde for not being one of “gravest cases of extreme culpability” [The Hindu]
Sunburn’s stolen Powerpoint: Sunburn festival moves Bombay HC at Goa to restrain rival festival from using Sunburn’s Powerpoint presentations [TOI]
SC: Live-in couples deserve protection: An apex court bench of Justices KS Radhakrishnan and Pinaki Chandra Ghose has asked for an amendment to bring couples in non-married relationships into the ambit of Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act [The Hindu / BBC]
Slicing Kerala HC benches? Minister Shashi Tharoor asks for Kerala HC bench in Thiruvananthapuram, going against the views of eminent ex-SC judge VR Krishna Iyer [PTI]
SC: Don’t over-examine state decisions: SC bench of justices KS Radhakrishnan and AK Sikri says: “If every decision taken by the State is tested by a microscopic and a suspicious eye, the administration will come to a standstill and the decision-makers will lose all their initiative and enthusiasm.” [PTI]
Bank can publish defaulters’ photos: Bombay HC says it’s ok for SBI to publish defaulters’ photos in newspapers, as being in public interest [PTI]
Reprieve in TN lawyer clash: Madras’ Madurai bench grants interim stay in criminal proceedings against leader of opposition, Vijayakanth, relating to violence in clashes with advocates in district court on 1 July [TOI]
Mumbai autos move writ on gas supply [DNA]
Law means Tejpal raped, says journalist who was allegedly raped by Tehelka editor-in-chief Tarun Tejpal, in a forceful and tightly-argued statement: “I don’t know if I am ready to see myself as a ‘rape victim’, for my colleagues, friends, supporters and critics to see me thus. It is not the victim that categorizes crimes: it is the law. And in this case, the law is clear: what Mr. Tejpal did to me falls within the legal definition of rape” [Statement] In the meantime, Tejpal has reportedly landed in Goa to meet police there [Firstpost live blog]
SC examines death row pardon in extreme brutality: The Supreme Court will hear a PIL on whether the President can commute death penalties in cases of extreme brutality. The petitioner Pinki Virani’s plea referred to five death sentences of convicted rapists of children, which former President Pratibha Patil had commuted [NDTV]
Technical porn block feasible, asks apex court to the Department of Telecommunications. Justice BS Chauhan, heading the bench, queried whether websites with pornographic content (particularly child pornography) could be blocked technically [PTI]
AP-split PIL rejected: Supreme Court justices HL Dattu and Madan B Lokur reject PIL on Telangana Andhra Pradesh bifurcation [PTI]
Madras HC judgeships: As Madras HC’s 15 judge recommendations await the SC’s approval, the next list of recommendations is already in the offing to fill the court’s 25 per cent vacant roster [TOI]
Delayed judge transfers: Himachal HC chief justice Ajay Manikrao Khanwilkar was today transferred to Madhya Pradesh HC as chief justice, four months after the SC’s recommendation. Sources said that the delay in his transfer was because of a representation made by a senior Madhya Pradesh High Court judge to the President [Deccan Chronicle]
CCI vs CAT: The Competition Commission of India (CCI) will not take the Competition Appellate Tribunal’s ban on its practice of imposing high penalties, sitting down. The CCI plans a Supreme Court challenge [ET]
CCI can rule on petrol? The CCI, which is currently looking into suspected unfair trade practices by state-run oil marketing firms while setting petrol prices, will rule on its own jurisdiction to examine the issue this month [PTI]
Lacking SHRCs: Tripura and 10 other states and Union territories are yet to set up a human rights watchdog - a State Human Rights Commission (SHRC). Except Assam no other north eastern state has a full-fledged SHRC. However, Manipur and Meghalaya are in the process of constituting such a body. The NHRC is presently looking into 60,000 human rights violations [TOI]
Consti bench rules police must file FIR: A five-judge constitution bench of CJI P Sathasivam and justices B S Chauhan, Ranjan P Desai, Ranjan Gogoi and S A Bobde ruled in the Lalita Kumari case yesterday that action must be taken against police officers who do not register a First Information Report (FIR) in a cognisable offence [PTI / Order]
Videoing the courtroom: The law ministry’s advisory committee has unanimously agreed that court proceedings must be recorded on video and that appropriate technology for this must be put in place [PTI]
Short circuit: Work at the Madurai bench of the Madras HC is suffering, say practicing lawyers, after one of the two division benches in the circuit has gone to the principal bench until 15 November [TOI]
CCI clears Jet-Etihad merger: The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has approved the merger between Jet and Etihad Airways, with member Anurag Goel dissenting, arguing the deal could adversely affect international air travel competition. [PTI / Majority / Dissenting] Law firms Amarchand, ELP, Gagrats and senior counsel Harish Salve advised on the takeover
CCI vegetates fair markets: The Competition Commission of India (CCI) will examine agriculture markets to ensure that there is no cartelisation or unfair play in the determination of vegetable prices, since prices are soaring despite their tendency to ease during the monsoon season. In 2011, the CCI had looked into the pricing pattern in the onion markets [HT]
New DoJ secretary: The ministry of law and justice’ department of justice has a new secretary in 1979-batch IAS officer Anita Kaul, taking over from previous secretary DK Sikri who retired yesterday. The Department of Justice appoints and transfers Supreme Court and high courts judges in the country [ANI]
Juvenile homecoming: The [NYT India Ink blog] took a tour of Delhi’s juvenile justice homes to find slow bureaucratic approval for security facilities, lack of trained staff, terrible working conditions, and the general map of these spaces
Fundamental Facebooking rights: Facebook has argued that right to social media is an extension of the UN Human Rights Council-declared fundamental right to the internet, and a ban on minors’ use of social media limits freedom of speech and expression [TOI]
NLSIU Kranti: Bangalore students form a student political organisation Kranti “to resurrect the culture of protest”, reports [DNA]
No Reliance on reportage: Anil Ambani’s ADAG threatened legal action against monthly magazine Caravan while they were reporting their 11,000-word profile on attorney general Goolam Vahanvati. Delhi law firm Agarwal & Associates acted for ADAG, The Hoot published the deets.
Feel me once, shame on you: iGate chief Phaneesh Murthy sacked for sexual harassment allegation after improper relationship with subordinate and investigation by outside counsel. At his former workplace, Infosys, Murthy was also accused of harassment, which was settled for $3m [Mint]
IPL PIL: A Public interest litigation (PIL) was filed yesterday in the Supreme Court asking for a special investigation team (SIT) probe into cricketing tournament Indian Premiere League’s (IPL) irregularities, including spot fixing. The SC dismissed the PIL giving time to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to complete its investigation within 1CC5 days [PTI/ESPN Cric Info]
CCI all grown up: At the Competition Commission of India’s (CCI) annual day yesterday finance minister P Chidambaram discussed the realistic possibility of the CCI soon being called upon to override decisions of other regulators [Business Today]
DoT demands promotion: The Department of Telecommunication (DoT) will invite proposals from various ministries by 9 June to give more power, resources and staff to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), according to an internal DoT memo seen by Mint
Seth Dua advised the Builders Association of India (BAI) in the Competition Appellate Tribunal against 11 cement companies.
Next hearing on 19 July in interim stay of fine over BCCI conduct.
Copy wrong: Delhi HC rejects Delhi University students’ plea to vacate order restraining sale of on-campus photocopies of certain texts of the world’s biggest university publishers - Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press and Taylor & Francis. 33 professors and authors had signed the petition opposing the order [India Today/Firstpost]
Competing demands: Competition Commission of India faces year-on-year increase in pendency since 2010-11, going from 79 to 74 to 70 to finally only 33 cases disposed of last fiscal. Currently 53 cases are pending before the CCI [Hindu BL]
Disability, no bar: Four orthopedically challenged persons win a writ in the Madras HC to consider them for civil judgeship under the disabled-category. [Hindu]
Multiplier unlocked: Holding as meagre a compensation of Rs 1.5 lakh to family of custodial death victim, the Madras HC hiked it to Rs 5.9 lakh using the “multiplier method” [New Indian Express]
Key typewriter jammed: Bandra, Bombay metropolitan magistrate keeps SEBI v Sahara matter hanging four months and adjourning hearings, because of non-availability of his stenographer and other court staffers. SC directs him to expedite the process [Mumbai Mirror]
Indo-Pak justice league: Former Delhi HC judge M A Khan, former Punjab and Haryana HC judges Amarbir Singh Gill and Amarjeet Chaudhary and former Patna HC judge Nagendra Rai have been appointed to the Indo-Pak joint judicial committee to look into steps for humane treatment and release of prisoners languishing in the jails of India and Pakistan [Indian Express]
Seriously lawyers, stop the striking already: Bar Council of India (BCI) and State bar councils can’t call strike and striking advocates are liable to disciplinary action, reiterates Allahabad HC [Express]
Kesavananda doctrine turns 40: India celebrates 40 years of “saving the democracy” on today’s anniversary of Kesavananda Bharati v State of Kerala where a 13-judge constitutional bench held that the parliament cannot amend the constitution to alter its “basic structure”. The Hindu narrates the full run-up to the 703-page judgement [Hindu]
SC sex harassment watchdog: The “Supreme Court Internal Complaints Committee” headed by an “eminent jurist” whose name is not decided yet, will soon come into power, decided the Supreme Court after finding that sexual harassment committees at various high courts of the country exist only on paper [PTI]
Pro bono por promos? Lawyers giving free legal aid and organising Lok Adalats could now earn bonus points that’ll help them become senior advocates and subordinate judges, if NALSA executive chairman P Sathasivam’s proposal at made at the 11th All India Meet of State Legal Service Authorities is accepted [TOI]
CCI moneybags: The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has imposed Rs 8,013 crore of penalties against 19 business entities in anti-competitive behaviour cases in 2012-13 FYI, while closing 262 out of total 347 registered cases [The New Indian Express]
Base judicial practices: A retired judge cannot practice in a court lower than the one in which he served, according to the Bar Council of Gujarat’s recent circular reiterating section 7 of the BCI rules [Daily Bhaskar]
Beyond contempt: The US’s Lewis & Clark law school dean apologises to the school paper’s editors after his pressuring them to take the US Supreme Court’s consent before publishing the news of the US chief justice judging a moot at their law school [Washington Post]
Compat today reduced Rs 60 crore fines but dismissed appeals in favour of Amarchand-advised Coal India.
Delhi-based law firm Singhania & Partners’ August 2010 competition complaint against multinational software giant Microsoft, is now in the Supreme Court, with Amarchand Mangaldas advising Microsoft.
Platinum Partners with Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer advised UK oil and gas major BG Group on its sale of state-owned Gujarat Gas Company for over Rs 2,400 crore to Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation’s (GSPC) subsidiary GSPC Distribution Networks, involving India’s first long form merger control clearance.
CCI's director general (DG) office currently has a 40 employee deficit, with 25 people handling 30 pending investigations. The DG office which usually takes three to nine months to finish an investigation has unfilled positions since it first invited applications in July [ET]
Exclusive: Former Competition Commission of India (CCI) director general KK Sharma has started up a competition law boutique firm headquartered in Delhi, aiming to counsel law firms and companies in competition law.
Exclusive: The Competition Commission of India (CCI) rejected an amalgamation notice filed by Amarchand Mangaldas for Aditya Birla Nuvo, and AZB & Partners for retailer Pantaloon on 14 August. According to the regulator’s interpretation, the notice was premature and not in accordance with the Combination Regulations.