Delhi high court
The Delhi High Court's acting Chief Justice BD Ahmed and Justice Sidharth Mridul were told by the National Pharmaceuticals Pricing Authority (NPPA) that pharma companies sold condoms at "100 percent more than the ceiling price of Rs6.56 per condom even after its inclusion in the" Drug Price Control Order (DPCO), which caps prices of all male contraceptives in India. [IBNLive]
A luxury midi bus accommodating up to five lawyers and three staff could be seen stationed in the Delhi high court parking lot before August, if advocate Deepak Khosla’s has his way.
Newly elected prez Rajiv Khosla opens DHCBA agenda to take back CD-filing rule, free parking, valets for lawyers, a website against corruption & more...
The AIIMS hospital denied treatment to a rickshaw puller's son suffering from a rare disease, because it was too costly. Senior counsel AS Chandhiok, appearing for the Delhi High Court Bar Association, said lawyers had raised Rs 7.8 lakh for the treatment, with the Delhi high court ordering AIIMS to continue treating the boy until the final judgment in the case.
Justice Manmohan said: “A patient cannot be denied treatment due to financial constraint and the State is bound to find a source to generate funds for the poor patients... [The Delhi government has] to find a way to provide medical aid to poor patients. Funds have to be created. There cannot be a vacuum.” [DNA]
Ex-Delhi Bar Association president Rajiv Khosla has won the Delhi High Court Bar Association (DHCBA) elections, according to authoritative sources on Twitter.
Advocate Dushyant K Mahant tweeted that Khosla won with 2,074 votes as against 936 votes won by DK Sharma, who was the closest contender.
Presidential candidates PV Kapur and RP Luthra won 557 and 25 votes respectively, according to Mahant’s sources.
These elections have been especially controversial with run-up conflicts for months between Khosla and other contenders, ultimately resulting in a stay of the December elections by the Supreme Court.
The next hearing will be on 19 May in the Delhi high court case filed by Swatanter Kumar against three media companies and an NUJS Kolkata graduate who alleged the former Supreme Court judge had sexually harrassed her while she interned with him, reported the PTI.
Andhra Pradesh high court justice G Rohini’s name has been recommended for elevation to Delhi high court as its chief justice, making her the first woman chief justice at the high court, reported the Express.
Nine out of 40 sitting judges at the Delhi HC are women. The first ever woman to become chief justice of any HC in India was justice Leila Seth who was elevated from the Delhi high court to serve as chief at Himachal HC.
Rohini’s judicial career began in 2001 at Andhra Pradesh high court which is also the alma mater of justice NV Ramana who was elevated from being chief at the Delhi HC to the Supreme Court last week.
One of the three new Delhi high court senior counsel neither had a legal alma mater such as NLSIU Bangalore, Oxford, Cambridge or Harvard, nor even a relative in the profession. He did, however, have a degree in nuclear physics.
Amit Sibal, Cambridge University graduate, Dayan Krishnan, public prosecutor and 1993 NLSIU Bangalore graduate, and Anup Bhambhani, have been designated senior counsel in the Delhi high court.
The Delhi high court’s order, restricting media coverage of the sexual harassment allegations against Swatanter Kumar, should give the Supreme Court cause to consider its Sahara gag order decision, argues Chinamyi Arun, research director at the Centre for Communication Governance at NLU Delhi and fellow at the CIS Bangalore.
2,648 new legal aid clinics: CJI P Sathasivam has inaugurated 2,648 legal aid clinics, each to be manned by two volunteers and a lawyer, in villages across India to assist villagers in getting BPL card, Election ID, Aadhaar Card, Gas connection and government welfare schemes [IBNLive]
Lowly paid consumer forum members: Bombay HC has directed Maharashtra to increase the remuneration of its district consumer forum members. Right now a full-time member gets paid Rs 800 per day while a part time members gets paid half of that. 19 out of 40 district forums in the state are dysfunctional due to vacant posts of members [DNA]
Delhi HC illegal heritage renovation: 500 Delhi high court advocates have made a representation to the chief justice of the HC to look into the allegedly illegal construction and renovation work of the Sher Shah Suri mosque located within the HC’s premises [PTI]
Delhi HC public prosecutor axed: Delhi HC’s chief public prosecutor Pawan Sharma has been continuing illegally in his post since the expiry of his three-year term on 21 December 2012, but will now be removed. The irregularity was discovered after Delhi’s Lt governor wrote to chief minister Arvind Kejriwal asking for an explanation on why the government was losing many cases over the past few years. Sharma maintained that his remaining in the post was not illegal in the absence of a notification formally ending his tenure, and that he had been attending meetings and taking files of cases from the new government as well [Mail Today]
Karanjawala & Co, the law firm representing Swatanter Kumar in his Rs 5 crore defamation suit, has sent Legally India a legal notice for the removal of an anonyised photograph of the ex-judge.
The Delhi high court yesterday restrained anyone from publishing or broadcasting the detailed sexual harassment allegations against Swatanter Kumar, without stating prominently that they are “mere allegations”, as a battery of counsel appeared for the former Supreme Court judge in the court yesterday.
The Delhi high court today issued notice in the Supreme Court’s letters patent appeal against the 16 December decision by a single Delhi high court judge that the apex court’s method of selecting judicial clerks was unconstitutional.
Former Delhi Bar Association president Rajiv Khosla explained his success in the Supreme Court in his battle against Delhi High Court Bar Association (DHCBA) president AS Chandhiok in the now-postponed DHCBA elections.
With the courts closed as much of Delhi voted today, the Delhi high court is reconsidering former DBA president Rajiv Khosla’s plea against election rule amendments barring him from the 13 December DHCBA polls.
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 allows jailed candidates: The SC has approved an amendment in the Representation of People Act, which allows jailed politicians to contest elections while in police custody, unless they are held guilty and convicted by a trial court [ANI]
Lawyers challenge DHCBA election bona fides: Delhi bar council member advocate Rajiv Khosla, on behalf of the Delhi District Court Bar Association, told the Delhi HC that the Delhi High Court Bar Association (DHCBA) constitution’s election-related amendments are “malafide and illegal”, and were made “unlawfully and arbitrarily” [PTI]
Sexual harassment committee demands: P&H HC lawyers are demanding setting up of a gender sensitisation and internal complaints committee in the premises of the HC and subordinate courts of Chandigarh, Punjab and Haryana [TOI]
Mega Karnataka Adalat: Five Karnataka high court judges are expected to dispose of 900 miscellaneous first appeals on insurance claims in six days. The claims have been pending in the HC since 2011. Dubbed the ‘mega adalat’, the initiative is part of a series of Lok Adalats being held in the state from 1 to 23 November [Bangalore Mirror]