Jerome Merchant + Partners
Several judges of the court participated enthusiastically in observing call for car-free day made by Punjab and Haryana high court employees welfare association reported The Tribune on 19 December 2015.
Judges were seen walking, cycling and using public transport to commute to and fro the court premises. The association had asked its members to use a bicycle, public transport or a two-wheeler to the office.
Acting Chief Justice of the court, Shiavax Jal Vazifdar walked down to the high court this morning and Justice Surya Kant, Justice RS Malik, Justice Raj Mohan Singh, Justice Hari Pal Verma, Justice Lisa Gill and Justice Anita Chaudhry also followed suit. Meanwhile, Justice PB Bajanthri and Justice Arun Palli reached the high court premises riding a bicycle.
Registrar Judicial Sunil Chaudhary and Registrar Administration Sandeep Singh also reached the court on a bicycle.
A large number of bicycles were reportedly parked in the parking lot near Gate No. 1 of the court complex. Two special buses werearranged for the employees from the areas in Sector 27 and 28 which were seen to be packed with commuters.
The police of the union territory has also planned to organise a voluntary Car-free Day in the first week of January to reduce traffic in the city and promote green lifestyle. Chandigarh police has also reportedly proposed to the administration to restrict the number of cars in the city based on the idea of odd-even rule by Delhi government.
_Broadcasting Content Complaints Council (BCCC) _sent out a strong advisory on 10 December 2015 against all entertainment channels telecasting shows where characters are shown to be superstitious, practitioners of black magic, practice occult, witchcraft and exorcism after receiving complaints from viewers regarding superstitious content in the shows.
The BCCC, headed by Justice (retired) Mukul Mudgal who commented that such programmes are getting frequent reported The Hindu. The content of Zee, Colors, Sun TV and Maa TV were examined by BCCC and the channels were advised to exercise caution while telecasting such shows.
To protect the creative liberties of the makers of the programmes, such shows are not banned altogether but the makers are advised to exercise restraint and put a scroll disapproving the practice during the show if such depiction is absolutely necessary. The channels were told not to telecast the shows at prime time and use discretion while showing such content.
The Himachal Pradesh high court dismissed a bunch of petitions filed against setting up of mobile towers on health grounds, citing lack of evidence connecting emissions from the towers to decrease in human health reported Times of India.
Division bench of Chief Justice Mansoor Ahmed Ali and Justice Tarlok Singh Chauhan pronounced the judgment and said that the allegations in the petition that electromagnetic fields cause harm to human health are misconceptions after studying various material put forward to them including research studies and earlier judgments in the matter.
Rajan S Mathews, director general, of the industry association Cellular Operator Association of India was quoted as saying, “We believe that this landmark order will debunk several myths propagated by certain groups.”
Pre-nuptial agreements, entitling women to maintenance through contractual clauses, will be legal in India soon as per plans of the Women and Child Development ministry, reported The Indian Express.
Woman and Child Development (WCD) Minister Maneka Gandhi said that the ministry is currently drafting a bill to address concerns in Indian marriages such as maintenance to wife.
Gandhi reportedly said: “Pre-nup happens mostly among rich people abroad because some multi-millionaire wants to protect his or her assets in case the marriage ends. Here, it will be to ensure maintenance for the woman in case she is abandoned by her husband, battered or chooses to leave her husband for some reason. Presently, since there are no hard and fast rules on maintenance, women have to fight it out in courts for years on end.”
As per the ministry’s recommendations, legal pre-nuptial agreements in India will provide that a percentage of a spouse’ earnings will be available to the other spouse as maintenance over a specific period of time, instead of the current statutory provisions for fixed, depreciating, maintenance amounts.
The ministry also plans to deal with the wife’s share in husband’s property in the case of divorce with or death of the husband, in the pre-nuptial agreement law which it plans to make applicable to all Indian citizens irrespective of religion and personal law.
A court in Belgium has ordered Facebook to stop tracking internet users who are not members of the social network, BBC reported on Monday.
The court concluded that before collecting information, Facebook needed to obtain the consent of these users.
“The judge ruled that this is personal data, which Facebook can only use if the internet user expressly gives their consent, as Belgian privacy law dictates,” said the court in a statement.
Facebook said it will appeal against the order which is related to the use of what is known as a “datr” cookie by the social networking giant.
Every time users click a Facebook “Like” button on other websites on their browser, Facebook would use the datr cookie to track any online activities that browser conducts.
The Brussels court ordered the company to stop using the cookie to track non-Facebook members within 48 hours, or pay a daily fine of roughly $268,900, to the Belgian privacy regulator.
“We will appeal the decision and are working to minimise any disruption to people’s access to Facebook in Belgium,” a Facebook spokeswoman was quoted as saying.
Indus Law advised Qualcomm Ventures and Themis Law Associates advised Norwest Venture Partners on infusing $10m (Rs 65 crore) in Chennai based health tech start-up, Attune Technologies. Attune Technologies was advised by Universal Legal Chennai.
Universal partner Sameena Chatrapathy and associates Shreya Deora and Vidisha Pulimood acted for Attune in the deal which, according to Business Standard was valued at Rs 65
Bangalore partner Suneeth Katarki and senior associate Pallavi Kanakagiri acted for Qualcomm Ventures in their reportedly first investment from their India focused fund worth $150m (973 Crore).
A Jain monk requested eight months to answer an Ahmedabad metropolitan magistrate’s summons, as in accordance with his faith he cannot use transport to commute and will have to walk to court from his place of stay at Kolkata, reported the Times of India.
The monk - Acharya Kirti Yashurishwarji Maharaj - was charged with forgery, for allegedly publishing a false government notification declaring that the government endorses ‘Bal Diksha’- a practice of renunciation of world by children and that the practice is not illegal.
The 60-year-old Maharaj has requested for eight months as the distance between his residence and the court is 2200km and he cannot walk more than 10-12 kilometres per day due to his old age and alleged spinal injury, nor can he use transport because of having formally renounced the world.
He also asserted that his absence will not affect the case, however the court rejected his plea and issued a fresh warrant against him.
AZB & Partners former Mumbai partner Kalpana Merchant, who resigned from the firm in early September, has joined P&C Legal, the Mumbai arm of Bangalore headquartered firm Poovayya & Co that was started headed by AZB alum Vishnu Jerome.
This mid-sized national law firm with offices in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore and Chennai, is looking for associates in Mumbai in Band I and Band II, with between 0 and 4 years of post-qualification experience.
TMT Law Practice opened an office in Bhubaneshwar, its second in the eastern region after its recently opened Kolkata office. The firm will start operating in Bhubaneshwar from 1 October.
Delhi-based TMT managing partner Abhishek Malhotra will head the Bhubaneshwar office, which has two associates - operative senior associate Bagmisikha Puhan and senior associate Jadunath Behera - and is located in the city’s Bayababa Matha Lane. The office will focus on technology, media and telecommunication (TMT), intellectual property (IP) and litigation.
Malhotra commented in the press release: “With Odisha continuing to attract investment and industry there are likely to be issues related to these spheres of activity. Protection of Intellectual Property, negotiation and dispute resolution are services that are already in demand and local presence was thought necessary to address the emerging need.”
The firm now has five offices and three partners across India.
In a breather for a man who has undergone 29 years of trial for allegedly possessing secret documents of the commerce ministry, a court has released him on probation of a year. While the man has not been awarded a prison term due to the long-drawn trial he underwent, a telling commentary on India’s judicial system, his conduct will be monitored.
Additional Sessions Judge Virender Kumar Bansal, in an order delivered September 7, released Rakesh Kumar Jain, a joint managing director of a Delhi-based company, Jain Shudh Vanaspati Limited, on a year’s probation and directed him to “maintain peace and good behaviour”.
Legally India reports exclusively that the Supreme Court has transferred the IIPM business school’s defamation case against Caravan magazine – often described as a classical strategic litigation against public participation (SLAPP) – from far-flung Silchar to the Delhi high court after four years. Find out which lawyer helped and also read our probe into how IIPM interpreted compliance with a damning 2014 Delhi high court order against it...
Also read: The government has opened a new front against Nestle and Maggi with a 6 billion Rupee Consumer Protection Act claim, only one day before the Bombay high court ruled in favour of the Swiss food giant today reprimanding the government regulator. and the CJI agreed with Harish Salve to stay a Gujarat high court order to probe an alleged dubious land grant by the Gujarat government to former and current Gujarat high court judges.
And latest jobs: Young national mid-size firm seeks Kolkata litigation associate/SA (3-7 PQE)