Kerala high court
Yesterday (20 August), the petitioners in the ongoing Kerala Bar Hotels Association’s appeal against the Kerala high court’s decision approving the Kerala Government’s controversial liquor policy favouring the five-star hotels, concluded their arguments at Court No.11.
Arguments continued by the appellants in the Kerala liquor ban case Kerala Bar Hotels Association vs State of Kerala for the second day on August 18 in the Supreme Court’s Court No. 11, with senior advocates, Harish Salve and N Venkataraman making a determined attempt to expose the State Government’s “discriminatory” liquor policy.
As political protests were organised in Lucknow against the CLAT yesterday and the Rajasthan high court adjourned its hearing in the writ petition against the CLAT to today after the CLAT’s senior counsel did not appear, we take a look at where the litigation stands while the national law schools prepare to close the process in July.
The Kerala high court on Monday, 15 June, has stayed the second Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) 2015 allotment by two weeks, further to a writ petition filed by CLAT candidate Anand G Nair.
LiveLaw reported that the Kerala high court stayed the operation of the Bar Council of India’s (BCI) Certificate and Place of Practice (Verification) Rules 2015 that it first proposed in January of this year, which requires advocates to register for a practising certificate by 13 June 2015, which must be renewed every five years.
Livelaw reported that:
The interim order staying the operation of the Rules was passed by Justice K Vinod Chandran in a Writ Petition filed by an advocate from Trivandrum challenging the constitutionality and validity of the ‘Certificate and Place of Practice Rules, 2015’ (hereinafter referred to as “the Rules”). The Writ Petition settled by Senior Advocate K Ramakumar claims that the Rules impose unreasonable restrictions on the advocates to continue with their practice and that being so, the Rules are violative of Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India besides being wholly without jurisdiction.
The case reference is Writ Petition 17467 of 2015 but the order was not uploaded on the website at the time of going to press.
The Times of India reported the petition but not the interim stay order.
The Kerala bar council is discussing plans to ban all lawyers from talking to the media about their own cases under the anti-advertising rule 36 of the Bar Council of India (BCI) Rules, which could be implemented after a meeting soon, reported the Deccan Chronicle.
The rule states that advocates must not solicit or advertise, and “not promote himself by circulars, advertisements, touts, personal communications, interviews other than through personal relations, furnishing or inspiring newspaper comments or producing his photographs to be published in connection with cases in which he has been engaged or concerned”.
Proceedings in the Kerala high court are currently ongoing to ban open court reporting by media, while former Chief Justice of India (CJI) and current Kearala governor P Sathasivam said last week that if journalists always read judgments first, there shouldn’t be any reason to ban court reporting.
The Kerala High Court Tuesday denied anticipatory bail to three doctors who were booked after pictures of a patient of theirs undergoing a caesarean section went viral on social media.
A woman from Kasargode district had delivered triplets July 18 through C-section at the state-owned Payyanur taluk hospital. In the past few days, visuals of the delivery went viral on the social media, forcing her to file a police complaint.
Following her complaint the Payyanur police registered a case and began a probe. The matter was also investigated by Kannur district medical officer (DMO) K.J. Reena. Reena told reporters in Kannur Tuesday that the visuals do show the C-section performed at the Payyanur taluk hospital. Four other staff members who were present during the delivery have also been booked.
Numerous political outfits staged protests in front of the hospital and demanded action against the erring officials. The three doctors have stopped coming to work and their mobile phones have been switched off. The DMO Tuesday submitted a report to Health Minister V.S. Sivakumar. The three doctors are likely to be suspended, say sources. The court has posted the case for Sep 30.
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.
The Kerala high court has appointed practising lawyers at the court, PV Asha and PB Suresh Kumar, as high court judges, taking the bench strength to 34 [PTI]
Madras HC 12-judge-names appeal: The Madras HC through its registrar general will move the SC against its own division bench decision that had stayed the appointment of the 12 recommended Madras HC advocates as judges whose recommendations has courted controversy at the HC [TOI]
Madras HC advocates against opacity, subjectivity in judge selection: Madras High Court Advocates Association President RC Paul Kanagaraj says that in the absence of transparency in the collegium process the judges panel recommending names for judgeships is easily prone to favouritism. Kanagaraj is opposed by a faction of lawyers of the HC who feel that consulting bar associations is a process prone to subjectivity and not entirely fair [New Indian Express]
Delhi needs 100 more judges: Delhi law minister Somnath Bharti has advised the Delhi HC to recruit 100 judges for various courts in the capital [Business Standard]. Last year Legally India reported how the Delhi district judges recruitment machinery falls remarkably short of the need faced in the capital.
Delhi gets 47 new courts: Delhi HC chief justice NV Ramana today ordered setting up of 47 new courts in the capital. The new courts, which will come up in six district court complexes from January 15, will deal with heinous crimes, civil cases, and motor accident claims [PTI]
MMB Legal first partner: Wipro senior corporate counsel Sonal Basu joined former MMB Legal partner Talha Salaria’s Bangalore-based start-up L.A.W as a partner. Basu, who has had stints at JSA Bangalore and at Nokia, will focus on L.A.W’s Information Technology/ITeS and telecom practices [Bar & Bench]
3 new Kerala HC judges: Kerala high court additional judges, justices Babu Mathew P Joseph, Ambazhavelil Velayudhan Pillai Ramakrishna Pillai and Pannipuzhayil Divakaran Rajan have become permanent judges in that HC [Net Indian]
Karnataka Lokayukta on anti-corruption cell: Karnataka’s Lokayukta Justice Y Bhaskar Rao has written to Karnataka HC Chief Justice D H Waghela seeking intervention in helping the general public file complaints before the state’s anti-corruption cell with support from the Karnataka Legal Services Authority and legal volunteers under it in rural areas [TOI]
Slow special child abuse case disposal law: “More than a year after Parliament passed a special law to ensure the speedy disposal of cases of child abuse, just 38 of over a thousand cases filed in Maharashtra have been disposed of with only nine convictions,” reports [DNA India]
Useful ordinance? 1/615: Out of 615 ordinances promulgated in India between 1958 and 2006, the only one justifiable ordinance is the one introduced by former Prime Minister Morarji Desai in 1978—where currency notes in denominations ofRs.1,000/5,000/10,000 were demonetized—because they thought it was one way of dealing with corruption and inflation, according to a study conducted by NUJS Kolkata graduate and Singapore Managment University assistant professor Shubhankar Dam [Mint]
BCI cozies up to NaMo
A delegation led by Bar Council of India (BCI) chief Manan Kumar Mishra met Narendra Modi on Saturday, inviting him to address the valedictory function of the Gujarat bar Council. According to a Gujarat state press release, the BCI respected Modi’s nationalism, while Modi called for better application of technology and faster disposal of criminal cases by improving forensic science education [TOI]
SC settles TDSAT-TRAI turf war: TRAI wins
Telecom tribunals’ TDSAT and TRAI’s three-and-a-half-year-long turf war has been finally put to rest by the Supreme Court which has held that the TDSAT has no business interfering in TRAI-made regulations. TDSAT can only hear and dispose of appeals against TRAI orders [Business Standard / SC judgment]
Crowds admire Kerala HC astrological garden
Kerala high court now has its very own astrological plant garden with 27 varieties of medicinal saplings that relate to the 27 constellations. Crowds thronged the HC complex on Friday in search of their medicinal star-sign flower pot [IANS]
AP HC allows lower courts to accept PILs
We haven’t succeeded in putting our finger on the legal provision Andhra HC chief justice KJ Sengupta has employed in reaching this conclusion: “The common man need not approach the high court for filing of PILs as it involves a cost factor. The filing of PILs can be done at munsiff magisterial courts also.” Can you? [PTI]
Madras HC asked for anti-sex harass cell: After the Allahabad HC is done constituting its anti-sexual harassment cell, the Madras HC is now also under the wave of demand for the cell after a PIL was filed in the HC asking for a mechanism to deal with the problem in all Tamil Nadu courts [TOI]
Bombay HC prioritises ‘younger’ senior citizens’ cases, lowers age limit
The “precedence age” – the age at which a litigant can get his case listed on priority in the Bombay HC – has reduced from 65 to 60. On 3 December the HC has issued a circular that if even one of the litigants party to a case have attained the age of 60, their case will be listed for final hearing and disposal on priority basis, on their request. In 1999, this age was fixed at 65 [PTI]
Madras HC lawyers against SC lawyers as their judges: Madras HC lawyers will have a 25 per cent empty roster rather than “importing a stranger” to fill judge seats in the HC, if their opposition to the appointment of three SC lawyers to the HC’s judgeship is anything to go by. The Advocates Association of the HC swears that the move will ‘'completely distort the present selection process”, because the appointment will not be made by the collegium’s recommendation but on the request of the SC’s Advocates-on-Record association [The Hindu]
Lawyer punches pesky customs officer for clients: A Madras HC lawyer has managed to make headlines for taking his solemn duty for his client a tad too seriously by roughing up the customs officer who held up his clients after their questioning at the unit was over [TOI]
Due indiligence: GLC Mumbai and New College Mumbai students could miss the 25 July Bar Exam because their law schools have not yet paid the Bar Council of India affiliation fee. GLC fixing problem at the moment… [Mumbai Mirror / Bar & Bench]
Judicial eviction: According to SC guidelines framed today, judges (and other high officials) will have to vacate their government accommodations within a month, or at most two months, from their retirement or they will be evicted with three months’ notice. They are also not allowed to leave behind “memorials” constructed on the accommodation premises [PTI]
Smart bars: The Kerala High Court Advocates Association has released an Android App called Kerala High Court Case Status. The application displays the court status of all the courts inside the Kerala HC on smart phones [Live Law/App]
Cash-for-judges scam proceeds: The SC has given the trial court a go-ahead to prosecute former Punjab & Haryana high court judge Nirmal Yadav in the cash-at-judges-door scam. Rs 15 lakh were delivered at the residence of P&H HC Justice Nirmaljit Kaur on 13 August 13 2008, following which she reported the matter to the Chandigarh Police. The money, allegedly meant for Yadav, was said to have been delivered to Kaur due to confusion over their names [Zee News]
NLSIU rape trial: The 13 October NLSIU Bangalore student’s rape will now be tried in-camera, every day, with 44 witnesses to be examined. The victim has discontinued her education at the law school and returned to her hometown [NIE]
Fresh bucks: Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has posted revenue increase of 7.2 per cent since last year to £1.221bn – the largest rise among all UK Magic Circle firms where revenues were stagnant [The Lawyer]
A frustrated walk-out by Kerala high court judge K Vinod Chandran halted court proceedings less than half hour after they had begun on Friday, reported the Hindu.
Chandran had granted 11 pass overs on request from government pleaders when the 12th government pleader also asked for a pass over on the ground that he had not received the case files from the advocate general’s (AG) office. After this request Chandran walked out, according to the report.
He later summoned Advocate General KP Dandapani and Kerala High Court Advocates’ Association president Babu Paul to his chamber and expressed his displeasure at having to defer cases repeatedly, owing to what appeared to be the disinterest of lawyers from the AG’s office. He said lawyers should cooperate to ensure that the courts worked smoothly.
The 12th case of that day had been deferred repeatedly for the last three years. The case is against a cooperative bank whose secretary was impleaded in 2010 and had been asked to file a reply within three months, but none had been filed till date.
SEBI, UPSC appealed more CIC orders than they answered RTIs. UPSC hides civil service mains papers most, while SEBI doesn’t like disclosing insider trading orders and chairman’s assets and liabilities [Express]
Punjab and Haryana HC gives back government job benefit of Leave Travel Concession (LTC) to Haryana subordinate judiciary. The government had denied LTC to 400 judges holding them as a “separate class” of government employees [TOI]
Kerala high court judge Pius C Kuriakose, presiding in that HC since 2002, has been recommended for the position of Sikkim high court’s chief justice [New Indian Express]
Dismissing Sahara’s request for extension of deadline to deposit the court-ordered Rs 24,000 crore with SEBI, Chief Justice of India (CJI) Altamas Kabir yesterday rebuked SCBA president MN Krishnamani for interfering in the SEBI V Sahara matter [NDTV]
Calling erroneous his own judgement sentencing the Rajiv Gandhi assassins to death 13 years ago, former SC judge KT Thomas said in an interview that it would be “constitutionally incorrect” to hang them now [TOI]
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]
A Kerala High Court writ petition by local lawyer Shojan Jacob, on Friday struck at the government’s blocking of websites and content in India under the controversial Information Technology (Intermediaries Guidelines) Rules 2011.