Somnath Bharti

Why HC judges decline SC judgeship: Abhinav Chandrachud, Stanford Law doctoral student and son of the current Allahabad HC chief justice, illustrates that an obsession with hierarchy and seniority weren’t always the defining characteristics of India’s judiciary, and perhaps shouldn’t be, in a percipient history lesson starring former Bombay high court chief justice MC Chagla, who declined the Supreme Court judgeship [Frontline]

Justice Karnan accuses CJI: Madras HC judge CS Karnan yesterday accused Chief Justice of India P Sathasivam of having “usurped” the powers of the collegium in declining the 12 names recommended for the HC’s judgeships, which have been the cause of recent controversy. So far Karnan has barged into the middle of court proceedings on the issue, barged into the HC’s chief justice’s chambers accusing him of bias and shot off a complaint against the chief justice to the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes [PTI]

Delhi law min closet skeletons: “Law minister Somnath Bharti is also a ‘spammer’” read a Hindustan Times headline today reporting how Bharti’s relatives ran a company sued for spamming. Over the fortnight Bharti’s career went from newly appointed law minister to professional misconduct accused, criminal-assault accused spammer who is presently under the Bar Council of Delhi’s scanner [Via “OMG.. A Law Breaker & Spammer becomes The Law Minister under the Swaraj of Kejriwal.. Really, its a systemic change.. Dr. Manish Kumar (@DrManishKumar1)”]

NLU Nagpur almost done: The National Law University Nagpur cleared another hurdle with the Maharashtra government taking the ordinance route to set it up and the cabinet approving the ordinance. Once the draft of the ordinance is sent to the governor for promulgation, the way would be clear to appoint a vice chancellor and other statutory officers for the university [TOI]

Bar council may suspend Delhi law min: The Bar Council of Delhi yesterday issued a notice to Delhi law minister Somnath Bharti asking him to show cause on 7 February, why his name should not be removed from advocate rolls for allegedly tampering with evidence while representing a client before a CBI special court in August [PTI]

ML Sharma vs Kejriwal: The Supreme Court has admitted advocate ML Sharma’s petition against Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and law minister Somnath Bharti for “creating chaos in the heart of the capital by going on in an unprecedented 10-day sit-in protest” [India Today]

MHAA strikes some more: The Madras High Court Advocates Association continues working on the demand for recall of the list of judgeship recommendations at the HC, by shunning work yet again – courts were boycotted again today and additionally a “day long hunger strike” from 10am to 4pm was launched. The MHAA also resolved to urge dropping of the ten-year old Supreme Court contempt proceedings against Tamil Nadu Advocates Association president S Prabhakaran [New Indian Express]

Kejri for president’s rule? Former Delhi high court judge RS Sodhi said he sees AAP leader and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s protest as a face-saving tactic to bring about president’s rule and quit from his post as a “gullible martyr” as the party has realised it is beyond its power to govern the city [Telegraph India]

Delhi HC CAG audit order appealed: The Association of Uniform Telecom Service Providers of India has moved the Supreme Court against the Delhi high court verdict allowing the Comptroller and Auditor General the power to audit their accounts [The Hindu Businessline]

Delhi law min under bar council lens: The Delhi Bar Council decided to meet today to discuss disciplinary action against Delhi law minister Somnath Bharti against whom reports of “tampering with evidence” as an advocate last year, emerged last week. Bharti meanwhile also faces an FIR relating to an alleged assault of a Ugandan women by unnamed persons in a Delhi basti, and the National Human Rights Council has also taken cognisance of the matter [Zee News]

AAP vs Delhi police: Delhi may see the arrest of its chief minister (CM) as newly elected CM Arvind Kejriwal and his AAP party stage protests at the home ministry today to press for the suspension of five policemen who disobeyed Delhi law minister Somnath Bharti’s orders to arrest Ugandan women suspected of drug trafficking. AAP has demanded that the Delhi police be brought under the Delhi government [IBN Live / NDTV’s live blog]

Delayed MP bar council polls: The delayed Madhya Pradesh state bar council elections pushed a contestant – advocate Dwarkadhish Chowdhary – to write to the Bar Council of India (BCI) requesting for a special committee to to take charge of the elections in the state bar “to save and maintain fairness” [Free Press Journal]

Additional judges in Kerala HC: Justices Alexander Thomas, Muhamed Mustaque Ayumantakath, Ala Kunnil Jayasankaran Nambiar and Anil Kalavampara Narendran were appointed additional judges of the Kerala high court on Friday [PTI]

Editors Guild on Swatanter gag: The Editors Guild has taken exception to the Delhi high court’s “gag order” restricting media reporting news of the sexual harassment case against former SC justice Swatanter Kumar, calling it “a mockery of the rule of law” [TOI]

Indira Jaising, by Outlook: Outlook profiles Additional Solicitor General Indira Jaising as the staunch supporter of women’s rights who is due to retire in April. “I’d rather be remembered as a woman who raised the issue of integrity in the highest court of the land,” says Jaising

Publicity shy CJI: The Chief Justice of India P Sathasivam refused permission to publish his photograph in a September advertisement for the release of India’s first customised PIN code for the apex court, an RTI has revealed [PTI]

Lower court jurisdiction enhancement: The Delhi government is giving final shape to a proposal to enhance Delhi’s lower courts’ pecuniary jurisdiction from Rs 20 lakh to Rs 2 crore, to reduce burden on the Delhi HC [PTI]

Prosecutorial vacancies ad inept: Prosecutors decried the Delhi government advertisement for 20 prosecutorial vacancies as an ad-hoc measure that is bound to fail. The ad, which comes a month after the Delhi HC’s direction to the government to fill prosecutorial vaclawyerancies, stated that only retired prosecuting officers and assistant public prosecutors with at least 2 years in the post could apply [Indian Express]

Delhi law min bad PR salvage: Delhi law minister Somnath Bharti attempted to rebut bad press that followed yesterday’s reports by a an ex-judge accusing him of professional misconduct, while he was practising as a lawyer. Bharti released a press statement saying that he “had let go of [his] disagreement with lower court and then HC’s orders/judgements” because after his then-client already got bail, there was no reason left to challenge the order [TOI]

Pendency spiral: MJ Antony takes a look at arrears and incidental matters: All Indian courts: 32 million pending cases; SC – 66,349; Delhi HC – over 1,20,000 cases. Another commentator bemoans that the SC has stopped publishing its quarterly review Court News regularly after 2009. Also adds that 10 out of 29 current judges are retiring in the next few months, this year will see three chief justices, the Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2013 will be shelved and tribunal vacancies are a different tale altogether [Business Standard]

Delhi law min tarnished personal record: Delhi law minister Somnath Bharti has, to his name, observations by a former CBI special judge in August for tampering with evidence during a trial. The judge observed in her order: “The conduct of accused Pawan Kumar and his advocate (Bharti) is not only highly objectionable, unethical but also amounts to tampering with evidence.” [TOI]

Bharat Ratna sought for Krishna Iyer: Former SC judge Krishna Iyer, who is hailed as one of India’s leading jurists and who celebrated his 99th birthday recently, must be conferred with a Bharat Ratna, the Bar Council of India has urged to the President of India, supported by Fali S Nariman, PP Rao, Soli Sorabjee, Ashok Desai, KK Venugopal, RKP Shankardass, Dispankar Gupta, KN Bhat, Surendra G Desai, Mukul Rohatgi and Lalit Bhasin [Deccan Chronicle]

Murugesan chairing KHRC protested: Former Delhi HC chief justice D Murugesan has expressed reluctance to chair the Karnataka State Human Rights Commission, after protests by Kannada organisations over his selection ostensibly due to his inability to communicate in the local language. The state government is trying to convince Murugesan to take the post which lies vacant since July 2012 [The Hindu]

Sibal’s fresh stab on JAB: Union law minister Kapil Sibal has given a fresh push to the Judicial Accountability Bill, with a new provision covering even former judges heading various tribunals and other statutory bodies who do not face the possibility of legal action other than a presidential reference [TOI]

Manu Singhvi telecom diaries: The Economic Times profiles senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi’s tryst with shaping the course of India’s telecom sector, including setting up of telecom regulator TRAI, through his advisory roles for the biggest telecom players since 1993. “His fees sometimes border on extortion, but the results of his cases are seldom undesired," a junior lawyer told the ET about the senior who became the highest tax-paying Indian advocate last year with earnings crossing Rs 70 crore

Datar laments woeful corp fraud justice: Senior advocate Arvind P Datar who argued for the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) in its 5-year long battle with Sahara, laments the flimsy conviction rate and sluggish trials that corporate frauds face in India, as compared to other jurisdictions [Money Life]