Supreme Court
Twelve faculty members of NUJS Kolkata, the alma mater of the former student who accused retired Supreme Court judge AK Ganguly of sexual harassment during her internship a year ago, have issued a statement in her support.
The way will soon be clear for the President to ask for an inquiry into sex harassment allegations against the ex-judge. Question is, how, if at all, would it stick under law?
As Goolam Vahanvati will submit a legal opinion by tomorrow on the presidential reference to remove AK Ganguly from the WBHRC, Legally India has seen a copy of the inquiry’s report, which is not confidential anymore.
Advocate-on-record Amit Gupta puts forward the unfashionable opinion that, although Justice GS Singhvi’s judgment in the section 377 gay sex case was not perfect and unpopular, he did in fact get the law right.
Senior advocate Pravin Parekh has won the election for president of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) for the sixth time last night, after he did not run last year.
Supreme Court judicial clerkships may no longer remain the preserve of national law schools and select universities after the Delhi high court today ruled as unconstitutional the Supreme Court’s current procedure of inviting applications for the clerkships.
Legally India has culled seven main reasons from the 98-page judgment, explaining why the Supreme Court decided that a lower court was wrong to repeal the law effectively banning homosexual intercourse.
The Supreme Court threatened to stay the appointment of retired judges to tribunals across India blaming lack of action in bringing uniformity in their appointment process and service conditions, reported the Times of India.
Picking out Armed Forces Tribunal, National Commission for Dispute Redressal and National Green Tribunal as examples, a bench of justices GS Singhvi and C Nagappan said:
The disparity in service conditions results in compromising the dignity of the judges. Everyone tried to get a post which has five-year term. That compromises the dignity. Let this be stopped till Parliament considers the proposal for uniform tenure.
Six presidential candidates, including one female advocate, filed their candidature for the 16 December Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) executive committee 2013-14 elections before nominations closed yesterday.
Nikhil Kanekal explores the media furore and arguments surrounding the swirling #InternJudge sex harassment case that has thrown media, bench and bar into a tizzy.
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]
SC probes PwC accounts, FDI, FEMA fudging
A Chief-headed bench will examine an NGO’s allegations of financial and accounting irregularities at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and its locally allied auditing firms. PwC and others “are apparently indulging in activities in violation of various statutes and polices like evasion of income tax, violations of FDI policy, RBI guideline, Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) and other rules” raising “serious apprehensions about the end use” of cash [PTI]
Delhi HC bans IIPM from advertising without court permission
The Delhi high court has passed an order affirming the UGC’s order debarring Arindam Chaudhary’s university IIPM from publishing ads in any medium without prior court permission [Firstpost]
Telangana-AP High Court Draft Reorganisation Bill
Telangana and Andhra Pradesh will have a common HC with the expenditure apportioned between the two according to state population ratio, according to the Andhra Pradesh Draft Reorganisation Bill [Deccan Chronicle]
CBI too challenges Guwahati HC unconstitutionality order
The CBI’s challenge to the Guwahati HC’s order declaring it unconstitutional, has been joined in the Supreme Court’s chief’s court to the Department of Personnel and Training’s challenge to the order [Firstpost]
Plea dismissed banning section 144 around India Gate: Delhi HC has dismissed a petition seeking a ban on imposing Section 144, CrPC, around India Gate. Section 144 prohibits the assembly of five or more people at and around India gate. It was imposed during the 16 December Delhi rape protests last year [TOI]
Coimbatore lawyers want Madras bench, Chennai don’t
Lawyers demand a Coimbatore bench of the Madras HC 10 years after Madurai got a bench of the HC, but lawyers in Chennai oppose the demand [TOI]
Advocate commission to check town planning
The Madras HC deputed three of its advocates in a commission to check improvement of facilities in Rameswaram and the Ramanathaswamy temple [PTI]
Those who are accusing the Supreme Court of washing its hands of the allegation that a former apex court judge sexually harassed a former intern (“SJ”), have it wrong.
CJI Sathasivam has released an excerpt of the judicial inquiry report into the #InternJudge sex harassment allegations against retired Justice AK Ganguly, which acknowledged a “prima facie” case.