Supreme Court
The Supreme Court’s constitution bench hearing on the sharing of river water through the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal, took an interesting turn this afternoon with Punjab’s counsel, senior advocate, Ram Jethmalani, making a strong pitch for the return of the Presidential reference on the issue unanswered.
There are many cases in the Supreme Court, which are under continuous monitoring of the court, meaning that the court, rather than dispose them of after issuing certain orders, monitors them once in a while, so as to ensure compliance with its orders by the authorities concerned. The petition, filed by senior counsel Ram Jethmalani in 2009, (writ petition [civil] 176 of 2009) is one such, which has seen several ups and downs.
Bollywood star Salman Khan has told the Supreme Court that he was not driving his Toyota Land Cruiser when it killed a man in Mumbai in 2002 but police were trying to implicate him in the case.
Claiming that his driver Ashok Singh was at the wheels, Salman said in an affidavit filed on 17 March that the prosecution had failed to produce a single witness or a photograph showing that he was driving it.
The affidavit became public knowledge only on Wednesday.
The statement followed a notice issued by the apex court issued on 19 February on a Maharashtra government’s petition challenging the Bombay high court verdict acquitting the film star in the case.
The high court had on 10 December, 2015 acquitted Salman, saying that the prosecution had failed to prove the charges against the actor on all counts.
Salman was found guilty by a sessions court on 6 May last year and convicted for, among others, culpable homicide not amounting to murder, and sentenced to five years in jail for the accident which killed one man and injured four others. All victims were sleeping on the pavement.
Salman also denied he was drunk at the time of the accident, saying he was keeping away from alcoholic beverages in preparation for the shooting of the film “Garv”.
Telling the apex court that the accident took place as the left front tyre burst resulting in the vehicle spinning out of control, Salman said driver Ashok Singh was driving towards his home at 40-50 km an hour from JW Marriott to Hill Road.
At the time of the accident, Salman said some repair work was going on near the junction, as a result of which there were stones and rubble lying on the road.
“When the vehicle approached the junction of St. Andrew’s Road and Hill Road, the left front tyre of the said vehicle burst, due to which the said vehicle swerved sharply to the left.
“Ashok Singh tried to apply the brakes and tried to control the vehicle but by then (it) climbed the stairs and came onto the platform outside the American Express Laundry, hit the shutter and stopped,” he said.
The law ministry has invited applications from the public to fill its post of secretary, moving away from its usual process of only selecting from among officers of the Indian Legal Services, reported the Sunday Guardian.
Lawyers who have practised for at least 25 years in the Supreme Court and high courts, and have their name on at least 25 recorded judgments, or lawyers who have at least 25 years of work experience working in private law firms or public sector organisations, are eligible to apply.
Lawyers up to 57 years of age are eligible to apply. The superannuation age for the post of secretary in the ministry is 60 years and the basic pay is Rs 80,000.
Hat tip @amlanweb for pointing us to the news.
The Supreme Court today granted bail to Delhi University professor GN Saibaba, accused of being associated with a front organisation of a banned Maoist outfit.
As reported on Legally India in February, Saibaba requires constant and expensive medical attention, which the Mahrashtra government was unlikely to have been able to provide in Nagpur jail.
The apex court bench, headed by Justice JS Khehar, granted bail to Saibaba noting that all the material witnesses in the case have already been examined and there was no basis for keeping him confined.
The court was not moved as counsel for Maharashtra expressed the apprehension that Saibaba would propagate his views if he is set free.
The court said that does not hold as he would be doing so even if he was released later.
Granting bail to Saibaba, the court said his release would be subject to the conditions by the trial court as he would make himself available as and when he was required.
The Bar Council of India (BCI) will file a resolution in the Supreme Court, defending its Certificate and Place of Practice (Verification) Rules 2015 by stating that “downfall” in the standards of bar association representatives was a result of increase in the number of fake lawyers, reported the Times of India.
The Supreme Court is hearing a batch of transfer petitions challenging the validity of the 2015 rules that make it mandatory for all lawyers enrolled after 1976 to re-enrol after submitting all their academic certificates.
The BCI submitted in court that lawyers in states like UP, Bihar, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Delhi, West Bengal and others were not inclined to furnish their certificates as they found it inconvenient.
The resolution, which the regulator passed internally recently and will now file as affidavit in the Supreme Court states:
“BCI members have expressed suspicion that a very strong racket is actively involved throughout the country in selling forged/fake certificates of matriculation, graduation and LLB,""downfall in standard of representatives of the...bar associations is a result of an increase of such fake/non-practising persons”.
The BCI has not published statistics for the number of All India Bar Exam (AIBE) candidates who passed the exam, for the last 4 years, and has failed to control the mushrooming of law schools.
These measures have resulted in a lack of transparency on the total number of advocates in India who have a right to practice before its courts.
Even as the two rival national political parties played April Fool of their actual political rivalries on 1 April by appealing together in the Supreme Court, a common judgment passed against them by the Delhi high court, The Wire has exposed a little-known fact, which promises to excel the incredible phenomenon of these two rival parties coming together on a common platform to fight a common enemy.
The BJP and the Congress today both found defending themselves as appellants in a case before the Supreme Court, which is likely to hear it in detail after the summer vacation.
In line with tradition, Kalaiyarasan, Gokuldas, Bharathidasan, S Sunder, MV Muralidharan and D Krishnakumar today signed in the Devanagari script in court to become Madras high court judges, high court sources told The Hindu, after Madras high court chief justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and the Supreme Court collegium cleared the names.
The Bihar government on Wednesday announced reservation in jobs to the third gender and set up a welfare board for them.
“The third gender will be provided reservation in government jobs and Bihar Rajya Kalyan Board will be set up soon,” Bihar Social Welfare Minister Manju Verma made the announcement in the state assembly.
After the state government recognised eunuchs and transgenders as “the third gender” following the Supreme Court order last year, the latest move to provide reservation in government jobs is hoped to give them more opportunities to become part of the mainstream.
Last year, the state government recognised them as the third gender by putting them in the Annexure 11 of the Other Backward Classes category.
According to officials, the third gender was included in the Schedule 2 of the list of Backward Castes in Bihar and will be given reservation in government jobs according to the rules and regulations.
Senior counsel Dushyant Dave is now officially Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) president again, after his short-lived resignation in mid-February was held by the executive committee to have been void.
When an undertrial gets produced in court thrice a year it costs the government Rs 1,000. But now, undertrials need not be produced in courts as trial court proceedings can go ahead through video conferencing, which will help the government save Rs 100 crores per year. The facility is being installed at almost all district courts through the eProject piloted by the Supreme Court’s eCommittee headed by Justice Madan Lokur.
reported the Times of India.
The Supreme Court collegium is learnt to have stood by its decision to transfer Delhi HC judge Rajiv Shakdher after the law ministry sent back his case for reconsideration, said several persons aware of the outcome. The law ministry had asked for a review after lawyers protested against Shakdher’s transfer.
reported the The Economic Times.
As first reported by Legally India on 24 February, several senior counsel had written to the Supreme Court collegium to reverse its order, in light of the respect he enjoyed at the bar.
The ET wrote in its report that five senior counsel had protested in writing about the transfer because “they objected to his being transferred along with [Madras high court Justice CS] Karnan, whose case was regarded in a different light”.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed market regulator SEBI to go ahead with the sale of _Sahara _properties whose unencumbered title deeds are in its possession. The step is being taken to recover investors’ money that Sahara groups’ two companies had collected from public through Optionally Fully Convertible Debentures.
The apex court bench headed by Chief Justice TS Thakur said that the market regulator would appoint an agency to decide the mechanism for the sale of Sahara properties.
The court said that properties would not be sold at a price that is less than 90 percent of the prevailing circle rates.
The SEBI will appoint an agency to work out the mechanism for the sale of properties which are stated to be worth Rs 40,000 crore.
The entire process would be undertaken under the supervision of former Supreme Court judge Justice BN Agarwala and Sahara would be kept informed about the steps being taken for the sale of its properties.
Meanwhile, Sahara head honcho Subrata Roy remains in jail on contempt, now for more than two years.