the bench

Chief Justice of India (CJI) RM Lodha has set in motion the transfer of up to nine senior high court judges, reported the Economic Times.

According to senior high court officials four judges had received 'consent-seeking letters' - Punjab and Haryana high court chief justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul could become Madras high court chief before his likely elevation to the apex court. Kaul, according to the ET, will be replaced by Karnataka high court's second-most senior judge Justice KL Manjunath, while Punjab and Haryana high court's Justice Jasbir Singh, who is also first puisne judge there, may head to Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh high court Justice Ashutosh Mohunta may return to Punjab and Haryana high court as puisne judge

According to thr ET, Manjula Chellur, chief justice of the Kerala high court could also go to Calcutta; Kerala high court's first puisne Justice KM Joseph to Uttarakhand; Patna's puisne Justice Navin Sinha to Chhattisgarh; Chhattisgarh first puisne Justice Sunil Sinha to Sikkim; and Rajasthan chief justice Amitava Roy to Orissa. [Economic Times]

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]

Retired Supreme Court judge Justice KS Radhakrishnan, in a brief interview in the Indian Express, talked about some of his landmark cases and challenges facing the judiciary. [Indian Express]

Facing a long string of retirements during his term, Chief Justice of India (CJI) RM Lodha has recommended the elevation of two former solicitor generals to the apex court.

New Chief Justice of India (CJI) RM Lodha asked, somewhat rhetorically, at a function yesterday why law could not be available 365 days per year, just like medical and health services: "Some of the adjournments of the hearing in the courts are necessary but some of them are altogether needless and can be averted. In the Supreme Court, High Courts and subordinate courts, adjournments should be given only when they are necessary. This can be helpful in bringing acceleration in delivery of justice." [PTI]

The Supreme Court will hear a petition against the Tamil Nadu bar council, which allegedly issued show cause notices to 400 lawyers and began removing graduates who completed their LLB degrees after they were 30 years old.

The petition by a group of graduates calling themselves the TN LLB Advocates Association, who studied for their LLB degrees outside of Tamil Nadu, claims that the Bar Council of India (BCI) had abolished the rule prescribing a maximum age limit of 30 on LLB students in 2013.

Justices SJ Mukhopadhaya and Ranjan Gogoi issued notice to the Tamil Nadu bar council and 30 law colleges in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra. The Tamil Nadu bar council locked horns with the BCI over the controversial rule in December, passing a resolution to reenforce the age limit. Apparently more than 1,000 grads could be affected by the bar council's actions. [New Indian Express]

Bombay high court Justice Roshan Dalvi has been accused of corruption by producer Sanjay Punamiya in a nine-page complaint, alleging that her husband Shamim Dalvi told his lawyer in March that for Rs 25 lakh he could get his wife to pass a favourable order in the case before her

The Supreme Court (SC) collegium withdrew the 12 names recommended for judgeship at the Madras high court, which had been opposed vehemently by a section of the HC’s bar and bench since December, reported the Times of India.

The collegium said that the withdrawal wasn’t based on an opinion of the merits of the names for selection, but was done keeping in mind the “unprecedented opposition” and the fact that the HC’s chief justice RK Agrawal had since been elevated to the SC and the new chief justice should be given a chance to consider names afresh.

The recommendation of the now withdrawn list had led to successive court boycotts by the bar, a petition by senior advocate R Gandhi against the recommendation and a controversial outburst by the Madras HC’s judge CS Karnan, among other things such as casteist slurs flying around at the HC’s bench.

A delegation of Madras High Court Advocates Association president, Paul Kanagaraj and others met with CJI Sathasivam and SC justices Ibrahim Kalifulla and C Nagappan yesterday about their problems with the list of 12 names proposed for judgeship at the high court, reported The Hindu.

The delegation told the Deccan Chronicle that they also met law minister Kapil Sibal on Wednesday, who assured them he would “recall” the list. The CJI reportedly told them that because he is from Tamil Nadu, “he has de­ep interest in the state and will en­sure that only persons with absolute qualifications will be elevated as judges”.

Lawyers in the state returned to work today.

The Supreme Court (SC) on Monday transferred to itself a week-old Madras high court (HC) petition challenging 12 names that were recommended for judgeship at the same HC, after the apex court ordered that judicial review of the list was not permitted and that the HC lacked the “conducive atmosphere” to hear such a petition.

A law graduate who recently blogged about how a retired Supreme Court judge sexually assaulted her while she was his intern, says that the problem is real and not uncommon at the bar and the bench.

The Madras high court will get eight new judges as the SC collegium cleared eight out of 15 names recommended to it by the high court, reported The Hindu.

Six advocates including two women (R Mahadevan, K Kalyanasundaram, PS Jayakumar, S Vaidyanathan, VM Velumani and Pushpa Sathyanarayanan) and two district judges (VS Ravi and G Chockalingam) will be elevated.

The Madras High Court Advocates Association (MHAA) and an open letter by 46 lawyers and well-known civil society activists had strongly criticised the selection process of the shortlist of 15, requesting the collegium to withdraw the nominees.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan alleged in an interview that the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) judgment was leaked from the chambers of ex-Chief Justice of India (CJI) Altamas Kabir to private medical colleges.

In response to a question about how Kabir had called Bhushan one of his enemies in a recent TV interview, the advocate told legal website Livelaw:

I can understand why he thinks that. It is because I told him to recuse himself from several cases which he should not have dealt with. He also knows that I was openly talking about the fact that his judgment in the NEET case had been leaked well before it was delivered. Although he said it was not leaked from his chamber, but his body language gave him away. It was obviously given to the private medical colleges well before it was given to his brother judge Justice Dave.

The draft judgment was ready at least by the first of July because on that date my application was listed before him and that time I had information that the draft judgment was already with these private medical colleges. Therefore, I am not surprised at his statement. Every corrupt judge would regard me as his enemy because I have been speaking out against corrupt judges and corruption. I am not surprised he regards me as his enemy.

The Madras High Court Advocates Association (MHAA) claimed that the Intelligence Bureau (IB) gave a negative report on three judicial candidates.

The former Chief Justice of India (CJI) Altamas Kabir, who retired last week, has lashed out at the Times of India and the Indian Express for their critical reports of Kabir, purporting to explain in a six-page press release what actually went on behind the scenes.