UU Lalit

“I received a call from the government today,“ Kaviraj Singh, secretary general of the Indian National Bar Association (INBA), told us yesterday. Staunchly pro-liberalisation INBA and Singh have been one of the stakeholders involved in discussions with the Indian government.

The Supreme Court has today, very softly in paragraph 35 out of 46 in its judgment that allowed foreign lawyers limited rights to fly-into India, opened the door to third-party litigation funding.

As first reported by Live Law, the Supreme Court has upheld the right of foreign lawyers to fly in on a temporary basis to India to advise clients, as well as finding that foreign lawyers should be allowed to conduct international arbitrations in India.

The Supreme Court today finished hearing counsel in the Bar Council of India (BCI) petition against the practice of law by foreign lawyers in India, in a hearing that began in the morning and reconvened at 3pm to finish only by nearly 5:30pm.

The ongoing hearing of the Bar Council of India (BCI) appeal in the apex court against the AK Balaji Madras high court judgment took an interesting turn today, with Justice AK Goel suggesting to the counsel that instead of the current FIFO (fly-in and Flying Out) that had been suggested by the high court, foreign lawyers should rather stay here, and offer legal advice, to get relief from any restrictions.

The Supreme Court refused to entertain adjournment pleas by senior advocates in today's hearing of the Bar Council of India (BCI) writ against the entry of foreign law firms into India, reported Bar & Bench.

Rahul Bajaj and Sameer Rashid Bhat, the only lawyers among India's latest batch of five selected Rhodes Scholars we reported yesterday, have both crossed historical benchmarks to clinch the prestigious scholarships.

It’s perhaps not enough of the transparency that the systems needs, but it’s an important step in that direction: once judges get used to a camera staring at them without adverse repercussions (and possibly even benefits, in stop the worst of lawyer theatrics and occasional riot-like behaviour in court rooms), we may even get audio recording, and, eventually maybe, full access to live feeds from courts...

For the first time, NLU Delhi’s Centre on the Death Penalty has analysed death penalties across lower courts and released a report, which suggests a picture in which the judiciary ordering a convict killed seems more subject to randomness than an evolving jurisprudence or overarching policy.

The case of the suicide note of Arunachal Pradesh ex-chief minister Kalikho Pul took a dramatic turn today, with the Supreme Court closing the matter on the judicial side after senior counsel Dushyant Dave impassioned pleas for Pul’s widow, Dangwimsai Pul.

Ex-Supreme Court judge Markandey Katju has offered a two-page apology to the Supreme Court, saying he would be prepared to read it out in person in open court if required, in marked contrast to his belligerence last month after he accused the Supreme Court of conducting a surgical strike on him to humiliate him (which, perhaps, was kind of true in their suo motu contempt action against him for one of his many blog posts that were critical-cum-offensive against the judiciary).

A Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi, together with justices PC Pant and UU Lalit, issued a contempt notice on retired Supreme Court judge Markandey Katju in a review petition in the Soumya murder case to which Gogoi had last month surprisingly invited Katju to argue in.

It was a series of surprises wrapped in an enigma, so to speak. In the end, the King of Surprises, Justice Ranjan Gogoi, pretty much proved to those who assembled in Court 5 of the Supreme Court on 17 October that no one could beat him in the game of springing surprises.

The Cauvery climax, which was originally scheduled for 6 October, unraveled itself yesterday.

After three hours of an intense hearing from 2pm today, the Supreme Court bench of justices Dipak Misra and UU Lalit, in an interim order, directed Karnataka to release 6,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu until 27 September.

On 17 August, before it broke for a long weekend of four days, a three-judge Supreme Court (SC) bench of justices Ranjan Gogoi, Prafulla Chandra Pant and AM Khanwilkar referred a challenge to its immunity from the Right to Information (RTI) Act to a five-judge constitution bench. The decision, made after a brief hearing, was a surprise as well as a disappointment.

So, one of the longest fasts in world history has come to an end with the Iron Lady of Manipur, Irom Sharmila, abandoning her ineffective fast to force the Government to repeal the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA).

Five judges of the Supreme Court’s Constitution Bench will examine the feasibility of setting up a National Court of Appeal with four regional benches in North, South, East and West - with the apex court taking up matters involving the interpretation of the constitution and issues of national importance.

The much awaited Delhi-Centre turf war case was finally heard today at court No 4 around noon as item 64, with the bench of justices Dipak Misra and UU Lalit giving the Delhi Government's counsel, Indira Jaising, enough opportunity to make her submissions, but without compromising its position that it would not direct the high court to first decide the jurisdiction issue.