The Bench and the Bar

Chief Justice of India (CJI) S H Kapadia has initiated the transfer of 20 high court judges, citing “public interest” in an apparent first step by him to clean up the judiciary.

The Bombay High Court said that the right to practice a religion did not guarantee the right to access public property to do so. The court said there was no need for the petitioner to visit a Hanuman temple in Mumbai’s Colaba district that lay on land restricted by the Navy for security reasons. “Why this particular temple? It means you want to create trouble,” said Justice Deshmukh according to the Indian Express. “There are many Hanuman temples. Any Hanuman mandir is good enough.” The petitioner’s lawyers unsuccessfully invoked article 25 of the Constitution giving the right to profess practise and propagate religion.

Full Indian Express article.

The Delhi High Court has fined two siblings Rs 75,000 after litigating against each for 18 years over property. The court said: “Keeping in view the conduct of the petitioners that they still do not want the suit instituted about 18 years ago to reach its ultimate destination, they must be made to pay heavy costs for filing frivolous and bogus applications,' the court said according to the Indo-Asian News Service agency. The court also added that the trial has only wasted the precious time of the court. “No mercy should be shown to such type of litigants who have no other work but just to waste the time of different courts and create obstruction in the smooth functioning of the judicial system.”

The full story at Sify.

The defence counsel of a man accused of killing and injuring two motorists while driving under the influence of alcohol on Marine Drive, has argued that section 304(II) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) – culpable homicide – could not apply because the accused had no prior intention of hitting the other vehicle.

The accused’s lawyer Satish Meshinde relied on the case of Bollywood actor Salman Khan, who had successfully defended himself in against a charge of culpable homicide in the 2002 alleged drink-driving hit-and-run case in Bandra that killed one pavement dweller and injured three.

Full story at DNA India.

Advocates from Rajasthan High Court are protesting the most recent exam for the post of additional district judge, in which they allege non-lawyers have been selected. A number of lawyers in Jaipur and 29 colleagues from Jodhpur have announced an “indefinite strike” and kept work at the court suspended yesterday, according to the Times of India. The protesting advocates want the exam voided.

The full Times of India story.

The Supreme Court has reopened the Bhopal gas leak disaster case today after a curative petition filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), seeking harsher punishments for the accused after convictions in June resulted in a two-year suspended jail sentence for those responsible.

The Chief Justice of India has granted a two month extension that magistrates will be allowed to issue domicile certificates – a power that was planned to be transferred to bureaucrats which could have ended the work of up to 10,000 advocates in Maharashtra and Goa who were either partially or fully dependent on the system, according to petitioners.

The Supreme Court has issued notice to ex-Satyam director B Rama Raju and four others following the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) challenge of the High Court’s grant of bail to the defendants, who were allegedly responsible for the Rs 7,000 crore scam that almost brought the IT company to its knees.

Full story at the Times of India.

The Delhi bar council has become embroiled in controversy about whether there is a right to hereditary succession following the demise of incumbent chairman KK Sareen last month, as Luthra & Luthra lawyer Vijay Sondhi has continued his unrelated letter-writing campaign against the bar council's "mess".

After more than two months the Bar Council of Maharashtra & Goa has agreed on its committee make-ups including the positions of chairman and Bar Council of India (BCI) delegate, as youngest member Karan Bhosale is proposing to radically increase computerisation through a new IT committee, roll-out wireless internet to the Bombay High Court and hike the welfare fund pay-outs.

Delhi Bar Council’s incumbent chairman and eminent criminal lawyer K K Sareen (pictured) passed away on Saturday in Delhi at the age of 64 after suffering from a year-long heart ailment.

All government respondents have now formally filed their representations through senior counsels in the Chennai writ petition case against foreign law firms when the matter was listed for hearing on 9 June after the end of one month of Madras High Court vacations on 7 June.

The former Indian chairman and six other directors, managers and staff of Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) have been sentenced to two years imprisonment for causing death by negligence in the world's biggest industrial gas leak disaster in Bhopal in 1984 that had killed up to tens of thousands.

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has sought time to respond to a public interest litigation (PIL) in Delhi High Court, which alleges that the Registrar of Companies (ROC) discriminates against lawyers by only allowing chartered accounts, company secretaries or cost accountants to certify electronic submissions to the corporate registrar.