PIL against Muslim Judge probing Mathura Violence: HC imposes 25K Cost on BJP Leader,directs BC to take action against Lawyer [Read Judgment]

Allahabad High Court has dismissed a PIL filed by BJP spokesperson Indra Pal Singh for quashing the decision of the UP Government appointing a retired judge of the Allahabad High Court namely Justice Imtiaz Murtaza to hold the enquiry into the Jawaharbagh incident in which two police officers and several common citizens were murdered and to direct the government to appoint the commission...

Supreme Court didn’t expand the boundaries of Self Defence; Just applied the 157 Year Old Law

A report in Yesterday’s Times of India titled ‘SC expands scope of right to self-defence’ reads as follows:“In a significant judgment that expands the boundaries of the right to self-defence, the Supreme Court has ruled that a person would be right in taking the law into his hands if he witnessed his parents or relatives being assaulted”.The report was based on a Supreme Court...

Judging Judges by the Length of their Judgments is a Bad Idea

A reckless story in the Times of India  recently drew outrage from the legal fraternity, including a number of reputed senior lawyers. The publication was of a suspicious letter by a fictitious litigant to the Chief Justice of India (CJI), casting serious aspersions on Justice Gita Mittal, a well-regarded judge of the Delhi high court. In pertinent part, the letter appeared to allege...

No Stay on Bar Council Verification Process; Do not believe in incorrect Messages; TN Bar Council

Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry has issued a notice to clarify that the Supreme Court had not stayed the operation of the Bar Council of India Certificate and Place of Practice (verification) rules, 2015.“It is brought to our notice that a message has been posted in mobile WhatsApp that Hon’ble Supreme Court of India stayed the operation of the Bar Council of India and...

SC agrees to examine the Constitutional Validity of S.62 of Wild Life Protection Act 1972 [Read Petition]

The vacation Bench of the Supreme Court of India today, has agreed to examine the constitutional Validity of S.62 of Wild Life Protection Act 1972 which empowers the Central Government to declare any wild animal to be a vermin and empowers the Central Government to remove any wild animal from the protection of the Act.The Petition filed by Wildlife Rescue & Rehabilitation Centre...

Defamation law protects individuals

Defamation is an actionable offence according to the present law. The law of defamation as an offence recently survived an onslaught on it at the Supreme Court made on the ground that it violates the fundamental right of freedom of speech. The Supreme Court in a very elaborate judgment repelled the attack and protected the law. Fortunately the right of a maligned citizen to sue for damages...

Exclusive; President Pranab Mukherjee rejects mercy petitions of two more death-row convicts, taking his tally of rejections to 34

President Pranab Mukherjee rejected on March 6 mercy petitions from two death-row convicts, Mofil Khan and Mobarak Khan. The information about the rejection, however, was quietly uploaded on the website of the President’s secretariat, three months after the decision, catching the media unawares.Sources said that although the two prisoners were promptly informed about the rejection in March,...

Draft Goods and Service Tax Bill 2016 (GST Bill) published [Read the Bill]

Ministry of Finance has published the Draft Goods and Service Tax Bill 2016 (GST Bill). The draft of GST Valuation (Determination of the Value of Supply of Goods and Services) Rules, 2016 is also published along with the Bill.Salient Features of GST as per the Discussion Paper issued by Empowered Committee of SFM are as follows(i) The GST shall have two components: one levied by the...

Bhopal gas disaster survivors petition White House and expect action against Dow Chemicals

Leaders of five organisations of survivors of the Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal today announced the successful completion of the petition to the US White House in the matter of the criminal case on the disaster.The petition says as follows:“In 1984 a factory majority-owned by Union Carbide (UCC, a US corporation) leaked toxic gas in Bhopal, India, killing 8K-10K people instantly...

Seven Important Lessons on RTI from Delhi High Court

Delhi High Court on 24th May 2016, has criticised the Legislative Department for filing un unnecessary Writ Petition against the Order of Central Information Commission (of M Sridhar Acharyulu, CIC) directing the Government to update and upload all the latest amended bare Acts, to examine the functionality of its e-mail ID and develop an appropriate RTI filing mechanism. Justice Manmohan...

Picture Imperfect

I suspect the presence of an extra element of cynicism in me and am always in conflict with myself to overpower the words unspoken. A friend of mine with a huge stock of ready-made sentences filled with philosophy has conveyed to me the eternal code of conduct to be followed in interpersonal relationships. ‘You are the master of words unspoken and servant of words spoken’. For my friend...

National Judicial Academy dodges RTI queries on Retreat of SC Judges organized in Bhopal

In response to an RTI application by a social activist, seeking details about expenses incurred on the Retreat of Supreme Court Judges organised in Bhopal in April in 2016, the National Judicial Academy has asked an RTI applicant to define certain terms used in the RTI application like‘ hospitality’ and ‘guest’.The RTI application was filed by Social activist Ajay Dubey. Following is...