Collegium - Government rift widening, says report

A news report published in The Times of India today says that the Supreme Court collegium has rejected all major proposals of the Government in drafting a new Memorandum of Procedure (MoP) to appoint Judges to the higher judiciary.The foremost of these proposals is that the criterion for selection of a Judge should be merit-cum-seniority. The collegium, on the contrary, appears to have told...

A Child has a right to get promotion, even in a unaided minority institution upto elementary education level; Kerala HC [Read Judgment]

High Court of Kerala speaking through Justice Muhamed Mustaque, in Mrs Sobha George Adolphus v State of Kerala and others has ruled that a child has every right to get promotion, even in a unaided minority institution upto elementary education level.The issue in the writ petition is regarding the denial of promotion to the grand child of petitioner from 6th to 7th standard at St.Joseph...

Breaking; GNLU Director, Dr. Bimal N. Patel appointed as a Part- time member of Law Commission of India

Dr. Bimal Patel, Director, Gujarat National Law University has been appointed as a part-time member of the 21st Law Commission of India.In an E-mail to LiveLaw Dr. Patel wrote"It gives me enormous honour and sense of humility in informing you that I have been appointed as a member (part-time) of the 21st Law Commission of India. The 21st Commission is constituted for a period of three years...

SC stays BCI's withdrawal of Exemption granted to AoRs from filing BCI Verification Forms

Supreme Court of India has stayed the Bar Council of India’s withdrawal of Exemption granted to ‘Advocates on Record’ from filing forms under Certificate and Place of Practice (Verification) Rules 2015.Today’s Order came in a Petition filed by Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association Secretary Nandini Gore, demanding impleadment in the case titled Ajayinder Sangwan v. Bar Council...

Breaking; Service of Senior Advocates to Individuals and Business Entities up to 10L turn over exempted from Service Tax [Read Notifications]

Ministry of Finance has issued a notification exempting services provided by a Senior Advocate by way of legal services to any person other than a business entity; or a business entity with a turnover up to rupees ten lakh in the preceding financial year. By way of another notification it is made it clear that tax is to be paid by the recipient of service and if the senior advocate is engaged...

Judiciary intervenes only when the executive fails in its constitutional duties: CJI Thakur

Defending the Judiciary from allegations of overreach, Chief Justice of India T.S. Thakur on Monday said that Judiciary intervenes only when the executive fails in its constitutional duties.In an interview to ETV News Network, the CJI was quoted as saying that if there is neglect and failure on part of government agencies, judiciary will “definitely” play its role.CJI Thakur advised...

Tendering Pardon to an Accomplice

The complex process of tendering pardon to an approver continues to baffle the Bench and the Bar alike. It is more due to want of proper comprehension than due to lack of procedural clarity that no uniform practice seems to be in vogue with regard to the judicial act of tendering pardon to an accomplice. My humble endeavour through this article is to familiarize the legal fraternity regarding...

UGC notifies India’s first Gender Neutral Regulations on Sexual Harassment

The University Grants Commission has notified India’s first gender-neutral Regulations relating to Sexual harassment. New UGC regulations on Sexual harassment prevention and prohibition which was notified last month, has made sexual harassment a gender neutral affair and now male students and students of the third gender in universities can also lodge complaints against sexual harassment...

Doctors have no right to go on strikes; refusing to attend patients is a serious misconduct: Allahabad HC [Read Judgment]

Profession of a doctor is to save life of a patient and not to leave it on the mercy of his/ her destiny by refusing to administer medical treatment to him/ her, the Bench said.Taking serious note of the strike adopted by junior doctors in State Medical Colleges in the state which resulted in death of a number of people, the Allahabad High Court has held that Doctors have no legal or...

Deaf and Dumb Witness; Disability of a limited vocabulary of sign language does not affect the credibility; Delhi HC [Read Judgment]

Though charged with a major offence an accused can be convicted for a minor offence, the vice-versa is impermissible, said the Court.Delhi High Court has held that when a deaf and dumb witness is under cross-examination, the Court is required to take due care of the fact that vocabulary of such a person is limited as he or she speaks through sign language and it may not be possible for...

Delay in lodging FIR in matrimonial offences has to be dealt with sympathetically; SC [Read Judgment]

Once the prosecution succeeds in establishing the component of cruelty leading to conviction under Section 498A, in our view only in a rare case, the Court can refuse to invoke the presumption of abetment, if other requirements of Section 113A of the Evidence Act stand satisfied, the Court said.The Supreme Court in Satish Shetty vs. State of Karnataka has observed that, factum of delay...

The Government is Misusing the Law to Target Lawyers Collective for Political Reasons

When governments misuse the law, a country has much to fear. It is as if the State, which is meant to uphold the rule of law, subverts it instead. Perhaps, a citizen in such a country has no recourse except for the court of public opinion. Justice could be the first casualty when people in positions of power decide to be vindictive or consciously distort and misuse the law.Since this morning,...