Book launch gives Senior Advocates an occasion to reflect on the Government-Collegium imbroglio

Advocate and author, Santosh Paul’s edited volume, ‘Appointing our Judges: Forging Independence and Accountability’, published by LexisNexis, was released by Justice Madan B Lokur at a well-attended function at Indian Law Institute, New Delhi on 11 April.Apart from Justice Lokur, other dignitaries who attended the function include Justices Kurian Joseph, and Gopal Gowda, Fali...

Exclusive; National Court of Appeal: SC asks AG to examine Amicus K K Venugopal’s propositions [Read the questions framed]

The process initiated by the Supreme Court to deliberate on setting up National Courts of Appeal in cities like Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai to hear appeals from high courts took one step forward with the Chief justice-led bench asking Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi to respond to eleven propositions submitted by amicus curiae K K Venugopal on the directions of the courtThe AG has been asked...

How to prevent allegations of favoritism in judicial exams? SC asks Delhi HC to reply to Bhushan’s suggestions [Read Order and Suggestions]

The Supreme Court bench hearing the case pertaining to alleged irregularities in Delhi Judicial Service (Mains) Exam 2014 today asked the Delhi High Court to respond to suggestions submitted by NGO Centre for Public Interest Litigation to improve the exam system in the future and prevent allegations of favoritism. [READ ORDER]A Supreme Court-ordered re-evaluation of answer sheets of the...

SC Judges Retreat; CJAR requests for briefing of Judges by Human Rights Lawyers

In a letter addressed to Chief Justice of India T.S. Thakur, Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reforms has demanded that human rights organizations and lawyers be invited for the briefing of Judges to be conducted during the three day retreat organized in Madhya Pradesh. This is in view of reports according to which a closed-door session on national security and threats of global...

More High Courts stay Service Tax on Senior Lawyers, Centre to approach SC [Read Calcutta HC Order]

As first reported by LiveLaw, the Department of Revenue has decided to move Supreme Court of India under Article 139A of the Constitution of India seeking transfer and vacation of stay of various High Court Orders staying the levy of Service Tax on legal services provided by Senior Advocates. The Centre will challenge the Delhi High Court order in W.P. 2892/2016 and W.P. 2891/2016,...

Madras HC orders Electronic Transfer of Compensation to Accident Victims [Read 23 Directions]

In a Landmark Judgment a two Judge Bench of Madras High Court has directed that the Compensation to Motor Accident victims/Claimants shall be electronically transferred to the bank accounts of the victims/claimants, as the case may be.The Division Bench comprising of Justices R.Sudhakar and S.Vaidyanathan observed that in a country where legal awareness is wanting despite best efforts by...

Exclusive; Kollam Fire Tragedy: Kerala HC to consider Sitting Judge’s Letter seeking ban on Fireworks as PIL Tomorrow [Read Letter]

A Day after the Kollam Puttingal Temple Fire Tragedy, a sitting Judge of High Court of Kerala Justice V. Chitambaresh wrote a letter to High Court seeking ban on high-decibel explosives in Fireworks display. He requested the Registrar to place the letter before the Division Bench in order to consider as to whether the same could b treated as a PIL and appropriate interim orders passed....

SC allows review of its Judgment quashing ‘The National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET)’ for Medical Courses [Read Order]

We find that there was no discussion among the members of the Bench before pronouncement of the judgment, said the Constitution BenchA Five Judge Constitution Bench of Supreme Court of India today has recalled its 2013 Judgment which declared Medical Council of India’s (MCI) and Dental Council of India’s (DCI) notification for holding common entrance test called National...

Will ensure Nirbhaya convicts get fair hearing: Ramachandran, Hegde

“I cannot get swayed by the gravity of the incident once I get a call of duty from the court. The judges have entrusted me with a duty to satisfy its judicial conscience. The court felt that everything should be done to give a fair hearing to the convicts on the merit of the case and also on the point of sentence. I will ensure that" Senior lawyer Raju Ramachandran who will represent...

Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reforms demands public consultation on draft MoP

The Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reforms has sent a letter to Finance Minister, Mr. Arun Jaitley, demanding public consultation on the appointment procedure for Supreme Court and High Court Judges, which is being revamped by drafting a fresh Memorandum of Procedure.In the letter, CJAR explains that various organizations, functioning as judicial accountability watchdogs, have...

SC forms panel headed by Ex-HC judge to look into complaints of dog bites in Kerala [Read Order]

A three-member panel headed by former Kerala High Court judge justice Siri Jagan will look into complaints of dog bite victims in Kerala and also oversee availability of necessary medical treatment to the injured.The panel headed by Justice Jagan and also comprising of Secretary of the State's Law Department and its Director of Health Services was constituted today by a bench of justices...

Dissenting Opinions of Judges in the Supreme Court of India

IntroductionTraditionally, an empirical work on the dissenting opinions of Judges in the Supreme Court of India has been fairly limited. This may be attributed to the uncertainty of methodology to collect data and produce the most reliable results to understand the pattern of judgment delivery system in the Supreme Court. To overcome this limitation, the present paper aims to argue the case...