Unsettled Right to Privacy can unsettle RTI ?

Government agencies are using right of privacy to stonewall the requests for information. Privacy of a person need to be protected but public interest is higher than the private interests. Apex court and several High Courts’ verdicts also offered this protection to individuals working in public offices, at the cost of people’s right to information.In a common capital where two chief...

Indian Courts and Public Authorities are bound to recognize documents legalized in foreign countries which are parties to ‘Apostille Convention’: Kerala HC [Read Judgment]

The Kerala High Court has by extending the recognition towards legality of a document attested in a Foreign country to India has passed a unique and land mark Judgment, the one of a kind in the country, by giving recognition to the principles of private International law and making it applicable to the realm of domestic law(i.e. Municipal Law).The petitioner who is an Indian citizen wanted...

Extracts from the Book ; Appointing our Judges: Forging Independence and Accountability

Apparently a great many people have forgotten that the framers of our Constitution went to such great effort to create an independent judicial branch that would not be subject to retaliation by either the executive branch or the legislative branch because of some decision made by those judges'.                                                                   ...

Delhi HC stays upper age limit on nursery admissions in private schools [Read Judgment]

In another blow to the State Government, Delhi High Court on Friday stayed the December 18 notification of the Delhi government’s Directorate of Education fixing four years as the age limit for admission to nursery classes in private schools. The deadline for applying has now been extended to February 9.In the notification, the Department of Education had fixed the upper age limit...

11 awarded death penalty for killing woman to seize land in West Bengal

A District Court in West Bengal on Thursday awarded death penalty to 11 men, including a local Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader, for opening fire on unarmed village women and killing a housewife, in an attempt to grab land 14 months ago.Those sentenced to death are Lankeshwar Ghosh, Palash Ghosh, Sanat Ghosh, Shyamal Ghosh, Jhantu Ghosh, Goutam Ghosh, Paresh Ghosh, Joydeb Ghosh, Nepal...

Petition over Bhagat Singh’s innocence referred to larger Bench by division bench of Lahore HC

A Division Bench of the Lahore High Court on Wednesday sought a larger bench to hear petition seeking to prove the innocence of Bhagat Singh. Bhagat Singh was convicted under the offences of hatching conspiracies, awarded and hanged on March 23, 1931, along with Sukhdev and Rajguru.The bench, comprising Justice Khalid Mahmood Khan and Justice Shahid Bilal Hassan, referred the petition to...

Delhi HC stays Govt. circular that scrapped Management quota for Nursery Admissions [Read Order]

Delhi High Court on Thursday stayed the State Government’s circular that had scrapped many criteria for nursery admissions, including management quota. The Court observed that the same was prima facie issued without any authority of law. The case will now be heard on April 18.“However, any alleged malpractice in utilization of the management quota like sale of seats being actionable...

Sishir Dutta appointed as Advocate General of AP, Anil Srivastav as Additional Advocate General

Terminating services of Advocate General Ranji Thomas, Governor J.P. Rajkhowa has appointed Sishir Dutta, a senior Advocate of the Gauhati High Court as the new Advocate General of Arunachal Pradesh.The Governor also appointed Anil Srivastav as the Additional Advocate General-cum-Standing Counsel for Arunachal Pradesh before the Supreme Court. Mr. Srivastav will represent for the State...

Delhi HC quashes the requirement of contiguous states for the registration of a Multi-state Co-operative Society [Read Judgment]

Delhi High Court has quashed the requirement that multi-state cooperative societies would be registered initially with only two contiguous states/UTs as their area of operation.Division Bench comprising of Justices S. Ravindra Bhat and Deepa Sharma were hearing a petition preferred by the Evergreen Multi-State Cooperative Society Limited, whose application were rejected for the above...

Kerala HC initiate Contempt Proceedings against Kerala Minister for Cultural Affairs KC Joseph

A Division bench of the Kerala High Court  on Tuesday had decided to initiate contempt of court proceedings against Minister for Culture and Rural affairs, State of Kerala, Mr K.C Joseph  for  his alleged  derogatory remarks  against Justice Alexander Thomas, after the latter had criticised the inefficiency of the Advocate General’s office in conducting of the cases before the...

A person who enjoyed the benefit of an interim order, is liable to compensate the other party, when the main case is decided against him : Madras HC [Read Judgment]

Madras High Court has observed that a person who enjoyed the benefit of an interim order, is liable to compensate the other party, when the main case is decided against him. Division Bench comprising of Justices V.Ramasubramanian and N.Kirubakaran made this observation in S.Ramesh vs. M/s.Cethar Ltd.The writ petition seeking police protection, filed by Management of a company was allowed, by...

Book Review; Boundaries of Free Speech

OFFEND, SHOCK, OR DISTURB:Free Speech under the Indian Constitution. By Gautam Bhatia, OUP, 2016, Pages 347, Rs.750.SENTIMENT, POLITICS, CENSORSHIP: THE STATE OF HURTEDITED BY Rina Ramdev, Sandhya Devesan Nambiar, and Debaditya Bhattacharya, Sage, 2016, Pages 281, Rs.895These two books appear at a time when the Indian Republic is grappling with new and menacing threats to the freedom...