LEGAL NEWS 6-9/08/2009

HC stays implementation of govt quota order on SC, ST
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/hc-stays-implementation-of-govt-quota-order-on-sc-st/499570/0
Express News Service Posted: Saturday , Aug 08, 2009 at 0452 hrs Lucknow:
The Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court has put a stay on the state government order directing the private engineering colleges to reserve seats for SC, ST and OBC students.
The Bench, comprising Justices Pradeep Kant and Ritu Raj Awasthi, held on Friday that the government order, issued on July 22, was prima facie a violation of an interim order which the court had passed while hearing the petitions challenging the reservation policy in unaided institutions. The Bench was hearing two PILs — one filed by advocate Bijay Kumar Singh Parmar and the other by retired Professor Ajay Swarup.
The court ordered that the counselling, which is to begin from August 8, will not be conducted in accordance with the government order.
As for the counselling which has been done so far, it will be decided on the basis of orders that the court may pass in the future after hearing the petitions. The next hearing has been scheduled for August 12.
Earlier, the UP Technical University had claimed that the private colleges had voluntarily agreed to follow the reservation policy, which also happens to be one of the affiliation norms.
The Bench, however, observed that the government had not submitted any such agreement. It also held that while reservation was one of the conditions for affiliation, it cannot be taken as a consent of the institution.
According to IB Singh, Counsel of the petitioners, the state government had issued an order on July 29, stating that the colleges applying for fresh affiliation will have to follow the reservation policy. “Before July 29, there was no such government order,” said Singh.
Earlier this year, the High Court had given some relief to the unaided colleges from implementing the reservation policy. Thereafter, the state government had filed a Special Leave Petition in the Supreme Court. On July 17, the court ordered not to compel any unaided institution to implement the policy and also mentioned that the matter will be finally decided by the High Court.
On July 22, the state government, however, issued an order directing all technical institutions to follow the reservation policy.




Nitish Katara murder case: Delhi HC rejects bail plea of Vikas, Vishal Yadav
http://www1.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/india/Nitish-Katara-murder-case-Delhi-HC-rejects-bail-plea-of-Vikas-Vishal-Yadav/articleshow/4867632.cms
PTI 7 August 2009, 04:14pm IST
NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Friday rejected the bail plea of Vikas and Vishal Yadav, undergoing life imprisonment in Nitish Katara murder case.

A bench headed by Justice B D Ahmed dismissed the bail plea of the two men who were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in May last year for killing Nitish Katara in 2002 as they were opposed to his intimacy with their sister Bharti Yadav.

Their appeal against the trial court verdict is pending before the high court.

Vikas, 36, son of controversial UP politician D P Yadav, and his cousin Vishal, 35, had kidnapped Katara on the night of February 16, 2002 from a marriage party in Ghaziabad and killed him.



HC breather for Anjolie Ela Menon: Stay on govt move to acquire land
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/hc-breather-for-anjolie-ela-menon-stay-on-govt-move-to-acquire-land/499517/
Express News Service Posted: Saturday , Aug 08, 2009 at 0313 hrs Chandigarh:
The Punjab and Haryana High Court recently ordered a stay on Haryana government move to acquire land owned by renowned artist Anjolie Ela Menon in Gurgaon.
The Haryana government had issued notices for acquisition to Menon, claiming that the land, in Sohna tehsil’s Ghatta village, was required for the proposed sector peripheral road of Sector- 58 in the notified Masterplan-2021.
Following the notices, Menon and Primila Lewis filed a petition in the High Court in May.
On May 5, a Division Bench headed by Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel issued notices to Haryana government and ruled that the petitioners can move court for interim relief if they have received a notice under Section 9 (move to take over the land) of the Land Acquisition Act 1984.
Taking heed of the ruling, Menon and Lewis moved the High Court on Thursday, seeking relief against what they claimed was a back-dated notice served to Menon on August 1 under Section 9 of the Acquisition Act.
“Despite the fact that the petitioners were awaiting a reply from the state government regarding the pending petition for which notice was issued on May 5, the petitioners were shocked to find a notice under Section 9, which was issued in a wrongful manner,” Senior Advocate Hardev Singh Mattewal and Punjab Advocate General had submitted. Mattewal also pointed out that the notice was dated July 15, which had a post mark on the envelope for August 1.
According to the petitioner, on May 15 a person, claiming to be from Haryana Land Acquisition department, had surveyed the property without any notification while Menon and her family was away.




HC: govt can go ahead with statue plan
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/city/bangalore/HC-govt-can-go-ahead-with-statue-plan/articleshow/4870067.cms
TNN 8 August 2009, 07:13am IST
BANGALORE: All decks have now been cleared for the unveiling of the statue of Tamil poet Thiruvallavur near Ulsoor lake on August 9. On Friday, the Karnataka High Court, dismissed a PIL filed by leaders of Kannada groups challenging the ceremony.

“Peace and tranquillity should be maintained at any cost. If any third party holds bandhs and agitations, the state is at liberty to deal with the situation in accordance with the law,” observed the division Bench headed by Chief Justice P D Dinakaran. The PIL was filed by former MLAs Vatal Nagaraj, Prabhakar Reddy, Karnataka Rakshana Vedike leader Praveen Shetty, DSS leader N Murthy, and others.

Undeterred by threats by a splinter Kannada group, chief minister B S Yeddyurappa declared the unveiling ceremony would be a grand affair.

Karnataka Rakshana Vedike president T A Narayana Gowda and Kannada Chalavali Vatal Paksha chief Vatal Nagaraj boycotted the CM-convened meeting and said they’d go ahead with the protests, including a Bangalore bandh.

Later, the CM said: “It’s a historic day and will be written in golden words. It’s not just the unveiling of two statues, but the bonding between the people of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The Bangalore bandh called by a few activists is an unpardonable crime.” Transport minister R Ashok said there would no change in the services and schedule of both BMTC and KSRTC buses on Sunday.

But Vatal Nagaraj and Narayana Gowda remained adamant. The former said: “We’re going ahead with the bandh from 6 am to 6 pm on Sunday, block the Karnataka-TN boundary in Chamarajnagar district and organize a bandh in Doddaballapur.”

The police have denied permission to pro-Kannada organisations for bandh as well as a rally. The police have made bandobust to maintain peace.



Anna Univ can offer courses in allied sciences: HC
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4869474.cms
TNN 8 August 2009, 03:52am IST
CHENNAI: There is nothing wrong in the four Anna Universities in Tamil Nadu commence allied science courses or permit private engineering colleges affiliated to these universities to offer such courses, the Madras High Court has ruled.

Justice M Jaichandren, dismissing a writ petition filed by the Coimbatore-based Association of Management of Private Colleges on Friday, said: "It cannot be said that the Anna Universities cannot commence courses which come under the scope of Allied Sciences', nor can it be said that it would be inappropriate for the universities to permit the affiliated colleges and institutes to conduct such courses."

The association had taken exception to the Anna University-Coimbatore's move to offer BSc/MSc/BBA/BCA courses which were not within the ambit of the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE). Their present petition wanted the court to restrain the Anna Universities at Chennai, Coimbatore, Coimbatore, Tiruchi and Tirunelveli from conducting, approving or affiliating any arts and science academic programme either by themselves or their constituent colleges.

"There is no power under the AICTE Act or its regulations for these universities to conduct, grant, affiliate or approve arts and science programmes conducted by colleges coming under the purview of Bharathiyar University in (the case of) Coimbatore," the association said, adding that it would amount to interference in the working of other state-established universities in Madurai, Tiruchi, Coimbatore, Tirunelveli, etc.

The Anna University, set up to cater to the higher education needs in engineering, technology and allied sciences, cannot degrade itself to conduct undergraduate programmes in arts and science, they argued.

Rejecting the submissions, Justice Jaichandren said it is not appropriate for the association to contend that the courses conducted by the Anna Universities and their affiliated colleges are in violation of the provisions of the Anna University Act. "The association has not challenged the decision of the academic council and the syndicate of the Anna University-Coimbatore, in deciding to conduct BSc and MSc courses," the judge said.

Noting that the petitioners had not identified the specific courses not falling under the Allied Science' category, the judge said it cannot act as an expert body in classifying the subjects by identifying them as those that are related to engineering and technology, and those which are in the nature of pure arts and science.

Meanwhile, the ruling is being seen in academic circles as timely considering that very recently the Committee to Advise on Renovation and Rejuvenation of Higher Education' headed by professor Yash Pal had in its report to the HRD ministry recommended that a university "should encompass all disciplines and their interfaces."

Also in a letter to the then HRD minister Arjun Singh, professor Yash Pal had argued against pursuing policies of fragmenting educational enterprise into cubicles. "We have overlooked that new knowledge and new insights have often originated at the boundaries of disciplines. We have tended to imprison disciplinary studies in opaque walls. This has restricted flights of imagination and limited our creativity," he had said advocating inter-disciplinary courses in higher educational institutions.




HC refuses to dismiss mid-day meal plea
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/city/nagpur/HC-refuses-to-dismiss-mid-day-meal-plea/articleshow/4869600.cms
Vaibhav Ganjapure, TNN 8 August 2009, 05:03am IST
NAGPUR: The state government received a major jolt when the Nagpur bench of Bombay high court, on Friday, refused to accept state government's demand to dismiss petition alleging Rs 100-crore scam in the mid-day meal scheme.

The plea was filed by Amravati-based petitioners Tatyasaheb Meshram, Govind Agrawal and three others alleging that the department of school education at Mantralaya in Mumbai and director of school education, Pune of misusing of funds belonging to public exchequer while implementing the scheme of providing food to school children.

While dismissing the plea, a division bench comprising justices AP Lavande and Pramod Kode instead issued show-cause notices to the respondents directing them to reply by August 20.

According to counsel for petitioner JT Gilda, the additional government pleader (AGP) had appealed to the court to reject the petition as Aurangabad Bench had already dismissed a similar plea. However, the judges observed that issues in this petition are different and asked the government to file a reply. The court also turned down AGP's request to extend date of replying to the notices by six weeks.

The court allowed an application filed by the petitioners for amending the petition stating that school education department's tenders favoured few societies including that of Ankushrao Tope, father of state minister of higher and technical education Rajesh Tope, and Nationalist Congress Party loyalist Anil Mundhada, a close associate of state minister Ajit Pawar. Tope is chairman of Maharashtra Consumer Cooperative Federation.

The petitioners main contention was that the government had modified the existing rules for distribution of food through a resolution dated June 18 to favour awarding of tender to a couple of societies managed by the kith and kin of the ministers.

As per the earlier system, the government had adopted a policy decision to supply rice through self-help groups and cooperative societies of the weaker sections. Despite complaints, the supply was regular and food was distributed at competitive prices. However, tenders were invited and finalised directly from the Mantralaya as per the June 18 resolution which resulted into self-help groups facing disqualification from the process.

The petitioners claimed that tender conditions had been designed and tailor-made so that no other society could participate in the process. They also claimed that the decision to hush up the process before August 15 to avoid any further complications arising out of imposition of code of conduct for the forthcoming state assembly polls.

The appellants prayed for striking down the June 18 GR contending that it was arbitrary, mala-fide and issued in misuse of powers.



Ishrat Jahan encounter: HC asks for team of ADGs to reinvestigate case
http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/ishrat-jahan-encounter-hc-asks-for-team-of-adgs-to-reinvestigate-case/499458/
Express News Service
Posted: Aug 08, 2009 at 0152 hrs IST
Ahmedabad In a significant development, the Gujarat High Court on Friday directed the state government to submit a list of police officers of the rank of Additional Director Generals (ADGs) to explore the possibility of setting up a three-member committee for a fresh investigation into the killing of Ishrat Jahan.
A suspected Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) operative, Ishrat was killed on the outskirts of the city on June 2004.
The court fixed August 12 for the final order after Public Prosecutor J M Panchal and Advocate General Kamal Trivedi submitted before the court that the state government will furnish a list of ADGs on August 12.
Justice K S Zhaveri issued the direction on a petition by Ishrat’s mother Shameema Kausar who had submitted that her daughter was not linked to any terrorist organisation, and that it was a cold-blooded murder.
Through her advocate Mukul Sinha, she had asked for a fresh investigation by a team from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). She had said that she did not trust investigations by the Ahmedabad City Detection of Crime Branch (DCB).
Investigations under the supervision of the then Deputy Superintendent of Police Parikshitaben Gurjar, however, concluded that it was not a fake encounter.
The four killed, along with Ishrat Jahan, were LeT operatives and two of them were from Pakistan, the investigations revealed.
Ishrat’s husband Praneshkumar Pillai, who had converted to Islam for marrying Ishrat and had changed his name to Javed, was reported to have taken training in Pakistan.
According to the DCB, they were on a mission to kill Chief Minister Narendra Modi and senior BJP leaders to avenge the Gujarat riots.
The case was closed by filing a summary report before the Ahmedabad POTA court.
Ishrat, travelling with Javed and two others in an Indica car with a Maharashtra registration number, was gunned down at Kotarpur near Indira Bridge on the Ahmedabad-Gandhinagar highway.
D G Vanzara, Rajkumar Pandian and Narendra Amin were among the officers involved in the encounter.
The three are, at present, lodged in the Sabarmati Central Jail for their involvement in the Sohrabuddin Shaikh fake encounter case and the subsequent murder of his wife, Kausarbi.




HC: Cops can take legal help to prepare criminal case
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/HC--Cops-can-take-legal-help-to-prepare-criminal-case/499519
Express News Service Posted: Saturday , Aug 08, 2009 at 0314 hrs New Delhi:
The Delhi High Court overturned an order passed by a court of the Metropolitan Magistrate on June 29, 2002, banning the police from going to a public prosecutor for help in preparing criminal chargesheets.
The court had directed the Delhi Commissioner of Police and the Director of Prosecution to stop the “joint operation” in preparing criminal chargesheet. Prosecutors should only be involved in a criminal case after a chargesheet is filed in a court of law, it had added.
The High Court, following an appeal by the police against the order, cautioned the city’s magistrates to not cross “the limits of law”. Justice M C Garg, who heard the petition, observed that magistrates have “no power” under the law to interfere in police investigation.
“It is for the police to investigate a case... the role of the magistrate starts only after filing of the report under Section 173 CrPC,” the Bench observed.




HC restores UT quota for defence kids
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/city/chandigarh/HC-restores-UT-quota-for-defence-kids/articleshow/4869437.cms
TNN 8 August 2009, 02:14am IST
CHANDIGARH: Cheering children of military and paramilitary personnel who cleared their class X and XII examinations from UT, the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Friday restored the separate quota to them for admission in Punjab Engineering College University of Technology and Chandigarh College of Engineering and Technology.

The court order means that of 20 seats reserved under defence category in PEC, 10 seats will go to kids of personnel who have passed their qualifying examinations from UT and remaining seats will be filled through all-India quota. Similarly, of 12 seats for CCET, only two will be reserved for all-India quota, while the rest will belong to those fulfilling domiciliary condition of UT administration.

While disposing of petitions moved by Chandigarh residents Avneet Hira and Arshdeep Sandhu, seeking the quashing of a provision mentioned in the admission brochure of PEC which clubbed the seats reserved under defence category of UT pool and all-India quota, a division bench headed by justices MM Kumar and Jaswant Singh also directed the joint admission committee (JAC) of PECUT and CCET to conduct counselling on August 17. On July 29, HC had ordered deferring of counselling for admissions, earlier slated for July 30.

Asking for separate lists to be prepared for PEC on the basis of 50% quota, each, for UT and all-India pools, the division bench directed JAC to display the same on notice boards and websites, besides informing all candidates on the development through newspapers/emails or SMSes by August 10.

In its order, HC observed that PEC could not club UT and all-India quotas because its status of deemed university was granted on the basis that reservation of seats would be calculated separately.





The case at hand

Admission to 50% of seats in PEC and 83% in CCET is restricted to those who are domiciles of UT for a specific period or have passed their class X and XII examinations from Chandigarh. The ministry of defence in June 2007 communicated to UT that children of defence personnel were unable to fulfil the requirement because of frequent transfers, following which the administration, in September 2007, waived the condition. However, HC overruled the clubbing of quotas on that ground




HC grants bail to HIV+ murder convict
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/city/mumbai/HC-grants-bail-to-HIV-murder-convict/articleshow/4869376.cms
Swat Deshpande, TNN 8 August 2009, 02:12am IST
MUMBAI: The HINI virus is keeping the medical board of Pune's Sassoon Hospital so busy that they apparently do not have the time to treat a critical HIV patient.

When the Bombay high court was told on Friday that the medical board was "preoccupied with the swine flu epidemic'' and could attend to a seriously- ailing HIV positive convict only next Tuesday, the judges directed the convict's release on bail. A bond of Rs 10,000 was paid for his release.

Vivek Padwal, a 39-year-old murder convict from Pune serving a life sentence since October, had applied for bail on the grounds that he was not receiving any treatment at the Pune hospital despite court directions. A bench headed by Justice B H Marlapalle on Friday said, "It was clear that despite being taken to Sassoon Hospital for five-six days in the recent past, he could not be examined by the medical board. His condition is serious.'' Padwal's lawyer Rajesh Bindra said his CDR count was very high and his condition was critical. Pleading that if he was not treated at a proper hospital he would die earlier, Padwal had added that three such convicts had faced a similar fate due to the lack of treatment.

Padwal was held guilty of murdering another Pune resident, Mayur Damle, following a fight over Damle flinging an empty liqour bottle into his house in 2007. Padwal's wife Poornima and his mother were present in HC to plead that they would take care of him at home, fund his treatment and take him regularly to the police station. The prosecutor also said the ART centre at Sassoon government hospital was the only centre for such treatment where he would be taken. With these assurances, Justice Marlapalle's bench was convinced that he ought to be released on a bail bond of Rs 10,000 to ensure prompt medical attention in the interest of justice.

Padwal's mother said, "I am happy to have my son home again after two-and-a- half years. I shall take care of him.''




BE counselling for PEC, CCET to be held on Aug 17: HC
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/be-counselling-for-pec-ccet-to-be-held-on-aug-17-hc/499480/0
Express News Service Posted: Saturday , Aug 08, 2009 at 0222 hrs Chandigarh:
The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Friday directed the counselling of wards and spouses of military and paramilitary personnel seeking admission to Punjab Engineering College University of Technology (PEC) and Chandigarh College of Engineering and Technology (CCET) to be held on August 17.
In a major sigh of reprieve for students of the city wanting to take admission to the Bachelors of Engineering (BE) course in the colleges, the court ruled that the Chandigarh quota which was to be implemented from next year will be brought into force from this session.
This would imply that candidates from the city will stand to benefit as there would be separate quota for Chandigarh and a separate all India quota.
A Division Bench comprising Justice M M Kumar and Justice Jaswant Singh also directed the chairman of the Joint Admission Committee (JAC) to take necessary steps to inform candidates including publication of a notice in newspapers or through e-mails/SMSes by August 10 so that students have adequate time to make preparations to attend the counselling on August 17.
The court further asked JAC to prepare a separate merit list on the basis of a 50 per cent quota each for the UT Pool and all India category and display the same by August 10 on the website as well as the notice board.
The Bench also stated that the committee would have the liberty to use any other method to reach out to candidates under both the quotas.
The Bench ruled that the admission committee would not consider/invite any new application(s) and the seats in each quota (UT and all India Pool) would be filled keeping in view the separate quota of 50 per cent each for both the categories as prescribed in the admission rules of PEC (10 seats each) and CCET (10 and 2 seats) respectively.
In their petition to the high court, Avneet Hira, daughter of Brigadier N P S Hira, and Arshdeep Sandhu, daughter of Colonel P S Sandhu, had sought quashing of the provision relating to admission in PEC which clubs together the UT Pool quota and all India quota of 5 per cent seats reserved for children and spouses of military and paramilitary personnel.
The petitioners had also sought quashing of similar provisions relating to admission to CCET as mentioned in the joint admission brochure issued for the 2009-10 academic session.
The petitioners had also sought directions from the court to admit students as per the guidelines the UT Administration had issued on July 15 which clarified that reservation of seats would be calculated separately for the UT quota and All India category.
It was prescribed that those who passed Class XII from UT schools would be considered under the Chandigarh quota for PEC/CCET/CCA only and all other students who had passed their qualifying examination from elsewhere would fall under the All India Quota.
It was also highlighted that Chandigarh quota would not be applicable for admission to University Institute of Engineering and technology (UIET) and University Institute of Chemical Engineering and Technology (UICET).




Armed Forces Tribunal to be inaugurated today
http://www.sindhtoday.net/news/1/39010.htm
August 7th, 2009 SindhToday
New Delhi, Aug 8 (ANI): President Pratibha Patil will inaugurate the long-awaited Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) today.
Set up by an Act of Parliament in December, 2007, the AFT will have its Principal Bench in New Delhi and eight regional benches spread across the country.
The Tribunal will have 15 courts in all, – three each in New Delhi, Chandigarh and Lucknow and one each in Jaipur, Mumbai, Kolkata, Guwahati, Chennai and Kochi.
Aggrieved armed forces personnel will now be able to appeal against sentences handed down by the court-martial. The Tribunal will also have powers to grant bail to any person in military custody. It is expected to be functional soon once the government issues the relevant notification.
The AFT will provide a judicial forum for redressal of grievances of about a 1.3 million strong armed forces personnel and another 1.2 million ex-servicemen.
At present, about 9,000 such cases are pending before various courts across the country, most of them with the high courts.
The AFT will not only result in speedy and affordable justice to the men in uniform but also save the Armed Forces’ resources in terms of manpower, material and time.
The decisions of the AFT can be challenged only in the Supreme Court.
The Tribunal will have a Chairperson who has been or is a judge of the Supreme Court or Chief Justice of a High Court.
Justice AK Mathur, a former judge of the Supreme Court, has been appointed the AFT’s first Chairperson and has assumed charge since September 1, 2008.
Besides, each court consists of a judicial member and an administrative member.
There will be in all 30 members in the 15 courts of the nine AFT benches, – 15 judicial including the Chairperson, and an equal number of administrative members.
The judicial member must be, or have been, a judge of a High Court while the administrative member would be officers of the rank of Major General or equivalent in either of the three Services or an officer not less than the rank of a Brigadier or equivalent who has rendered not less than one year service as the Judge Advocate General of the Army, Navy or Air Force.
The government has already appointed eight judicial members and 15 administrative members, while seven judicial members are yet to be named.
The eight judicial members appointed to the Tribunal alongwith the location of the bench are: – Justice AK Mathur (Chairperson, AFT, Principal Bench, New Delhi, Justice Manak Lall Mohta (New Delhi), Justice Ghanshyam Prasad (Chandigarh), Justice Janardhan Sahai (Lucknow – yet to join), Justice SS Kulshrestha (Lucknow), Justice Bhanwaroo Khan (Jaipur), Justice AC Arumugaperumal Adityan (Chennai) and Justice K Padmanabhan Nair (Kochi). The 15 administrative members are: Lt. General ML Naidu, Lt Gen. ZU Shah and Lt. Gen. SS Dhillon (all New Delhi bench), Lt. Gen. Amrik Singh Bahia, Lt Gen. HS Panag and Lt. Gen. NS Brar (all Chandigarh bench), Lt. Gen. PR Gangadharan, Lt. Gen. RK Chhabra and Lt. Gen. BS Sisodia (all Lucknow bench), Lt. Gen. Susheel Gupta (Jaipur), Vice Admiral RF Contractor (Mumbai), Lt. Gen. Madan Gopal (Kolkata), Commodore Mohan Phadke (Guwahati), Lt. Gen. S Pattabhiraman (Chennai) and Lt. Gen. Thomas Mathew (Kochi). (ANI)
[NF]




Executive and CJI alone should appoint judges: Law Commission
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/india/Executive-and-CJI-alone-should-appoint-judges-Law-Commission/articleshow/4868768.cms
TNN 8 August 2009, 12:37am IST
NEW DELHI: The Manmohan Singh government, keen to get executive the primacy it had 15 years ago in the appointment of judges to the Supreme Court and High Courts, will be pleased with this report from the Law Commission recommending disbanding of the present Collegium system.

The report handed over this week to law minister Veerappa Moily by commission chairman Justice AR Lakshmanan, who himself had a four-and-a-half-year tenure in the Supreme Court as a judge, termed the present system of appointment of judges through a Collegium headed by the Chief Justice of India (CJI) as faulty and found great force in the demand for restoring primacy to the executive.

Moreover, it said when an advocate was elevated as a judge in the HC in which he had been practising for a long time, it gives rise to an unholy phenomenon of "Uncle Judge", as he has so many relatives practising there.

In turn, these relatives appear to stand a better chance for elevation, the commission said and recommended against appointment of such advocates as judges in the same HC where they practised.

Referring to the constitutional provisions on appointment of judges to the SC and HCs, the commission said it was a "beautiful system of checks and balances" providing a balanced role to both the executive and judiciary.

"The delicate balance has been upset" by the Supreme Court's judgments, which gave primacy to for the Collegium system headed by CJI, it said.

"It is time the original balance of power is restored," the commission said and suggested that it was for the government either to seek review of the SC judgments or enact a law "restoring the primacy to the CJI and the power of the executive in making appointments".

In terming the Collegium system as faulty, the commission said every HC Chief Justice was from outside the state as a policy and this was a handicap for him to be able to provide details to the Collegium about the antecedents of local advocates or district judges for elevation to the HC as a judge.

In its 37-page report on judicial reforms, the commission gave a lot of prominence to the views of the EMS Natchiappan headed Parliamentary Standing Committee, which recommended scrapping of the present procedure for appointment of judges. The Natchiappan report recommendations "are of great relevance in this context", it said.




Judges’ assets: Moily says will talk to Oppn, not the CJI
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Judges--assets--Moily-says-will-talk-to-Oppn--not-the-CJI/499850
Maneesh Chhibber
Posted: Sunday , Aug 09, 2009 at 0434 hrs New Delhi:
Forced by the Opposition to shelve the judges’ assets Bill, Union Minster for Law and Justice M Veerappa Moily has ruled out fresh deliberations with the Chief Justice of India on the issue.
Speaking to The Sunday Express at the sidelines of a seminar organised by the Bar Association of India yesterday evening, Moily said: “We will hold discussions with the entire Opposition as well as our alliance partners to find a solution.” And that the CJI’s “apprehensions” would be shared with the leaders.
Asked when he would bring the Bill back, Moily said: “Definitely in the next session.”
On August 3, the Opposition — supported by some Congress MPs too — forced the Law Minister to defer the introduction of the Judges (Declaration of Assets & Liabilities) Bill, 2009, in the Rajya Sabha. The MPs were critical of the clause that said that the details of assets submitted by the CJI, Judges of the Supreme Court and the High Courts would not be in the public domain.
Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan had told The Indian Express that judges had no objection to a law making it mandatory for members of the higher judiciary to declare their assets but only if there were adequate safeguards to ensure that it didn’t lead to their “harassment” by “disgruntled” litigants.
“It is not as if judges are not providing details of their properties or filing Income Tax returns. But people will start asking questions about value of properties,” the CJI had said.




Xavier's passouts move court against CU
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/city/kolkata-/Xaviers-passouts-move-court-against-CU/articleshow/4869645.cms
TNN 8 August 2009, 06:25am IST
KOLKATA: Ten St Xavier's College passouts, who sought admission to Calcutta University's postgraduate courses, on Thursday filed a writ petition in Calcutta High Court, challenging the formula adopted by the university for this year's admission. But the court refused to stay the admission process adopted by CU.

The court, however, directed the university to file an affidavit by August 20 on the writ petition filed by the students.

The litigants feared they would be deprived by the university's process. The petitioners sought a stay order on the admission process but Justice Dipankar Datta refused to grant a stay. He said he wanted to hear both parties before passing any order. The next hearing has been scheduled in September.

St Xavier's, being an autonomous college, holds its undergraduate exams in-house and also announces results on its own. Three years back, the college won autonomy and this is the first time that some of its passouts were seeking admission to postgraduate courses offered by CU. However, after the list was out, the students in question found that their names were not on the list. They felt they were being denied a chance to pursue PG courses in CU, though they had scored pretty high in their graduation, as the university had adopted a formula to standardize marks obtained by candidates. This, incidentally, was done not only for St Xavier's passouts, but for others as well.

"These students felt they were being discriminated against and were not given a fair deal in admissions. But, the HC felt that admissions should not be stayed. So, we published our admission list on Thursday and admitted students on Friday. The hearing will proceed as usual," said Dhrubojyoti Chatterjee, pro vice-chancellor (academic) of CU.

“Since the students in question have studied under the semester system at St Xavier's and since CU's own students have studied under the 1+1+1 system, a formula had to be arrived at in order to standardize the admission process,” he said.




Sweety whistleblower eludes cops
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/city/mumbai/Sweety-whistleblower-eludes-cops/articleshow/4869382.cms
C Unnikrishnan, TNN 8 August 2009, 02:22am IST
MUMBAI: Ram Rao Patil, the complainant in the CBI's bribery case against former Union home minister Buta Singh's son Sarabjot, is available for the agency to assist the investigations, but Patil eludes the Nashik police where he is wanted in a case of cheating. This is one of the major points raised in a writ filed in the Bombay high court.

The writ is filed by Keshav Bhuktare, who is the complainant in the cheating case registered against Patil with Bhadrakali police station in Nashik. On July 10, an FIR was registered against Patil, a Nashik-based garbage contractor for fraudulently obtaining the signatures of the workers and obtaining loans of Rs 12 crore from Sahakar Mitra Shree Chandrakant Hari Badhe Urban Co-op Credit Society.

Bhutkare stated that though a month has passed since the case was registered, but the police have not made any attempts to arrest Patil. The Nashik police had claimed that they could not locate Patil. Bhutkare also wondered whether the CBI should have arrested Patil and handed him over to the Nashik police.

The CBI has been coordinating with Patil for its investigations. According to Bhutkare, it needs to be found out whether the credit society officials connived with Patil as basic verification was not carried out while granting loans in the name of workers who earned meagre salaries.

Around 100 workers, including Bhutkare, had received a final notice on June 23, from the credit society asking to pay up amounts ranging from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 15 lakh. On July 9, around 32 workers made a written representation to their union. A day later, the police registered an FIR on Bhutkare's complaint but there is no mention about the fraud committed on the other workers, the petition said.

According to Bhutkare, he decided to approach the court as there was no progress in the investigation and the entire issue was becoming a political one. He has urged the court to order a detailed inquiry by the state crime investigation department.



Allahabad HC stays 50% reservation in private engineering colleges
http://www.indlawnews.com/Newsdisplay.aspx?b9bf0653-9352-4b75-90ad-0ae636a56cdf
8/8/2009

The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court today stayed 50 per cent reservation in private engineering colleges affiliated with Uttar Pradesh Technical University (UPTU) as per a Government Order dated July 22, 2009.

A bench comprising Justices Pradeep Kant and Rituraj Awasthi passed the order on a PIL filed by V K Singh Parmar.

Putting a stay, the court said that reservation would not be imposed during the counseling as per the GO.

Moreover, the results for counselling till date (August 7) would be under the court’s order.

The PIL said the UP government issued the GO for 50 per cent reservation in private engineering colleges affiliated with UPTU on July 22. The bench had already on May 7, 2009 stayed the implementation of reservation and reserved its judgment.

The court has now fixed August 12 as the next date of hearing and asked for the appearance of Principal Secretary (Technical Education) Vrinda Swaroop and Registrar of the UPTU.

UNI




Karnataka HC dismisses PIL against Tiruvalluvar statue
http://www.indlawnews.com/Newsdisplay.aspx?a93b3a9b-fb07-43d3-9188-14e5233b29bc
8/8/2009

A Division bench of the Karnataka High Court dismissed a PIL for restraining the State Government from unveiling the statue of Tamil Saint-Pet Tiruvalluvar in the city on August nine.

The petition was filed by a few pro-Kannada outfits which had been protesting against the programme.

The Bench comprising Chief Justice P D Dinakaran and Mr Justice V G Sabhahit dismissed the petition saying that it was not in the interest of the public and expressed deep anguish that it amounted to dividing the society on the lines of caste, region and language.

The court which, yesterday, refused to expedite hearing of the case, had orally observed the PIL would fuel bad blood and lead to strained relations between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

The petitioners included Kannada Chaluvali Vatal Paksha leader Vatal Nagaraj, Former MLA Prabhakara Reddy, Karnataka Rakshana Vedike (Shetty Group) Praveen Shetty and Dalit Leader N Murthy.

The two State Governments had reinitiated moves to implement the long standing programme of unveiling of Tiruvalluvar Statue in the city and Kannada Saint-Pet Sarvajna’s Statue in Chennai to foster friendly atmosphere between the people of the two States.

The unveiling programme has been fixed for August nine and 13, respectively.

UNI



Delhi HC allows divorced woman to take son to Australia
http://www.ptinews.com/news/219839_Delhi-HC-allows-divorced-woman-to-take-son-to-Australia
STAFF WRITER 9:40 HRS IST
New Delhi, Aug 9 (PTI) The Delhi High Court has allowed a divorced woman to take her son with her to Australia, turning down the father's plea that exposure to a foreign culture would be detrimental to his ethical and moral development.

The court stated that the "intellectual development" and "moral values" of the child would not be affected if he was allowed to stay with his mother in a foreign country, while dismissing the father's submission.

However, the court directed the mother to bring the child to India twice a year to meet his father and stay with him.




After HC reprimand police constitute furlough cell
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_after-hc-reprimand-police-constitute-furlough-cell_1280834
Ritesh Shah / DNA
Sunday, August 9, 2009 9:41 IST
Ahmedabad: The state police department after a rebuke by the high court has finally decided to constitute a 'furlough cell' to track and nab convicts who escaped while being out of jail on parole.
The director general of police (DGP) has issued order to constitute a furlough cell. The cell will be headed by additional DG, CID. The DGP has also sent a circular in this regard to jail authorities and all city and district police heads.
So far the jail administration used to re-arrest absconders with the help of local police. However, the Gujarat high court expressed its displeasure over the efforts being made in re-arresting those who had escaped while being on parole.
Last month, the HC had reprimanded the jail administration on the issue of large number of jail inmates running away after being released on parole. The high court's functioning was being affected as these absconders included a large number of criminals convicted by the lower judiciary and their matters were now pending before the high court.
The inspector general of jails had informed the high court that there were 400 such cases across Gujarat where convicts had failed to return after their time on parole had come to an end. Justice Bhagwati Prasad and Justice JC Upadhayay had directed the state police to inform the bench as to what action was being taken against such escapees.
According to the circular issued, the jail authorities will maintain a register on every prisoner going out on parole.This register will be given to the furlough cell under the CID crime whenever a prisoner is given temporary leave.ADG jail will have to inform the CID crime in case any of the prisoners on parole fail to show up on the due date.
Every time a convict absconds, the cell will send the information about the convict to all commissioner and DSPs.The jail department will also provide the cell will details about the convicts on parole, including photographs and address.
The jail authorities will have to lodge a complaint in the near by police station, which would later be transferred to the police station under whose jurisdiction the residential address of the prisoner falls.
The run-away convict would then be declared absconder and his property auctioned.The jail authorities will also be required to a report on the status of all cases of such convicts. The jail department will also send report to the newly constituted cell on the 5th of every month.
Also the cell would procure arrest warrants for these prisoners and issue advertisement
for faster action.




HC thwarts LDA bid to acquire garden
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/city/lucknow/HC-thwarts-LDA-bid-to-acquire-garden/articleshow/4872904.cms
TNN 9 August 2009, 04:49am IST
LUCKNOW: The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court on Saturday stayed the LDA move to take back possession of the garden leased out to occupants of the bungalow adjacent to BSP office in Mall Avenue here. The stay also extends to any demolition of the boundary wall around the bungalow.

Counsel for the petitioner Manish Kumar said the bench comprising Justices Rajiv Sharma and Anil Kumar while granting the stay till Wednesday asked the Lucknow Development Authority (LDA) to file a counter-affidavit seeking if it served any notice to the occupant, Khalid Abdullah. The Abdullahs have been claiming that the LDA did not serve any notice before, even though LDA officials threatened of taking back possession of the garden having an area of 7,500 sq ft.

Khalid Abdullah said the high court had provided the much needed relief from the high-handedness of the government agency. He, however, claimed that some bulldozers were hovering around his house on Saturday afternoon while they were still knocking the doors of the court. ‘‘But thankfully, some mediapersons were still there,’’ he said. A high voltage drama unfolded in the posh locality on Friday.



Allahabad HC Judge's gunner shot
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/city/lucknow/Allahabad-HC-Judges-gunner-shot-/articleshow/4871765.cms
TNN 9 August 2009, 03:59am IST
LUCKNOW: A 52-year-old head constable was shot at by three unidentified miscreants here in broad daylight on Saturday. The incident was reported from Mahanagar police circle. The cop who was shot at was identified as Kaushal Kishore. Kaushal, a head constable is deployed as a gunner in the security of the Allahabad high court Judge, Sanjay Mishra here.

Kishore has recently shifted from Allahabad and was presently living here in Reserve Police Lines. The sequence of events which lead to the cop being shot at occurred about 8.00am.

Kaushal was going to the VIP Transit Hall on his bicycle when three miscreants following him on a two-wheeler came near to him on Birbal Sahni Marg and after overtaking him shot at from a country-made firearm outside gate number 2 of Colvin College. The pellets of the firearm injured the cop in the back just below his left shoulder. As the miscreants shot at him the constable fell down and the culprits sped away.

The locals, who heard gunshots, rushed towards the cop and saw him trying to take out his pistol to fire back at the three. He then stood up in pain and rushed inside a lane. A local, Shyam Lal Valmiki help the injured. "The constable told me that he should be taken to the hospital in the Reserve Police Lines and to inform his seniors about the incident," said Shyam Lal Valmiki. The injured was taken to the police lines hospital and from there rushed to the Trauma Centre.

After reaching there, the doctors told the police that the cop has suffered superficial injuries from the pellets and was out of danger.

ASP trans-Gomti Ashok Prasad said, "Kaushal Kishore has just come from Allahabad last month where he was deployed in the security of the same judge as he is now."

Kaushal Kishore talking to TOI said, "I don't know why I was shot at as I don't have any enmity with anybody. I didn't even recognise those who shot at me."

There were, however, unconfirmed reports that two days ago some people had come to his barrack in police lines and they had an argument with the cop over some issue. Police, however, have still not confirmed about any such incident. A case in the connection was lodged under section 307 of Indian Penal Code (IPC). Kaushal's son, Ravi who lives in Talkatora has also told police that he did not know of any reason why his father was shot at.

Police have also not denied of the man having an old enmity which he could have had when he was in his native place, Sitapur.




Dissatisfied with verdict against doctor, man to move HC
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/city/pune/Dissatisfied-with-verdict-against-doctor-man-to-move-HC/articleshow/4872459.cms
TNN 9 August 2009, 01:41am IST
PUNE: Kumodchandra Balwantrao B Hemade, who had filed a case of violating professional ethics against Dr Nityanand Thakur and the KEM Hospital for the death of his 12-day-old grandchild Heramb due to an unsuccessful bypass surgery performed last year, won the case on July 31.

As punishment, the Maharashtra Medical Council, Mumbai, (MMC) has slapped a warning letter on the doctor. Dissatisfied with the verdict, Hemade now plans to file an appeal against Thakur in the Mumbai high court.

In the verdict passed by the MMC on July 31 this year, Thakur was declared as having violated professional ethics under the Indian Medical Council (Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations, 2002.

Born on March 16, 2008, Heramb suffered heart complications soon after birth as his oxygenated blood and non-oxygenated blood were getting mixed. The baby was shifted to the KEM Hospital on March 23, 2008.

"When born, Heramb weighed only 1,300 gms and also suffered from jaundice. Given his heart condition, we knew there were no chances of the baby surviving. Yet we took a chance and Thakur operated upon him on April 2. But the baby's health began deteriorating as his SPO2 count decreased drastically and he died on April 3, 2008," said Hemade, who later filed a case against Thakur and KEM, with the MMC, Mumbai.

Thakur, a consultant cardiothoracic surgeon had operated on 12-day-old Heramb on April 2, 2008, who passed away on April 3 at 10.45 pm. "I have neither received a copy of the judgement nor the warning letter from the MMC. Actually, the Council had refuted claims made by Hemade in February itself and he had also accepted them," said Thakur, of the July 31 verdict that is in Hemade's favour.

However, a dissatisfied Hemade now plans to move the Mumbai high court. "Giving a mere warning letter to the doctor is as good as not giving him any punishment. We had asked for his medical suspension and I plan to state the same when I file an appeal with the Mumbai high court in a month's time," Hemade added.

Claiming that Heramb's bypass surgery was the first-of-its-kind in Asia on such a young baby, Thakur had also called a press conference on the morning of April 3. "He told the press that the baby's operation was successful and that he would go on to live a healthy life. Our family wasn't informed about this press conference and the baby's parents were not present when it was held," mentioned Hemade.

He also accused Thakur of tampering with the medical documents related to the baby's treatment after the operation was held in April 2008. "Thakur and the hospital staff manipulated the SPO2 figures in the documents in order to defend themselves after Heramb died," said Hemade.

When contacted to give his take on this claim, Thakur said, "You should ask the hospital authorities if they did this."




Setback to Modi as Guj HC decides to set up an SIT to probe Ishrat's encounter
http://twocircles.net/2009aug08/setback_modi_guj_hc_decides_set_sit_probe_ishrats_encounter.html
• Submitted by admin on 8 August 2009 - 11:36pm.
By TwoCircles.net Staff Correspondent,
Ahmedabad: In another severe setback to the Narendra Modi government, the Gujarat High Court has decided to set a up a team of three high ranking police officials on the lines of the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the truth behind the encounter of Ishrat Jahan and three others on the outkskirts of the city on June 15, 2004.
This was announced by Justice KS Zhaveri on Friday on a petition filed by Ishrat’s mother Shamima Kausar.
Justice Zhaveri directed the state government to submit a list of all the officials of the rank of additional director general of police (ADG) by August 12 so as to take a decision on the names of those to be included in the team.
In her petition filed through advocate Mukul Sinha in October 2004, Shamima had demanded CBI probe. However, the court rejected the demand to hand over the case to CBI saying that it was not possible for CBI to conduct all investigations. However, it decided for a probe by a team of police officials of the level of ADG.
In her submissions, Shamima said that investigations by the Department of Crime Branch (DCB) of Ahmedabad police was not fair. DCB official Parikshita Gurjar, who had conducted the probe after the encounter, had concluded that it was a genuine encounter and filed a summary in the POTA court, requesting for closure of the case. But Shamima, in her petition, disputed the findings of Gurjar and said that Gurjar’s findings intended to support the theory of the police officials involved in ‘fake’ encounter.
Police officias, like in other encounter cases after 2002 anti-Muslim riots in the state, had floated the theory that the four were on a mission to kill Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
The police, in its FIR lodged in DCB police station, had alleged that Ishrat Jahan, her husband Javed Pillai alias Gopinathan Pillai (who converted to Islam to marry Ishrat) and two Pakistanis – Akbar Ali Rana and Zeeshan Jouhar Abdul Ghani – were Lashkar-e-Toiba operatives.
But Shamima disputed it, saying it was a fabricated case by the Gujarat police and her daughter was not linked to any terrorist organization. She demanded a fair probe, saying she did not believe Gujarat police version.
The police FIR itself raises doubts about the claims of the police. According to FIR (a copy of it is in possession of TwoCircles.net), an intelligence was received by Ahmedabad city police about Pakistan-sponsored terrorists planning to attack Modi in Gandhinagar around mid-June in 2004.
According to intelligence received, terrorists were to start from Mumbai by road and then drive straightaway to Gandhinagar. But if it is true that police had received the intelligence, then why did it wait to intercept them in Ahmedabad? Why it did not make a bid to intercept them at the entry point in Gujarat or on the way at Surat, Ankleshwar, Bharuch or Vadodara because there was a possibility of the terrorists of having changed the route at the last moment and this would have defeated the Ahmedabad police plan to encounter them. In fact, this question was raised by Justice Zhaveri himself while asking for the list of the ADGs.
Another point that strengthens Shamima’s suspicion that it was a staged encounter is the police claim in the FIR that one of the terrorists got down from the car and took position with an AK-47 assault rifle. But, surprisingly, none of the police team received even a scratch while all the four terrorists got killed in retaliatory fire by police, a standard version used by police in all fake encounters.
Yet another point that raises suspicion about police version is that police have not so far found the owner of the car (MH02-JA-4786) in which the four alleged `terrorists’ travelled from Mumbai to Ahmedabad. In the same way it failed to trace the ownership of the motorcycle that was allegedly used by Sohrabuddin, also gunned down in an encounter in Ahmedabad by the same police officials, including D G Vanzara and Dr. Narendra Amin. Both Vanzara and Amin are currently imprisoned in connection with Sohrabuddin’s encounter and facing trial.




UP cops’ promotion to IPS stalled, govt cites HC stay
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/up-cops-promotion-to-ips-stalled-govt-cites-hc-stay/499771/0
Bhupendra Pandey Posted: Sunday , Aug 09, 2009 at 0250 hrs Lucknow:
Despite the provision in the service rules for holding the meeting of the Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC) twice a year, the officials of Uttar Pradesh Provincial Police Services (PPS) cadre have been waiting to be promoted to the IPS rank for two years.
The president of the PPS Association Wasim Ahmed said, “There are 27 vacancies for IPS officer lying with the state government, but the file related to the DPC was sent to the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) for approval in June-end.”
The last meeting of the DPC, which was originally scheduled for 2006, was held in 2007, when 17 PPS officers were inducted into the IPS cadre. The officers-in-waiting are Additional SPs of 1981, 82 and 83 batch.
Uttar Pradesh Home Secretary Mahesh Gupta, who has been looking after the matter, said, “The DPC for the PPS cadre was delayed following a stay order from the Lucknow Bench of the High Court regarding the gradation list of the cadre. Though the stay still exists, the file has been sent to the UPSC for consideration after consulting legal experts.”
Wasim Ahmed, however, said the stay order was issued in August 2008 after a petition was filed by a PPS officer regarding amendment in the rules of the gradation list of the cadre by the state government.
The petitioner had raised objections over the amendment which gave seniority to promoted officers of the reserved quota in the gradation list ignoring their service period and batch, Ahmed said.
An official waiting for the promotion told The Indian Express that the UPSC has asked the UP Home Department to explain how the stay order affected the DPC, but the state government has yet not responded, thereby further delaying the process.
Before the stay order in 2008, Ahmed said, the DPC was put on the backburner citing an incomplete annual confidential report of the PPS officers in waiting. Another office bearer of the association said the state cadre service rules have provisions of promoting a PPS officer to the IPS cadre after a period of eight years in the field.
The UPSC has a rule that no state cadre officer will be promoted to IPS cadre after crossing 54 years of age.
If DPC are not held to fill the vacancies, majority of the general category PPS officers who joined the cadre after 1992 would retire as an Additional SP, said another office bearer of the association





Madras HC directs removal of advertisements from govt buses
http://www.indlawnews.com/Newsdisplay.aspx?3d2d11c1-a335-4205-a8ae-8e0fe011094c
8/7/2009

Madras High Court directed the State Transport Authorities (STA) to remove all advertisement signboards from the State-owned corporation buses immediately.

While allowing a Public Interest Litigation Petition(PIL), a Division Bench comprising Justices S J Mukhopadhya and Raja Ilango held display on the side of the buses caused accidents and casualties.

In his PIL, Coimbatore Consumer Forum president M Kaliyamurthy submitted that the State Transport Authorities and the State-owned Transport Corporation Managing Directors allowed private publicity companies to use back windscreen of the buses and both the side window mirrors to display commercial advertisements.

‘To earn money for the transport corporations, the officials allowed the private parties to use the State-owned buses for products publicity purpose which is a violation of Motor Vehicles Regulation Act (MVR Act),’ he contended.

‘While thousands of buses carrying advertisement signboards are attracting bypass riders, it leads to accidents and causalties,’ Mr Kaliyamurthy added and sought to forbear the authorities from displaying advertisements on buses.

The Bench also directed the transport authorities to file the compliance report within two weeks.

UNI




'There is no urgency to hear this PIL'
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/city/bangalore/There-is-no-urgency-to-hear-this-PIL/articleshow/4864927.cms
TNN 7 August 2009, 12:36am IST
BANGALORE: "Stop dividing the nation on issues like religion, caste, creed and language. Keep your agitations outside..."

This was the high court's firm message to the advocate for pro-Kannada groups who have filed a PIL challenging the proposed unveiling of Tamil saint-poet Thiruvalluvar's statue at Ulsoor on August 9.

"Will you deposit the amount of loss if anything untoward happens on that day? We have read that the honourable chief minister of this state has invited the honourable chief minister of the neighbouring state... The CM of this state has also been invited there. Is your client ready to file an affidavit that they don't want the statue of Sarvajna in Chennai? Where is the invitation card? Does it not contain the government seal? We don't see any urgency to hear this petition," the division Bench headed by chief justice P D Dianakaran observed when the advocate mentioned that his clients are agitating over the issue for the past 18 years and wanted the court to take up the petition for hearing in the afternoon.

"Till August 3, BBMP, BDA or any other planning authority had not given any permission for installation of this statue by a private entity in a public place," the counsel for the petitioners, S Basavaraj, told the court. The petition is filed by former MLAs Vatal Nagaraj, Prabhakar Reddy, Karnataka Rakshana Vedike leader Praveen Shetty, DSS leader N Murthy and others.

"Unveiling of the statue in Bangalore was one of the demands put forth by forest brigand Veerappan when he had held Kannada matinee idol Rajkumar hostage in 2001. There are several burning issues between the two states... Necessary permission under Karnataka Town and Country Planning Act and Karnataka Parks, Playgrounds and Open Spaces Preservation and Regulation Act is necessary.," the petition states, seeking a stay on the unveiling.




HC seeks govt reply on PIL on NREGA
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/city/patna/HC-seeks-govt-reply-on-PIL-on-NREGA/articleshow/4864784.cms
TNN 7 August 2009, 12:17am IST
PATNA: The Patna High Court on Thursday directed the state government to give reply to a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking direction to it for framing rules for implementing the National Rural Employment Guaranty Act (NREGA) in the state.

A division bench comprising acting Chief Justice Shivakirti Singh and Justice Anjana Prakash issued the directive while hearing the PIL of Akshaya Kumar who submitted that under the provisions of Section 32 of NREGA, which is a Central Act, the respective state governments have to frame rules to implement its provisions.

As the state government has not framed the rules, proper implementation of the provisions of the entire Act in Bihar is difficult, the petitioner submitted, adding the objective of the Act is to guaranty employment to the families below poverty line in the rural areas.



HC to give verdict tomorrow on quota in pvt technical colleges
http://www.indopia.in/India-usa-uk-news/latest-news/643013/National/1/20/1
Published: August 6,2009

A division bench comprising Justices Pradeep Kant and R R Awasthi reserved its order today on a PIL filed by B K Singh Parmar.
The petitioner argued that the new reservation policy providing 50 per cent quota to SC/ST and OBC students in private technical institutions is against the law, but the argument was contested by the state government and UP Technical University.

Source: PTI




PIL filed to stop statue unveiling
http://bangalorebuzz.blogspot.com/2009/08/pil-filed-to-stop-statue-unveiling.html
A craftsman giving final touches to Thiruvalluvar's new statue in Ulsoor on Wednesday.
Express News Service & Agencies First Published : 06 Aug 2009 09:55:40 AM ISTLast Updated : 06 Aug 2009 10:00:42 AM IST
BANGALORE: Kannada Chaluvali Vatal Paksha leader, Vatal Nagaraj and others have filed a Public Interest Litigation against the unveiling of Tamil poet Thiruvalluvar’s statue, at Ulsoor on August 9.
The petitioners have requested the High Court to stay the unveiling of the statue as the state government is doing so when the code of conduct for the by-elections is in force.
They further stated, that the government has not obtained the BBMP’s permission for unveiling the statue nor has it completed the formalities required for unveiling a statue in public place. The state government has not obtained the necessary permissions according to Karnataka Town and Contry Planning Act, Karnataka Park, Play Ground and Open Space Preservation and Regulation Act.
The petitioners have also stated that there is a water dispute between the two states and the judgement has been given against Karnataka.
There is a case against granting classical language status to Kannada in the Chennai High Court.
Under these circumstances there will be unrest in the society if the statue is unveiled. The politicians are doing a gimmick to influence vote banks and ignoring public interest. The chief ministers of both states are made the respondents in the case.

KRC to EC: Statue will influence polls
A section of Kannada Rakshana Vedike (KRV) activists on Wednesday, petitioned the Election Commission against the state government’s plan to unveil the statute of Tamil poet Thiruvalluvar in Bangalore on August 9.
The group, which has been opposing the installation of the statue, said that the government’s move will influence the August 18 bypoll in Govindarajanagar Assembly segment in the city. The government should be stopped from unveiling the statue, since the model code of conduct is in place, it said in a its petition to Chief Electoral Officer C S Suranjan. Officials in the CEO’s office said that there was “no change” in the EC’s stand. The government had been given permission to go ahead with the programme.
posted by The Bangalorean @ 8/07/2009 04:26:00 AM




PIL against Thiruvalluvar statue: Karnataka HC raps antagonists
http://gopalenews.blogspot.com/2009/08/pil-against-thiruvalluvar-statue.html
By Gopal Ethiraj

Thursday, August 6, 2009
BANGALORE, 07 August (asiantribune.com): Making stinging remarks against Kannada protagonists opposing the unveiling of Tamil saint poet Thiruvalluvar's statue here, Karnataka High Court today asked them not to divide the nation on the lines of caste, religion and region. It would only fuel bad blood and lead to strained relations between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

"Don't make attempts to divide the nation on caste and language lines," a division bench comprising Chief Justice P D Dinakaran and Justice V G Sabhahit observed when counsel for pro-Kannada outfits prayed for an early hearing of their PIL seeking direction to government not to unveil the statue.

"Do not carry your agitation to the court," the bench warned the petitioners, who included Kannada Chaluvali Vatal Paksha leader Vatal Nagaraj, the former MLA, Prabhakara Reddy, Kannada Rakshana Vedike chief Praveen Shetty and Dalit leader N. Murthy.

The Chief Justice also remarked that "if you have guts, file a petition in the Madras High Court in connection with the unveiling of the statue of (Kannada poet) Sarvajna".

The Chief Justice sought to know how the unveiling is in public interest
When the petitioners informed the court it was a private one, the Chief Justice said the invitation printed by the Government mentioned it a Government programme.
The petitioners persisted that the unveiling is by a private agency. The Chief Justice asked them to place some deposit before the court, and said “You will lose the deposit if it is proved that the function is a Government one.”
The Bench refused to take up hearing of the matter in the afternoon, saying that it is not urgent. It said the matter could be posted on Friday and adjourned further hearing of the case.

Statue will influence by-polls: Kannada Vedike

A section of Kannada Rakshana Vedike (KRV) activists on Wednesday, petitioned the Election Commission against the state government’s plan to unveil the statute of Tamil poet Thiruvalluvar in Bangalore on August 9.

The group said that the government’s move will influence the August 18 by-poll in Govindaraja Nagar Assembly segment in the city. The government should be stopped from unveiling the statue, since the model code of conduct is in place, it said in a its petition to Chief Electoral Officer C S Suranjan.

Officials in the CEO’s office said that there was “no change” in the EC’s stand. The government had been given permission to go ahead with the programme.
Posted by e.gopal at 8:48 PM




Fee hike judgement today
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/city/delhi/Fee-hike-judgement-today/articleshow/4864802.cms
TNN 7 August 2009, 01:08am IST
NEW DELHI: It is going to be a big day for parents of schoolchildren and the schools themselves as the Supreme Court on Friday will pronounce its verdict on the discretion of private schools to hike fees periodically and the supervisory role of the government.

In its 2004 judgment, the apex court had upheld the power of the Director Education to have the final say in fee hikes being resorted to by schools on the ground of implementing pay commission recommendations for teachers.

It had also okayed the decision of the Director Education to freeze the fee structure and stop transfer of funds from schools to the parent society.

However, the Action Committee for Unaided Private Schools had moved a review petition seeking reconsideration of the 2004 verdict and had argued that teachers needed to be paid higher salary under the sixth pay commission recommendations.

The review petition, moved through advocate Romy Chacko, had also suggested that the 2004 judgment was contrary to provisions of the Delhi School Education Act.



HC reserves judgement on criminal appeal of Pandher, Koli
http://www.indopia.in/India-usa-uk-news/latest-news/643011/National/1/20/1
Published: August 6,2009

The judgement was reserved by a Division Bench comprising Justice Imtiyaz Murtaza and Justice Kashi Nath Pandey.
Pandher, a resident of Noida, and his domestic help Koli were awarded capital punishment by a Special CBI court in Ghaziabad on February 13 this year for having raped and murdered a 14-year-girl at their house.
Several other girls, who went missing from the nearby Nithari village, were believed to have been raped and murdered at Pandher&aposs house where recovery of a large number of human skeletons in December, 2006, had evoked a huge public outcry following which CBI took up the inquiry into the matter.
Source: PTI




NCW expresses concern over SC judgement on cruelty
http://www.ptinews.com/news/215934_NCW-expresses-concern-over-SC-judgement-on-cruelty
STAFF WRITER 19:42 HRS IST
New Delhi, Aug 6 (PTI) The National Commission for Women (NCW) has expressed serious concern over the recent Supreme Court judgement that said that kicking or threatening wives with divorce by the in-laws cannot be construed as cruelty.

NCW Chairperson Girija Vyas has taken up the issue with Minister for Law and Justice Verappa Moily to file a review petition in this matter, an official release said here today.

The release said the Law minister has agreed to the request of the NCW and a review petition will be filed soon.




Raj HC upholds 10-yr RI of Pak national
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Raj-HC-upholds-10-yr-RI-of-Pak-national/499256
Agencies Posted: Friday , Aug 07, 2009 at 1213 hrs Jaipur:
The Rajasthan High Court has upheld a lower court's decision to sentence a Pakistani national to 10-year rigorous imprisonment on the charges of spying and indulging in anti-national activities.
Justice Mahesh Chanda Sharma dismissed the criminal revision petition filed by Jeeshaan Aalam alias Mohammad Aslam of Pakistan on Thursday, who was arrested by the state police in 2001, observing that he was involved in anti-national activities.
The court was informed that he was guilty of impersonation for spying in India at the instance of Pakistan and that he had also received financial aid from one of his sisters in England.
The accused had obtained fake Indian passport, ration card among other documents through fraudulent means in Delhi, claiming to be Mohammad Aslam of Allahabad.
Jeeshaan is undergoing a 10-year rigorous imprisonment term for these offences. He was apprehended on the basis of a secret information from Jodhpur.
He first arrived in India in February 2001 and stayed in Delhi for three months where he obtained his fake identity-proofs with the help of an accomplice.
After getting his passport, he moved to Jodhpur in May from where he was arrested in December 2001. Considering the grave nature of his offences and his involvement in anti-national activities, the court turned down sympathetic consideration of his revision petition and upheld the 10-year RI awarded to him.




HC takes up ACB action against graft accused DIG
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/city/hyderabad/HC-takes-up-ACB-action-against-graft-accused-DIG/articleshow/4865126.cms
TNN 7 August 2009, 06:47am IST
HYDERABAD: Expressing concern over the tendency of leaving the guilty unpunished, the AP High Court on Thursday asked for a file pertaining to an ACB case on a DIG of police, perused it and ordered it to be kept in the custody of the advocate general till further orders.

The division bench comprising Justice Goda Raghuram and Justice Ramesh Ranganathan was hearing a case pertaining to Special Protection Force deputy inspector-general Ch Yesuratnam who was booked in a disproportionate assets case by the ACB in 2006.

The bench was dealing with a petition filed by advocate K Srinivasulu who challenged the decision of the government which was trying to close the matter with some departmental action instead of allowing the ACB to prosecute the officer.

Hemendranath Reddy, counsel for the petitioner, told the court that the ACB had sought the government's nod to prosecute him, but it was not accorded the sanction so far.

Additional advocate-general A Satya Prasad sought an adjournment to which the bench did not agree and asked him to produce the connected file before the court in the afternoon.

After perusing the file, the bench ordered that the file be kept with the court. The counsel told the court that they do not have a second file and they may need it for preparing their counter. Wondering as to what happened to the system of backup files, the bench then ordered it to be kept with the AG and made it clear that it should not be sent back to the authorities without the court's permission.

The court granted 10 days time to the government to file a counter affidavit in the case.




HC extends helping hand to city's disabled
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/city/chandigarh/HC-extends-helping-hand-to-citys-disabled/articleshow/4865740.cms
Ajay Sura, TNN 7 August 2009, 07:15am IST
CHANDIGARH: City’s disabled, looking forward to a house of their own, now have a reason to smile as the Punjab and Haryana High Court has asked the chairman of Chandigarh Housing Board to take a decision within six months on allotment of land or residence to them on concessional rates. The order followed a Supreme Court judgment in March, whereby all state governments and local authorities had been asked to grant preferential treatment to disabled people and allot land at concessional rates as per Section 43 of Persons with Disabilities Act.

Until now, UT administration had no such provision in various schemes floated by CHB, except for some reservation during allotment. A division bench comprising chief justice Tirath Singh Thakur and justice KS Ahluwalia passed the order while hearing a writ petition filed by a senior Punjab IAS officer, Manjit Singh, against UT administration, CHB and other respondents.

The petitioner, who is afflicted with 75% locomotion disability, while praying for amendment in schemes floated by CHB in March 2008, complained that despite making representations before CHB chairman to provide people like him with flats on concessional rates, the board never responded.

He rued that the board did not respond even after the chief commissioner (appointed to hear grievances of the disabled) in Delhi sent a communication to the chairman on May 18, 2009, to grant benefits to handicapped people.
Considering the contentions raised by the petitioner and after hearing the reply of authorities concerned, HC observed in its orders, “We hope and trust that CHB will act as per the law within six months.”




The number of judges in the Madras HC set to go up
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/city/chennai/The-number-of-judges-in-the-Madras-HC-set-to-go-up/articleshow/4865137.cms
A Subramani, TNN 7 August 2009, 04:48am IST
CHENNAI: The number of judges in the Madras High Court is set to go up further, as the court's collegium has recommended the names of three senior district judges for appointment as HC judges.

According to highly-placed sources, the court cleared the names of the Tamil Nadu State Legal Services Authority member-secretary T Mathivanan; registrar-general of the High Court A Arumugha Swamy; and registrar (vigilance) KBK Vasuki recently.

If the vacancy created by the elevation and transfer of justice Prafulla Kumar Misra to Patna High Court as its chief justice is also taken into account, the number of vacancies available in the Madras High Court is five. As against the sanctioned strength of 60 judges, the court has 55 judges at present.

An all-service-judges list has been forwarded by the Madras High Court for the first time since March 2003, when eight district judges were elevated by the then chief justice B Subhashan Reddy.

Explaining the rationale behind this all-service candidate list, an official said the Supreme Court has stipulated that the ratio between judges picked up from the Bar and those elevated from the subordinate judiciary should be maintained at 2:1.

Right now, there are 16 service judges in the High Court, whereas 39 others are from the Bar. To achieve the mandatory 1:2 ratio, the collegium must elevate at least four more district judges to the High Court.

Welcoming the proposed elevation of three services judges to the higher judiciary, an office-bearer of the Tamil Nadu Judicial Officers Association said it had two advantages.

One, service judges usually lose out on seniority count if their names are sent along with that of advocates. As a matter of policy and rule, the Supreme Court accords seniority to advocates. For instance, when the last batch of 14 judges was appointed a few months ago, the top 11 slots went to advocates and only three positions at the bottom were assigned to the district judges. "It will have a telling effect on the career prospects of service judges, if they had age to reach the higher echelons of the judiciary," he reasoned.

Two, forwarded lists often get stuck at the Centre for want of verification of antecedents of and allegations against advocates recommended for appointment. "As the annual performance reports of all service judges are already with the higher judiciary there is little scope for further verification and delay," the office-bearer said.



HC seeks details on perks for MLAs
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/city/chennai/HC-seeks-details-on-perks-for-MLAs/articleshow/4865139.cms
TNN 7 August 2009, 04:48am IST
CHENNAI: The Madras high court has sought details of benefits accorded to MLAs in Tamil Nadu.

A direction to this effect was given by the first bench comprising Chief Justice HL Gokhale and Justice D Murugesan to the government pleader, on a public interest writ petition filed by social activist (Traffic) K R Ramaswamy, on Thursday. The bench has posted the matter to August 10 for further hearing.

In his petition, Ramaswamy had questioned the recent move in the state assembly to hike the monthly salaries of MLAs and to allot two-ground housing plots for MLAs at Sholinganallur.

Noting that the government should not consider increasing the salaries of MLAs at a time when the country was facing a grave financial crisis, he claimed his representation to the assembly secretary opposing salary hike to legislators did not evoke any response.

As representatives of people, MLAs must set an example by receiving the bare minimum salary instead of seeking enhancement frequently, Ramaswamy said and wanted the court to direct the assembly secretary not to implement the salary increase for members. "It is unwanted for the service-oriented members of the assembly, more so because they are provided with all benefits free of cost," he said.

As for the another proposal to allot housing plots for the members of the present House, Ramaswamy said the legislators were already entitled to a flat with all modern facilities like air-conditioner, telephone and other luxury amenities.

As Chennai city is already facing an acute shortage of space, with many residents unable to find a residential plot, it is not fair on the part of the people's representatives to give themselves an additional accommodation, he said. Almost all MLAs already own houses in Chennai or in their respective constituencies, he said.

Ramaswamy said he had sent fax message to the chief minister, finance minister and the assembly secretary requesting them to reconsider their decision to increase the salary and pension of MLAs and former MLAs, besides allotting a residential plot for the sitting MLAs.

"It is an unwanted and an unnecessary expense to the exchequer, more so because the tenure of an MLA is only five years, unless they are re-elected," the social activist had said in his petition.




Removes ads on buses, says HC
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/city/chennai/Removes-ads-on-buses-says-HC/articleshow/4865068.cms
TNN 7 August 2009, 04:40am IST
CHENNAI: The Madras high court asked the transport department authorities to remove all advertisements from the exteriors of all private and public transport buses in the state within a time frame.

"The transport commissioner may file an affidavit and give a time frame within which such advertisements, if any, displayed in one or other vehicles (buses) shall be removed," ruled a division bench comprising Justice SJ Mukhopadhaya and Justice Raja Elango on Thursday.

The bench was passing orders on a public interest writ petition filed by Coimbatore Consumer Cause, which sought strict implementation of Rule 343 of the Tamil Nadu Motor Vehicle Rules with regard to the prohibition of advertisements on buses, both private and public. The petitioner-forum also wanted the court to stipulate a time frame for the authorities to remove all illegal advertisements.

According to the petitioner, displaying advertisements on the front, rear and side portions of buses, both private and public, are explicitly prohibited by the state as well as the central motor vehicle rules. Such advertisements affect the normal transmission of light and distract road-users including drivers, resulting in road accidents, the petitioner said.

M Vetriselvan, counsel for the petitioner, said every year more than 11,000 people are killed in road accidents and that over 50,000 accidents are recorded by the authorities, and added that the court must direct the authorities to initiate appropriate action against those who violated Rule 343 of the TN Motor Vehicle Rules. The court must ensure that the statutory prohibition of advertisements is enforced strictly, as deviation would pose a grave danger to public safety, he submitted.

The Coimbatore division of the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation, which had impleaded itself in the case, denied any violation of statutory requirements, and added that they displayed advertisements only on the side portion of buses and not on front or rear windowpanes. They also submitted that it was an important revenue generation measure for the corporation.

During the arguments, however, the bench had rejected the argument of revenue generation on the ground that the public safety would prevail over any monetary considerations.



HC: Magistrate can't meddle in police probe
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4864982.cms
TNN 7 August 2009, 01:09am IST
NEW DELHI: A metropolitan magistrate cannot interfere in police investigations till the stage of filing the chargesheet, the Delhi High Court on Thursday said.

Pulling up a metropolitan magistrate, who issued an order to the commissioner of police stating that the police could not consult the prosecutor in a case before filing the chargesheet, Justice Mool Chand asked the trial court judge not to "devise a procedure other than the one provided under the code".

The HC's observation came while hearing the Delhi Police, which challenged the order in the high court. Delhi Police's counsel Mukta Gupta argued that as per the criminal porcedure code, police officers seeking legal advice at the time of filing a chargesheet was not wrong.

In the said case, the metropolitan magistrate's order followed after Delhi Police failed to file a charghesheet in a theft case within the stipulated 60 days after which the accused had to be released on bail. The investigating officer had said the delay was owing to the superior officer's direction to consult the public prosecutor before filing the chargesheet.



HC stays govt's ATKT proposal for 2 weeks
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/city/mumbai/HC-stays-govts-ATKT-proposal-for-2-weeks/articleshow/4865101.cms
Shibu Thomas , TNN 7 August 2009, 02:59am IST
MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court, in an interim order on Thursday, stayed the Maharashtra government's decision to allow SSC and HSC students who had failed in their examinations to avail of the Allowed To Keep Terms (ATKT) facility. Hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by student organisation Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), a division bench comprising Chief Justice Swatanter Kumar and Justice Ajay Khanwilkar gave the state two weeks to respond to the PIL. The court has also asked the state to submit the records in connection with its decision on ATKT.

On July 10, with the debut of the online admission process, the state issued an order that permitted SSC and also HSC students who had failed in a maximum of two subjects, to get admitted to the next grade on the basis of the ATKT facility. They had to clear the two subjects in which they had failed in a maximum of two attempts - either during the October 2009 or March 2010 examinations. In case they failed to clear their exams by March 2010, their admissions would be cancelled. The proposal to allow the ATKT facility after class XII exams is still pending with the ministry for higher and technical education.

As per the state board, there were 1.37 lakh students who had failed in one subject and another 67,683 students who had failed in two subjects in both the SSC and HSC examinations this year.

ABVP was represented by advocates Ram Apte and Anjali Helekar, who argued that the order was issued by the government in violation of the Maharashtra Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board Rules. According to the lawyers, the government introduced the new rules in haste and for political reasons without bothering to verify if infrastructure was in place to accommodate around two lakh additional students.

The ATKT rules were supposed to be only for a year as the state had said that it would introduce separate supplementary exams for students who had failed from the next academic year. These exams will be conducted within a month of the results.



Jadhav's family will oppose bail for tormentors in HC
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/city/mumbai/Jadhavs-family-will-oppose-bail-for-tormentors-in-HC/articleshow/4865077.cms
Vijay Singh, TNN 7 August 2009, 02:08am IST
NAVI MUMBAI: The family members of Saujanya Jadhav, the Koparkhairane woman who had committed suicide in June, will move the Bombay high court demanding cancellation of bail granted to her tormentors by a local court in Belapur. The Shiv Sena, sensing political opportunity, is supporting the Jadhavs.

"The politically connected goons who sexually harassed the 24-year-old, are out on bail but her family is still facing threats,'' Sena leader Vijay Chougule said.

He said the Sena would organise a protest march from Koparkhairane to Vashi on August 16. Saujanya's younger sister, Snehal, and mother Mangal were present at the Sena media briefing in Vashi.

"We have been receiving threats ever since the eight accused were released on bail,'' Mangal said.

Snehal added, "My sister was harassed by the goons, but a false complaint was made against our family, forcing her to take the drastic step.''

Snehal added that some of the boys would take off their clothes and stand outside their window. Following a public outcry in July, chief minister Ashok Chavan sought action against her tormentors.

Among the eight arrested were Suresh Sanas alias Daji and his brother, Vilas Sanas, the husband of NCP corporator Rupali Sanas.

The Sena dovetailed another issue-that of cops slapping MCOCA on five of its activists for allegedly being members of the Anu Angre gang. Chougule said the Sena would move the Bombay high court on Friday against the Navi Mumbai police.

DCP (zone 1) Pratap Dighavkar said, "We have slapped MCOCA cases on Angre and his gang members; they have serious criminal records. They can go to court if they think otherwise.''






Delhi HC to examine ambit of RTI Act

http://www.rtiindia.org/forum/26858-delhi-hc-examine-ambit-right-information-act.html
As reported by UNI in indlawnews.com on 04 August 2009:
IndlawNews
The Delhi High Court today deferred a set of petitions, all seeking to know whether there is a legal validity of providing information relating to confidential documents, the disclosure of which is protected by the Officials Secrets Act, 1923.

Justice Sanjiv Khanna was hearing about half-a-dozen petitions as to whether any information which is confidential can be provided under the Right to Information Act even though it serves no larger public interest.

All the petitions were clubbed together and the matter deferred to August 6.

Additional Solicitor General A S Chandhiok told the court that out of the six petitions, three were relating to the selection board proceedings for promotion of Army officers in Indian Army and one was a case of personal recruitment and another seeking information from the Crime Branch relating to investigation into the Batla House case.

Mr Chandhiok contended that the information sought in all these cases was of a nature which was confidential and could not be brought in public domain. Especially in the Batla House encounter case inquiry report, any fact could not be made public till the inquiry was complete, he said.

The Additional Solicitor General added that such information could not be provided under RTI .

The petitioners challenged the CIC’s order which directed the respondents to provide some confidential information to the RTI aspirants and sought quashing of this order as it violated the Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution and was contrary to the provisions of the RTI Act, 2005.

The case is being heard on a day-to-day basis and will come up on August 6.




What The SC Judges Must Do
http://blogs.outlookindia.com/default.aspx?ddm=10&pid=1984&eid=5
BLOGS / Sundeep Dougal
Fali S. Nariman in the Indian Express speaks for all when he says:
"it is not the law minister alone who was rebuffed in the Rajya Sabha on August 3, when the House would not grant him leave to introduce the Judges (Declaration of Assets and Liabilities) Bill 2009. It was a rebuke also to the judges of the higher judiciary; they were pulled down a peg or two for having expressed their readiness to disclose their assets if there was a law to that effect enacted by Parliament, but only if that law ensured the confidentiality of such declaration."
Arun Jaitley, the leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha had pointed out in the Rajya Sabha that this is the " first time in history that before introduction in Parliament the Bill has been circulated to the judicial institution itself, and it is on their objection that this clause 6 has been introduced":
I have particular objection to clause 6 of the Bill. Sir, clause 6 of the Bill specifically states, and, I am reading clause 6, "notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, a declaration made by a Judge to a competent authority shall not be made public or disclosed, and, shall not be called for, or, put into question by any citizen, court or authority, and, save as provided by sub-section 2, no Judge shall be subjected to any enquiry or query in relation to the contents of the declaration by any person."
In the Rajya Sabha itself, Ram Jethmalani had gone on to say:
Now, this privileged position, which the Judges are seeking from the Executive, makes them totally subservient to the Executive. This demolishes the whole vision of our founding fathers that the independence of the Judiciary is a must. You are destroying the independence of the judiciary. This Bill is a conspiracy in corruption.
Fali S. Nariman now suggests a way out in the Indian Express:
If the credibility of the higher judiciary is to be restored, as I believe it must — since without the higher judiciary our Constitution simply cannot work — it is essential that every judge of the Supreme Court set an example and voluntarily make a public disclosure of his (or her) assets on the website of the Supreme Court, law or no law. This would then be dutifully followed by judges of the high courts on the salutary principle stated in the Bhagavad Gita: “Whatsoever great men doeth, that other men also do; the standard they setteth up, by that the people go.”
...I would respectfully beseech the judges of our highest judiciary not to rely on the technicalities of the RTI Act or to depend on the executive to extricate them from their present delicate no-win situation. Public confidence in the administration of justice by the higher judiciary is of paramount concern.
POSTED BY SUNDEEP ON AUG 06, 2009 AT 20:06 IST




CJI refuses comment on dropping of judges' assets disclosure Bill
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/CJI-refuses-comment-on-dropping-of-judges---assets-disclosure-Bill/498913
Agencies Posted: Thursday , Aug 06, 2009 at 1851 hrs New Delhi:
Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan on Thursday declined to comment on government's decision to abruptly drop the judges assets disclousure Bill.
"Now that there is a proposed legislation, it would not be proper for me to comment," he said when reporters sought his views at a function in the Supreme Court premises. Justice Balakrishnan also declined to give his opinion on a suggestion that judges, instead of waiting for a legislation, should voluntarily disclose their assets.
On Monday, the UPA government had to hurriedly drop the Judges (declaration of assets and liabilities Bill) 2009 in the Rajya Sabha after members from not only opposition BJP and CPI-M but also from Congress objected to the Bill in its present form. The agitated MPs were of the view that the Bill granted immunity to the judges from disclosing their assets to the public as it merely envisaged declaration of the same to the Chief Justice of India.




Long road to reform
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/long-road-to-reform/499128/0
Pratap Bhanu Mehta Posted: Friday , Aug 07, 2009 at 0336 hrs
The recent episode over the Judges (Declaration of Assets & Liabilities) Bill is a reminder of just how difficult genuine judicial reform is going to be. In some ways, the issue of declaring assets is the simplest item on judicial reform. Judges’ legitimate concerns that their disclosures not be used as a tool of harassment can be easily handled without having to exempt them from public disclosure. But the judiciary’s response to the issue has two fundamental mistakes. The first rule of any sound jurisprudence is that no one should be a judge in their own cause. The judiciary insists that only it can superintend itself. The second related mistake is to convert the claim of judicial independence into exemption from accountability. If Veerappa Moily is serious about judicial reform, accountability in so many different forms will be a central concern. The attitude of some sections of the judiciary to the asset bill is a warning about how independence will be used as a shield against accountability. And the delicious irony in the fact that politicians were teaching constitutional lessons to the judiciary in the parliamentary debate is a sign of how resistant they are perceived to be to serious reform.
In any reform story, entrenched actors within a sector are the hardest to move towards reform. Unfortunately, the judiciary is proving to be no exception. There are a number of indicators of this. We are all grateful to the courts for some splendid defences of our liberty and for holding government accountable. But if you scratch under the surface, it becomes apparent that there is a selection bias driving our perception of the judiciary. To just take one example, institutions like the Delhi high court have been at the forefront of rights and governance issues, sometimes excessively so. But if you look at the country as a whole, barring a couple of jurisdictions, the so-called rights revolution in our courts has not taken place. There is enormous variability in how courts are responding. In short, even the court’s achievements are much more contingent and fragile than we suppose and seem to be driven largely by wonderful individual judges rather than systemic factors.
The mere fact that millions of plaintiffs are now suffering what is called the punishment of due process is an enormous blot on the credibility of the justice system. And there is growing evidence that many seeking justice are dropping out of the formal system all together. The factors behind this are complicated. But one of the most disquieting aspects is that many of the delays are a result of procedures and conventions directly under the control of judges. Individual judges are enormously hard working. But there is no rational basis for the way adjournments are granted, benches shifted and assigned, and the utter lack of control over lawyers. One of the big mysteries in political economy is why judges, with all their protection and security, do not intellectually, legally and procedurally take greater charge of their own courts. Even at the highest levels of the judiciary, the deference to lawyers is amazing. The test of the judiciary’s willingness to reform will be first and foremost a serious and committed internal conversation about all the million small things it can do that are within its power The lack of this open conversation suggests how muted the constituency for reform is.
The judiciary’s position on appointments, especially to the Supreme Court, is constitutionally untenable. It is, not to put too fine a point on it, one of the most non-transparent processes in the world, not open to any form of scrutiny. There is no principled basis for the judiciary to sanction reservations for everyone else, but exempt itself from its ambit. In public perception the judicial response to charges of corruption is extremely tepid, mostly amounting to treating Sikkim and Assam as a backwater posting. Even in areas where the judiciary took on major governance roles, like the environment, the net results are mixed. The common thread running through all this is that independence has become a fig leaf to shield accountability. The concern for judicial independence is not a sufficient argument to shut out other branches of government from participating in creating better systems of accountability. Indeed, the judiciary’s claim to independence and its credibility will be enhanced if it is more transparent.
Moily has an ambitious agenda for reform: timely disposal of cases, improving the quality of appointments, introducing a modicum of judicial accountability, initiating procedural innovations. But none of this is going to be possible without active cooperation and dialogue with the judiciary. The disquieting lesson of the Judges Bill is that it is a demonstration of just how difficult and adversarial this dialogue is going to be. And then you can throw into the mix the legal profession which has an odd relationship to the system.
Broadly, there are three groups. There is the growing group that does mostly backroom professional legal work, like contracts, etc. But in the frontline profession there are two groups. The upper echelons are great beneficiaries of both judicial deference and a lack of culture of accountability. Many of them are brilliant and upright. But the systemic culture of the profession needs a hard look. Forget more complicated ideas of conflict of interest, and what it means to be an officer of the court. There are a distressingly large number of instances where top lawyers, even after having taken advances, will not show up for hearing after hearing, and there is simply no redress. The top echelon has the ability to dominate an intellectually insecure judiciary and benefit from great under-professionalisation. Then there is a large mass of struggling lawyers at different levels: immensely resentful of the privileges of the few in the profession and convinced that justice is not about the law but manipulating existing protocols and conventions. They have also consistently blocked legal and judicial reform.
The executive also has more than its fair share of blame. But the importance of the Judges Bill was not simply that it would have brought judges under principles they themselves have enacted. It was that this was a test case for the possibility of a dialogue between the judiciary and other branches of government. If the debate on this is so entrenched on the simplest issue, think of what might happen on more complex issues like the Judicial Accountability Bill or the appointments of judges or the reform of the Bar. Now the rule of law is running into the political economy of the judiciary.
The writer is president, Centre for Policy Research, Delhi express@expressindia.com





PIL challenges SR Lakha's appointment as UPPSC chief
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/city/lucknow/PIL-challenges-SR-Lakhas-appointment-as-UPPSC-chief/articleshow/4861436.cms
TNN 6 August 2009, 03:19am IST
LUCKNOW: After hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) challenging state government's decision to appoint retired IAS officer SR Lakha as chairman of UP Public Service Commission (UPPSC), the Lucknow bench of the High Court on Tuesday directed the state government to file a counter-affidavit within two weeks. The division bench comprising justice Pradeep Kant and justice Ritu Raj Awasthi issued directions on the PIL filed JN Shukla through his counsel SC Pandey.

The petitioner, who is also a journalist, has said in the PIL that the appointment in a sensitive post like chairman UPPSC should be done by the state government in an transparent manner giving no scope for any grievance. But after retirement Lakha has been appointed on the coveted post despite the fact that he faced charges of corruption and was even indicted by the CBI and an another departmental inquiry for committing anomalies and irregularities while serving as the cane commissioner and vice-chairman, Lucknow Development Authority (LDA).

While working as state cane commissioner, the petitioner has said, Lakha was found guilty of official misconduct by the CBI in an inquiry conducted in connection with the dismissal of a cashier Krishna Kumar Sinha. The fact was also taken into consideration by the high court in one of its order in 1998. The court had forwarded the CBI report to the then chief secretary directing him to take action, the petitioner has said, while claiming that to the best of his knowledge government did not take any action in compliance of court's directions.

Further, the petitioner has claimed that while serving as LDA vice-chairman, Lakha was found guilty of serious charges of irregularities in sale of nazul land in the city. An inquiry conducted in 1996 on the directions of the then state government had found Lakha guilty of anomalies, the petitioner has said. He has challenged Lakha's appointment as chairman of UPPSC on grounds that by nominating him on such a sensitive post, the state government has acted against the provisions of Article 316 of part XIV and chapter II the Constitution.

The petitioner has also argued that the state government has worked against the public interest by appointing a tainted person as the head of a reputed organisation responsible for selecting suitable candidates for various government services. The petitioner said that he had also made representation to the governor against the appointment but nothing was done. The petitioner has prayed before the High Court to quash the appointment as it is against natural justice, violates Constitutional norms and government of India rules.



TMC cracks down on illegal hoardings
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/TMC-cracks-down-on-illegal-hoardings/498469
Express News Service Posted: Thursday , Aug 06, 2009 at 0006 hrs Mumbai:
After getting a rap from the Bombay High Court, the Thane Municipal Corporation has come down heavily on illegal hoardings.
Municipal Commissioner Nandkumar Jantre said in the last two days the administration has removed illegal hoardings dotting the skyline of Thane. “So far, we have booked 35 people for defacement of public places,” said Jantre.
He added that in some places people were putting up resistance to remove the hoardings. The civic administration has distributed a list of legal hoardings to all the wards. The ones not mentioned in the list have to be removed.
Last week, the High Court had slapped a fine of Rs 5000 on civic officials including the commissioner of Thane. The court had given civic body two weeks to remove the illegal hoardings in the city. The court particularly asked the TMC to ensure all illegal hoardings are removed from pavement and roads. According to petitioner Prabakar Choudhary, who had filed a PIL, the roads were blocked due to the scaffoldings erected on the pavements and roads.
Besides hoardings of commercial nature, political ones also dot the urban sprawl. Hoardings belonging to politicians were put up on the pretext of giving compliments for religious festivals or birthdays.
Member of the Legislative Council and Thane city NCP chief Jitendra Awhad said, “There are more hoardings in the city than what has been approved by the TMC. This is being done with the connivance of the civic officials and the advertisers. The political hoardings are put up only for a few days and do not pose a problem.”





SC judgement on 'cruelty' against wife insensitive: Brinda
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/PoliticsNation/SC-judgement-on-cruelty-against-wife-insensitive-Brinda/articleshow/4861757.cms
6 Aug 2009, 0414 hrs IST, ET Bureau
NEW DELHI: Dubbing the Supreme Court’s verdict, that a husband and his relatives cannot be prosecuted for “cruelty” towards the wife just because his family members had kicked her, as “insensitive reading of the law”, CPM on Wednesday sought central intervention into the matter. The party wants the government to file a review petition challenging the judgement of the apex court.

“I request you to urgently study the said judgement and ensure that a review petition is filed at the earliest. The government must play a proactive role in protecting the rights of women, especially when these rights are sought to be eroded by judgements which reflect an insensitive reading of the law,” CPM politbureau member Brinda Karat said in a letter to law and justice minister Veerappa Moily.

The Supreme Court has ruled that a husband cannot be prosecuted under section 498(A) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) merely because his mother or other members of the family kicked her or threatened her with divorce though it may amount to some other offence. The ruling came on an appeal filed by a South Africa-based non-resident Indian and his family in a matrimonial dispute case in India.

Ms Karat cautioned the Centre that such a judicial understanding of cruelty will be a licence for domestic violence, both mental or physical.

“It may also encourage wife-beaters. If unchallenged it will undo the positive steps taken by government and Parliament to provide a just legal framework to address the increasing number of cases of domestic violence and protect the lives and dignity of women within the domestic sphere,” the CPM Rajya Sabha member said.

She told the law minister that it could only be considered a retrograde judgement as according to the Supreme Court, “kicking your daughter-in-law”, threatening her with divorce or verbal torture do not amount to cruelty.




Film tussle plays out in High Court
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Film-tussle-plays-out-in-High-Court/498613
Express News Service Posted: Thursday , Aug 06, 2009 at 0359 hrs Kolkata:
The legal tussle between the makers of the Bengali film Poran Jay Joliya Re and Bollywood blockbuster Namastey London continued in the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday.
Justice Nadira Patheriya wanted to see both the films in the courtroom but the counsel of Sri Venkatesh Films, the producers of Poran Jay Joliya Re, said the DVD of the film was not available and requested the judge to see the film in a cinema hall.
The Bengali film, which was released a few days ago, is running at cinema halls across the state. Earlier this week the producers of the Bollywood film (which was released in 2007) filed a petition claiming that the Bengali film violated the copyright law as it is a blatant copy of Namastey London and requested the court to ban the film. The court then asked the Bengali film producer to submit the money collected by selling tickets of Poran Jay Joliya Re to the court. The case will come up for hearing again on Thursday.




Shopian court rejects bail plea of J- K police officers
http://blog.taragana.com/n/shopian-court-rejects-bail-plea-of-j-k-police-officers-132424/
Ani
August 6th, 2009
SRINAGAR - A court in Shopian on Thursday rejected the bail application of Jammu and Kashmir police officers, who were arrested in connection with the alleged rape and murder of two women in Shopian.
The court rejected their plea under the Section 497 of CRPC (discretionary powers of the judge to grant bail or not).
Investigations in the case were still on, the sessions judge said.
Former Superintendent of Police of Shopian Javed Iqbal Mattoo, and Deputy Superintendent of Police Rohit Baskota, who were arrested along with Station House Officer Shopian Shafiq Ahmed and Sub-inspector Gazi Abdul Rehman, moved a petition in the Supreme Court against the ruling of J and K High Court, to arrest these officers and also to collect blood samples to prepare the DNA mapping of these officers.
An apex court bench headed by the Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan had asked the Shopian sessions court to expeditiously consider the bail pleas.
During the hearing, the bench had said the High Court should have left it to the superior police officers to investigate the case and should have entitled the police officers to move for bail before the appropriate court.
The bench had also expressed surprise that only because of agitation the investigation was handed over to the Special Investigation Team (SIT).
The J and K High Court, hearing a Public Interest Litigation Petition (PIL) filed by J and K High Court Bar Association in connection with alleged rape and murder of Neelofar and Aasiya Jan in Shopian ordered for the arrest of four police officers who were suspended in the same the case. The court also ordered to constitute SIT and DNA mapping of these officers. (ANI)




Indian court orders death for 2003 Mumbai bombers
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/08/06/mumbai.twin.attacks.sentence/
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Chief public prosecutor described bombers' death sentence as "exemplary"
54 killed in 2003 blasts at Mumbai's Gateway of India and Zaveri Bazaar gold market
Bombers identified as Mohammad Hanif, his wife Fahmida, and Ashrat Ansari
Defendants linked to Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, a Pakistan-based militant group
August 6, 2009 -- Updated 0829 GMT (1629 HKT)
NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- An anti-terror court in India Thursday sentenced a couple and their accomplice to death for the 2003 attacks in Mumbai that prosecutors said were carried out at the behest of Pakistan-based militants.
Chief public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam described the sentencing of Mohammad Hanif Sayyed, his wife, Fahmeeda Sayyed, and Ashrat Ansari as "exemplary".
In the 2003 bombings at Mumbai's landmark Gateway of India and the glittering gold market Zaveri Bazaar, 54 people were killed.
Prosecutors insisted that the assaults were planned by the Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, a Pakistan-based militant group, also blamed for last year's siege in Mumbai which left 164 people dead.
Nikam said he told the court that the three convicts had "demonic" designs to terrorize Mumbai. He said more 103 witnesses testified at trial.
Defense attorney Abdul Wahab indicated he would appeal the sentencing in a higher court.




HC orders removal of AIDS posters
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/city/chennai/HC-orders-removal-of-AIDS-posters/articleshow/4861648.cms
TNN 6 August 2009, 02:47am IST
CHENNAI: Two days after a woman dragged the Tamil Nadu State AIDS Control Society (Tansacs) to court for having used her photo and that of her daughter without consent, the Madras HC on Wednesday pulled up the AIDS body and directed it to remove all banners featuring the photo within a week.

Justice K Suguna, before whom the matter came up for admission, also permitted the petitioner’s counsel, G Mohanakrishnan, to implead Sasi Advertising Agency in the case. The woman and her daughter have sought compensation of Rs 1 crore from Tansacs.



Aruna HC fines man for seeking fake death compensation
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/city/ahmedabad/Aruna-HC-fines-man-for-seeking-fake-death-compensation/articleshow/4861217.cms
TNN 6 August 2009, 05:03am IST
AHMEDABAD: Gujarat High Court has imposed a penalty of Rs 15,000 on a man for seeking death compensation for his grandmother who is alive. "This is not a minor lapse. A serious view needs to be taken on the matter," said Justice RR Tripathi, who heard the case. While dismissing the plea, the angry judge termed it a dishonest petition', and slapped a fine.

On May 28, 2002, Kamruddin Kazi demanded compensation for the death of his father claiming he was killed on March 2 in the post-Godhra riots. His father, Abbas Ali, was from Limdi village in Jhalod block of Dahod district. When the state government did not take action on the compensation application for a couple of years, Kamruddin filed a petition in HC in 2005 seeking that it be directed to release the compensation amount.

However, in this petition, Kamruddin sought compensation for the death of his mother Jetunbibi too. When Kamruddin passed away, his son Shaukat joined the case in HC earlier this year. Justice Tripathi asked the state government reasons for not giving compensation in this case, despite several packages announced by the state as well as Union government.

During the hearing of Shaukat's application for joining the case as heir, the Dahod collectorate provided information on the Kazi family to HC. As per this, Abbas Ali and his widow Jetunbibi had two daughters and two sons.

What was shocking was that the government report stated that 70-year-old Jetunbibi is still alive. Shaukat's advocate said he would have to study the information on his client's ancestors. But, the court said if Shaukat did not deposit the fine amount in the court registry, it would not take up further hearing of the petition. It observed that Kamruddin had not been the only heir and claimant for compensation. But, he had chosen not to include his brother and sisters as respondents in the petition.



Auto-rickshaw owners move HC on transport dept order
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Auto-rickshaw-owners-move-HC-on-transport-dept-order/498614
Express News Service Posted: Thursday , Aug 06, 2009 at 0401 hrs Kolkata:
The Kolkata Auto-Rickshaw Operators Union on Wednesday filed a petition in the Calcutta High Court challenging the notification issued by the state transport department on January 12, 2009. The notification had stated that all old autos must be replaced by the new four-stroke LPG mode ones. The case is likely to come up for hearing this week.
The petitioner alleged that the transport department had issued the notification violating the order of the Calcutta High Court passed on July 18 last year. The notification issued by the transport department was merely an administrative order, which cannot override a judicial order, the petition said.
The petitioner said that upholding a notification issued by the state environment department, the Calcutta High Court had directed that the existing auto-rickshaws be converted into four-stroke LPG mode. The notification of the environment department had fixed the deadline of December 31, 2008 for it and it was extended to July 31 by an interim order of the High Court later.
But the transport department had said in its notification on January 12, 2009 that old auto-rickshaws be replaced with new four-stroke LPG mode ones. In other words, the transport department decided to scrap the old autos instead of converting them to four-stroke LPG mode ones. So the transport department had issued the notification not complying with the High Court’s order, alleged the petitioner.
The transport department had decreed that only new four-stroke LPG mode autos would be allowed to ply in Kolkata, North 24-Parganas, South 24-Parganas, Howrah and Nadia. The petition said that nearly 22,000 auto-owners had applied to the transport department for conversion of old autos to four-stroke LPG mode ones according to a rehabilitation scheme.




Sahara logo on team jersey continues: HC
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4861389.cms
PTI 6 August 2009, 12:50am IST
NEW DELHI: Hockey India's efforts to vacate the Calcutta High Court's order, which made it mandatory to have Sahara's logo on team jersey, went up in smoke after the HC rejected their argument that the contract has ended with dissolution of the Indian Hockey Federation.

The Court observed that the game's governing body was just an alter ego of the disbanded IHF, whose activities were taken over by the Hockey India.

"It appeared to the court that Hockey India was formed to avoid the threat of IOA to cancel hosting of Hockey World Cup in Delhi in 2010 consequent to suspension and disaffiliation of IHF," Justice Nadira Patherya said in a press release issued by the Sahara corporate group.

"Although the IHF continues as a body corporate but has lost its importance in the world of hockey. In fact, the activities of IHF have been taken over by Hockey India. The court says that it would not be incorrect to say that the mantle of the IHF has been taken over by Hockey India.

"Therefore, in effect Hockey India is nothing but an alter ego of IHF and this is evidenced from the three members of the ad-hoc committee constituting the Hockey India," Patherya concluded.

The court says the said step of incorporation of Hockey India could have been taken even prior to the order dated 27.04.2009. But the incorporation of Hockey India was not done then and this is another factor, which undoubtedly goes to show that the incorporation of Hockey India was to defeat the order.

The grounds, on which the Hockey India claimed vacation or variation of the stay order dated 24.7.2009, were not found by the court, the release said.

Another factor, which does not warrant vacating the earlier stay order, is that the Hockey team to be selected is a single national team. It is nobody's case that two teams will be selected, one by IHF and one by the Hockey India.

It is only one team selected by the Hockey India which represents India in tournaments and therefore this is an added factor to evidence the Hockey India is nothing but an alter ego of the IHF.

Accordingly, the stay order of the Kolkata High court, where it restrained Hockey India from permitting the national team to play without the company's logo, is not vacated but continued till five weeks, it concluded.




HC to take up cases valued above 20L
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/city/goa/HC-to-take-up-cases-valued-above-20L/articleshow/4861485.cms
TNN 6 August 2009, 04:01am IST
PANAJI: The legislative assembly on Wednesday passed the Goa Civil Courts (Amendment) Bill, 2009, which empowers the government to transfer appeals valued up to Rs 20 lakh and currently pending before the high court to district courts.

Consequently, the high court will be the appellate court for matters valued above Rs 20 lakh, thereby reducing the pendency of such cases.

Following the transfer of appeals, the district courts will now have the powers to proceed with them from the stage they were last heard, or from an earlier stage or de novo (afresh), as the district court may decide.

The bill seeking to amend Goa, Daman and Diu Civil Courts Act, 1965, also provides for removal of some obsolete words such as administrator' and union territory' from the Act.




Activists go to HC, challenge unveiling
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/city/bangalore/Activists-go-to-HC-challenge-unveiling/articleshow/4861154.cms
TNN 6 August 2009, 12:57am IST
BANGALORE: Kannada groups headed by former MLAs Vatal Nagaraj and Prabhakar Reddy have moved the high court, challenging the proposed unveiling of saint-poet Thiruvalluvar's statue near Ulsoor lake on August 9.

"Unveiling of the statue in Bangalore was one of the demands put forth by forest brigand Veerappan when he had held Kannada matinee idol Dr Rajukumar as hostage in 2001. There are several burning issues between the two states. Karnataka has suffered in the Cauvery water dispute by the unjust award of the tribunal... For installing the statue, necessary permission under the Karnataka Town and Country Planning Act and Karnataka Parks, Playgrounds and Open Spaces Preservation and Regulation Act is necessary... These have not been obtained... Unveiling of the statue on August 9 will be violative of the code of conduct imposed by the Election Commission in view of the by-elections to five Assebly constituencies," the petitioners have stated, seeking a stay on the unveiling.

Karnataka Rakshana Vedike leader Praveen Shetty, DSS leader N Murthy and others are co-petitioners. The petition is likely to come up for hearing in a day or two.

A division Bench headed by chief justice P D Dinakaran has suggested setting up of special cells at district and taluk levels for executing non-bailable warrants issued by courts. "Why put the police for political bandobust and other duty? Let them do their duty. In Tamil Nadu, they have a separate cell for manhunts," the Bench told advocate general Ashok Haranahalli.

After taking into consideration statements made by the advocate general in court, the Bench disposed of the suo-motu PIL that was filed last week based on an internal assessment report of pending cases.

The court has directed the state to complete the formalities of appointing public propsecutors by August 12. The government has also been asked to complete appointment of 275 FDAs and 411 SDAs, for which the selection list has already been sent by the KPSC, within 15-30 days and fill up the 357 vacant clerical posts.

The advocate general told the court that during July, 3,340 persons who were absconding were arrested after the DGP issued special instructions to the department by a circular dated July 1, 2009. "Still, 15,660 persons are at large and yet to be arrested. Bangalore city police have prepared a separate list of accused persons on August 1 and are monitoring follow-up," he added.

The high court has issued notice to the PU department on a petition filed by 11 students, seeking declaration of their results in the II PU supplementary exam. The results were withheld on account of a CCB raid on Aditya Teachers College, Malleswaram, a day before the physics paper on June 27.

Police had then seized 26 answer scripts, some additional sheets, Rs.1.23 lakh in cash, a car and four mobile phones. Four persons were arrested. One of them had said answers to the exam had been dictated and the plan was to place ready papers in the bundle of answer scripts after the exam. The petitioners have claimed they have no connection to this episode. Taluk panchayat chiefs' election gets nod

The high court has vacated its earlier stay order and given the go-ahead to the government for conducting election to the posts of president and vice-president of taluk panchayats. However, the court has asked the government to reconsider the roster issued in five taluks in Gadag district.



SAIL faces funds misuse PIL
OUR CORRESPONDENT
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090809/jsp/jharkhand/story_11338819.jsp

Ranchi, Aug. 8: The Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) has appeared before Jharkhand High Court to contest in a PIL filed for alleged misuse of public money for a ceremony graced by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Bokaro last year.
The SAIL has refuted the charges made in the PIL and has requested the court for an early hearing for disposing the case finally.
The PIL, filed by Surendra Sao, a journalist, has raised the issue of the unnecessary expenditure of money by the authorities for the function.
Sao said that government has spent Rs 1.92 crore during the inauguration ceremony. The function barely lasted for an hour in which the SAIL has spent in lakhs to woo the Prime Minister and other VIPs, Sao said.
There are ample evidences of corruption in the matter and should be investigated by the CBI, Sao said.
The case will be heard on August 27 by a division bench.




Garbage row gets another deadline
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090809/jsp/nation/story_11337233.jsp
OUR CORRESPONDENT
Cuttack, Aug. 8: Orissa High Court has set a fresh deadline of 24 days for the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) to phase out multiple garbage dumping yards within the city and to dispose of all solid waste at Bhuasuni on the city’s outskirts.
A division bench of judges Laxmikanta Mohapatra and Indrajeet Mohanty directed the BMC for making the “waste to energy power project” at Bhuasuni fully functional and close all temporary dumping yards by August 31.
The court issued the order yesterday after going through affidavits submitted by the state government and the BMC, making identical claims that the process to discontinue multiple garbage dumping and enable solid waste disposal at Bhuasuni was underway in a phased manner.
The high court has been pressing for adoption of a single-point garbage disposal system by the BMC since August 2007, while monitoring solid waste disposal in Bhubaneswar as part of a PIL.
About 61.41 acres of vacant land at Bhuasuni under Bhubaneswar tehsil had been allotted by the government for the single-point dumping yard vis-à-vis waste to energy power project in February 2008.
The BMC, however, has been disposing of nearly 450 tonne garbage at seven dumping yards located within the city daily.
The court fixed September 4 as the date for the next hearing and further directed the state government, Cuttack Municipal Corporation and the BMC to file affidavits by then giving a status report on steps taken by them to implement the ban on the use of recycled polythene bags in the state.
The court is monitoring solid waste management in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar as part of a PIL filed by advocate S.N. Panda and unchecked use of recycled polythene as part of PIL filed by the Orissa Federation of Consumers’ Organisation.
The Orissa government had imposed a ban on “sale, import or store of non-biodegradable polythene carry bag” (less than 20-micron thick with effect from January 26, 2004), but had not followed it up with a ban on recycled polythene. The government had also ordered a ban on the non-biodegradable product on April 24, 2008.
While there was unabated manufacturing and use of polythene bags despite a ban on it, the government lacked sincerity in implementation of the ban. Besides, the CMC and BMC had achieved nothing tangible even after empowering them with power to enforce the ban, it was pointed out to the court.




PIL petition seeks to ensure sufficient funds for High Court
http://www.thehindu.com/2009/08/09/stories/2009080951880400.htm
K.T. Sangameswaran
Petitioner says this will enable the court to maintain autonomous status
“Executive should not have any right or control over appointment of judges”
CHENNAI: A public interest litigation petition filed seven years ago by a city advocate, seeking a direction to the Centre to instruct the State government to provide sufficient consolidated funds every year to the High Court, has been posted for August 10.
Such a provision will relieve the High Court from relying on the State government for finances and enable it to maintain its autonomous status, the petitioner said.
By an order dated July 30, a Division Bench, comprising Justices P.K. Misra and R. Subbiah, directed the Centre, represented by its Finance and Law Secretaries, and the Registrar-General of the High Court to file a counter.
In the petition, G. Rajendran stated that it was unfortunate that the High Court was forced to rely on the State government for meeting all financial requirements. The State government should be strictly told not to interfere with the functioning of the High court, which was a violation of Article 50 (Separation of judiciary from executive) of the Constitution.
He said there was delay in the appointment of judicial officers and people were unable to get justice early. Therefore, the executive should not have any right or control over the appointment of judges.
The Constitution imposed on the State government the responsibility of bearing administrative expenses of the High Court, including salaries, allowance and pension payable to court employees. But, the High Court judges “have to rest upon the will and pleasure of the State government even to get their lawful funds.”
The petitioner said this gave an upper hand to the executive over judges.




SC moves HC against CIC order
http://www.rtiindia.org/forum/26738-sc-moves-hc-against-central-information-commission-order.html

As reported by Dhananjay Mahapatra at timesofindia.indiatimes.com on 5 August 2009

NEW DELHI: Even before the Delhi High Court could decide its appeal against an order of Central Information Commission (CIC) to make public assets of judges, the Supreme Court on Tuesday again moved the HC challenging another CIC order to make public how the CJI dealt with a complaint against a sitting judge of Allahabad HC.

If parliamentarians are up in arms against law minister Veerappa Moily for proposing in the Judges Assets Bill to keep information about the wealth of judges out of the RTI Act, this SC petition could be an argument in support of the apprehension that there could be harassment of a judge at the hands of a litigant. This is what the SC is projecting in its petition before the Delhi HC.

After Allahabad HC dismissed his case, the sore litigant P K Dalmia sent several complaints to the CJI against the judge who decided the case against him. Then, he approached the SC seeking to know the fate of his complaints and whether any action had been taken.

The Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) of the Supreme Court refused to entertain Dalmia's request on the ground that the information sought was not available with the registry and that the information was not held by or under the control of any public authority .

This was the identical reason given by the SC while refusing S C Agrawal plea to make public the assets declared by judges under the existing in-house mechanism.

The Judges Assets Bill, which could not be introduced in Parliament on Monday following widespread opposition, proposes to make CJI declare his assets to the President, other SC judges to CJI and similar provision for HC judges. The MPs had specifically demanded that the assets be brought under the purview of RTI .

Dalmia then approached the CIC, which on July 16 held that the Chief Justice of India and Registry are one and the same institution and information available with the CJI would be deemed to be available with the Supreme Court of India. The SC said the CIC's reasoning was erroneous as CJI was not a public authority under the definition of RTI Act and hence CJI could not be equated with the Supreme Court Registry.

The information sought for was not in the public domain and hence could not be accessed under the RTI Act, the SC said in its petition before the Delhi HC.

Source : SC moves HC against CIC order - India - NEWS - The Times of India




CJI, law minister to attend seminar on ADR promotion
http://lawcafe.in/?p=251
CHANDIGARH: With formidable backlog figures that refuse to scale down despite best efforts by judges, alternate dispute resolution (ADR) in its various avatars is fast emerging as the new buzzword in the region. Taking the cue, the International Centre for Alternate Dispute Resolution (ICADR) is organizing an important seminar in the city on February 14 that will be attended by CJI KG Balakrishnan, law minister HR Bhardwaj and various apex and high court judges.

The high-profile event is aimed at giving a push to the nascent ADR movement in Punjab and Haryana that boast of a rather litigation-prone population. Significantly, the seminar comes close on the heels of the region getting as many as 17 mediation and conciliation centres (9 in Haryana and 8 in Punjab).
These centres were launched through video-conferencing in December 2008 by Supreme Court judge SB Sinha who will also be attending the proposed seminar. Driving home the message, justice Sinha had during the launch ceremony hammered that mediation and conciliation centres were the best bet to bail out a backlog-struck judiciary out of its predicament.
Importantly, chief justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court Tirath Singh Thakur also has repeatedly asserted that traditional litigation methods alone will not suffice in meting out justice to ever-burgeoning population. Justice Mahesh Grover of the high court has also taken major steps to streamline the mediation machinery.
Given the willing judiciary and legal fraternity, the ICADR, which is a nodal body under the aegis of the Union law ministry with CJI as its chief-patron, now wants to rev up the ADR infrastructure in the region with Chandigarh as the hub.
Its governing council member, Ashwinie Kumar Bansal, said the leitmotif of the seminar would be “need for amendments in the Arbitration and Conciliation Act” so that the Act could be finetuned to meet demands of modern times. He disclosed that the elite gathering would mull over the finer details of ADR and arbitration and make appropriate recommendations to the Union government.
“One of the significant points of debate will be legislation on mediation. So far, there is no law that makes a settlement between parties through mediation enforceable without the court’s order which is unlike the situation under arbitration or conciliation. A settlement under arbitration or conciliation is enforceable per se without requiring a court’s nod,” Bansal stressed.
Another ADR expert, Vikas Chatrath, said mediation and conciliation was the in-thing that opens up avenues of a quicker and hassle-free end to disputes.
Delhi to have PCA centre
The Union law ministry is acting on a November communication by the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA), Hague, that has signed an agreement with India to open its regional facility in New Delhi. The communication raises issues like office space, residential accommodation, etc., for PCA staff.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 5th, 2009 at 7:44 am




HC admits writ petition on seat sharing and fee structure agreement
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/004200908051951.htm
Staff Reporter
Kochi : The Kerala High Court on Wednesday admitted a writ petition challenging theagreements signed between eight self-financing medical colleges and the government on the seat sharing and fee structure for M.B.B.S admission.
Justice Thottathil B. Radhakrishnan while admitting the petition issued notice to the State Government, Admission Supervisory and Fee Regulatory Committee for Professional colleges, Kerala Private Medical College Management Association and the eight self-financing medical colleges.
The petition was filed by Baisil Attipetty of Kochi. According to him, the agreement allows the colleges to collect exorbitant fee in excess of the fee prescribed by the Fee Regulatory Committee.
In fact, the agreement gave the management the freedom to admit students to more than 60 percent seats. The petitioner pointed out that the agreements were against the principle of triple test of being fair, transparent and non-exploitative laid down by the Supreme Court.
The agreements also went against the regulations of the Medical Council of India. The agreements provided special consideration on the basis of place of residence which violated Article 14 of the Constitution (equality before law). He said that the merit had been given ago-by.
As per the agreements, the annul fee for the government seats ranged fromRs. 25,000 to Rs. 1,38,000 while the fee for managements seats had been fixed at Rs.4,50,000.
The petitioner pointed out that the fee stipulated by the Fee Regulatory Committee were binding on all the colleges. The colleges could not collect fee over and above the fee fixed by the committee. In fact, the agreements would result in one section of students admitted by themanagement subsidizing the students admitted to the government seats. This amounted to cross subsidy which had been prohibited by the Supreme Court.
The petitioner pointed out that the fee regulatory committee had not been consulted before entering an agreement with the colleges. The petitioner also alleged that the committee had been acting as a rubber stamp of the government.
The petitioner sought to restrain the eight colleges from filling the seats on the basis of the agreements between the government and the colleges. He also pleaded that a new admission procedure be evolved for M.B.B.S admission. The petitioner sought to declare unconstitutional these agreements.




Armed Forces Tribunal becomes a reality
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4871831.cms
TNN 9 August 2009, 12:56am IST
NEW DELHI: Serving and retired military personnel will no longer need to run to civilian courts to get redressal of their grievances, with the long-delayed armed forces tribunal (AFT) finally becoming a reality on Saturday.

Inaugurating the AFT, which will adjudicate cases connected to service matters as well as appeals against court martial sentences, President Pratibha Patil said the tribunal would enhance the speed at which justice can be provided to military personnel. "I am confident the tribunal will meet the challenges of administering justice in a fair and equitable manner,'' she said.

"The Act establishing the tribunal does not bind it to the Civil Procedure Code and, hence it provides for flexibility in procedures as long as they are in conformity with the principles of natural justice,'' she added.

The 9,800 or so cases pending in different high courts, filed by serving or retired military personnel, will now be transferred to AFT, which will have the powers of a high court. Its verdicts will, of course, be open for challenge in the Supreme Court.

AFT will have 15 courts in all, with three each in New Delhi, Chandigarh and Lucknow, and one each in Jaipur, Mumbai, Kolkata, Guwahati, Chennai and Kochi.




‘Cyber crime tribunal in red tape mesh’
Utkarsh Anand Posted: Saturday , Aug 08, 2009 at 0311 hrs New Delhi:
Over two years after the Cyber Regulations Appellate Tribunal (CRAT) — the maiden forum in the country to exclusively try cyber cases — became functional, it recently got a new address and a well-equipped courtroom.
Its head, Justice Rajesh Tandon, remains dissatisfied with the “unreasonable” provision relating to the retiring age of the tribunal’s presiding officer, and the procedural delays in appointments.
Created under the Information Technology Act, the presiding officer of a tribunal is required to be either a judge of a High Court or is/has been a member of the Indian Legal Services and holds/has held a Grade I post in that service for at least three years. The term for the presiding officer has been limited to five years from his joining the post or till he attains the age of 65, whichever is earlier, under Section 51 of the Act.
A High Court judge retires at 62; hence he is left only with a three year-term to serve the office, thereby making the five-year clause redundant, Justice Tandon said. Moreover, procedural delays in appointing an officer further eats into the already small tenure, he added.
“A presiding officer will naturally need some time to get adjusted to the new arena of cyber laws. By the time he gets accustomed to the functioning of the tribunal, his tenure is almost over,” Justice Tandon told The Indian Express.
Criticising the widespread red tapism that causes delays in appointments, Justice Tandon, who earlier served as a judge at Uttarakhand High Court, said: “The Secretary of the IT department received my consent last August, but took more than six months to hand over the letter of appointment. The confirmation came in the last week of February despite my reminders.”
“The retiring age is 67 for a State Consumer Commission Judge, and 70 for a National Consumer Commission Judge. Why should there be discrimination in fixing the age limit for the CRAT’s presiding officer?” Justice Tandon asked.
Regarding the creation of an independent website for the CRAT, Justice Tandon said they will soon start the process. As per the provisions of the IT Act, a complaint relating to a cyber crime would first go to an “adjudicating officer” — a secretary in the IT department. An appeal against his order would then lie with the CRAT.




Law Commission recommends more working hours for judges
http://blog.taragana.com/n/law-commission-recommends-more-working-hours-for-judges-133525/
Ani
August 7th, 2009
NEW DELHI - In a report submitted by the Law Commission, it has recommended that judges should work more by cutting down the number of vacations and increasing their working hours.
“Considering the huge pendency of cases, vacations in higher judiciary must be curtailed by at least 10-15 days and court working hours should be extended by at least half-an-hour,” the Commission said in its report.
In its 230th report submitted by the Law Commission chairman A R Lakshamanan to Union Minister for Law Veerappa Moily on August 5, it suggested a seven-point reform for judiciary.
The commission highlighted that following the boost in their (judges) remuneration it was their duty to work for the goodwill of the judicial system.
“With the increase in the salaries and perks of the Judges, it is their moral duty to respond commensurately. Considering the huge pendency of cases at all levels of judicial hierarchy, it has become necessary to increase the number of working days,” the report stated.
The Commission also expressed concern over the erosion of working culture in the Judiciary and suggested that it must be revived.
“Of late there has been a general erosion of work culture throughout the country. Government servants avoid discharging their duties and responsibilities. The Judiciary has also been affected by this evil,” it added.
The Commission further said that it was high time for all the judges at different levels of judicial hierarchy to devote full time to judicial work. (ANI)