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SC lifts stay on Delhi HC’s court fee hike

The Supreme Court lifts stay on Delhi high court’s court fee hike after Solicitor General Rohinton Nariman tells the court that the stay would cause irreparable harm to the state. He said that the state was losing an average sum of Rs 1.5 crore every day due to the stay, and it would be impossible t...

Govt to challenge SC's CIC order on appointing judges to RTI benches

Central government prepares to file for review of the Supreme Court’s 13 September judgment that said that each RTI information commission should also be staffed by an HC or SC judge [ BS ] CIC, none of whose commissioners have a judicial background, had stopped functioning after the judgment and ha...

Delhi court rules online skill-based real-money betting games illegal

A Delhi court ruled that online games involving real money are illegal, are a substitute for traditional casinos, and are not entitled to protection under the constitution. Banks have the option to deny normal services to websites offering such games, and payment gateways for online gambling are blo...

RK Anand avoids jail, accepts Supreme Court offer to work for free & BCI donation

RK Anand swears penance (picture by IBN)
RK Anand swears penance (picture by IBN)
”) Exclusive: Former senior advocate RK Anand, whom the Supreme Court had found guilty of contempt of court for influencing a key witness in the BMW-hit-and-run case, filed an affidavit in the court undertaking to donate Rs 21 lakh to the Bar Council of India (BCI) and take on only pro bono legal work and free legal aid for one year.

Elite Indian Law Institute's director probed by Delhi HC about NUJS, KLA teaching record

The Delhi high court directed Indian Law Institute (ILI) Delhi to reconsider the eligibility of its officiating director Dr S Sivakumar for the post, after it was alleged that he had fudged facts about his qualification at the time of applying for the post of research professor at the institute in 2...

Delhi HC declines interim injunction in SpicyIP–Natco Defamation case

Whoever said IP was not spicy enough?
Whoever said IP was not spicy enough?
Exclusive: The Delhi high court on Tuesday declined to grant interim injunction to pharma major Natco in its case of defamation against NUJS Kolkata professor and intellectual property blog SpicyIP’s founder Shamnad Basheer.

Delhi, Kerala, P&H HC get new chief justices

High courts at Delhi, and Punjab and Haryana got new chief justices while the tenure of Kerala high court’s chief justice was renewed on Friday. Delhi high court’s 58-year-old chief justice AK Sikri took oath as chief justice of Punjab and Haryana high court on Sunday. 61-year-old Delhi HC judge Dar...

Multi-brand retail FDI notification PILed

Thursday’s DIPP notification allowing FDI in multi-brand retail has been challenged in the Supreme Court by advocate ML Sharma on the ground that the notification lacks parliamentary approval. Sharma has been active in filing public interest litigation in the past. He said: The notification would hi...

SC serves contempt notice on Express & Pioneer [Download order]

Supreme Court: Upholds free press, with delays
Supreme Court: Upholds free press, with delays
The Supreme Court served the newspapers Indian Express and Daily Pioneer with a suo moto contempt notice for allegedly misreporting court proceedings in stories published in the papers today about sitting Supreme Court judge Swatanter Kumar’s recommended appointment to the National Green Tribunal (NGT).

SC asks for more RK Anand pro bono penance & BCI donation to keep out of jail

The Supreme Court directs former senior advocate and high-profile criminal lawyer RK Anand to donate Rs 20 lakh to the Bar Council of India for developing the library or computer centre of a lower tier college, and also take up only free legal aid cases for one year. The court presented this course ...

Zero women in 2012 Bombay senior counsel promo round of 8 (again)

Bombay HC
Bombay HC
Eight male advocates have been designated as senior counsel in the Bombay high court, with six being based in Mumbai, one in Aurangabad and one in Nagpur.

SC forces RTI info commissions to be headed by judges, CIC freezes

rti li
rti li
The Supreme Court on Friday disposed of a writ petition filed two months ago, opening the floodgates to many more post-retirement positions for high court and Supreme Court judges and bringing the functioning of the CIC to an abrupt emergency halt.

Telegraph follows Courtwitness’ lead: Meet almost-CJI justice Altamas Kabir

After Forbes profiled CJI Kapadia’s career at its dusk, it is now time for The Telegraph to docket India’s future boss Altamas Kabir’s run-up of seven years and 21 days to the helm, and his days before and after. Sending a husband to jail for taunting his wife on her dark complexion, ruling for powe...

Del HC questions locus of internet users to defend Article 19 right in posting content

Who owns the Internet?
Who owns the Internet?
Four practising Supreme Court advocates are set to challenge the Delhi high court’s dismissal last week of their public interest litigation (PIL) challenging the Information Technology Act (IT Act) and Rules (Intermediaries Guidelines) and the government’s August order blocking hundreds of webpages, under the constitutional guarantee of freedom of speech and expression.

Breaking media trial debate: SC allows temporary court reporting gag to prevent contempt, shies away from regulation

Supreme Court: Upholds free speech, with delays
Supreme Court: Upholds free speech, with delays
The Supreme Court today laid down a new doctrine that, if requested, would allow courts to temporarily ban media from reporting a case if it would adversely affect the trial, but the special constitutional bench of five judges declined to create wider guidelines on how the media should report court cases.

Breaking: Supreme Court overrules Bhatia International V Bulk Trading [Download judgement]

Breaking: The Supreme Court today overruled the doctrine laid down in its own year 2002 landmark Bhatia International v Bulk Trading SA & Anr case, which held that Indian courts had exclusive jurisdiction to test the validity of an arbitral award made in India even when the proper law of the contract is the law of another country.

Judge: ‘Woman, adjust to your husband’s beatings’; Activist complains to CJI

Karnataka high court’s “radically pro-family” judge K Bhaktavatsala told woman defending her husband’s divorce petition that she must “adjust” to domestic abuse meted out by her husband because such abuse was the norm, reported a number of newspapers . The 59-year-old judge has been serving in the h...

Indian HC, SC judges should retire at 65 & 70, says former SG

The retirement age for high court judges should be increased from 62 to 65 to match the current retirement age of Supreme Court judges, argues former solicitor general of India TR Andhyarujina. For Supreme Court judges it should, in turn, be raised to 70 to match the international standard, he adds....

Natco sues SpicyIP’s Shamnad Basheer for Rs 25 lakh defamation

spicyip logo
spicyip logo
Exclusive: Pharmaceutical company Natco has filed in the Delhi high court against intellectual property (IP) blog SpicyIP, claiming that the website published an article that allegedly contained “false, derogatory and defamatory” statements about the company.

Paras Kuhad, Rakesh Khanna appointed ASG

gavel
gavel
Exclusive: Senior counsel Paras Kuhad, who founded Paras Kuhad & Associates, and senior counsel Rakesh Khanna have accepted appointments to become additional solicitor general (ASG) in the Supreme Court.