Rokade: New move, post-BC Former Maharashtra & Goa bar council secretary of 10 years and advocate, Dr Varsha Rokade, has been appointed as expert in the Maharashtra State Commission for Protection of Child Rights. She said that in her new role she would work towards examining legal problems and...

The US passes 17 per cent of over 1000 “paid bills” it receives every year from a 40 year old lobbying organisation – ALEC, which has 300 corporations under its wing [ The Hindu ] Nepal lacks a constitution and will continue to lack one for several months if a consensus is not reached on the chapter...

Goldman Sachs and Meryll Lynch lawyers accidentally reveal evidence of “mythical” practice of “naked short selling” to the media [ Rolling Stone ] SC lawyers welfare trust announces lawyers welfare award: enrolled advocates practicing litigation with 2-6 years of experience may apply to be selected ...

Business grows for Indian law firms - more in dispute resolution, in M&A less so as telecom and tax-debtors sweat, say Majmudar & partners, JSA, Khaitan & Co [ Indian Express ] London based International Arbitration Tribunal says SC’s delay of more than 5 years in hearing appeal of Au...

Child abuse prevention debut: Gender neutral bill protecting minors from sexual offences, punishing offenders with life term and addressing grievances in fast track courts becomes law; Some believe there’s ambiguity on child pornography [ The Hindu ][ The Protection of Children From Sexual Offences ...

BHEL opens legal consultancy contract bidding for its merger with sick unit BHPV, wants law firm with minimum experience of one central public sector enterprise M&A in the last five financial years [ PTI ] Delhi lawyer Chetan Gupta’s RTI to DoT seeking details of any court order issued to it to...

SEBI’s demand for phone records of insider trading suspects is likely to be met by TRAI [ Business Today ] Pakistan’s ministry of information and technology temporarily blocks Twitter after its requests to remove blasphemous drawings of Prophet Mohammed from the website remain unmet [ Medianama ] Se...

Fresh amendments approved in the Marriage Laws (Amendment) Bill allow mutual waiver of mandatory 6 month “cool-off” period pre-divorce and gives wife and children clearly defined share in enstranged husband’s “immovable residential property” [ Firstpost ] Copyright Amendment Bill 2010 passed in the ...

Parliamentary discussion on the limits of internet freedom in India consumes Rajya Sabha today, MP P Rajeeve defends motion to annul IT intermediaries guidelines, motion gets defeated [ TOI ][ DNAIndia ] Eminent lyricist Javed Akhtar speaks in the Rajya Sabha on the Copyright Amendment Bill 2010 whi...

SEBI let’s United Stock Exchange go without penalty for having unusually high trading concentration among two members; Says stock exchange not at fault in absence of SEBI prescriptions for trade concentrations; But compensates by separately pulling up errant trading members [ Mint ] CIC rules in fav...

Del HC decides appeal on radio stations’ royalty paying obligation by diminishing rights of lyricists and composers of music, follows Bom HC and Kerala HC in entitling only owner of sound recording to royalty [ SpicyIP ][ Order ] US Court severes copyright infringement Bittorrent downloading cases a...

Reliance Entertainment obtains Del HC’s John Doe order to block torrent and video sharing websites including Pirate Bay and Vimeo to prevent piracy of its 4 upcoming movies; Cyber law experts warn against trend encouraging ISPs to overcompensate, misrepresent and impinge upon freedom of speech and r...

Guj HC issues notice to CLAT convener, GNLU, and union HRD min while hearing PIL challenging CLAT as being in violation of Article 15 of the Constitution for not providing OBC quota in Gujarat [ Law et al News ] Netherlands becomes the EU debutante to pass the net neutrality law which prohibits mobi...

SC strikes down SCBA GBM resolution of 16 Jan 2012 that terminated the SCBA membership of the three members forming the implementation committee set up by SC’s 26 November 2011 judgment in the ‘one bar one vote’ case; Also condemns “contumacious” conduct of SCBA members attending 16 Jan meeting [ Or...

SC’s justice Singhvi and Mukhopadhyay order Faridkot House Delhi to be cleared within a fortnight for National Green Tribunal; present occupants - ex-CJI KGB headed NHRC and ex-SC justice Katju headed PCI to be allotted alternative spaces [ ET ] SC’s justice Kapadia headed constitutional bench concl...

Patiala House Delhi family court offers children of litigating families snacks, sweets, juice, playground, swings, kindergarten books, Barbie dolls, toys, and a carom board, and counselors to litigants; takes away witness boxes [ Deccan Herald ] Allen & Overy hires Linklaters partner to reopen ...

The Print and Electronic Media Standards Regulation Bill, 2012 proposes 7-member regulatory body empowered to fine, and suspend licences of, media organizations through civil proceedings for reporting “obscene, vulgar or offensive news”; Requires media to maintain complete transparency, regulatory p...

SC’s justice Dalveer Bhandari outruns Philippines judge nominee in election to ICJ judicial term from 27 April 2012 to 5 February 2018 [ UN ] Intellectual Property Appellate Board achieved about 40 per cent increase in disposed-off matters last year, in only around 8 months of work as Madras HC just...

Competition Commission of India orders investigation into Bharat Matrimony’s complaint against Google’s anti-competitive practices and abuse of dominant position, CUTS to follow suit with complaint next week [ Hindustan Times ] Senior advocate Prashant Bhushan withdraws PG student’s plea in SC strik...

Goolam Vahanvati proposed again for attorney general of India for 2012-2015, after his first three year term comes to an end this year [ Hindustan Times ] Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Bill 2011, raising age of consent for sex from 16 to 18 years, to become law [ Hindustan Times ] Del ...