The Supreme Court Monday asked Gujarat’s chief secretary to explain as to why cooperation was not being extended to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) by providing the investigating agency with the documents relating to Naini and Morga-II coal blocks. A bench of Justice Madan B Lokur, Justice...

A special Delhi court today granted bail to OP Khaitan & Co managing partner Gautam Khaitan accused in a money laundering case related to the AgustaWestland VIP chopper deal. Granting bail to Khaitan, the Central Bureau of Investigation Special Judge VK Gupta directed him to furnish a personal ...

The Supreme Court has published revised rules regarding its selection of judicial clerks, for the first time allowing non-national law school students from applying. The new rules, published on the Supreme Court’s website today, state that applicants can come from any law college accredited by the B...

Former Advocate General of Maharashtra Darius Khambata in his first ever soundbyte to the press, reflects on his career as a government pleader. In an exclusive interview with The Firm , he sheds light on the law officer’s powers of conscience keeping and persuasion, over five years of “stressful sp...

The Bar Council of India (BCI) requires lawyers who take the All India Bar Examination (AIBE) to waive their statutory and fundamental rights.

A plea was filed in the Supreme Court yesterday challenging the validity of the law setting up the National Judicial Appointment Commission to replace the collegium system for appointments to the higher judiciary on grounds it was an assault on the constitution’s basic structure and the independence...

J Sagar Associates (JSA) has opened its seventh office in Ahmedabad on 1 January after hiring Bijal Chhatrapati from Singhi & Co as an equity partner to head up the office. Senior partner Berjis Desai said in a press release: “For a few years, we had actively considered establishing our offices...

How can a first generation litigator survive? Advocate Dushyant Arora gives some handy tips.

The Mafatlal family, frequently featured in the Mumbai tabloids, has been dragged to court yet again, this time by the Tata-owned group company of Mumbai’s Taj Mahal Palace hotel for allegedly not settling Atulya and Sheetal Mafatlal’s 14-year-old unpaid wedding party bill. Atulya, once one of the h...

The Delhi high court Tuesday dismissed former Delhi law minister Somnath Bharti’s plea seeking to quash an NHRC order against him related to his controversial midnight campaign against an alleged drug and prostitution racket in the capital. Justice VK Shali directed Bharti to approach the court once...

The All Indian Bar Examination (AIBE VIII) will be held on the 15 March 2015, reported Bar & Bench, quoting BCI chairman Manan Kumar Mishra.

Candidates will be able to apply online from tomorrow. AIBE VII was held on 7 September and its results were declared in November.

Two senior MPs were paid several crore Rupees in undisclosed legal retainer contracts over several years by Reliance Industries, raising questions of transparency and potential for conflict despite being completely legal, reported the UK’s Financial Times on its frontpage this morning. [ Full FT art...

The Supreme Court Thursday dismissed a plea challenging the ordinance on coal blocks, providing for retrospective recovery of a levy of Rs 295 per metric tonne of extracted coal and linking its payment as a qualification to participate in the cancelled coal blocks’ auction. The Coal Mines (Special P...

The Supreme Court Thursday extended the bail of former Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa by another four months as it asked the Karnataka high court to decide on her appeal challenging her conviction in disproportionate assets case within three months. Noting that Jayalalithaa had complied wi...

The Supreme Court today quashed the two judge panel set up by the chief justice of the Madhya Pradesh high court to probe the allegations of sexual harassment levelled by a woman district judge against sitting judge of the high court, Justice SK Gangele. [Download judgment (PDF)] A bench of Justice ...

The Bar Council of India (BCI) would submit its report on the possible re-accreditation of Delhi University in the first week of January 2015, the BCI secretary told the Delhi high court today in a writ petition challenging the disaffiliation of Delhi University’s law schools , reported the Economic...

Senior advocate Dushyant Dave has won the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) 2014 elections, with V Shekhar winning the vice-president race.

Former Delhi law minister Somnath Bharti yesterday moved the Delhi high court against the NHRC decision asking the city government to pay Rs 25,000 each to the Ugandan women “victims of racial prejudice and unlawful acts” whose homes the AAP leader had allegedly barged into during a controversial mi...

The NGO People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has recognised former Supreme Court Justice KS Panicker Radhakrishnan its man of the year award. In a press release, PETA wrote: For heading the bench that passed the landmark judgement in favour of PETA India and the government body the Ani...

Legally India yesterday made an appeal under the Right to Information (RTI) Act against Friday’s (12 December) decision by the BCI chairman to retract the BCI’s reply to an RTI request to inspect its meeting minutes. BCI co-chairman Manan Kumar Mishra had said the BCI would not allow copying of all ...