Bar, Bench & Litigation
S&R Rajat Sethi follows Bhagat, moves from Delhi to Mumbai in corp drive
S&R Associates Delhi partner Rajat Sethi has moved to the Mumbai office of the firm as a “strategic decision” to bolster the corporate and private equity practice of the firm, reported Bar & Bench . His move, increasing the partner headcount in Mumbai to three and reducing Delhi to five pa...
Khosla files Rs 50 cr criminal suit vs magistrate who allegedly defamed him in her order
Advocate Deepak Khosla, who complained to Delhi high court chief justice (CJ) G Rohini yesterday against metropolitan magistrate Niti Phutela’s recusal and transfer of his case to another judge, has filed a criminal defamation case against Phutela in the Saket district court, asking for Rs 50 crore ...
True story: Another magistrate bows out in Deepak Khosla’s Somnath case; DK sends 62-page complaint to Chief Justice

Gautam Khaitan not getting a break: To remain in jail till 14 November
A Delhi court on Monday extended until 14 November the judicial custody of OP Khaitan & Co managing partner Gautam Khaitan, who was arrested in a money laundering case related to the AgustaWestland VIP chopper deal. Special judge VK Gupta sent Khaitan to 11 days’ judicial custody after he was p...
SCBA proposes SCBA rule changes, passes maximum 4-year tenure, schedules elections for 17 December
The Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), on 24 September, proposed six amendments to its rules and allowed temporary SCBA members with proximity cards to gain 60 entries to the Supreme Court’s high security zone. The association proposed to: impose restrictions on the number of times a member can h...
Madras advocates welcome new & 'wonderful' 'flat filing system' (i.e.: stacks of paper)
A circular issued by Madras high court registrar General P Kalaiyarasan, as agreed to by all the bar associations in the city, said that lawyers should now file their cases without folding the case papers in half along the longer side, reported The Hindu . The so-called ‘flat filing system’ was a “w...
Are judgments too long and wordy? The SC thinks so...
“The judges are serious about rendering speedy justice to litigants. In most cases, the law has already been succinctly laid down and does not require further arguments to delay a verdict. Those cases need to be decided fast with crisp judgments focusing only on facts in the backdrop of the already ...
Magistrate issues bailable warrant vs Digvijaya Singh for missing crim defamation hearing [UPDATE: Digvijaya turns up, warrant withdrawn]
A court here Saturday issued a bailable warrant against Congress leader Digvijaya Singh after he failed to appear before it in a criminal defamation case lodged against him by union minister Nitin Gadkari. Metropolitan Magistrate Gomati Manocha also warned Road Transport and Highways Minister Gadkar...
Delhi HC judge slaps crim contempt on legal mag for son, nightclub & cops story [READ ORDER]

Senior HS Phoolka wants anti-Sikh riot justice with zeal of 'Nazi hunter'
Like Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal who devoted his life to tracking down and prosecuting war criminals, senior advocate HS Phoolka says he will not give up in his fight for justice for the 1984 anti-Sikh riot victims. He says though three decades have elapsed “we have to prove the law of the land is ...
Swamy asks SC to strike down criminal defamation in Jayalalithaa case against him
The Supreme Court Thursday suspended defamation proceedings in five cases initiated by the Tamil Nadu government against BJP leader Subramanian Swamy for making critical observations against former chief minister J Jayalalithaa. A bench of Justice Dipak Misra and Justice UU Lalit, while suspending t...
Gautam Khaitan renews bail plea through Sid Luthra, claims medical grounds & arrest based on conjecture
The Delhi high court Thursday issued notice to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on a bail plea of OP Khaitan & Co managing partner Gautam Khaitan, arrested in a money laundering case related to the AgustaWestland chopper deal. Justice VP Vaish sought response from the ED and asked it to file a ...
Legalise prostitution, NCW to ask SC
The proposal for legalising prostitution in India will be placed before the Supreme Court constituted panel Nov 8, National Commission for Women (NCW) chief Lalitha Kumaramangalam said Wednesday. “The proposal for legalising prostitution will be put forth in the National Consultation scheduled to be...
Law student arrested under IT Act for making 'anti-people' Facebook comment about cyclone
An Andhra Pradesh law student was arrested under the IT Act, presumably section 66A, and the IPC, for allegedly posting a comment on Facebook in English and Telugu that stated “I love u hudhoodh”, referring to the destructive cyclone and noting that it was taking revenge against “betrayers”, reporte...
First hike in 4 years: SC raises law clerkship stipend by 20% to Rs 30,000
The Supreme Court has increase the monthly stipend it pays to its law clerks / research assistants from Rs 25,000 to Rs 30,000, with a hike to Rs 32,000 for clerks who stay for longer than a year. The stipend was last hiked to Rs 25,000 in 2010, as reported by Legally India at the time. The notice d...
SC acts as postbox to Rohatgi's list of 627 'black money' names for old SIT
The central government Wednesday submitted to the Supreme Court names of the 627 people who are holding accounts in foreign banks revealed to it by the French government. Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi handed over two sealed envelopes to the apex court bench headed by Chief Justice HL Dattu. Rohatgi...
Law firms' vanilla debenture rates only half of early 2014 fees: ET
Fixed fee bids submitted by law firms to win work to document clients’ non-convertible debentures (NCDs) are now only Rs 2-3 lakh per NCD, instead Rs 4-5 lakh that law firms would have charged at the beginning of this year, reported the Economic Times citing a “mid-sized law firm” promoter, as in-ho...
Cops arrest gay man under section 377 for cheating on arranged wife
A Bangalore employee of Infosys has been arrested under section 377 of the Indian Penal Code for allegedly having sex with another man, which was recorded by his arranged-marriage-wife of six months on a hidden camera, reported the Bangalore Mirror . The Supreme Court reinstated the colonial-era sec...
RamJet rep's Nithari convict pro bono, SC rejects review petition
The Supreme Court Tuesday rejected the plea by Nithari killer Surinder Koli seeking recall of the judgment upholding his death sentence in Rimpa Haldar murder case. The apex court bench of Chief Justice HL Dattu, Justice Anil R Dave and Justice SA Bobde, in the first open court hearing of the review...
Dear Court Witness ji: My senior’s still paying me peanuts while my litigation career continues moving sideways
“At Supreme Court for three years under a kind senior but he’s still paying me peanuts and not giving me any great work. At a loss…”