SEBI’s first visually impaired Grade-B Legal Officer, Mr. Rahul Kelapure’s expedition to success

“Aerodynamically the bumblebee shouldn't be able to fly, but the bumblebee doesn't know that so it goes on flying anyway.” -- Mary Kay AshRealistically, a visually impaired person, suffering from the incurable disease called Retinitis Pigmentosa, would be expected to not be able to skim through documents at an ordinary person’s speed. But Mr. Rahul Gunwant Kelapure, who is presently...

SC Constitution Bench slams M L Sharma for filing plea on rubbish grounds, issues notice

Advocate M L Sharma was served a show cause notice today by a five member bench headed by Justice Khehar for making ‘scandalous’ and ‘irresponsible’ allegations in his PIL challenging the new law on appointment of judges for higher judiciary. The bench directed Sharma to respond within a week why he should not be "debarred" from filing any public interest...

Government considering appointing legal expert in each Ministry, web portal for centralized data of pending cases

In an attempt to reduce in-house litigation and conflict, the Government has reportedly decided to appoint a legal expert in every Department/ Ministry. This would enable the centre to decentralize availability of legal assistance by providing services of Indian Legal Service officers to each ministry/departments.The Law Ministry will only be consulted for ‘sensitive matters’ from now on....

NGT directs sealing of illegal and unauthorized water bore wells in Vasant Vihar

After banning diesel vehicles which are more than 10 years old from plying on Delhi roads, the national Green Tribunal has ordered the Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Vasant Vihar, to “seal all the water bore wells which are operating illegally, unauthorisedly without permission from the Central Ground Water Authority and are running the water mafia in that area.” The SDM was asked to comply...

Terror Accused can be booked under both MCOCA and UAPA ; Bombay High Court

The Bombay High Court held that an accused can be booked under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) as well as the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) in cases of terror activities. The matter was heard by a division bench of Justices PV Hardas and Shalini Phansalkar Joshi. The bench set aside an order of the trial court which held that accused cannot be...

Cabinet approves Companies Amendment Bill, 2014: suggests doing away with declaration by company before commencement of business

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, today gave its approval for moving of the following Official Amendments in the Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2014 :-i. Doing away with the requirement for filing a declaration by a company before commencement of business or exercising its borrowing powers andii. rationalizing the procedure for laying draft notifications...

Raja Rajeswari becomes New York City’s first India-born woman Judge

After being sworn in as a Criminal Court Judge, Ms. Raja Rajeswari has become first India-born woman to be appointed a judge in the New York City. She took the oath of office at a ceremony held on Monday, along with 27 other Judges appointed earlier this month to the Family Court, Criminal Court, and Civil Court, which are part of the New York State Unified Court System.Currently, there are...

Delhi High issues stay against Zostel for alleged theft of copyright material

The Delhi High Court has issued a stay order against the hostel chain startup Zostel over a complaint by Oyo rooms for alleged theft of copyright materials.Zostel had recently launched ZoRooms and works on a similar model as Oyo Rooms. Oyo has alleged that there has been theft and also submitted evidence such as mails, CCTV footage and theft of its ‘software’ by few of its own employees...

19 year old Malleswaram blast victim moves Karnataka HC demanding 1 crore as compensation

Leesha Doreswamy, a 19 year old victim of the Malleswaram bomb blast has reportedly approached the Karnataka High Court demanding compensation of Rs. 1 crore from the State. Justice S. Abdul Nazeer has consequently ordered issue of notice to the State and Union Governments.The petitioner also demanded a direction to the Ministry of Home Affairs to frame a National Policy for paying...

SC takes a dig at the Centre, calls the permanent shelter scheme a scam

A social justice bench comprising of Justices U U Lalit and Madan B. Lokur commented on the National Urban Livelihood Mission (NULM) on building permanent shelter homes in 790 urban cities,"It is a scam. Take for example Maharashtra. It received Rs 170 crore and the state has no new construction and it has not a single operational shelter home."  The court’s observations came in the wake...

All Bank forms and applications to include the ‘third gender’

The Reserve Bank of India has reportedly directed all banks to include 'third gender' in all their forms and applications whether prescribed by the central banks or designed by the banks themselves. This would require the banks to make changes to their core banking software to include the additional variable in the gender column, besides making changes in stationery.In April last year, a...

Only 1 matter under Negotiable Instruments Act pending in SC: Law Minister

As per information furnished by Supreme Court, there is only one matter relating to prosecution under Negotiable Instruments Act pending with them. As per information furnished by High Courts, 8,932 cases relating to Cheque dishonour under section 138 of Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 were pending for more than five years as on 31.12.2014. As regards, District and Subordinate Courts,...