French blogger fined €2,500 for writing an adverse review against a restaurant

A French blogger Caroline Doudet has been fined €1,500 (£1,180) for writing a negative blog which was being featured highly on Google searches. In addition to the €1,500 fine she had to pay €1,000 (£790) in court costs, bringing her total bill for writing a blog post to €2,500 (£2,000). The blog was about a restaurant, Il Giardino in Cap-Ferret, south-west France.The blog stemmed...

Kerala HC directs Government to formulate scheme for children of jailed parents

A Kerala High Court Division Bench comprising of Justice Thottathil B. Radhakrishnan and Justice P. B. Suresh Kumar has directed the State Government to devise a special scheme for rehabilitation and protection of children whose parents are in jail, in conformation with child protective services in developed countries.The Bench urged Director General of prosecution T. Asaf Ali to...

Higher Judiciary not Public servants, Constitutional functionaries: Registrar General, Madras High Court

The Registrar General of Madras High Court, in a counter affidavit, reportedly stated that the Judges, especially those of the higher judiciary are Constitutional functionaries, instead of government servants and hence, no direction can be issued to them.The Registrar General asserted that the Chief Justice or Acting Chief Justice had the exclusive prerogative power to constitute any bench...

NHRC directs compensation of 50,000 each to girls arrested for Facebook Post; 4 weeks time to Maharashtra Government

Through a Press Release, the National Human Rights Commission has reminded the Maharashtra Government to pay Rs.50 thousand each to the two girls, who, it had held, were illegally detained by the police following a Facebook post after the death of Shiv Sena Chief Balasaheb Thackeray.Having received no response to its notice and reminders to show cause why monetary relief should not be paid to...

Punjab and Haryana High Court gets Virtual Private Network for hassle free judgments

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has obtained a secure Virtual Private Network (VPN), providing a fresh solution to save the time and energy spent in referring the bulky case files, essential for judges to pen down their judgments. The Network has been made available by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) on a special request by the court. The judges will be given individual IDs and...

Punjab & Haryana High Court to start work early; Kerala lawyers refuses to follow suit.CJI says increasing working hours possible

The Punjab & Haryana High Court recently came up with a circular regarding change in the Court timings with effect from 16th July 2014. As per the revised timings, all subordinate Courts in the State of Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh will now sit from 9.30 a.m to 4.30 p.m and the office timings in the aforementioned Courts would be from 9.30 a.m to 5.00 p.m.A similar move was...

Madras High Court Judge refused entry for wearing dhoti

A Madras High Court Judge was denied entry into a club for wearing a dhoti. Justice D Hariparanthaman was denied entry into the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association Club for wearing a dhoti, considered to be the traditional attire for men in Tamil Nadu.When he alighted from his official car at the club premises to participate in a book release function organised by T S Arunachalam, a former...

Senior Advocate Pinky Anand named as the 7th Additional Solicitor General

Senior advocate Pinky Anand has been appointed as the seventh Additional Solicitor General, becoming the second woman to hold the post after Senior Advocate Indira Jaising. She will join the team of six Additional Solicitor Generals, including L. Nageshwar Rao, Maninder Singh, Neeraj Kishan Kaul, P.S. Narasimha, P.S. Patwalia and Tushar Mehta.Meanwhile, Bar Council Member S Prabhakaran,...

Sheila Dikshit seeks quashing of FIR; asserts Constitutional Immunity for criminal complaints against Governors

Former Chief Minister of Delhi, Sheila Dikshit, who is currently the Governor of Kerala, today approached the the Delhi High Court for quashing an FIR against her in a graft case, submitting that such proceedings cannot be continued against a Governor.Advocate M. Pracha, appearing for Dikshit, reportedly relied on Article 361(2) of the Constitution of India according to which, "no...

Apex Court grants 3 months to CBI to furnish Balance Sheet details of all NGOs

A Supreme Court  bench headed by Justice H.L. Dattu, has reportedly provided three months time to CBI to furnish balance sheet filing details regarding all registered NGOs. CBI submitted that most of the NGOs are not filing IT returns and that the Agency needs more time to compile the details.It submitted that all states haven’t provided requisite information yet. While Gujarat and Tamil...

LinkedIn Profiles do not constitute as ‘Hearsay Evidence’

In a recent ruling by the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal in the case GE Energy Parts Inc v Addl Director of Income Tax ITA ruled that “LinkedIn profiles are not in the nature of hearsay” and these details are akin to admission made by a person.The ITAT had taken this view while examining the admissibility of additional evidence.The Tribunal is a final fact finding body and, therefore,...

Supreme Court website gets messy, Lawyers Complain

As part of the ongoing reforms, Supreme Court tried to improve its website, with a new look and design during the long court holidays, but the new website has come out too messy to handle. The earlier  website, though esthetically poor, was at least helpful in navigating the litigants and lawyers to their cases. The new site is a complete failure and Lawyers and litigants have...