Chief Judicial Magistrate charged with Wife’s murder

A Special Investigative Team (SIT) has been set up to probe into Chief Judicial Magistrate Ravneet Garg’s wife’s murder case.The deceased, Gitanjali Garg’s body, aged around 30, was found lying in a park with two bullet injury marks on Wednesday evening.  CJM Garg's licensed revolver was found near the body. Garg had alleged that Geetanjali (pictured) committed suicide.However,...

N Gopalaswami and others approach Delhi High Court against appointment of CAG

Former Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswami and eight others have filed a PIL in the Delhi High Court on Saturday challenging appointment of Shashi Kant Sharma (pictured) as Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) of India. Earlier this week, the Supreme Court had dismissed their PIL saying, “Approach the High Court which is equally equipped to deal with the matter...

Change of guard at Supreme Court; P Sathasivam takes over as 40th CJI

President Pranab Mukherjee has administered the oath of office to Justice P Sathasivam as the Chief Justice of India (CJI) at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Justice Sathasivam is the 40th CJI and succeeds Justice Altamas Kabir, whose last day in office was 18th July. Justice Sathasivam will remain in office till April 26, 2014.Frontline has brought a profile of Justice Sathasivam. Intresting...

Appointment of Gujarat Lokayukta reaffirmed by Supreme Court

The Supreme Court has rejected the Gujarat government's curative petition seeking Chief Minister's say in the appointment of Lokayukta. A five-Judge Bench of Chief Justice Altamas Kabir and Justices P. Sathasivam, G.S. Singhvi, B.S. Chauhan and Ibrahim Kalifulla found no merit in the curative petition and dismissed it. The verdict came on the CJI’s last working day.Pursuant to this...

Supreme Court invalidates NEET undertaken by Medical Council of India

The Supreme Court yesterday held that Medical Council of India's (MCI) and Dental Council of India's (DCI) notification for holding common entrance test called National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) for MBBS, BDS and post-graduate medical courses is ultra vires the Constitution.Justice Altamas Kabir delivered the majority judgment along with Justice Vikramajit Sen and Justice Anil...

Supreme Court puts in place Regulations for prevention of sexual harassment in its premises; All the High Courts asked to formulate similar regulations

The Supreme Court has approved the Regulations dealing with sexual harassment on its premises. The Gender Sensitisation & Sexual Harassment of Women at the Supreme Court of India (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Regulations, 2013 (Regulations), were framed by a six member Committee set up by Supreme Court.The Committee comprising Senior Advocate Fali Nariman along with Advocates...

SC rejects PIL for reducing juvenile age

The Supreme Court refused to direct the Centre to amend the Juvenile Justice Act for reducing the age of a juvenile from 18 to 16 years. The apex court dismissed the PIL seeking directions to the Centre for amending the Act and refused to admit any changes in the existing juvenile law.A three judge Bench comprising of CJI Altamas Kabir, S S Nijjar and J Chelameswar said, "The age...

Cabinet proposes Bill for women to get share of husband's inherited property on divorce

As per a Bill proposed by the Cabinet, a wife will have a share in her husband's inherited or inheritable marital property on divorce. The Bill is, however, silent on how much share wife will get in husbands inheritable property. The exact quantum of the compensation will be left to the discretion of the judge.It is pertinent to note that by not quantifying the amount of compensation, the...

SC directs petitioner to approach Madras High Court on the issue of 'Fake Courts' in Tamil Nadu

The Supreme Court today directed the Petitioner to approach the Madras High Court in a petition seeking a probe into alleged functioning of “fake courts” in Tamil Nadu.In the PIL [(W.P. (Crl.) No. 79/2013)] filed by Advocate Manikandan V Chettiar, it was contended that the 'Fake Courts' in Tamil Nadu are running parallel Judiciary by usurping the judicial functions of the regular Civil...

SC lifts ban on dance bars in Maharashtra

The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld Bombay High Court's order to allow dance bars to operate again in Maharashtra.On discontinuance of bar dancing in establishments below the rank of three star establishments, a Bench comprising of Chief Justice Altamas Kabir and Justice S S Nijjar said, "We fail to see how exactly the same dances can be said to be morally acceptable in the...

NUJS Slapgate: No action taken against Assistant Professor involved; VC asks victim to take copy of Report on the incident via RTI

Adreeka Pandey was allegedly slapped by Assistant Professor of Law, Dr. Lovely Dasgupta at the National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS) campus on 30th April, 2013 for entering the exam hall late.  A ‘Fact Finding Body’ was constituted by the Vice-Chancellor, Dr. P Ishwara Bhat, to inquire into this incident and a retired judge of the Calcutta High Court was appointed as the...

'Certificate of Practice' still not issued for candidates who cleared fourth AIBE

The Bar Council of India (BCI) which declared the results for the fourth All India Bar Examination (AIBE)  in January, 2013 has still not issued  “Certificate of Practice” to advocates who have cleared the said exam which was conducted on 9th December, 2012.“Last I checked with The Bar Council of Delhi, they told me that the certificate of practice will be made available after 15th...