Appoint Competent Advocates As Public Prosecutors, Kerala HC Tells Government [Read Judgment]

"The Government should while appointing Prosecutors, especially for conducting serious criminal cases, competent persons are to be appointed taking into consideration their expertise in the field."

Young Couple Appeals For Donations To IDIA Law Instead of Wedding Gifts

Harshavardhan Ganesan and Gayathri Mani - a Chennai based couple who will tie the knot in September- have shown a warm gesture in connection to their wedding.In their wedding invitation card, they have made an appeal to donate to two charities in lieu of bringing gifts.Increasing Diversity by Increasing Access to legal education Law (IDIA Law) and Thane Society for Prevention of Cruelty...

Whither Rule Of Law? The Glaring Defiance Of SC Guidelines To Curb Mob Lynching

Recurring cases of lynching show how weak the fiat of the Supreme Court runs in this country.

Defects in Tenth Schedule: Perpetuating Constitutional Sin of Defections

In Harish Chandra Rawat case, the Supreme Court said defection is a constitutional sin. This is the story of sinful defections in the mask of mergers. Most unholy political treacheries are becoming constitutionally accepted activities. The mergers are nothing but wholesale defections, forming base of strategies of ruling parties. The fabric of politics is made of tearing a piece from a cloth-roll and stitching it with another, called merger, though design, colour or texture does not match....

Poor Performance Of The Commercial Courts Act, 2015 Finds Empirical Study

In 2015, the Commercial Courts Act, 2015 was introduced to expedite the disposal of high-value commercial disputes. As originally enacted, the legislation required that, commercial cases above Rs. 1 crore were required to be heard by designated courts at the District Courts or High Courts (only if the High Court had ordinary original civil jurisdiction). In 2018, to widen the scope of the Act, the pecuniary threshold was reduced from Rs. 1 crore to Rs. 3 lakhs. The procedural reforms...

Rajiv Gandhi Assassination: HC Allows Nalini To Appear In Person To Argue On Plea For Leave

The Madras High Court Tuesday granted permission to Nalini Sriharan, a life convict in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, to appear in person on July 5 and argue on her plea for six months ordinary leave to make arrangements for her daughter's wedding. A division bench of Justice M M Sundaresh and Justice M Nirmal Kumar gave her permission to appear in person on July 5 at 2.15 pm...

Section 344 CrPC: Cognizance To Be Taken At The Time Of Delivering Judgment/ Final Order: Kerala HC [Read Judgment]

"Law doesn't permit such a premature opinion being formed at an early stage of the proceeding since such an approach cannot be said to be conducive to the smooth progress of trial and in certain cases, such a pre-judged action is likely to put a witness of truth also in terror."

Payal Tadvi: Sessions Court Rejects Bail Plea Of Three Doctors Accused Of Abetting The Suicide

The City Civil and Sessions court in Mumbai rejected bail pleas filed by three doctors who allegedly were responsible in abetting Payal Tadvi's suicide. The 26-year-old Tadvi was in the second year of MD at BYL Nair hospital. Ankita Khandelwal, Hema Ahuja and Bhakti Mehare are third-year resident doctors at BYL Nair hospital and they allegedly tormented Tadvi about her tribe. On May 22,...

Civil Court Verdicts On Rights & Title Of Litigants Binding On Revenue Authorities: Bombay HC [Read Judgment]

The Bombay High Court has held that when the rights and title of the litigants is settled in proceedings by the Civil Courts, such verdicts would be binding upon the revenue authorities.In this case, the mutation entry was carried out in favour of the decree holder, which was confirmed by Appellate authorities. However, the Minister for State (Revenue) allowed the revision of the...

The Karnataka High Court's Troubling Decision On The Right To Education Act

On 31 May, a division bench of the Karnataka High Court handed down its judgment in RTE Students and Parents' Association v State of Karnataka, upholding the constitutional validity of Rule 4 of the Karnataka Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Rules of 2012. The background is this: Section 12(1)(c) of the Right to Education Act requires private schools to admit – to the extent of 25% of the strength of their Class I batches – students belonging to "the weaker sections and...

High Courts Weekly Round Up

Bombay High Court Held that the bare act of touching hands of a fellow colleague is not sufficient to constitute the offence of outraging mode of a woman. Division bench of Justice TV Nalawade and Justice KK Sonawane quashed a FIR filed against Dilip Lomate under Section 354 (assault or criminal force to a woman with intent to outrage her modesty) of the Indian Penal Code....

Civil Rights At The Bar Of The High Courts: The Madras HC On Gag Orders And The Kerala HC On Voting Rights

Two High Court judgments delivered this month have restated certain important constitutional principles.The Madras High Court and InjunctionsThe first is the judgment of the Madras High Court in Ms Menaka v Arappor Iyakkam, delivered on 3 June by R. Subramanian J. In this case, a politician and certain government contractors ["the Applicants"] had filed a defamation suit against the Respondents. The Respondents had published certain claims regarding corruption in the award of government...