Information Commissioner Sridhar Acharyulu Questions "Arbitrary" Reconstitution Of Bench Hearing Complaint Relating To Political Parties [Read Letters]

Merely two months after an unprecedented press conference was held by four sitting Judges of the Supreme Court against the Chief Justice of India's constitution of benches, similar allegations are now being leveled against Chief Information Commissioner Mr R.K. Mathur.In two letters addressed to Mr Mathur, Information Commissioner M. Sridhar Acharyulu has raised several questions on...

Two Aadhaar Cards With Same Aadhaar Number And Different Date Of Births: MP HC Orders ‘In-Depth Enquiry’ [Read Order]

The Madhya Pradesh High Court recently, while hearing a habeas corpus petition, came across two Aadhaar cards pertaining to one individual bearing the same number, having different dates of birth and directed the state government and the Unique Identification Authority of India to conduct enquiries in this regard.The petitioner in this case and the girl (corpus) had produced Aadhaar card....

Terrorizing The Public At Large Is A Heinous Crime And That Should Be Dealt With A Stern Hand: Punjab & Haryana HC Denies Bail To Gurmeet Ram Rahim Supporters [Read Order]

Creating terror in the mind of the general public, duly armed, paralyzing the entire city, violating the law, is taken as a joy ride by the petitioners.. Facts reveal that they have projected themselves as Rulers of the State at that juncture, the Court observed.The Punjab and Haryana High Court declined to grant bail to supporters of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim who after...

Committing To An Independent Judiciary

“The principle of complete independence of the judiciary from the executive is the foundation of many things in our island life…The Judge has not only to do justice between man and man. He also – and this is one of the most important functions considered incomprehensible in some large parts of the world – has to do justice between the citizens and the State.”– Winston Churchill[1]Even a despot like Churchill understood the requirement of the complete independence of the judiciary from executive...

Office Of Profit Row: Here Is What The Delhi HC Said While Setting Aside Disqualification Of 20 AAP MLAs [Read Judgment]

In a major relief for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the Delhi High Court has set aside the Election Commission of India's (ECI) recommendation for disqualification of 20 Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs for holding office of profit.The Bench comprising Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Chander Shekhar directed the ECI to take another look at the allegations, observing that the MLAs were not given an...

INX Media Case: Karti Chidambaram Granted Bail By Delhi HC [Read Order]

The Delhi High Court on Friday granted bail to Karti Chidambaram in the INX Media case registered against him by the CBI while holding that there was no possibility of him fleeing from justice as he has roots in the society, his parents are senior lawyers and he has a family to take care of while also noting that the CBI had not recovered any incriminating material from his possession during...

Petition Filed In Uttarakhand HC Challenging Minimum Eligibility Criteria For CLAT, 2018 For LLM; Notice Issued

The Uttarakhand High Court, on Wednesday, issued a notice to the Vice-Chancellor of National University of Advanced Legal Studies, Kochi on a Petition challenging the minimum eligibility criteria laid down in order to appear for Common Law Admission Test (CLAT), 2018 for LLM.The notice was issued by Justice Sudhanshu Dulia, on a petition filed by two law graduates Mr Deepak Rawat and Mr....

First Lawsuit Against Facebook & Cambridge Analytica

A class-action complaint has been filed by Lauren Price, a resident of Maryland, before the U.S. District Court in San Jose, California seeking unspecified damages for Facebook’s failure to protect data of its users and the exploitation of the data by Cambridge Analytica in the 2016 US election campaign. The complaint alleges violation of California unfair competition law.It is only...

In Defence Of The Offensive

While many detractors of the AAP sneered at Kejriwal’s “backtracking” for apologizing to politicians Nitin Gadkari, Kapil Sibal and Bikram Singh Majithia in the criminal defamation complaints filed against him, few realize that this was a political masterstroke on his part. As Atishi Marlena notes in her piece, this was Kejriwal’s way of getting the cases out of the way to focus on real work. Criminal defamation complaints as intimidation tactics are common in politics and against the media....

The Politics Of Judicial Appointments

“It is perfectly possible to pervert the Constitution, without changing its form, by merely changing the form of the administration and to make it inconsistent [with] and oppose to the spirit of the Constitution.” -Dr BR AmbedkarTwo remarkable judges delivered judgments which were path-breaking, but both paid the price for courage under the fire of the Executive. One of the judges was transferred to the Madras High Court. The second judge is now being objected to by the government to be brought...

Contract Employees In Govt Establishments Entitled To Maternity Leave At Par With Govt Servants: Kerala HC [Read Judgment]

The High Court of Kerala has held that contract employees in government-funded establishments are entitled to maternity leave in the same manner as government servants. The judgment was given by Justice Anu Sivaraman while considering the plea of women engaged on contract service by the government. Some of the petitioners were working on contract basis in the Additional Skill...

Analyzing The Foreign Lawyers/Law Firms Entry Ban Judgment

The Supreme Court, speaking through Justice AK Goel and Justice UU Lalit, recently held that foreign law firms/lawyers are not permitted to practice the profession of law in India. The bench decided civil appeals challenging two orders: one by the Madras High Court which had held that foreign law firms or foreign lawyers cannot practice the profession of law in India either on the litigation or non-litigation side, unless they fulfill the requirement of the Advocates Act, 1961 and the Bar...