‘Litigation Is The Last Resort When Governments Completely Disregard The Rule Of Law’, Says Namita Wahi, Lead Author Of Report On Land Acquisition Litigation In India

The Conference on Land Rights, Land Acquisition and Inclusive Development in India, held at India International Centre, New Delhi, on March 2 and 3, under the auspices of the Centre for Policy Research Land Rights Initiative, and the Centre on Law and Social Transformation, Norway, brought together as many as 20 delegates representing a cross-section of civil society, as well as civil servants involved in policy-making.What followed was brainstorming for two days on various aspects of land...

Surprise Changes To All India Bar Exam Syllabus (For Tenth AIBE In March 2017)

We noticed that the syllabus for the All India Bar Examination has been changed, relatively quietly. There is no new notification on the website for the exam (http://allindiabarexamination.com), but those who click on the syllabus link on the homepage and go through the syllabus carefully will notice that there is some difference. We are not clear exactly when this change took place, owing to absence of a formal notification. Further, on first glance you would not notice a change, since the...

Former CJ Acted ‘Unconstitutionally’ To Promote HC Employee Out Of Turn: Punjab & Haryana HC [Read Judgment]

The then Hon'ble Chief Justice, while promoting the third respondent relaxing the seniority criteria is incorrect, in not complying Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution, the court saidThe Punjab and Haryana High Court has observed that a former chief justice of the high court acted unconstitutionally while relaxing the seniority criteria to promote a person ‘out of...

We Do Not Need Ornamental Statutes: We Need To Have Practical Solutions To The Problems We Face. Activist Lawyer Flavia Agnes

Her experience as a victim of domestic violence inspired her to enroll to study law at the age of 33. She earned her Masters in Law in 1992 and has an MPhil in family law, and today, Flavia Agnes is one of the strongest voices we have in our country.She is popularly known as a women's rights lawyer and activist.Flavia Agnes is the co-founder of Majlis legal centre that not only campaigns, for but also provides legal aid and representation to women and children. Over the decades, Agnes has been...

Non-Payment Of Prosecutor’s Fees May Attract Contempt Of Court: Delhi HC Tells Kejriwal Govt [Read Order]

The Delhi High Court has warned the Arvind Kejriwal government with contempt proceedings for non-payment of fees to its public prosecutors since December 2015, despite the court’s repeated orders for payment.However, accepting the assurance given by standing counsel Rahul Mehra to address the issue soon, the bench headed by Justice Gita Mittal posted the matter for hearing on March...

Bombay High Court Issues Landmark Directions On Prison Reforms [Read Judgment]

The bench of Justices AS Oka and AA Sayed pronounced a 58-page judgement after looking into the condition of various prisons in the state.The main petition was filed by Jan Adalat, Centre of Para Legal Services and Legal Aid. Most of the members of the petitioner organisation are members of the Pune Bar Association. They challenged the communication dated August 24, 2015 issued by the...

Supersession: Justice HG Ramesh Declines Offer Of Madras Chief Justice-ship, Justice Indira Banerjee New Madras CJ

Disappointed by the elevation of his junior to the Supreme Court, Karnataka High Court judge Justice HG Ramesh has turned down the offer to be appointed as the Madras High Court Chief Justice, reports ETPost the vacancy left by promotion of Madras High Court Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, the Supreme Court collegium had recommended appointment of Justice Ramesh to the post. The...

Cooperative Banks Not Exempted From RTI Act: Bombay HC [Read Judgment]

The Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court has held that co-operative institutions “need to supply” information under RTI Act, since it is a “public authority” established under the Cooperative Societies Act.The bench of Justice TL Nalwade and Justice Sangitrao Patil pronounced the judgment on February 13 after hearing all parties in a writ petition filed by the Jalgaon Jillha...

Right To Be Forgotten: Kerala HC Asks Indian Kanoon To Remove Name Of Rape Victim From Judgment

The Kerala High Court has recently asked legal online search portal indiankanoon.com to remove the name of a rape victim from a Kerala High Court judgment published on the site.Justice Shaji P Chaly passed the interim order in a petition filed by a rape victim, who was aggrieved by the disclosure of her name and personal information in the judgments rendered by Kerala High Court in two...

Maternity, And Maternity Leave For Lawyers In Litigation!

I am faced with this today. Many women lawyers that I have grown up admiring, those who have or are adorning the bar and the bench, must have survived the inequality, and must have been through this at some point in their lives. The ‘this’ that I refer to is “maternity”.Like any other job, legal profession comes with its own set of challenges, and while I am the first one to say that gender based discrimination has seen massive decline, we as women lawyers, still feel the pinch of being ‘women’....

Doctors Must Explain The Risk Of Suggested Treatment To Patients: Orissa HC [Read Judgment]

Doctors should shoulder their responsibility with all care and caution, rise to the occasion, believe in hard work and discipline and behave with all sensibility.The Orissa High Court has, in a medical negligence case, observed that it is the duty of a doctor to explain his patient or relatives chances of success and the risk of failure of the suggested treatment and inform them about...

Spike In Award Of Death Sentences: Says Centre For Death Penalty In Annual Statistical Report For 2016 [Read Report]

A considerable spike in death sentence cases was witnessed last year, as per the annual statistical report of the Centre for Death Penalty for 2016.The report reflected on the rising trajectory of death sentences, with 136 cases in sessions courts as compared to 70 in 2015.The report pointed out that despite the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court cautioning against award of death...