Page 19 - Law

As a judge, I am servant of law and Constitution: CJI D Y Chandrachud

Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud on Friday said that as a judge, he is a "servant" of the law and the Constitution and has to follow the position that has been laid down. As soon as a bench headed by the CJI assembled for the day's proceedings, advocate Mathews J Nedumpara mentioned a matter before the court. The lawyer then told the bench, also comprising Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, about the need for reforms in the collegium system as well as abolition of the senior advocate designation. "You have the freedom to pursue your heart's desire. As the Chief Justice of India, but more importantly, as a judge first, I am a servant of the law and the Constitution," Justice Chandrachud said. "I have to follow a position which has been laid down," he said, adding, "I cannot say this is what I like and I will do it." In October this year, the apex court had dismissed a plea challenging the designation of lawyers as senior advocates, saying the petition was a "misadventure

2020 election case: Donald Trump appeals ruling rejecting immunity claim

Former President Donald Trump is appealing a ruling that found he is not immune from criminal prosecution as he runs out of time to delay or even derail an upcoming trial on charges that he plotted to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Lawyers for the 2024 Republican presidential primary frontrunner filed a notice of appeal Thursday indicating that they will challenge US District Judge Tanya Chutkan's decision rejecting Trump's bid to derail the case headed to trial in Washington, DC, in March. The one-page filing was accompanied by a request from the Trump team to put the case on pause so the appeals court can take up the matter. The filing of President Trump's notice of appeal has deprived this Court of jurisdiction over this case in its entirety pending resolution of the appeal, Trump's lawyers wrote. Therefore, a stay of all further proceedings is mandatory and automatic. The appeal had been expected given that Trump's lawyers had earlier signalled their plans to pursue

Top US Congressmen introduce legislation to reduce green card backlog

Three influential Congressmen, including Indian-Americans Raja Krishnamoorthi and Pramila Jayapal, have introduced bipartisan legislation in the US House of Representatives to reduce green card backlog and end country-based discrimination for employment-based visas. Both the moves, if passed and signed into law, would help thousands of Indian-Americans who are currently in decades-long wait for green cards or permanent residency. Congressman Rich McCormick is the third lawmaker to have joined the two Indian-Americans in introducing the bill on Monday. HR 6542, the bipartisan Immigration Visa Efficiency and Security Act of 2023, would strengthen the US economy and boost its international competitiveness while reducing the green card backlog by allowing American employers to focus on hiring immigrants based on their merit, not their birthplace, a press statement said. The bill would phase out the existing seven per cent per-country limit on employment-based immigrant visas while ...

Clear stand on plea against use of officials to highlight work: HC to govt

The plea claimed that it's a political propaganda and that these communications are for the benefit of the ruling party at the Centre

Supreme Court agrees to examine if woman can be charged with rape

Women are usually the victims of rape but can a woman be booked in a rape case? The Supreme Court has agreed to examine this question after a woman petitioned it for anticipatory bail in a rape case also involving her son. The apex court has asked the Punjab government to respond to the plea filed by a 61-year-old woman who has been implicated in the case filed by her daughter-in-law. While agreeing to examine the issue, a bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and Sanjay Karol granted the woman protection from arrest and directed her to cooperate with the investigation. "Issue notice, returnable in four weeks. In the meantime, the petitioner is protected from arrest. But she is expected to cooperate with the investigation of the crime," the bench said. At the outset, advocate Rishi Malhotra, who appeared for the woman, argued that all other penal sections in the FIR are bailable barring the charge under Section 376(2)(n) IPC (repeated rape). Conviction under the section entails ...

Retired judges keeping country's arbitral system in tight fist grip: VP

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Saturday lamented that retired judges have kept the arbitral system of the country in a "tight fist grip", denying chance to other qualified minds. He suggested that the time has come when we need to introspect and move forward by bringing about necessary changes, including, if required, by legislation. "Nowhere on the planet, in no other country, in no other system, there is such tight fist grip on the arbitral system by retired judges. In our country, this is at large," he said. He also lauded the "bold" remarks of Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud -- a person, he said, is changing the landscape of judiciary in the country -- on the arbitral system in India. Dhankhar said the CJI reflected on the lack of diversity in appointing arbitrators. Chandrachud, Dhankhar quoted, had said retired judges dominate the field. "He goes on to add, and I salute him for this, he said while other qualified candidates are overlooked, he implied this reflects

Bengal guv welcomes SC verdict on chancellor's role in appointment of VCs

West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose has welcomed the Supreme Court's verdict on the role of the governor, who is the ex-officio chancellor of state-run universities, in the appointment of vice-chancellors, asserting the apex court has clarified the legal position of the chancellor in the matter. The Supreme Court, while hearing a case pertaining to the reappointment of Kerala's Kannur University vice chancellor, said the governor is not a mere titular head and in the selection of VCs, he is the sole judge and his opinion is final in all respects. By virtue of his office as the ex-officio chancellor, he is not bound to act under the advice of the council of ministers. "The Supreme Court has clarified the legal position of the chancellor in the appointment of VCs... the Chancellor is the authority to appoint VCs. The court made it very clear that the state government of any state should keep off university administration, particularly in the appointment of VCs," Bose told reporters her

Firing in train: Ex-RPF constable's bail plea hearing adjourned until Dec 8

He is accused of shooting dead his senior colleague and three passengers on a moving train on July 31 this year in the Mumbai-Jaipur Express train

Raymond independent directors hire lawyer to protect minority shareholders

Company's interests 'paramount consideration', they say as fight between chairman Gautam Singhania and his estranged wife pulls down market value

CLAT 2024 Exam: Everything you need to know about the exam day and schedule

Candidates can download their CLAT 2024 admit card by 3 December 2023 till 1:30 p.m. This upcoming edition of the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) 2024 will follow an offline mode of two hours

Sebi must act in public interest: HC raps body order non-compliance

The Securities and Exchange Board of India is required to act in the public interest, the Bombay High Court said on Friday castigating the regulatory body for not complying with an order passed by the court in October. A division bench of Justices G S Kulkarni and Jitendra Jain said such an approach by the SEBI would cause a dent in the confidence reposed in the public body by investors. The HC had in October directed the SEBI to provide certain probe documents to the minority shareholders of a company. The company and the SEBI challenged this order in the Supreme Court, which dismissed the appeals in November. The petitioners are minority shareholders of Bharat Nidhi Limited and had made various complaints to SEBI accusing the company of violation of securities laws. The SEBI had then initiated investigations into the same, issued a show cause notice to the company and later passed a settlement order, which has now been revoked. The petitioners' case is that neither the investiga

Acting ED Director Rahul Navin empanelled as additional secretary at Centre

Acting ED Director Rahul Navin has been empanelled by the Union government to hold an additional secretary rank at the Centre. Navin is a 1993-batch Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer of the Income Tax cadre. An order issued by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) on Thursday empanelled Navin in the additional secretary (AS) rank along with 15 other officers from various cadres. He was appointed as the in-charge director or head of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in September following the end of tenure of Sanjay Kumar Mishra. Navin holds expertise in international taxation laws and treaties and has been serving as the Special Director (vigilance) in the ED since his appointment at the agency from the Income Tax department in 2020. The ED director post is an additional secretary rank post. Mishra, a 1984-batch IRS officer, was promoted to the secretary rank while heading the ED. The ED is a federal probe agency tasked to investigate financial crimes under three law

Govt making efforts to bring them back: Navy Chief on ex-personnel in Qatar

Navy Chief Admiral R Hari Kumar on Friday said the government is putting all-out efforts to bring back eight former naval personnel from Qatar, who were handed death sentence by a Qatari court. "We are working closely to ensure that their interests are looked after," Admiral Kumar said at a media briefing. "The government of India is putting all-out efforts to ensure they are brought back," he said. The Indian nationals were on October 26 given death sentence by Qatar's Court of First Instance. India described the ruling as "deeply" shocking and vowed to explore all legal options in the case. An appeal has already been filed against the death sentence and a higher court in Qatar has already admitted the plea. The appeal has been filed by the legal team of the detained Indian nationals. The Indian nationals, who worked with private company Al Dahra, were arrested in August last year reportedly in an alleged case of espionage. Neither the Qatari authorities nor New Delhi made the

AIBE 18 admit card 2023 to be released today at allindiabarexamination.com

The AIBE 18 has been anticipated December 10 and the admit cards will be announced today at allindiabarexamination.com for applicants to download

HC rejects I-T reassessment proceedings beyond four-year limitation period

The ruling was given on a writ petition filed by an assessee challenging the reopening notice on capital gains issued by the income tax authorities

Russia outlaws 'extremist' LGBT movement, bans all activities in country

The court ruling stated that "the international LGBT public movement and its subdivisions" were extremist, and issued a "ban on its activities on the territory of Russia"

Info gathered from social media cannot be part of pleadings in PIL: HC

Information gathered from social media cannot be part of the pleadings in a public interest litigation, the Bombay High Court said on Tuesday while hearing a petition claiming that 1,500 to 2,000 people lose their lives in unsafe water bodies in Maharashtra every year. A division bench of Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Arif Doctor refused to hear a PIL filed by advocate Ajitsingh Ghorpade seeking a direction to the Maharashtra government to take measures to safeguard waterfalls and water bodies in the state. Ghorpade's lawyer Manindra Pandey claimed that around 1,500 to 2000 persons lose their lives at such unsafe waterfalls and water bodies every year, and the bench sought to know from where the petitioner had got the information on the deaths. Pandey then said they had procured the information from newspapers and social media posts. The court then said that the petition was vague and did not contain many details. "Information gathered from social media cannot be part of

SC refuses to hear PIL alleging use of public servants by ruling party

The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to entertain a PIL seeking to quash a letter issued by the Controller General of Defence Accounts and DoPT's office memorandum which seek to use public servants to showcase achievements of the government. A bench comprising Justices B R Gavai and Prashant Kumar Mishra took note of the submissions of lawyer Prashant Bhushan, and said it was not inclined to hear the publicity interest litigation. Bhushan submitted that this is a serious matter where the ruling party wants to allegedly use public servants for promotion of its work with an aim to get benefits in upcoming elections. The bench, however, seemed disinclined to hear the PIL. The plea is dismissed as withdrawn with the liberty to the petitioner to approach the high court, the bench ordered. The PIL, filed by EAS Sarma and Jagdeep S Chhokar, sought setting aside of the letter of October 9, 2023 of the Controller General of Defence Accounts of the Ministry of Defence to Controllers of Defe

Centre, Delhi's stand sought on PIL against nursing courses only for women

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday sought the stand of the Centre and city government on a petition challenging provisions allowing only female candidates to apply for admission to B.Sc (Hons) Nursing courses offered by AIIMS, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University and Delhi University. A bench of Acting Chief Justice Mamohan and Justice Mini Pushkarna issued notice on the public interest litigation by the Indian Professional Nurses Association and asked the governments as well as the institutes and Indian Nursing Council to file their replies within four weeks. Advocate Robin Raju, appearing for the petitioner, said the petition challenged the gender-based eligibility and that in view of the shortage of nurses in the country, persons of all genders should be permitted to apply to the course. The plea said the petitioner was a non-governmental registered body working for the welfare of nurses across India and was moving the instant petition to highlight the concern that even today .

Cooperating with US investigation as info legally tenable: India to Canada

Earlier in September, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made allegations regarding India's involvement in Nijjar's killing