News Updates

We bring you the updates for last week. Hope it updates you with all the news from legal world.

15 December 2014

The Bombay High Court refused to entertain a Writ filed by an advocate challenging the imposition of service tax on advocates. So the business clients of individual lawyers and law firms will continue to pay service tax as mandated by the Finance Act.

16 December 2014

In the case of Italian Marines who are accused of killing two Indian fishermen, the Supreme Court denied the plea of one Italian Marine to extend the stay in Italy on health grounds and the plea of the other Marine to travel to Italy for Christmas. The Court held that they want the system to work and that the relief cannot be granted even though the trial has not commenced. Therefore, the accused must come to India and the charge-sheet be filed.

17 December 2014

The Delhi High Court which had earlier passed an ex-parte ad-interim injunction against the Chinese manufacturer, Xiaomi, allowed the company to sell and import handsets which have chipsets of Qualcomm Inc., till 5 February 2015. Xiaomi argued that Erricsson had suppressed the facts to obtain an injunction. Qualcomm has a license from Erricsson and therefore the license does not make Xiaomi an infringer of Ericsson’s patent rights.

The Central Information Commission (CIC) on 17 December ordered that information relating to the death of the former Chief Justice of India J S Verma be disclosed to RTI activist Mr. S C Agrawal. The Commissioner, M Sridhar Acharyulu said, “Such letters (documents) from eminent citizens from all walks of life on death of a devoted and honest jurist who spent his post-retirement life in a rented house is indeed a matter of serious concern”.

18 December 2014

The Supreme Court bench has extended the former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu J. Jayalalthaa’s bail by 4 months and directed the Karnataka High Court to constitute a special bench to hear her appeal expeditiously and decide it within 3 months, till 18 April 2015. The former CM challenged her conviction in Karnataka High Court in a ‘Disproportionate Assets Case’ after being found guilty.

19 December 2014

Three judge bench of the Supreme Court dismissed the appeals in relation to the Coal Ordinance. The deadline to pay the penalty is 31 December which was marked from 24 September judgment in which the 214 of the 218 coal blocks allocations was quashed.

22 December 2014

The Allahabad High Court dismissed a batch of Writ Petitions which were filed praying for protection as a married couple as they had tied the knot after the girls got their religion converted from Hindu to Islam and then performed Nikah. The court observed that “Conversion to another religion basically requires change of faith and belief of personal relations of a major individual of sound mind by his free will, with what he/she regards as cosmos, his/her Make or Creator, which he/she believes, regulates the existence of insentient beings and the forces of Universe.”

24 December 2014

The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) has released the 1^st draft on the National IPR Policy submitted by the ‘Think Tank’ chaired by Justice Prabha Sridevan. The draft policy can be accessed here.

26 December 2014

The Delhi High Court issued a notice to RBI on the decision to impose a limit of five transactions per month from the customers’ own bank ATM and charging Rs. 20/- per transaction beyond it. RBI had also imposed a limit of three transactions per month from ATMs of other banks, located in the six metro centres- Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. During the hearing, the court said, “You (banks) are unnecessary taxing your account holders.” The response has been sought by 18 February 2015.

The Delhi High Court distinguished between Uber and Ola cabs and refused to give a similar order in favor or Uber. Ola was given relief as they are only a technology platform and not a radio taxi operator. The court observed that ‘You (Uber) take money from customers and give it to drivers. So you are providing the service.’ By the virtue of December 8 Government Order, Uber had been effectively banned in India.

We hope that this summarizes the News from 15th to 27th December . Your comments and suggestions are welcomed.

Until next post of weekly News updates.

Wishing you all a very delightful and successful New Year. 

Manish Kumar, (3rd Year student of IIT Kharagpur Law School)

Disclaimer: This blog or any post thereof is not to be considered to be in any way associated with the official stand of IIT kharagpur or RGSOIPL on the issues being discussed in the said post. The opinions on the blog are the authors own and should not be considered as legal advice.

Read More

Legal Updates

We bring you the updates for last week. Hope it updates you with all the news from legal world.

Updates: 19th October to 25th October 2014.

In a case by one Gursahani, the SEBI’s circular increasing the limitation for arbitration from six months to three years was challenged. The court upheld the circular and dismissed the case.

In Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd. Vs.  Novartis AG, Suit seeking permanent injunction restraining the appellant from infringing respondents Indian Patent came up for preliminary consideration before the learned Single Judge on September 08, 2014, on which date the appellant appeared to oppose the grant of any ad-interim injunction. The Court said that no ad-interim injunction can be given on lines of LA Roche Ltd. & Anr. Vs. Cipla Ltd.

The Chief Information Officer, Prof M Sridhar Acharyulu, took a strict stance on the handling and weeding out policies of government documents subject to RTIs. The Commission looking into the matter asked the concerned authority to show cause to show cause why maximum penalty cannot be imposed on him for making a wrong claim of weeding the record and for not furnishing the information to the complainant. The direction of the Commission clearly reflects the harmony between Public Records Act and Right to Information Act.

After coming out on bail, Jayalalitha took notice of the extreme steps being taken in row of the Court’s decision. She has appealed to all the supporters to condemn such acts and has promised Rs. 3 Lacs compensation to the families of the deceased. A responsible gesture by the ex-CM, but it would have been prudent to take such a stance much earlier.

In the infamous case of alleged sexual harassment in the Madhya Pradesh High Court, the accused administrative Judge has asserted before the apex Court that the woman judge “was not a disciplined member of the judiciary and after an elapsation of 15 days after the glory of the post she had formerly held, she levied reckless allegations and concocted a story in an attempt to get herself reinstated in service”. The course ahead depends crucially on the evidence advanced before the Court for efficient dispense of justice.

The All Inida Bar Association (AIBA) has written to the Supreme Court to initiate suo moto contempt proceedings against Thanti TV, a Tamil news channel. The channel is alleged to have recorded the court proceedings of the arguments put forward by Mr. Fali Nariman in the  Jayalalitha case.  Amid all this, the Kerala High Court is discussing provisions to ban lawyers from talking to journalists about their pending cases and their proceedings.

According to the direction by the law ministry, all 15,000 subordinate courts will have their judgments digitised, with new judgments to be uploaded by 6pm on the day that it is handed down. This is a welcome step which should have seen the light of the day years ago for efficient administration of the Court proceedings.

According to the direction by the Government, all its ministries will have to upload all the RTI applications and their respective replies on their websites. This documents containing personal information can be put out of the ambit of this direction. This is a potential step towards greater transparency and efficiency.

In the alleged forest land encroachment by BS Yedurappa and his kin, the Karnataka High Court set aside the Sessions court order which was stalling the investigation. The estimated area encroached is around 84 acres in the Shimoga district. With all relevant documents submitted and arguments completed, the decision will be given on 28th October.

The deadline of the biometric attendance system kicks in on the 25^th of this month. According to the direction from the PMO, all the government offices are to be installed with the electronic attendance machines. Also, the attendance is accessible to the public through attendance.gov.in. This is a simple step taken by the Government to ensure efficient governance and better service.

We hope that this summarizes the last week's News. Your comments and suggestions are welcomed.

Until next post of weekly News updates.

Abhishek Chansoria (1st Year student of IIT Kharagpur Law School)

For 'OFF Court.'

Disclaimer: This blog or any post thereof is not to be considered to be in any way associated with the official stand of IIT kharagpur or RGSOIPL on the issues being discussed in the said post. The opinions on the blog are the authors own and should not be considered as legal advice.

Read More