Legopolis

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said local languages should be promoted in courts to strengthen the connection between a common citizen and the judicial system as the complexities of the law can be difficult for a common man to understand. Easy and quick availability of justice should be the common goal of the system, he added. Speaking at the joint conference of Chief Ministers and Chief Justices of High Courts at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi, he said, “We are doing our best to improve the judicial system. We are also working to improve and upgrade the judicial infrastructure.” Talking of the legal education scenario, PM added that subjects like blockchains, electronic discovery, cybersecurity, robotics, AI, and bioethics which are taught in law universities globally, should now be added to the Indian curriculum. PM Modi added that in 2015, the Union government had identified about 1,800 laws that had become irrelevant, of which 1450 have been abolished by the Centre, but...

The Calcutta High Court recently dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) raising the grievance of certain irregularities in the award of contract for the purpose of construction of office building at New Farakka BDO Office Campus under Beniagram Gram Panchayat under Farakka Development Block. The PIL has been filed by Sk. Ajarat Ali. Having perused the record, the Division Bench of Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava and Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj found that no material particular of any alleged irregularities have been disclosed in the petition nor any supporting documents have been enclosed except by enclosing one representation by the petitioner. During the course of hearing, counsel for the petitioner has fairly stated that the petitioner was earlier the highest bidder but the said fact has not been disclosed in the petition. Also Read: Allahabad High Court grants conditional bail to village head accused in misappropriation of school building fund If the petitioner was th...

Public interest litigation is filed in a court of law to protect public interests like pollution, terrorism, road safety, construction hazards, etc.  Any matter related to the society where the interest of the public is affected at a large scale can be addressed by filing Public interest litigation in a court of law. Public interest litigation is not defined in any state or in any act.   Issues raised in Public Interest Litigation In matters of bonded labor Children that have been neglected by society The exploitation of casual workers and non-payment of minimum wages Women’s atrocities Adulteration of food Heritage and cultural preservation Disbalance in ecological equilibrium due to environmental pollution Also Read: What is an Employee Bond Agreement? Who is eligible to file a PIL in India? Any legal citizen of India is eligible to file a public case by filing a petition under the following conditions:  1-A citizen can file PIL in Supreme Court under Art...

By Sanjay Raman Sinha   Recently the Supreme Court took suo motu cognizance of the sentencing process of capital punishment. The bench of Justices UU Lalit, S Ravindra Bhat and PS Narasimha issued notice to the National Legal Service Authority and said that it will create guidelines to streamline the sentencing process. The suo motu relates to the lack of rigorous objective criteria and mechanism in identification of mitigating circumstances. Since 1980, it has been held that by taking into account the mitigating factors, a humane and balanced judgment may be delivered for death row convicts. In the 1980 landmark judgment of the Supreme Court (Bachan Singh vs State of Punjab), basic jurisprudence pertaining to the death penalty was developed. It was in this case that the concept of “rarest of rare” crime and mitigating and aggravating factors was enunciated. Over the years by the way of several judgments, the code further developed. The current hearing has raked up the issue...

The inaugural session of the joint conference of Chief Ministers and Chief Justices of High Courts at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi today was attended by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi who graced the occasion and also addressed the gathering. According to Prime Minister’s office, the Joint Conference is an occasion for the executive and the judiciary to come together to create frameworks for simple and convenient delivery of justice and to discuss steps required to overcome the challenges facing the justice system. “Since then, the government has taken various initiatives for improving infrastructure and integration of digital technology in court processes under eCourts Mission Mode Project,” reads the official statement.  Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said that “it is important to promote local language in courts” to strengthen the connection between a common citizen as court as the complexities of the law can be difficult for a common man to understand. “Easy and quick avai...

The Chief Justice of India NV Ramana on Saturday addressed inaugural session of the joint conference of Chief Ministers and Chief Justices of High Courts at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi. The prime Minister Narendra Modi along with many other legal luminaries were present to grace the occasion. CJI in his speech mentioned that this conference is an opportunity for all present in the session to learn from their rich experience, knowledge, and wisdom that they are a live link with the people and a great opinion builder. CJI said that Chief Ministers often come across the grievances of people which includes those which are related to judiciary so, it should be a great practice if the judiciary can be enlightened about the expectations of the people. CJI was very keen to identify and address the existing issues to improve the functioning of Judiciary. He said that “All of us are constitutional functionaries and we abide by the constitutional mandate. The role assigned to each of us needs n...

The Chief Justice of India NV Ramana on Saturday addressed inaugural session of the joint conference of Chief Ministers and Chief Justices of High Courts at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi. The prime Minister Narendra Modi along with many other legal luminaries were present to grace the occasion. CJI in his speech mentioned that this conference is an opportunity for all present in the session to learn from their rich experience, knowledge, and wisdom that they are a live link with the people and a great opinion builder. CJI said that Chief Ministers often come across the grievances of people which includes those which are related to judiciary so, it should be a great practice if the judiciary can be enlightened about the expectations of the people. CJI was very keen to identify and address the existing issues to improve the functioning of Judiciary. He said that “All of us are constitutional functionaries and we abide by the constitutional mandate. The role assigned to each of us needs n...

The Calcutta High Court has directed the Director General of Environment and Heritage Department of the Municipal Corporation to decide the petitioner’s representation regarding change in nature of land due by the Private Respondents. The case of the petitioner (Ramyani Ghosal) is that the house of the petitioner is surrounded by a plot, comprising of valuable trees and a big pond. The Counsel for the petitioner submitted that the surrounding area comprised of a Basti of around 50-60 huts and the residents of that Basti were being forced to vacate their houses by the private respondents and that the nature of land was being changed. When the matter was taken up on April 25, the Counsel for the petitioner pointed out that the petitioner has already filed a representation on January 31, 2022, making this complaint to the competent authority. The Counsel for the respondent Municipal Corporation submitted that the Director General of Environment and Heritage Department of the Municipal...

Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana on Friday chaired the 39th Conference of Chief Justices of High Courts. Speaking during the Conference, which was held t the Supreme Court premises, Justice Ramana said, “Due to our collective efforts, we could fill 126 HC vacancies in less than a year.” “You may recall that one of my first communication to you was about the filling up of vacancies. I have also requested all of you, in our very first online interaction, to expedite the process of recommending names for elevation to High Courts, with an emphasis on social diversity. “I am happy to note that the response from some of the High Courts has been extremely encouraging. Due to our collective efforts, we could fill 126 vacancies in various High Courts, in less than an year. We are expecting 50 more appointments. This remarkable feat could be achieved because of your wholehearted co-operation and commitment to the institution. “I request the Chief Justices of High Courts, which are still h...

The Special Court under the National Investigation Agency (NIA) Act had three more accused in the Bhima Koregaon case seeking discharge from all charges against them in the 2018 case. The accused who sought discharge from the case linked to Elgar Parishad that led to violence in 2018 were Sudhir Dhawale, Mahesh Raut and Dr Anand Teltumbde . Sudhir Dhawale who is the prime accused in case, says that he should be discharged as his only contribution is to have lent his name to the Elgar Parishad event with some other other organisers including retired judges Justices PB Sawant and Justices BG Kolse Patil. Dhawale who owns a Marathi left-leaning publication and was arrested on June 6, 2018 claimed in the FIR that he was among the various speakers and his arrest had come after complaint was lodged against him, almost after a week. Also Read: Employer has right to determine qualification for job as per recruitment policy: Allahabad High Court In his speech Dhawale had called for...

The Special Court under the National Investigation Agency (NIA) Act had three more accused in the Bhima Koregaon case seeking discharge from all charges against them in the 2018 case. The accused who sought discharge from the case linked to Elgar Parishad that led to violence in 2018 were Sudhir Dhawale, Mahesh Raut and Dr Anand Teltumbde . Sudhir Dhawale who is the prime accused in case, says that he should be discharged as his only contribution is to have lent his name to the Elgar Parishad event with some other other organisers including retired judges Justices PB Sawant and Justices BG Kolse Patil. Dhawale who owns a Marathi left-leaning publication and was arrested on June 6, 2018 claimed in the FIR that he was among the various speakers and his arrest had come after complaint was lodged against him, almost after a week. Also Read: Employer has right to determine qualification for job as per recruitment policy: Allahabad High Court In his speech Dhawale had called for...

A bench headed by CJI NV Ramana in the Supreme Court today, reserved its decision on whether the Delhi government’s petition seeking transfer posting rights of officers should be sent to the Constitution Bench for further hearing. On the issue of rights, the central government says that the matter should be sent to the Constitution Bench for hearing. Now the Supreme Court will decide whether the Constitution Bench will hear the matter or not? The Supreme court also said that even if the matter is referred to the Constitution Bench, we will try to have both sides complete their arguments by May 15. On this, SG Tushar Mehta said that he will take a maximum of 2 days. While advocate AM Singhvi, appearing for the Delhi government, said that both the parties can be given a day’s time to complete their arguments. The Union Government has filed an application in the Supreme Court in the matter pertaining to legal dispute between the Delhi Government and the Central Government regarding le...

By Kenneth Tiven If you send texts, images, email, search the Internet, click “like” on items on social networking apps, and record voice messages, you leave electronic fingerprints you think are harmless but can be used against you.  American politicians and Russian military leadership are learning these lessons in different battlegrounds. Several thousand text messages were exchanged with the White House before and during the insurrection on January 6, 2021, at the US Capitol. Senior officials ignored warnings it was illegal to disrupt formal acceptance of Joseph Biden’s election victory. This fact will be critical in any criminal prosecution. Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows gave these texts to the House select committee in a battle over a subpoena. For example, Representative Scott Perry of Pennsylvania urged Meadows to have the nation’s top intelligence official investigate baseless conspiracy theories. Perry wanted Trump to replace the US acting attorney gene...

By Kenneth Tiven If you send texts, images, email, search the Internet, click “like” on items on social networking apps, and record voice messages, you leave electronic fingerprints you think are harmless but can be used against you.  American politicians and Russian military leadership are learning these lessons in different battlegrounds. Several thousand text messages were exchanged with the White House before and during the insurrection on January 6, 2021, at the US Capitol. Senior officials ignored warnings it was illegal to disrupt formal acceptance of Joseph Biden’s election victory. This fact will be critical in any criminal prosecution. Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows gave these texts to the House select committee in a battle over a subpoena. For example, Representative Scott Perry of Pennsylvania urged Meadows to have the nation’s top intelligence official investigate baseless conspiracy theories. Perry wanted Trump to replace the US acting attorney gene...

The Supreme Court on Wednesday, decided on a four-decade-old dispute related to the regularization of part-time workers in the Life Insurance Corporation(LIC). The Bunch of litigation has a long and chequered history. The dispute, a familiar terrain in service jurisprudence, pertains to the claim for absorption of persons who were engaged by the Life Insurance Corporation of India1 as temporary/badli/part-time workers. Section 23(1) of the Life Insurance Corporation Act 19562 enables LIC to employ such a number of persons as it thinks fit to discharge its functions. Pursuant to clauses (b) and (d) of Section 49(2), LIC has framed the Life Insurance Corporation of India (Staff Regulations) 19603 . Regulation 8 empowers LIC to appoint persons on a temporary basis in Class III and Class IV posts. On 31 January 1981, Sections 48 and 49 were amended to impart statutory force to the Staff Regulations. According to LIC, its staff and employees are governed by the parent enactment and fall o...