Legal News at Vakilno1.com

Apex Court refuses to order presidential reference against NHRC Chairman and former CJI

The Supreme Court won’t be directing the Centre to suggest a Presidential reference against NHRC Chairman and former CJI K.G. Balakrishnan for his alleged misconduct during his tenure as a judge in the apex court.

However, The Court asked the competent authority of the Centre to look into the allegation of judicial misconduct against the former Chief Justice of India (CJI).

A bench of justices said if there is any truth in the allegations, then it is for the President to make reference to the Supreme Court, on the advice of Council of Ministers, for inquiry against the former CJI.

The court passed the order on a PIL by civil society Common Cause, which had sought directions from the court to the government to make a Presidential reference to the apex court for removal of former CJI Balakrishnan as the chairman of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).

Justice Balakrishnan had been elevated as a Supreme Court judge in June 2000 and was appointed the Chief Justice of India on January 14, 2007. He retired on May 12, 2010 after which he was appointed NHRC chairman.

Live-in-Relationship 

The Government has said that no panel has been set up for providing equal property rights among couples applicable to live-in-partners too.

However, the Working Group on Women’s Agency and Empowerment for 12th Plan constituted by the Planning Commission under the Chairpersonship of Secretary, Ministry of Women and Child Development, has, recommended that a comprehensive “Right to Marital Property Act”, applicable to all communities, may be enacted which should treat all the movable and immovable assets that a married couple or a couple living together have acquired, as joint property, which can be divided at the time of separation/ desertion, regardless of who has bought the property.

New Ethics for Advocates

The Bar Council of India has proposed a new draft Code of Professional Standards, Ethics and Etiquette. The said draft Code is available on the website of Bar Council of India. The said Code provides a general guide for ethical standards to be adhered to by members of the Bar whether practising individually or as a law firm and whether engaged in litigation or transactional/ corporate work.

Parliament passes Right of Children to Free and compulsory Education (Amendment) Bill, 2012

Parliament passed the RTE Bill, with the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, which would allow differently-abled children in the age group 6-14 the right of admission to any school.

Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal said he would incorporate the suggestion into the law as it was necessary to integrate the education process. He said there had to be a choice and it was for the parents to decide.

He assured the House that children suffering from various disabilities would be brought within the ambit of the Right to Education Act in due course.

Addressing the concerns expressed by minority community members over the establishment of a management committee for aided minority institutions, Mr. Sibal said it would function only in an advisory capacity.

As for shortages in schools, the Minister said the Centre had cleared the appointment of six lakh school teachers and it was now for the State governments to make the appointments and use the funds made available to them.

He, however, refused to reconsider the new system of comprehensive and continuous evaluation (CCE) at the level of the board examinations, saying the experiment was limited to 12,000 schools following the CBSE syllabus.

Most members supported Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad’s demand for conducting examinations even at the board level, stressing that now the State boards were not excluded from the purview of the Central government.

As regards a common curriculum, Mr. Sibal said such a system was being evolved, science and mathematics having already been brought within its ambit. Among other subjects, commerce would be covered next.

When Mr. Sibal did not commit himself to opening schools in minority-dominated areas for the benefit of the girl child, Mr. Prasad and his other party MPs of his party staged a walkout.

Apex Court will  examine the efficacy and implementation of the BOT policy

The Supreme Court  informed  that it will have a look on government’s build operate and transfer (BOT) policy, which allows private operators to build roads and charge toll tax to cover costs.

Justice D.K. Jain expressed concern over the manner in which the policy was being implemented in different parts of the country. Roads are frequently dug up and consumers are overcharged, the court observed.

“These infrastructures are not only for the builders but also for the users,” the judge said during the hearing of a public interest litigation filed by the NGO People’s Voice, which alleged mismanagement of the toll road between Delhi and Gurgaon.

SC cancels out Kerala Chit Fund Act

The Supreme Court has cancelled the Kerala Chitties Act, 1975, on Tuesday declaring that the Central Chit Funds Act, 1982, is applicable to all chit fund firms operating in the country.

The clarification by the Supreme Court on the validity of Central and State Act is considered to be beneficial for the investors as there would be a strict control over the chit companies, a fivemember Bench, headed by Chief Justice S H Kapadia, held.

The Kerala Chitties Act was enunciated in 1975 to control the activities of chit companies. Though the Central Government came up with a new law in 1982, it was not implemented in Kerala as the order regarding it was not issued.

Supreme Court said Haj subsidy will be removed in a progressive manner

New posts of Court managers to assist Judges in performing administrative duties

Shri Salman Khurshid, Minister of Law & Justice told Lok Sabha that the post of Court Manager is proposed to be created in each judicial district to assist the Principal District and Sessions judges.

An amount of Rs. 5,000 crore has been allocated on the recommendation of Thirteenth Finance Commission for five years from 2010-11 to 2014-15 for various initiatives to improve justice delivery system. Out of this, an amount of Rs. 300 crore has been allocated for employment of professionally qualified Court Managers to assist the judges with a view to enhancing efficiency of court management and resultant improvement in case disposal.

The Court Managers will support the judges in performing administrative duties, thereby enabling the judges to devote more time to judicial functions. Two posts of Court Manager are proposed to be created for each High Court and one for each Bench of the High Court.

In case the High Court is of the opinion that one Court Manager would be sufficient for more than one district, High Level Monitoring Committee of the State can take a decision accordingly.

FX loans will get cheaper as Withholding Tax getting slashed from 20% to 5%

The FM reduces the withholding tax from 20% to 5%. Previously this lower rate was only for infrastructure loans. Slashing withholding tax from 20% to 5% is a very influential change which will make most foreign loans cheaper by nearly 1% from where it is currently.

Mukherjee had in his 2012-13 Budget proposed this benefit only for infrastructure sectors, such as power, airlines, roads and bridges, ports and shipyards, affordable housing, fertilizer and dams.

This move comes as a welcome relief to businesses grappling with a sharp depreciation in rupee against the dollar and the downward revision in sovereign rating outlook that have affected foreign lenders’ sentiments.

A point may be argued that this is already available with Indian banks. Indian banks from their foreign branches could raise FX loans which were not charged withholding tax because these banks anyway pay an income tax in the country.

Ultimately, it’s the foreign banks which gains the advantage. The reason why this is being registered all along is because it makes monetary policy non sense. Monetary policy is raised so that people don’t loan too much and generate limited economic activity which in turn will create inflation. This reduces the power of monetary policy to cool down the system because FX loans could get cheaper at such a stage and reduce the impact of monetary policy.

Increasing equity capital flows, reducing imports or making Indian exports attractive are positive ways to bridge the deficit. The same route was used by Russia in the past with some disastrous results. But that’s the way we have decided to go and sense is that it is a single reason why the rupee appreciated today. We put it to probably RBI intervening but the big rally in the rupee happened because FX loans become cheaper from the day the notification comes.

Bombay HC confirmed “No objection to the sex change surgery”

Bombay High Court said that there is no such law which can disallow an adult from taking decisions pertaining to his life and gave the approval for sex change surgery. Moreover, the Union and state government also has no objection to the surgery.

Justices S J Vazifdar and A R Joshi said that the petitioner (Bhidan) is 21 years old and hence a major and can take decisions for himself.

The petitioner had earlier said he would commit suicide if not allowed to undergo the surgery. Reuters Advocate Advait Sethna, told the court that they have no objection to the surgery. Bhidan, who claims that he is a woman trapped in a man’s body, had approached the high court seeking his parents be restrained from stopping the operation.

“The court need not order a person not to cause harm to another individual. It is the job of the police to see to it that no harm is caused,” the court said.  When the court refused to hear the matter, Bhidan had written a letter to the Chief Justice of the high court threatening to commit suicide if his matter was not heard and decided expeditiously.

Following the letter, the bench had summoned his lawyer and warned him and his client against indulging in such “pressure tactics”.

Referring to the letter, Justice Vazifdar today said, “Next time your client wants any relief, he has to come to the court of law and should not go anywhere else.”

In his petition, Bhidan, who calls himself Swati, alleged that his parents had thwarted the sex reassignment surgery which was to be performed at Saifee Hospital here on 17 April.