Legal News at Vakilno1.com

Rajya Sabha approves amended Central Educational Institutions Act

The Rajya Sabha passed amendments to the Central Educational Institutions Act, 2006, exempting some central institutions from implementing the other backward castes (OBC) quota.

The amendment is applicable to institutions where implementation of the Act exceeds the 50 percent reservation limit fixed by the Supreme Court.

The move seeks to balance state and central reservation policies. The amendment says that if seats reserved for Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes in a central educational institution exceed 50 percent of the annual strength permitted, the institution need not make any reservation for OBCs.

According to the amendment, if such an institution is located in Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura and Assam’s tribal areas, the percentage of seats reserved for SC/ST candidates will not be reduced from the level obtaining on the date immediately preceding the date of the Act’s commencement.

In case the institution is in any other area, the percentage of seats reserved for SC/ST candidates will be reduced to 50.

SC rejected PIL challenge

Supreme Court has rejected a PIL challenging Bikram Singh’s appointment that was supposed to be the next army chief and had been placed before the cabinet committee on appointments.

The petitioners included retired Admiral Ramdass and former poll panel chief N. Gopalaswami cited the fake encounter case involving Singh in Kashmir and the Meerut court of inquiry relating to his stint as a UN peacekeeper in Congo.

Their lawyer Kamini Jaiswal argued that these cases would be affected if Singh were made army chief after General V.K. Singh’s retirement on May 31. The two-judge bench clarified that its rejection of the petition would not affect the two cases.

Solicitor-general R.F. Nariman alleged the petition was “only for V.K. Singh” and that it aimed to reopen the row over his age and tenure. “The rest is a sideshow.” The court said it would not reopen a “settled” issue.

Jaiswal insisted that Bikram Singh was at the scene of the 2001 “fake encounter” and was also party to the cover-up, involving a false FIR. “Can you prove the encounter took place at his instance? The allegation against him is one of lodging a false FIR. There is a world of difference between ordering an encounter and this,” the court said.

Supreme Court dismissed PIL against Lokpal drafting committee

The SC dismisses a PIL challenging constitution of Lokpal Bill drafting committee saying that task is over and the matter has become infructuous.

“Since the joint drafting committee has already completed the work and has submitted the report, the petition has become infructuous,” a bench headed by Justice A K Patnaik said.

The bench was hearing a PIL challenging the Constitutional validity of inclusion of five civil society members in a committee to draft a Lokpal Bill.

The petitioner had submitted that the notification constituting the 10-member Joint Drafting Committee, was contrary to the Constitutional provision of Article 53 as the power to issue such notification belonged only to the President of India.

It said the notification was also violative of Article 118 of the Constitution under which only Parliament has the privilege of setting up a committee comprising MPs.

According to the petition, no politician, committee or social worker have a right to take part in the drafting of the bill though every citizen’s view ought to be ascertained by way of notification at the time of drafting a Bill.

Centre informs SC, Haj will be “once in a lifetime affair” now

The Centre has decide and informed the Supreme Court to restrict Haj pilgrimage at government subsidy to Muslims only as a “once in a lifetime” affair as against the existing policy of “once in five years “.

Now according to the new guidelines, it should be assured that priority is given to those applicants who have never performed Haj and the priority will be given to those who are in the 70 plus category and those who had unsuccessfully applied thrice earlier for the subsidy.

The apex court frowned at the practice of sending official delegations to accompany the pilgrims and had asked the Centre to furnish entire details regarding Haj subsidy, as also to the criteria adopted.

The apex court was hearing an appeal filed by the Centre challenging a Bombay High Court judgement which had directed the Ministry of External Affairs to allow certain private operators to operate the services of 800 of the 11,000 pilgrims earmarked under the VIP quota subsidised by the government.

Earlier, the bench had pulled up the Centre’s practice of “politicising” the annual Haj pilgrimage by permitting official delegations to accompany the pilgrims, for which the government offers huge subsidy, saying, “It’s a bad religious practice.”

Apex court slams misuse of leniency for minor accused

Supreme Court said that now no accused will be forgiven for attempting a rape and the accused will have to face a court for juvenile delinquents as there was ambiguity over his age in school records.

The statutory protection provided to minors should not be allowed to be misused by accused and trial courts should take into account the medical opinion on the age of an accused in case there was ambiguity about his date of birth in school records.

Vijay Kumar, a Rajasthan resident who allegedly raped a minor in 2007, was allowed by the trial court to be tried under benevolent legislation Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000. His co-accused was convicted in a normal criminal court.

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Nod to bill that makes judges accountable

The major bill on judicial reforms was received by the government which was passed in Lok Sabha, to debar judges of the Supreme Court and High Court from making oral observations against any constitutional authorities in open courts during the hearing of cases.

Three months after he was forced to defer voting on the Judicial Standards and Accountability Bill in the house, law minister Salman Khurshid got it through amid din over the Telangana issue.

One of the key features of the bill, incorporated following a recommendation of the parliamentary panel that examined it, is the issue of oral observations made by judges during hearing of cases.

“Misbehaviour means making unwarranted comments against conduct of any constitutional or statutory institution or any chairperson or officer in general, at the time of hearing matters pending or likely to arise for judicial determination,” states the bill.

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A call for higher age of Retirement for Judges

Former Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court Ajit Prakash Shah on Saturday suggested that the retirement age for Judges of the Supreme Court and High Court be made 65 years with no post-retirement assignments thereafter.

Delivering a lecture organised by the Nani Palkhiwala Foundation and Govind Swaminadhan Trust here, Mr. Shah said some judges, while nearing their retirement, started looking for jobs that were in the hands of the Executive.

Wondering whether it was fair to allow a judge to take up a job after retirement, he suggested that the age of retirement be made 65 years.

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Government proposed legislation to tax overseas merger

The government on Friday proposed legislation that would allow it to tax any overseas merger dating back to 1962 in which an underlying Indian asset was transferred.

This move of the Indian Government would override a comprehensive Supreme Court decision on multinational transactions in January 2012, and is likely to create a pain in the neck for foreign companies that are seeking to do, or have done, deals involving Indian companies.

The tax proposal was part of the finance bill that accompanies the annual Indian budget, which Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee disclosed on Friday. However, it will come into effect only when the budget is finalized by Parliament in the coming days, meaning thereby that there is still time for the change of this proposal.

In January, the Supreme Court ruled that Vodafone didn’t have to pay taxes of more than $2 billion on the deal it struck to enter India in 2007, when it acquired a controlling stake in an Indian cell-phone company from Hong Kong’s Hutchison Whampoa Ltd.

The deal was a transaction between Vodafone’s Dutch subsidiary and a Cayman Islands-based company that held Hutchison Whampoa’s India assets. The Court agreed with Vodafone that the deal wasn’t subject to capital gains taxes and Vodafone therefore had no obligation to withhold tax.

The proposed tax law amendment would reverse its effect.

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Law must accept change – Indian Supreme Court Justice says

TheSupreme Court of India’s Justice Swatanter Kumar hold a meeting where he said law must grow with times in order to meet the needs of the social system it serves. He quoted that Our Constitution is a living document which has been subjected to great change and the flexibility of the Constitution of India is praiseworthy.

The Indian constitution has already had 96 amendments which were enacted by the Constituent assembly in November 1949. He said the many amendments are evidence of how our Constitution has adapted to better serve in India.

Kumar said, the most important part of the Constitution of India is Part III – Fundamental Rights.  Similar to the United States Bill of Rights, the section guarantees individual rights such as equality before the law, freedom of speech and expression, and freedom of association and peaceful assembly.

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Portuguese Supreme Court cancels Abu Salem’s extradition, CBI to appeal

New Delhi,  The Portuguese Supreme Court has cancelled the extradition of alleged mobster Abu Salem to India but the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said it would challenge the verdict.

Salem had contended before the Portuguese court that his extradition should be cancelled as the conditions for this had not been met. However, this plea “has been rejected by the Supreme Court. Therefore, CBI is on a secure wicket,” CBI spokesperson Dharini Mishra told reporters.

She said the agency would approach the external affairs ministry on filing an appeal in Portugal’s Supreme Court challenging the decision.
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