• NATIONAL

CLB upholds appointment of H. V. Lodha on the board of Birla Corporation

CLB held that the petition challenging appointment of Harsh Vardhan Lodha on the board was motivated to oust Lodhas from the management not to protect interest of the Company.

Appellate Tribunal to hear appeal against the orders of Competition Commission

The Government has set up Competition Appellate Tribunal to be headed by Justice Arijit Pasayat to take up appeals against the orders of the Commission.

SC orders viscera of the deceased PF scam accused to be handed over to CBI

Supreme Court's special bench headed by Hon'ble Justice D K Jain today directed CBI to take possession of the viscera of the deceased prime accused in the PF scam. The viscera is to be forwarded to AIIMS to ascertain the cause of death

HC judge bars 'My Lord' from his Court

It is more than three years since the move to do away with a colonial practice in the judiciary was thought of, but the first step towards its actual implementation has come from a Madras High Court judge. Justice K Chandru has banned the use of the terms My lord' and Your lordship' by lawyers addressing his court.

Advocates whose cases were listed for hearing before Justice Chandru were in for a surprise on Thursday when they saw a notice board requesting them not to address the court using the traditional phrase My Lord'. Quoting a Bar Council of India resolution adopted in April 2006, the judge requested lawyers to adhere to Rule 49(1) (j) of the Advocates Act as framed by the Bar Council. As per the rule, lawyers could address the court as Your Honour' and refer to it as Honorable Court'. If it is a subordinate court, lawyers could use terms such as Sir' or any equivalent phrase in the regional language concerned.

Police entry into bakery was legal: Court

While clearing former joint CP R D Tyagi in the Suleman Bakery case, Justice Mridula Bhatkar of the Bombay high court said that "in the case of communal riots, a humane and sensitive approach is expected''. But, in the same para she added that if the act was "within the legal framework'', then "howsoever serious or heinous be the offence, an innocent cannot be put to trial''. The entire case against Tyagi and other cops was that by Tyagi's order to break open the bakery door and "search and arrest" the people inside, the police had opened fire at point-blank range on the innocents, killing eight of them.

The judge said witness statements showed that "the area was charged with hostile emotions and the atmosphere was full of tension''. Hence, she said, Tyagi was legally justified in ordering entry into the bakery.

VHP leader serves legal notice to mobile companies

Vishva Hindu Parishad leader Pravin Togadia has served legal notice to major mobile service providers for allegedly withdrawing special schemes on SMS charges during Diwali. Togadia, in the notice sent through advocate Deepak Shukla, said "the Hindu customers who have bought services of mobile companies based on their advertisements and offers on cheaper or free SMSs are being cheated this way on Diwali." He said though the service providers have informed their customers that no special schemes related to free or cheaper SMS will be applicable during festivals like Diwali, he claimed they were never informed at the time of buying their services.

Ambani Gas Dispute: Government expands legal team

Days before the Supreme Court begins hearing on the Ambani gas dispute, the government has expanded the legal team, which will put its views before the apex court, by including ASG Vivek Tankha. Tankha will assist Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Mohan Parasaran, who represents the government in the dispute over the quantities and price committed by Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries in a 2005 family agreement for supply of natural gas to a company run by younger brother Anil Ambani.

Lok Sabha to discuss CrPC amendment: Law Minister

Union Law Minister M Veerappa Moily said that the proposed amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) would come up for discussion in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha during the Winter Session. The President Pratibha Devisingh Patil had given her assent for the amendments, he said. The Law Ministry intends to hold discussions with the members of the Bar Council before making the amendments, he added.

Delhi HC fines two for frivolous petitions

The Delhi High Court has slapped a fine of Rs 20,000 on two people for filing frivolous petition challenging arbitrator's decision which ordered them to pay the instalments to the company which financed them a cargo vehicle 13 years ago. Justice V B Gupta directed Sheru and Subhan Khan to deposit the amount with the trial court within one month and said 'failing which the trial court shall recover the same in accordance with the law'.

Dismissing the petition, the Judge said 'the appeal is bogus and frivolous one. It is nothing but the abuse of process of law. Hence, the appeal is dismissed with cost of Rs 20,000'. The court rejected the argument of their lawyer that the Arbitrator passed the order in 2003 without hearing them. No attempt was made by the arbitrator to secure their attendance, the petitioners contended.

• INTERNATIONAL

Royal Mail may face legal challenge

Royal Mail's decision to recruit up to 30,000 temporary staff to cope with strikes by postal workers and deal with the Christmas rush could face a legal challenge, it has been revealed. The company, facing two national strikes this week, announced it was hiring twice the number of extra staff it usually takes on in the run-up to Christmas. The leader of the Communication Workers Union said the move would "inflame" the long running dispute over jobs, pay and services and repeated his call for outside mediators to be brought in to break the deadlock.

Senior union sources told the Press Association they believed the recruitment of temporary staff during a strike was illegal. "We will be looking at the legal side of this and we are calling on recruitment agencies to be aware of the law if they are asked to supply temporary workers to the Royal Mail," said one official.

White House Legal claim on Obama Nobel 'flat out wrong'

The White House is sharply rejecting arguments by two legal scholars that it would be unconstitutional for President Barack Obama to accept the Nobel Peace Prize without approval from Congress.

"This argument is flat out wrong. The Constitution talks about kings and princes and foreign states. Here, Alfred Nobel, a private citizen, set up a private foundation - the Nobel Foundation - that awards the money," said a White House aide, who asked not to be named. "Furthermore, President Obama has already indicated that he does not intend to keep the money."

Finland First Country to Declare Broadband Access a Legal Right

Finland has become the first nation to declare high-speed Internet access a right of all its people. While France was the first country in the world to establish the right of accessing the Web, the Finns have made history by promising broadband speeds for everyone within their borders. The government in Helsinki announced on Wednesday that by next July, all Finns will enjoy at least 1 Mbps for their Internet service. Earlier this year, lawmakers established the goal of 100 Mbps by the end of 2015.

According to the government-run Statistics Finland, 83% of Finns had used the Internet in spring 2008 and 66% used it daily, which is a remarkable turnaround from eight years ago when only 12.1% of the population had Internet access.