• NATIONAL

It's travesty of justice: LFHRI delegation

Human rights violations, hurting of religious sentiments, torture in police custody, biased investigations, loopholes in legal system, coercion and indifference of their own - the 17 Indians, mostly Punjabi youths, on death sentence in Sharjah on charges of killing a Pakistani youth, have faced all this and much more, if the findings of a human rights association are any indication. A delegation of the Lawyers for Human Rights International (LFHRI), comprising noted lawyer Navkiran Singh and Gagan Aggarwal, visited UAE on April 13 and 14 and spent two hours with the convicts besides meeting the embassy officials and lawyers engaged by them for an appeal against the sentence.

India should legalize gambling

Beyond the controversies surrounding the finances and ownership of IPL teams now raging, there are long-standing murmurs of betting and match-fixing that periodically surface as rumours. Whether or not these have a basis in fact, they do raise an important question - would it not make sense to legalize betting in India as it is in almost all of the developed world? The arguments in favour of such a move are persuasive. The strongest among them is that criminalizing betting doesn't prevent it happening, as reports have repeatedly shown. In this year's IPL, for instance, as the TOI reported on, an estimated Rs 5,000 crore has already been bet in India and another £2 million (about Rs 13.5 crore) through bookmakers in the UK. What banning betting does achieve is to drive all this activity underground and hence into the playground of criminal elements.

Nominee, not heir, to get shares after holder's death: HC

A nominee has the right to the shares after the original shareholder's death and not the deceased's heirs, Bombay High Court has ruled. Dismissing the application of a widow who sought permission to sell the shares belonging to her late husband, Justice Roshan Dalvi held that she had no right to do so since she was not the nominee. The nominee was her late husband's nephew. "The Companies Act sets out that the nomination has to be made during the lifetime of the holder, according to legal procedures. If that procedure is followed, the nominee would become entitled to all the rights in the shares to the exclusion of all other persons (following the death of the shareholder)," said the judge. The court said that Harsha Kokate would have no rights over the shares owned by her deceased husband Nitin Kokate.

Bill ready to bar tainted lawyers from becoming judges: Moily

The Judges' Standards and Accountability Bill envisages creation of a data bank of legal professionals to ensure that no professional with dubious antecedent is appointed as a judge in higher judiciary, said Union law minister M Veerappa Moily. Moily said the bill, presently being examined by a group of ministers, would be introduced in the next session of Parliament. Talking to reporters after a news conference, convened to announce the launch of "a national consultation" for the "Second Generation Reform in Legal Education", the minister disclosed that his ministry was also working on a separate bill on the appointment process for judges.

HC to hear FMC-CERC dispute over electricity future jurisdictions

The department of legal affairs in a note last year had said that the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) appears to have "erroneously" assumed jurisdiction in dealing with the matter of regulating electricity futures. The note may assume significance in light of the ongoing FMC and CERC feud in the Bombay High Court over the jurisdiction of electricity futures. Commodity exchange MCX is a respondent in FMC's petition and has also independently filed a petition in February against CERC. MCX has sought FMC's permission to launch trading of electricity futures on its platform.

Government plans to truncate post-grad courses to one year

The government plans to cut the duration of post-graduate (PG) degree courses from two years to one year. All streams, barring medicine, will have a shortened PG degree programme. At present, a PG degree in medicine takes three years to complete. While the two-year courses will be condensed, but with the necessary ingredients, the government may toughen the admission criteria to allow entry only to the brightest graduates. To begin with, PG in law (LLM) is being reviewed by a set of experts under the University Grants Commission (UGC). The ministry of human resource development (HRD) has tasked the UGC to work out modalities to restructure the existing LLM from two years to one year, with selectivity in admission to attract the brightest graduates.

Daman distilleries under CBI scanner

Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials swooped down on distilleries in Union Territory of Daman on to carry out searches in connection with excise duty evasion worth over Rs 400 crore. Simultaneously, the biggest distillery owner of Daman, Ashok Khemani, was arrested by CBI in Delhi for bribing O Ravi, a 1983 batch Gujarat cadre IAS officer and currently joint secretary (disaster management), Union ministry of home affairs, against whom a case under different sections of IPC and Prevention of Corruption Act has been registered. Ravi, who was collector of Valsad district from 1990 to 93, allegedly took a bribe of Rs 25 lakh to get Daman administrator transferred, according to home department officials. CBI has conducted searches at 36 places in Daman, Mumbai and Delhi.

• INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Are pirate ransoms legal? Confusion over US order

Shipping companies with U.S. interests don't know if they are allowed to pay ransoms to Somali pirates anymore after President Obama declared them an "extraordinary threat," even as pirates extended their reach farther than ever toward Asia, hijacking three Thai vessels. A total of 77 crew members were taken in the hijackings 1,200 miles (1,900 kilometers) east of Somalia in the Indian Ocean - the farthest from the Somali coast pirates have ever attacked, the EU Naval Force said. Pirates now hold 14 vessels and 305 hostages, the International Maritime Bureau said. Pirate attacks have risen over the last year despite increased patrols by U.S. and European warships, in part because the multimillion dollar ransoms keep rising.

U.S. Supreme Court: Video of dog fights legal

Fox 41 News has learned that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that videos of animal cruelty including pit bull fight videos are legal. According to the Associated Press, the Court struck down a Federal law that prohibited such videos. The Court argued that the law was a violation of free speech. The decision centered around the conviction of Robert Stevens of Virginia, who was sentenced to three years in prison for videos he made about pit bull fights. The Supreme Court voted 8-1 to throw out Stevens' conviction. The law was enacted in 1999 to limit Internet sales of so-called "crush" videos, which cater to a particular sexual fetish by depicting women crushing to death small animals with their bare feet or high-heeled shoes, according to the Associated Press.

High court seems uncertain about beliefs v. bias conflict

By the time a lawsuit reaches the U.S. Supreme Court, the facts of the conflict are rarely in dispute. The high court deals with the question of constitutionality-not which policy was in play when a petitioner cried "foul!" But an oral argument at the Supreme Court revealed a great deal of confusion over those very basic facts of the case. And it is a very significant case for the LGBT community because it tests the rights of freedom of religion to trump policies prohibiting discrimination based on a variety of categories. The consequences of that confusion could mean the Supreme Court decides to make no ruling on the case, but if it does, there appeared to be a fighting chance that the non-discrimination policy might prevail this time.

Justices Put Curbs on Payment for Lawyers

The Supreme Court made it a little harder for civil rights lawyers to be paid extra for exceptional results. In most American lawsuits, each side pays for its own lawyers whether they win or lose. But Congress occasionally allows the winning side to claim its legal fees from its adversaries, notably in cases involving claims of civil rights violations. The question in the case decided Wednesday, Perdue v. Kenny A., No. 08-970, was how judges should determine how much the losing side has to pay. The case arose from a successful class-action suit on behalf of 3,000 children in Georgia that helped reform the foster-care system there.

Supreme Court rules in favour of 3M in tariff classification case

The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) recently published its judgment of March 23, 2010, in respect of a case between 3M South Africa and the commissioner of the South African Revenue Service (Sars).In essence, the case relates to the interpretation of section 76B of the Customs and Excise Act No 91 of 1964 ('Limitation on the period for which refund and drawback claims will be considered and the period within which applications therefore must be received by the controller') and, specifically, whether 3M South Africa, as an importer, remains liable for the payment of customs duties where the tariff subheading (also known as the tariff classification or tariff determination) is amended retrospectively. 3M South Africa is an importer of Interam brand mats, which are made of, besides others, ceramic fibre mineral wool that is used, after press-cutting into shapes, in the manufacture of automotive catalytic converters for exhaust emission control systems. All such converters were destined for the export market.

Canada 'committed' to curb Sikh separatism

Canada has said it is committed to curb activities of Sikh separatists in the country who are trying to revive militancy in Punjab. "Canada has unshakeable commitment to India's sovereignty, unity and integrity," Deepak Obhrai, Parliamentary Secretary to Canadian Minister for Foreign Affairs told House of Commons. "The Government of Canada and Canadians stand strongly behind efforts to strengthen our relationship with India and in no way will accept, support or encourage any efforts that undermine a strong, united and multicultural India," Obhrai told Parliament while making a statement on behalf of the Canadian government.

Access to justice laws passed

More judges can now be added to the bench and a deputy Judicial Conduct Commissioner can be appointed. This follows the 18 March passage of three bills, originally introduced as the Judicial Matters Bill. This legislation was divided into three at the committee stage. The Judicature (Judicial Matters) Amendment Bill increases the maximum number of High Court Associate Judges from six to nine. This is the first increase in the number of Associate Judges since 1991. It also increases the maximum number of Court of Appeal Judges from nine to ten. This is the first increase since 2006. The bill also sets out the method for determining additional remuneration of High Court Judges when serving in the Court of Appeal.