• NATIONAL

Qualifying Bar Examination of India 2010

To maintain and improve the legal standards of India, a consensus has been reached between the Supreme Court of India, Ministry of Law and Bar Council of India (BCI) to conduct a bar examination for fresh law graduates. Only the successful candidates would be allowed to practice in Indian courts. To further this objective, the Directorate of Legal Education (DLE) set up by the BCI has initiated steps to conduct a qualifying bar examination in August-September 2010. DLE has also framed appropriate rules for the smooth conduction of the exam.

Unborn firm cannot sign arbitration agreement

A company cannot enter into an arbitration agreement even before it is formally registered under the Companies Act, the Supreme Court (SC) ruled in the case, Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation vs Pampa Hotels Ltd. However, the promoters of the company can enter into such an agreement if it was warranted by the terms of incorporation of the company. But the company which is yet to be born cannot sign an arbitration agreement. In this case, the corporation and the hotel chain signed agreements on lease and management of a new hotel in Hyderabad. The corporation later terminated the agreement. The hotel company moved the high court for appointment of an arbitrator. It appointed an arbitrator. The state corporation appealed to the Supreme Court, which set aside the high court order stating that the registration of the company was a year after signing the agreement.

26/11 case: Kasab guilty gets death sentence, 2 acquitted

Exactly 525 days after he landed on the city's coast, with nine other gunmen, and mounted attacks that killed 166 people, a special court held Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab (22) guilty of murder and waging war against the country. Fahim Ansari (36) and Sabauddin Ahmed (25), the alleged Indian co-conspirators, were acquitted for lack of evidence. To convict Kasab, the court primarily relied on his confessional statement and held that he had confessed voluntarily. Special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said he would recommend to the state to appeal against their acquittal. To convict Kasab, the court primarily relied on his confessional statement and held that he had confessed voluntarily. "His retraction at a later date was only for the sake of it and without reason," the court said. It also relied on 111 eye-witnesses, two FBI agents, forensic evidence and data provided by Indian and foreign telecom firms. After the judge explained why the court had found him guilty, he sat and broke down. He has been awarded death sentence.

Kohli held guilty in second Nithari killings case

A special CBI court on 4th May, 2010 held businessman Moninder Singh Pandher's domestic help Surender Kohli guilty in the rape and murder of a seven-year-old in one of the 19 cases of Nithari killings. The case is the second of the 19 cases of rape and murder of children and a young woman in which the special court has pronounced its verdict. The crimes occurred in Nithari village in Uttar Pradesh in 2006. Kohli was on 13th February, 2009 sentenced to death in another case along with Pandher. However, Pandher was acquitted by the Allahabad High Court on 11 September, 2009. The girl went missing in June 2006 and a few months later her body was found from the vicinity of Pandher's D-31 bungalow in Nithari in Noida along with bodies of 17 other children and a young woman. Thereafter, 19 cases were registered.

SC says truth drug test 'illegal'

Supreme Court has said that the use of a truth drug by the police for questioning suspects is illegal and a violation of their fundamental rights. The court said a suspect's consent was necessary to do the test and even then it could not be treated as evidence. In many recent high-profile cases, Indian investigators have conducted these tests to find leads. "Narco, brain mapping and polygraph tests are illegal and a violation of personal liberty," a three-judge bench headed by the Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan ruled. The court's order came in response to petitions filed by several accused questioning the validity of narco and brain mapping tests.

Civil code doesn't bar transfer of cases: SC

In a significant ruling, the Supreme Court held that a petition for annulment of marriage between spouses who solemnize their marriage under their personal laws following Hindu rites and traditions in Goa can be transferred to a court outside the state. "Even if it were to be held that it is the customary law in Goa which would prevail over the personal law of the parties, the same could not be a bar to the transfer of the matter outside the state of Goa," a bench comprising justices Altamas Kabir and Cyriac Joseph observed. In this case, Vinisha Tolani had filed a petition before the apex court seeking transfer of a divorce suit filed by her husband Jitesh from a Vasco court to Delhi.

HC : Railways must compensate commuters

The Bombay high court has asked both WR and CR to consider paying compensation to commuters who bore the brunt of the motormen's strike that ended on 4th May, 2010. "Ultimately, the railway has to compensate and they can recover this money from the striking employees," observed a division bench while hearing a petition filed by the Centre on the legality of the motormen's strike. The HC also asked the additional solicitor general to identify all the motormen who struck work and make them respondents to the petition by May 7. Meanwhile, state chief secretary J P Dange has asked CR and WR GMs to ensure that contingency plans are in place to spare passengers any distress.

• INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Iraq asks Kuwait to drop legal action against airline

Iraq called on Kuwait on dated 29th April, 2010 to halt legal action against Iraqi Airways following Kuwaiti attempts to seize one of the carrier's planes in London in the latest row between the neighboring countries. A lawyer for the Kuwaiti authorities obtained a British High Court order to prevent the director general of Iraqi Airways, who is currently in London, from traveling and seized his passport, Iraq's Transport Ministry said in a statement. Baghdad and Kuwait have been locked in a long-running dispute over billions of dollars in reparations from Iraq, including about $1.2 billion related to aircraft and parts that were seized during former dictator Saddam Hussein's 1990-91 invasion to Kuwait.

Group files new lawsuit over sage grouse

An environmental group has filed another legal challenge over the federal government's decision not to give the sage grouse protection under the Endangered Species Act. Once abundant in the West the bird's population has declined due to grazing, wildfires, energy development and other influences on its habitat. In March, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ruled the sage grouse warranted threatened or endangered status, but formal listing under the law was precluded by other agency priorities. Western Watersheds Project filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Boise. The group's lawyers compare the decision to putting the bird in the "black hole" of species denied protective status. It's a separate case from the legal challenge that forced the agency to reconsider its 2005 decision not to grant the bird protection.

SC dismisses ad-hoc additional district and sessions judges plea

A three-member bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry dismissed an appeal of a number of judges of Balochistan lower judiciary, seeking regularization of their services. The bench upheld a decision of Balochistan High Court in this regard and dismissed the joint petition filed by eight ad-hoc Additional District and Sessions judges. The Bench observed that judges' appointments in subordinate courts should be carried out through relevant High Court as ruled out BHC. In August 2006, these eight ad-hoc session judges were appointed in Balochistan but their services were not regularized by the provincial government.