Legal News and Views -  Asia Pacific and Beyond

Remfry & Sagar has created a pre-partnership career rung, promoting four managing associates into the partner-designate position effective from 1 April 2013.

Kochhar nabs Neeraj Grover, Nishant Menon, Niti Paul and Nilesh Parekh.

Seth Dua advised the Builders Association of India (BAI) in the Competition Appellate Tribunal against 11 cement companies.

12 NLU Delhi fourth-year students, out of a class of 72, were recruited last weekend to start work in 2014, while neighbouring Jindal Global Law School (JGLS) in Haryana placed seven LLB students.

TRAI-ing new approach: On enforcing the 12 min/hour advertising cap on TV, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India head Rahul Khullar says: “I don’t have to win a fucking election. I am a regulator, I am answerable to Parliament, my job is to enforce the law. Once the regulation is issued, it is law. The telecom guys know this. The broadcasting guys are learning it late.” [Mint]

Facebook arrest: Supreme Court refuses to allow a blanket ban on arrest under Section 66 of the Information Technology Act 2000 for posting content on social networking sites, but reasserts that such arrests can only be made after permission from senior police officials [Hindu]

NLU targets: National law universities need a more rigorous curriculum, greater focus on post graduate courses, greater faculty focus on research, “higher benchmarks”, consultative regulation from the BCI, and integration of inter-disciplinary subjects argues the Hindu Businessline [HBL]

SEBI’s grey options: There are a number of options available to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) between the two extremities of being ‘reactive’ or ‘proactive’ when dealing with capital market frauds, argues former SEBI executive director Sandeep Parekh [BS]

Sibal to-do: A Delhi-based lawyer chalks a to-do list for new law minister Kapil Sibal: A constitutional amendment to change the collegium system, appointment of law officers by the judiciary instead of the executive, amendment of economic laws, and reduction in case pendency [Hindu]

Luthra & Luthra litigation partner Ajit Warrier is to join Amarchand Mangaldas’ Delhi office after this month, according to legal website Bar & Bench’s sources but without official confirmation from the firms.

Warrier specialises in corporate litigation, having joined Luthra in 2006 after starting in chambers and independent litigation practice from 1993.

Luthra litigation partner Vijay Sondhi confirmed to Legally India that Warrier would join Amarchand.

Amarchand Mangaldas, Desai & Diwanji, Luthra & Luthra and Linklaters are advising Fortis Healthcare on its institutional placement programme (IPP) that could raise up to $58m (Rs 320 crore).

Amarchand capital markets partner Yash Ashar in Mumbai acted for Fortis, while Luthra & Luthra Delhi-based capital markets partner Madhurima Mukherjee advised the lead managers Standard Chartered, JP Morgan and Religare.

Linklaters Singapore also advised the lead managers.

Desai & Diwanji partners Vishwang Desai and Srishti Ojha and associate Ishita Kashyap advised GIC Special Investments, in relation to the foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs).

The price under Chapter  VIII-A of SEBI’s ICDR regulations, will be no more than Rs 92 per share for up to around 35 million shares.

Around 1 in 90 get into NLU Delhi, compared to 1 in 97 at NLSIU, Nalsar, NUJS.

Remfry & Sagar IP lit and corporate commercial head starts firm.

Amarchand Delhi hires NLSIU grad and MBA.

Time for a raise? HC judges request the CJI to increase their Rs 80,000 per month salary to an amount greater than what state chief secretaries get. They also want double the free electricity units at their residences, and to increase their retirement age from 62 to 65 [TOI]

Sibal for conciliation: Vodafone can resolve the issue of its Rs 11,200 crore tax liability in India by conciliation with the finance ministry, says new law minister Kapil Sibal. Sibal overturned his predecessor Ashwini Kumar’s decision disallowing the conciliation because it was illegal [NDTV]

NUJS internships: NUJS Kolkata signed a 5-year MoU with the department of consumer affairs for capacity building of the department by helping it with research on legal and procedural governing provisions. NUJS students will get to intern with the department and get experience of conducting court cases [TOI]

Mute trials: SC lambasts trial courts for flouting Section 309 of the Code of Criminal Procedure by granting too many adjournments in criminal cases instead of proceeding on a day-to-day basis after witness examination starts. “A trial judge cannot be a mute spectator to the trial being controlled by the parties,” said a bench of justices Dipak Misra and KS Radhakrishan [TOI]

Lawyers v police: A Madras HC lawyer asked the HC to direct the city police to take action against the Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) for harassing the lawyer by allegedly creating a scene outside his office for no reason [NIE]

Amarchand has emerged as the most aggressive Indian early recruiter hiring 36 fourth-year law students across 10 colleges.

Writ extorts 500 Rupee JEE key: The CBSE has today notified that it will provide the JEE-mains answer key to interested candidates for Rs 500. Legally India had yesterday reported the listing of a writ in the Delhi HC against the CBSE, by a JEE candidate, to force the CBSE to disclose the answer key [CBSE Notification]

Sex and the Judiciary: Convicting a factory worker for the murder of a woman, a Kancheepuram district judge wrote in his order: “A man and woman, if left alone, will always go for sexual intercourse”. The Madras HC acquitted the accused and observed: “Mere suspicion based on surmises and conjunctures will not take the place of proof.” [TOI]

SC cuts NE(E)T of suffering: The Supreme Court yesterday lifted its 13 December embargo on government and private medical colleges, allowing them to declare the results of the entrance exams conducted by them independently for the 2013-14 batch of MBBS, BDS and PG candidates. The SC’s interim order came in a stand-off between the colleges and the Medical Council of India, over the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) [Express]

Sibal on the collegium: Telecom minister Kapil Sibal, who was on Saturday given the additional charge of the law ministry, told journalists: “The collegium system of appointment is opaque and non-transparent. But changes cannot be made overnight. There are both short-term and long-term…. Under the short-term process, we will have proper consultation with the judges on how to go about the changes.” [Telegraph India]

Chicken came first or parrot?: Taking a dig at the Supreme Court for its “caged parrot” remark about the CBI and its independence, Congress reader Digvijay Singh told reporters: “I will request you to try and get access to all those who are calling our institutions chicken or parrot. You should take reaction from them also.” [PTI]

Dutt jail-holiday ends: The Supreme Court today refused to hear the plea of two film producers seeking an extension in Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt’s date of surrendering to jail authorities to complete his three-and-a-half year jail term under the Arms Act. 1993-blasts accused Dutt has to surrender on Thursday, after the SC earlier already granted him a four-week extension [PTI]

Not your business, TRAI: News organizations have opposed the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) attempt to frame guidelines for the print and electronic media. They have suggested that the TRAI should instead work toward “orderly growth in the sector” together with the CCI, the SEBI and the MRTP Commission [BS]

Ineffective BCI: SC justices BS Chauhan and Dipak Mishra today said: “Bar Council has become ineffective. No action is taken against erring lawyers and we have to suffer. We are actually the victim and lawyers are making money… Lawyers think that they are above law. We are facing such situation every day.” [PTI]

Collegium conspiracies: 1,000 Punjab & Haryana High Court Bar Association members have signed a resolution opposing the elevation of seven lawyers to the bench, asking the Chief Justice of India to intervene in the “conspiracy of silence” [Express]

CCI market research: The Competition Commission of India has decided to have a dedicated Market Research Unit with the help of some external agency [Zee News]

3 new Bom HC judges: Member secretary of the Maharashtra State Legal Services Authority P N Deshmukh, secretary general of the Supreme Court A I S Cheema and Registrar General of the HC S B Shukre have been elevated as additional judges of Bombay high court [Express]

Imagine world without lit: Andhra Pradesh State Legal Services Authority (APSLSA) has identified 172 villages across the State as ‘litigation-free’ and the AP High Court will soon declare them as ‘litigation free areas’. Disputes will be settled only by Lok Adalats in these villages [Hindu]

American Hindu?: Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy has filed a plea in the Delhi High Court saying editors of news organisations in India “must be Indian citizens and residents of India” and not foreign citizens. He has attacked the US citizenship of editor of The Hindu Siddharth Varadarajan [Newslaundry]

Telecom minister Kapil Sibal is the fifth law minister in less than five years after Ashwini Kumar resigned from the post on Friday.

New lawmin? Law minister Ashwini Kumar may soon be replaced through either a minor cabinet reshuffle or a senior minister taking the additional charge of the law ministry, according to CNN-IBN’s sources [CNN-IBN]

Dutt jail confirmed: SC today dismissed Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt’s review petition against the SC’s confirmation of his five-year jail term under the Arms Act in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case [IE]

Unholy holidays: The SC doesn’t need 50 days of vacation, the Delhi HC doesn’t need 30, the Bombay HC 25, and the Madras HC 32-days of summer holidays, when faced with “nationally important” issues such as the coal scam, SEBI v Sahara, and an apex court pendency of 67,320 cases among other things, asserts R Jagannathan [Firstpost]