Student claims univ’s law course is outdated

Yogita Rao TNN 

Mumbai: University of Mumbai’s inability to respond to an RTI query has put a question mark on the course content being taught in city colleges. 
    An RTI filed by Hussain Ali Chandrani, a law student from a city college, was directed to colleges by the university. Chandrani asked the university to give him information on whether the 2008 Bar Council of India (BCI) guidelines on the course structure, faculty and student strength, curriculum and upgradation of syllabus were being followed. Later, Chandrani appealed to the authorities over non-submission of required information. 
    “Issues of adopting the guidelines for revised course prescribed by the BCI are within the purview of the Board of Studies and the Faculty of Law of the university and not the colleges.” On further appeal, he was told that a threemember committee was set up by the university to discuss the issues arising out of the BCI guidelines. 
    “This shows the university’s inability to update their syllabus for several years. The BCI has prescribed a more practical syllabus and has also structured the course well so that students get maximum benefit,” he said. 
    However, a BoS member claimed that adopting BCI norms is not possible. “Aided law colleges are already running into losses. They do not have enough teachers for existing programmes. Law colleges are also dependent on the visiting faculty, who are not available after 10.30am as they practice in court,” the member said. 
    “Colleges are worried about the unaided subjects for which they will need additional faculty,” she added.


Source:::: The Times of India, 28-09-2012, p.10.  http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Client.asp?Daily=TOIM&showST=true&login=default&pub=TOI&Enter=true&Skin=TOINEW

‘Special cells for children, women legal’

Shibu Thomas TNN 

Mumbai: The special cells for women and children in police stations are legal, the Bombay high court ruled on Wednesday. 
    A division bench of Justices Abhay Oka and Sadhna Jadhav dismissed a petition filed by a Mantralaya peon who had challenged a notice issued by a special cell from Dadar police station following a complaint lodged by his wife. “The petition is devoid of merit,” the judges said while refusing to give any relief to Suresh Patil (name changed), a resident of BDD chawl in Worli. 
    The cells were started in Mumbai as a pilot project by the United Nations Development Fund for Women along with the state government and Tata Institute of Social Sciences in 2002. 
    The cells, housed in police stations, are manned by two persons, including a social worker, who help women and children facing harassment. In 2005, the state government started funding of the cells and currently there are 39 cells at the district level across Maharashtra. 
    According to the state government, cells will be set up in talukas and by December there will be 144 such units attached to police stations in Maharashtra. Apart from counselling couples, the cells will help women and children who are victims of crime to file cases. 
    According to Patil, he received a notice in March asking him to attend the special cell attached to Dadar police station as his wife Malathy had lodged a complaint. Patilclaimed in his petition that he thought the notice was intended to intimidate him or to extort money. In his plea, Patil challenged the legal validity of such cells and the notice issued by them. 
    Additional public prosecutor Ajay Gadkari and advocate Maharaukh Adenwalla, who represented TISS, said the notices were authorized and the state government had taken up funding of the cells in 2005 on the basis of a government resolution. Adenwala assured the court that henceforth all notices issued by the cell will have a subject line ‘family matters’ and will be signed by a social worker.


Source:::: The Times of India, 27-09-2012, p.07. http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Client.asp?Daily=TOIM&showST=true&login=default&pub=TOI&Enter=true&Skin=TOINEW

HC: 2nd wife no bar to maintaining first

Rosy Sequeira TNN 

Mumbai: A second marriage is no reason to stop maintaining the first wife or to give her low maintenance, the Bombay high court ruled while recently hearing a petition filed by a Muslim woman. 

    The court said it is for the husband to determine whether he is financially able to maintain two wives when marrying. More than doubling the plaintiff ’s maintenance, it pointed out that even Islam entitles a man to remarry if he is capable of maintaining his wives equally and fairly. 

    Justice Roshan Dalvi was hearing a plea filed by 30-year-old Sajida Khan. Sajida married Anwar Khan, a software engineer with a foreign bank, in February 2007. Following marital discord, Anwar, now 32, left her at her parents’ place. He claimed to have given her talaaq in May 2008. 

    In November 2010, however, the family court in Bandra, while hearing thematter, adjudged that there was no documentary evidence to prove the talaaq. It directed Anwar to give Sajida a monthly maintenance of Rs 7,900, which was about one-fourth of his Rs 31,937 salary. 

    The calculation was based on Anwar’s plea that the other three-quarters of the salary were required to sustain himself, his second wife and a child from the marriage. 

    In early 2011, Sajida approached the high court, contending that the maintenance was insufficient.  

Wife’s share of salary must be on equal footing: HC 

Mumbai: Sajida Khan’s advocate Saeed Akhtar argued that Anwar Khan was “duty-bound to maintain his first wife as she has not been divorced”. In her July 24 order, the Bombay HC’s Justice Roshan Dalvi agreed. The judge said the family court had made a “fundamental error” in reasoning that Sajida’s share should be one-fourth of Anwar’s salary. The HC said a husband and wife are equal and have equal rights and obligations. 

    Stating that the wife’s share must be on an equal footing, Justice Dalvi raised Sajida’s maintenance to Rs 18,000 a month. “Each is entitled to an equal share in earnings and properties. If the husband is in a position to earn, the fact that he remarried and has a second wife cannot bring down the maintenance quantum for the first wife, whom he failed and neglected to maintain. It is for the husband to determine if he is in a financial position to have and maintain two wives,” read the order. 

    Justice Dalvi added: “The second marriage is not a reason not to maintain the first wife.... In fact, as per the enjoinment in Islamic law, the respondent would be entitled to marry for the second time if he was capable of maintaining both the wives equally and fairly.” 

    Anwar filed an affidavit in the HC, arguing that his service had been terminated, while Sajida told the court that Anwar earned Rs 60,000 a month. Justice Dalvi ruled there was no documentary evidence to prove Anwar’s claim and added that neither the second marriage nor the service termination absolved him from his “seminal liability, obligation and responsibility of maintaining his wife”. (Names of parties were changed to protect their identity)

Source::::: The Times of India, 27-09-2012, p.01. http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Client.asp?Daily=TOIM&showST=true&login=default&pub=TOI&Enter=true&Skin=TOINEW 

Copyright issue gets louder at live concerts

Kanu Sarda l New Delhi

In an attempt to protect the interest of music composers and authors, the Delhi high court has ruled that playing music of other composers in live concerts and at disc jockey (DJ) nights in clubs, hotels and restaurants is illegal and an infringement on the Copyright Act. Justice VK Jain, while slapping a penalty of Rs 5 lakh on Ad Venture Communication India for using certain tracks in its live concert, said, “The company exploited the work in which copyright is held by the plaintiff, for their commercial advantage and to the detriment of the authors and composers of the works. As far as grant of damages is concerned, the live performance in an event organised on a commercial basis by selling tickets needs to be treated differently from the live performance say in a family function.” “A soft view, while awarding damages against a person infringing copyrights of the others to earn unlawful profits by organising live events, would be wholly misplaced and uncalled for. If the damages awarded against such persons are token in nature and do not pinch the infringer, that would only encourage the infringer to repeat such acts in future at the cost of some other copyright holder,” the court said. The order came on a petition filed by the Indian Performing Right Society complaining about the copyright infringement by the company at its live concerts and at DJ nights. “Being a live performance of the music played at the live concert, permission from the author and composer was necessarily required before undertaking any such performance,” the court ruled adding that it shall be obligatory for the defendant to ensure that no copyright of the plaintiff-company is infringed in any event organised by it by way of live performance. “The court needs to take note of the fact that a lot of energy and resources are spent in litigating against those who infringe the trademark and copyright of others and try to encash upon the goodwill and reputation of other brands by passing of their goods and/or services as those of that well known brand,” the court observed while noting that the company who organised the live concert had sold tickets of the event for Rs 500 each. Source:::::  DNA, 27-09-2012, p.09. http://epaper.dnaindia.com/story.aspx?id=27977&boxid=15228&ed_date=2012-9-27&ed_code=820009&ed_page=9

वीस वर्षांपेक्षा कमी सेवा झालेले सरकारी कर्मचारीही 'गॅच्युइटी'ला पात्र

 

सरकारी कर्मचा-यांपैकी ज्यांची २० वर्षांपेक्षा कमी सेवा झाली आहे किंवा ज्यांनी 

२० वर्षे सेवा पूर्ण होण्याआधीच राजीनामा दिला आहे किंवा स्वेच्छानिवृत्ती घेतली आहे ,  

असे कर्मचारी सेवाकाळाच्या बक्षीस रकमेला ' ग्रॅच्युइटी 'ला पात्र असल्याचा निकाल मंगळवारी 

हायकोर्टाने दिला. 

या प्रकरणी जीवन काशिनाथ पाटील व नवीनचंद्र ब्रिजरतलाल शहा या दोन निवृत्त न्यायाधीशांनी 

केलेल्या याचिकांवर न्या. ए. एम. खानविलकर व न्या. विजया कापसे ताहिलरमानी यांच्या 

खंडपीठाने सुनावणी झाली असता ' ग्रॅच्युइटी ' कायदा हा किमान पाच वर्षे सेवा झालेल्या 

कर्मचाऱ्यांना लागू असल्याचा मुद्दा कोर्टाने ग्राह्य धरून दोघा अर्जदारांना आठ टक्के व्याजाने त्यांच्या ' ग्रॅच्युइटी ' ची थकीत रक्कम देण्याचा आदेश राज्य सरकारला दिला. अर्जदारांतर्फे 

अॅड. व्ही. पी. पाटील यांनी बाजू मांडली. या निकालामुळे २० वर्षापेक्षा कमी सेवा झालेल्या 

अनेक निवृत्त सरकारी कर्मचाऱ्यांना ' ग्रॅच्युइटी ' रकमेचा लाभ होईल. महाराष्ट्र सेवा नियम 

क्रमांक ४६ चा आधार घेऊन अर्जदारांना ' ग्रॅच्युइटी ' लाभाला अपात्र ठरविण्यात आले आहे , 

 त्या नियमात २० वर्षापेक्षा कमी सेवा झालेल्या कर्मचाऱ्यांना ' ग्रॅच्युइटी ' लाभ देऊ नयेत ,  

असे कुठेही नमूद केले नसल्याचेही कोर्टाच्या निदर्शनाला आणण्यात आले. 

कुठेही नमूद केले नसल्याचेही कोर्टाच्या निदर्शनाला आणण्यात आले. त्यामुळे सर्व मुद्यांचा 

विचार करून खंडपीठाने दोन्ही अर्जदार व्याजासह ' ग्रॅच्युइटी ' ची थकीत रक्कम मिळण्यास 

पात्र असल्याचा निकाल दिला.

 

 

Source::::: Maharashtra Tiems, 26-09-2012, p.03. http://maharashtratimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/16551203.cms 

Graft, rape cases can’t be quashed after pvt deals: SC Dhananjay Mahapatra TNN  New Delhi: In a landmark judgment, the Supreme Court on Monday put corruption at par with heinous offences and ruled that FIRs registered under various sections of Prevention of Corruption Act cannot be quashed by high courts even if the victim and offender reach a settlement. The accused will have to face trial after completion of investigation, the court said.      In some recent cases, persons accused of rape charges had offered to marry the victim to escape punishment which ranged from 7-10 years of imprisonment. This too can no longer be a valid settlement for the rape accused to seek quashing of criminal proceedings, the court ruled.      A bench of Justices R M Lodha, A R Dave and S J Mukhopadhaya said, “Heinous and serious offences of mental depravity or offences like murder, rape, dacoity etc cannot be fittingly quashed even though the victim or victim’s family and the offender have settled the dispute. Such offences are not private in nature and have serious impact on society.      “Similarly, any compromise between the victim and offender in relation to the offences under special statutes like Prevention of Corruption Act or the offences committed by public servants while working in that capacity etc; cannot provide for any basis for quashing criminal proceedings involving such offences.”      Writing the judgment for the bench, Justice Lodha said, “Criminal cases having overwhelmingly and pre-dominatingly civil flavour stand on different footing for the purposes of quashing, particularly the offences arising from commercial, financial, mercantile, civil, partnership or such like transactions or the offences arising out of matrimony relating to dowry etc or family disputes, where the wrong is basically private or personal in nature and the parties have resolved their entire dispute.      The SC said the HCs’ power to quash a criminal proceeding or an FIR or complaint in exercise of its inherent jurisdiction was distinct and different from the power given to a criminal court for compounding of the offences under Section 320 of the Criminal Procedure Code. The SC said that heinous offences like murder, rape and dacoity, and those under special statutes like the anti-corruption Act, are not private in nature.     Source::: The Times of India, 25-09-2012, p.09. http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Client.asp?Daily=TOIM&showST=true&login=default&pub=TOI&Enter=true&Skin=TOINEW

Stepdaughter entitled to property: SC

Rakesh Bhatnagar l New Delhi

In a major ruling that can be viewed as strengthening the Hindu succession law relating to property rights of women, the Supreme Court has said that a stepdaughter is entitled to share in the property of her step-father. A bench headed by justice HL Dattu dismissed a law suit filed by one Amrutbhai challenging a Gujarat high court order that had rejected his plea that neither his step mother nor her daughter, born of her first marriage, were entitled to any share in the ancestral property left behind by his father.  Amrutbhai started the litigation after the death of his step-mother and when her daughter laid claim in the share of his father. He said a stepdaughter isn’t a ‘real daughter’ of his father Devshankar Joitaram. She was in fact the daughter of one Manilal Mansukhram Suthar, the first husband of her mother, he said. “Hence, she is not heir of Devshankar Joitaram’’, he said and added she wasn’t one of the successors to the ancestral properties left behind by his father. Moreover, the property in dispute wasn’t the self acquired of his father, thus step daughter couldn’t claim a share in it. But, the top court relied on the judgments by the trial court and HC that there was presumption of ‘marriage’ between his father and the step daughter’s mother, and by that logic she had equal share in the estate left behind by her father. Source:::: DNA, 25-09-2012, p.09. http://epaper.dnaindia.com/story.aspx?id=27831&boxid=16500&ed_date=2012-9-25&ed_code=820009&ed_page=9

MCI approves 3-and-a-half-yr medical course

Kounteya Sinha TNN 

New Delhi: The Medical Council of India (MCI) has finally cleared the introduction of the three-and-a-half-yearlong medical course. To be called BSc in community health, it will be open to anybody after Class 12. 
    Speaking to TOI, MCI board chairman Dr K K Talwar said this special cadre of health workers will be trained mainly in district hospitals, be placed in sub-centres or primary health centres and will be taught “some module of clinical work”. This means this cadre can diagnose and treat basic medical cases, get involved in immunization programmes and administer extended first aid. 
    “We intend to introduce the course from April next year. This cadre will also refer patients according to their condition to other centres. We have also prepared the syllabus of the course. The ministry will now take the final call,” Dr Talwar said. Health secretary P K Pradhan has called a high level meeting on Tuesday to finalize the proposal. 
    The Planning Commission’s high level expert group has strongly backed the new health cadre and said that as a career progression incentive, they should be promoted to the level of public health officers after 10 years of service. 
    The committee envisages that by 2022, India should have colleges teaching BSc community health in all districts with populations of over five lakh. The health ministry has been strongly pushing for the introduction of this cadre to tackle the menace of doctors unwilling to serve in rural areas. 
    Only 26% of doctors in India reside in rural areas, serving 72% of India’s population. Urban density of doctors is nearly four times that of rural areas, and that of nurses is three times higher. 
    Experts said the selection of students would be based on merit in the Class 12 examination with physics, chemistry and biology as subjects. 
    Health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad had earlier said that he wanted an MCI stamp on the degree so that it was universally recognized. 
    “The syllabus of the course is also ready and is need-based. If MCI endorses it, students will get the confidence that the degree has a standing,” he had said.

The syllabus of the course is also ready and is need-based. If MCI endorses it, students will get the confidence that the degree has a standing Ghulam Nabi Azad HEALTH MINISTER

 

Source::: The Times of India, 24-09-2012, p.8. http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Client.asp?Daily=TOIM&showST=true&login=default&pub=TOI&Enter=true&Skin=TOINEW

Insurance firm to pay 1.8L for rejecting claim

Rebecca Samervel TNN 

Mumbai: The South Mumbai District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum ordered Oriental Insurance Company Ltdto pay Rs40,000 as compensation to a Thane resident who had to undergo an emergency surgery after suffering a fall in his house in 2009. The company will also have to pay him the insurance amount of Rs 1.36 lakh, after it repudiated the complainant’s claim on the grounds that he had not submitted the necessary documents. 
    The complainant, Kirit Mehta, and his family were insured with the company and he was assured of Rs 2 lakh. 
    On April 1, 2009, Mehta sustained an injury and kept vomiting throughout the day. Two days later, he had to be admitted to a Thane hospital where he was operated upon. Due to the heavy expenses incurred there, Mehta asked to be discharged on April 11, 2009. He then took admission to another hospital where he continued his post-operative treatment till April 24, 2009. 
    In June, he filed his claims with the insurance company through a third party agent, Raksha TPA. Despite regular follow-up, Mehta got no responseeither from the TPA or the insurance company. Aggrieved, he lodged a complaint in the forum in 2011. 
    The insurance firm contended that Mehta had suppressed material facts and did not submit all the documents required, in spite of several requests. The forum, however, observed that Mehta did indeed submit all the required papers like the discharge certificates of the hospitals, surgeon’s certificate and bill receipts. 
    The forum also said a letter, dated March 10, 2010, showed that the TPA had closed the claim. The forum observed that the contents of the letter were inconsistent and contradictory. 
    Stating that the file was closed without application of mind and unjustly, the forum said, “The opposite partiestreatedthesameletter as a first reminder as well as a second reminder. In the same letter, it is stated that the file was closed. Rejection of claim without application of mind amounts to deficiency in service.”

Source:::: The Times of India, 24-09-2012, p.02. http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Client.asp?Daily=TOIM&showST=true&login=default&pub=TOI&Enter=true&Skin=TOINEW

2L  COMPENSATION

Developer to pay for ‘unfair trade practice’

Rebecca Samervel TNN 

Mumbai: The Maharashtra State Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has recently ordered a builder to pay Rs 2 lakh as compensation to a Kurla resident for demanding Rs 9.68 lakh “interest payment” just before handing over the possession of a flat. Runwal Developers Pvt Ltd will also have to pay back Dinesh Hegde the Rs 9.68 lakh. 
    “It exhibits the builder’s unfair trade practice for having made such an unlawful demand. It also shows deficiency in service for raising the demand and withholding the handing over of the flat’s possession unless the said payment was made,” the commission said. 
    In 2005, Hegde bought two flats from Runwal Developers, the possessions of which were to be handed over to him on October 31, 2006. The construction was completed in April 2008 and Hegde made the last payment in December 2008. But when he claimed the possession, he was denied. After repeated requests, the builder demanded Rs 9.68 lakh, as interest for the delayed payment and only after the amount was paid in May 2010 was the possession given to him. 
    The builder contended that according to the agreement terms, Hegde had opted for ‘Advance Disbursement Facility (ADF)’ and hence, got the flat at a discounted rate. The builder said Hegde had agreed to pay the balance Rs 30 lakh at a go and a delay of seven days in payment, would attract an interest rate of 21% pa. In April 2011, the district forum dismissed Hegde’s complaint. 
    The state commission observed that it can be seen that the builder did offer him a concession and let him make payments as per the construction stages. It said that the demands were duly honoured by Hegde and raising a demand of Rs 9.68 lakh after keeping silent for a long time was unjustified. “At no point any interest was charged for delayed payment. If any interest was applicable, it ought to have been demanded at that time itself,” it observed.

Source:::: The Times of India, 19-09-2012,  p.7.  http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Client.asp?Daily=TOIM&showST=true&login=default&pub=TOI&Enter=true&Skin=TOINEW

‘Compassionate job’ only if qualified: SC

Dhananjay Mahapatra TNN 

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has ruled that a candidate must satisfy minimum eligibility criteria even for compassionate employment, thus, denying a peon’s job to the son of a police assistant sub-inspector (ASI), who died in harness. 
    “A person who does not possess the requisite qualification cannot even apply for recruitment for the reason that his appointment would be contrary to the statutory rules and would, therefore, be void in law,” said a bench of Justices B S Chauhan and F M I Kalifulla while allowing an appeal by Gujarat government. 
    Arvind Kumar Tiwari’s father was an ASI in Gujarat police. After he died in 1999, Tiwari applied for employment on compassionate grounds for the post of a peon. As he had studied up to Class 8, his application was rejected, but on the grounds that his family was not in any financial distress. 
    However, Tiwari made a second application to the additional DGP, who ordered that the same be considered ignoring the financial condition of the family. It was again rejected in 2005 when it was found that the applicant had only passed Class 7 as against the minimum eligibility criteria of Class X needed for appointment to a peon’s post. 
    But the Gujarat HC asked the department to consider Tiwari’s appointment on compassionate grounds. 
    The state appealed against the order in the SC. The SC bench of Justices Chauhan and Kalifulla said, “Compassionate appointment cannot be claimed as a matter of right. It is simply not another method of recruitment.”

Source:::: The Times of India, 19-09-2012,  p.16.  http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Client.asp?Daily=TOIM&showST=true&login=default&pub=TOI&Enter=true&Skin=TOINEW