• NATIONAL

Madras High Court suggests tough law to curb plastics use

The Madras High Court has suggested the State government to enact a more stringent law to prevent use of plastics and plastic products. A division bench comprising Justice D Murugesan and Justice K Venkataraman gave the suggestion on Monday while allowing a public interest writ petition from A Narayanan, trustee of Sevaman Trust, praying for a direction to the State government and its departments including the TN Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) to ban manufacture, distribution and usage of all types of plastic carrybags, irrespective of size and thickness and also single used plastic items like disposable cups, plates and sheets below the thickness of 150 microns as well as coloured pots and mugs meant for storing water and food made of recycled and toxic plastic throughout Tamil Nadu.

Legal experts assail PU bid to demote teachers

Legal and constitutional experts have pooh-poohed Patna University (PU)'s intention to demote or shift the date of initial appointment of teachers in the light of some recent judgments of different courts. These judgments clearly indicate that the past services rendered by a teacher regularised under any of the three different statutes would be counted for his seniority or promotion as readers and professors. The judgment delivered by Justice Aftab Alam of Patna High Court (CWJC No. 5859/96) directs those teachers who had been appointed in a regular manner after following prescribed procedure and had not been absorbed on substantive basis, shall on absorption under one of three absorption statutes would be entitled for counting their services from the date of their first appointment as temporary lecturers, both for the purpose of calculation of their entitlement as also for merit or time bound promotion. The phrase regular manner and prescribed procedure was clearly explained in the subsequent judgement of Patna High Court in CWJC No. 9839/2001 which reads recommendation by a competent selection body on the basis of a process of selection was always a sine quo non of a valid appointment to the post of lecturer.

Free legal aid clinics to be set up at district headquarters

For providing free legal aid to poor and needy persons and create awareness among the people , Legal Aid Clinics would be set up in the all villages, Kanugo Circles of the district and District Headquarter in a phased manner, said G.K. Rai, District and Session Judge-cum-Chairman, District Legal Services Authority.

DEO fined Rs 10,000 by HC for denying job to woman

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has dismissed the 'whimsical' and 'eccentric' order of the District Education Officer (Elementary Education), Ludhiana, wherein he had given preference to son's child over daughter's kid in the freedom fighter quota. The preference was given by the DEO for the appointment of JBT/ETT teachers. Terming this as 'discrimination on the ground of sex', Justice Ajai Lamba lambasted the DEO and held that the 'approach of DEO is blatantly perverse'. Taking a strong note of the discrimination, Justice Lamba slapped a penalty of Rs 10,000 on the DEO, Ludhiana. "By any stretch of imagination, a son's daughter cannot be given preference over daughter's daughter of a freedom fighter. It would be highly unjust, unreasonable and arbitrary to consider daughter's son and daughter's daughter to be secondary to son's son and son's daughter when objectively considering granting reservation to children," Justice Ajai Lamba ruled.

Legal forum of Meghalaya on the Good Samaritan job

A legal organisation in Meghalaya has begun its proposed Good Samaritan task for helpless prisoners. Meghalaya jail authorities are compiling the list of Under Trial Prisoners (UTPs) to facilitate the Meghalaya Legal Aid Forum (MLAF) to extend the legal services to those prisoners who cannot afford to obtain bail due to financial constraints. As per the understanding arrived by the MLAF functionaries with the Director General of Prisons, Kulbir Kishen, jail authorities have started the initial process before finalising the names of inmates by the first week of August. There are hard-core criminals lodged in the four different jails in the state but 70%-75% of the prisoners continue to languish in prisons due to their inability to afford lawyers. This has resulted in overstaying of inmates and congestion in jails.

AZB & Partners Acquires Bangalore's Anup S. Shah Law Firm

Mumbai and Delhi-based law firm AZB & Partners has acquired Bangalore-based Anup S. Shah Law Firm. The deal would strengthen AZB's operations in southern India. With this acquisition, AZB & Partners has got two new partners, which has now gone up to 19, reports Mint.Before that India's ALMT Legal tied up with UK-based Clyde & Co, and the two firms are also said to be open to a merger when India's legal system opens up. AZB & Partners also entered into a "best friend's agreement" with UK-based Clifford Chance earlier this year. AZB & Partners comprises of senior corporate lawyers like Delhi-based Ajay Bahl, Zia Mody and Bahram Vakil. AZB & Partners, which has about 330 employees including an integrated team of at least 240 legal professionals across Mumbai, Delhi (Noida) and Bangalore, offers a combination of legal and transactional expertise. Its domestic and international clients include both private and listed companies, including Fortune 500 firms, multinationals, investment banks and private equity funds.

• INTERNATIONAL

Quadriplegic law school grad is allowed to take bar exam

The California Supreme Court ordered the State Bar on Monday to permit a quadriplegic law school grad to take the bar examination today, even though her application for the test had not been processed. The court acted in response to a petition from Sara Granda, 29, who had asked it to intervene. The State Bar of California also wrote to the court and asked for guidance after Granda's plight attracted media attention and sympathy from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Granda, a UC Davis law school graduate who was disabled in a car accident, did not enter credit card information when she applied online to take the test. Instead, her $600 fee was paid by check from the state, which has been assisting her financially. As a result, her application was not processed. The problem attracted the attention of Schwarzenegger, who last week issued a written statement calling it "outrageous" that "someone who has overcome so much in life is penalized by a bureaucratic error." The state high court, meeting in closed session, ordered the bar to permit Granda to take the test and gave her until September to ensure her application was in order.