Law Minister's column in Indian Express on legal Education

“Legal education is a vital link in the creation of knowledge concepts as well as in the application of such concepts in society. The need for trained law personnel in academia, litigation, corporate practice, government and civil society has increased significantly over the last few years and it is estimated that the demands for such trained personnel will rise far more exponentially in the years to come. The role of a modern lawyer is to understand the multiplication of these laws, different traditions and cultures and in the process to get acquainted with the unfamiliar legal systems of the world. In this effort, lawyers and legal scholars need to learn to appreciate the similarities and differences between various world systems. Post liberalisation, the entire concept of legal education has changed. Today, legal education has to meet not only the requirements of the bar and the new needs of trade, commerce and industry but also the requirements of globalisation.”

Supreme Court – Housewife’s should not be categorized as beggars, prostitutes or prisoners

The verdict on July 22, by a Division Bench comprising of Justice Ashok Kumar Ganguly and Justice G.S. Singhvi has directed the Parliament, “To have a rethinking for properly assessing the value of homemakers and householders work and suitably amend the provisions of Motor Vehicles Act and other related laws for giving compensation when the victim is a woman and a homemaker. Amendments in Matrimonial laws may also be made in order to give effect to the mandate of Article 15(1) in the Constitution.”

The Court was shocked to observe that the 2001 Census classified 36 crore (367 million) women, doing household duties like cooking, cleaning, looking after children etc. as non-workers and equated them with beggars, prostitutes and prisoners who according to the Census are engaged in non-productive work.

This entire exercise of Census operation is done under an Act of Parliament.

In the present case death of wife was caused by rash and negligent act of driving. The Court observed that it is impossible to measure in terms of money the loss of personal care suffered by the husband and child on the demise of the housewife. The evaluation of the legislature in 1994, fixed the notional income of a non- earning person at Rs. 15,000 ($333) per annum and in case of a spouse at one third income of the earning / surviving spouse for the purpose of computing the compensation.

The selfless acts of service, by a wife / mother cannot be equated on the bases of any data nor can it be compared to that of an employee, especially in a case where the husband is not working and the wife’s services are compared with that of a housekeeper or a servant working for a fixed period.

The Court entitled a compensation of Rs. 6 lacs ($13300) (enhanced from Rs. 2.5 lacs) to the father and child of the deceased homemaker along with interest.

A copy of the judgment is available here.

Case details now on SMS

The Deccan Herald has reported that the Karnataka High Court has initiated SMS (Short Message Service) service for the benefit of litigants / advocates to access status updates of a case /application, for certified copies of orders. This service will shortly be extended to the Circuit Benches of Dharwad and Gulbarga.

A mobile user needs to do is send the message KARHCCS Case Type Case No Case Year Bench to 9212357123 to get the updates.

The High Court has also installed touch screen kiosks to access the Cause List and status of cases.

Pranab Mukerjee on IT department's litigations

The Hindu Business Line reports the Finance Minister, Mr. Pranab Mukherjee, on Saturday criticised the Income Tax Department for being litigious with taxpayers and “filing appeals in a routine manner without careful thought and examination.”