The Week That Was: The Delhi High Court

In the week preceding the Dussehra break, the Delhi High Court Bar Association elections garnered most of the attention at the Delhi High Court. Here are a few highlights from the past week..Monday, October 3.Release of the DHCBA Election Schedule.The Executive Committee of the High Court Bar Association submitted a new election schedule to Siddharth Mridul J. According to the new schedule, the election is to be held on November 18 of this year..The schedule is as follows:.November 2Declaration of listNovember 3 – November 5Filing of nomination papersNovember 7Scrutiny of nomination papersNovember 9Last date for withdrawal of nomination papersNovember 18Polling of votes.Tuesday, October 4.A victorious step forward for Sushant Rohilla’s supporters.A division bench disposed off a writ petition filed on behalf of the students of Amity Law School, Delhi against the arbitrary implementation of the attendance norms of the law school..The matter was disposed off after the college demonstrated to the bench of Badar Durrez Ahmed and Ashutosh Kumar, JJ. the online system through which the students could have real time access to their attendance records..Wednesday, October 5.The one-bar-one-vote principle continues to be a hurdle.After adjourning the matter on Tuesday, the division bench of Ravindra Bhat and Siddharth Mridul, JJ. heard the arguments in the P.K. Dash matter on Wednesday..The primary problem in the application of the principle is that the bar associations of all the courts, do not have a uniform term or schedule of elections. Due to this, someone who has voted in the DHCBA elections in 2016 might be able to vote in a district court elections in 2017 and then vote in the DHCBA elections in 2018 again..It was suggested by the Secretary of the DHCBA that the principle be altered to mean “one term” as against “one year”. Meaning, someone who has voted in the DHCBA elections in 2016 cannot vote in any election until the DHCBA elections happen again..The bench heard arguments by both the parties and listed the matter for October 18 for judgment..Thursday, October 6.Appeal against the Delhi University photocopiers admitted.A division bench of Pradeep Nandrajog and Pratibha Rani, JJ. admitted an appeal filed by a group of international publishers against the single judge order in favour of Rameshwari Photocopy Services declaring that photocopying of text books and course material in furtherance of education was not copyright infringement..The bench denied to grant stay to the appellants after the respondents submitted that the students’ exams were approaching in November and granting a stay would be severely detrimental to them..The matter will now be heard on November 29.