Office bearers of the Supreme Court Bar Association to meet the Lt. Governor of Delhi tomorrow

Office bearers of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) are slated to meet the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi to discuss various issues including the issue inadequate parking facilities for members of the SCBA in view of the limited space available in the Supreme Court premises which has not been able to accommodate the astronomical increase in the number of vehicles. 

Supreme Court of India

In a letter addressed to the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi on 03.01.2015 by Mrs. Aishwarya Bhati, secretary of the SCBA, a copy of which has been accessed by the ‘Kerala Law Review’, the SCBA has expressed its gratitude to the Lt. Governor for granting time to discuss the issues being faced by the Association and its members, and also flagged certain issues which it proposes to discuss with the Lt. Governor tomorrow, that is on Sunday.  

The SCBA has sought the “proactive assistance” of the Lt. Governor in sorting out the issue of limited parking facilities available to the members of the Association. The SCBA has also flagged the hazards faced by lawyers on the Bhagwan Dass Road which lies between the Supreme Court compound and the chamber blocks. The Association points out that the road poses a ‘serious safety issue for lawyers and litigants, who need to cross over to either side through the day’. The SCBA has proposed to the Lt. Governor that this road “be merged with the Supreme Court compound so that the compound becomes a single seamless premises”. The SCBA has also pointed out that this “can also serve as a parking solution/auditorium space or plain lawns and if need be, underground arterial road can be created instead of existing Bhagwan Dass Road”.

 

The SCBA has also sought : (i) allotment of any open parcel of land available with the Delhi Government within the vicinity of Supreme Court for construction of auditorium and additional chamber blocks for lawyers, and (ii) allotment of any open parcel of land available with the Delhi Government to construct a group housing project for members of the SCBA within the National Capital Region. 

Right of a married Hindu woman to claim maintenance from her father-in-law in event of husband’s incapacity: Law Commission of India expected to submit its report to the Law Ministry next week

Is a married woman in a joint Hindu family entitled to maintenance from her father-in-law in case her husband has failed to maintain her owing to his becoming incapacitated due to physical disability or mental disorder? 

This was the puzzling legal question which arose for consideration before the Punjab and Haryana High Court in February 2014 during the hearing of a case, which led to its directing the Law Commission of India to prepare a report on the interesting issue which has manifold implications. 

It is now learnt that the Law Commission of India has prepared a report on this grey area in the existing law. 

Justice A.P. Shah, Chairman, Law Commission of India

The Commission is likely to submit its report to the Union Law & Justice ministry next week on the issue and recommend an appropriate amendment to the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act (HAMA) 1956 to recognize the claim of the daughter-in-law to claim maintenance from the father-in-law as the head of the Hindu Undivided Family (HUF), if her husband is incapacitated due to disability which prevents him from maintaining her. 

Last February, when dealing with a case – Avtar Singh vs Jasbir Singh – the Punjab and Haryana High Court had taken note of the legal obligation of the father-in-law to provide maintenance to the daughter-in-law in case of the son's disability.

In its judgment the High Court had said: "The law is silent on whether a daughter-in-law, who does not have any source of maintenance, can claim maintenance if her husband is insane or of unsound mind. When she has to maintain her mentally-ill husband, her condition is worse than being a widowed daughter-in-law. In such a situation, the wife should be deemed to be dependent on the father-in-law and entitled to maintenance as provided under section 19 of the HAM Act."

The High Court was hearing the plea of a woman, whose husband was of unsound mind, seeking share of the HUF property for her maintenance. Although through a Panchayat settlement she had been given her share, subsequently her father-in-law had dispossessed her of the property.

Additional Bench of the National Green Tribunal to be constituted in Chennai

In order to speed up the disposal of disputes pending before the southern Bench of National Green Tribunal (NGT), an additional bench is being set up in Chennai. Chennai already has a Bench for hearing cases from the southern states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh and the Union Territories of Puducherry and Lakshadweep, but the pendency before it has kept steadily increasing in recent times, necessitating the constitution of an additional Bench. At last count, the pendency of cases before the Southern Zone Bench of the NGT at Chennai is in excess of 1,500 cases.

National Green Tribunal, Southern Zone Bench at Chennai

One of the major reasons for the pendency in cases before the NGT Bench at Chennai is the lack of progress with respect to cases transferred from the High Courts in the four southern states, and especially from the High Court of Kerala. There are also frequent delays on the part of government departments concerned of other states and the Centre in filing their counter statement/replies. 

The NGT Bench at Chennai will be the first of the NGT Benches in the country to have an additional Bench. The NGT, which came into existence in 2010, has presently one bench each in New Delhi (principal bench), Bhopal (central zone), Pune (western zone), Kolkata (eastern zone) and Chennai (southern zone). 

The Tamil Nadu state Pollution Control Board vacated its office of the district environment engineer at Arumbakkam recently and civil work has begun to accommodate the additional Bench.

The existing Bench is headed by judicial member Justice M Chockalingam, and expert member R Nagendran.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) MP moves privilege notice against Arun Jaitley and Dharmendra Pradhan, ministers in the NDA Government

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPM] on Friday moved a notice of privilege against Finance minister Arun Jaitley and Petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan for increasing the excise duty on petrol and diesel when a statutory motion against the earlier notification to hike the excise duty on petrol and diesel is pending with the Upper House, where the NDA Government is in a minority at present.

The notice of privilege has been moved by CPM MP K.N. Balagopal in the Rajya Sabha of which he is a member.

File Picture: TV grab of K.N. Balagopal speaking in the Rajya Sabha

“This increase was done arbitrarily at a time when the notice for statutory motion to disallow the earlier notification to increase excise duty of the petrol and diesel, is pending before the Rajya Sabha,” K.N Balagopal said in the notice sent to Rajya Sabha chairman Hamid Ansari, a day after the government raised excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs. 2 per litre.

Balagopal alleged that both Jaitley and Pradhan took the decision “bypassing” the Parliament. He said the notice for amending the earlier notification was given by him and his party leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sitaram Yechury and it was accepted by the Chairman and is included in the list of business.

“The Business advisory committee has allotted time for the discussion. But due to the negative attitude of the government, the statutory motion was not discussed in the last session. Now it is pending before the House. Since such an important motion is pending before the house for discussion and finalisation, it is the responsibility of the government to respect the Parliamentary practices and procedures,” the notice said.

“They (Jaitley and Pradhan) negated the Parliamentary privileges and etiquettes. Hence I feel this as a grave case of breach of parliamentary privilege, which affected me the personally and the Rajya Sabha, in general,” Balagopal said, seeking necessary action to protect the privilege of members.

The third excise duty hike since November was done to help raise an additional amount of Rs. 6,000 crore during the remaining three months of the current fiscal as the government took advantage of a slump in global oil prices to five-year low to shore up revenue without stoking inflation. Balagopal said when the international price of crude has been decreased from $115 per barrel to $55 per barrel, the government is increasing the “real price” of petroleum products.

“If the government passes over the international price of petroleum to Indian consumers, it would be less than Rs. 40 per litre of petrol and diesel,” he said.

If admitted by the Rajya Sabha Chairman Mr. Hamid Ansari , the notice will go to the Privileges Committee of the Rajya Sabha, headed by Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien. The ruling NDA has just two members in the 10-member Privileges Committee, which will take a decision on the notice and report its decision to the Upper House.