AI Chatbots, and the Courts, and the Lawyers

Are AI Chatbots in Courts putting Justice at risk ?

The use of AI in the criminal justice system is growing quickly worldwide, from the popular DoNotPay chatbot lawyer mobile app to robot judges in Estonia adjudicating small claims and AI judges in Chinese courts.... Judges from India to Colombia are using robot lawyers, but experts warn of pitfalls such as false information and algorithmic bias.

"ChatGPT can make up laws and rulings that don't exist. In my view it shouldn't be used for anything important." 

There have been numerous examples of chatbots getting information wrong or making up plausible but incorrect answers - which have been dubbed "hallucinations" - such as inventing fictional articles and academic papers.

There are also concerns over privacy violations and exploitation of judicial data for profit.(Context News)

 After the Colombian Judge used ChatGPT to pronounce an order, the Punjab and Haryana High Court Judge took the assistance of ChatGPT, while deciding a bail matter in a murder case. 

The Colombian Judge Juan Manuel Padilla Garcia said he used the AI tool - ChatGPT to ask legal questions about a case and included its responses in his decision, according to a court document dated 30 January 2023. Besides including ChatGPT’s responses to these questions, the judge also incorporated his own legal arguments and clarified that the AI was used to "extend the arguments of the adopted decision." 

But this faced many criticisms. 

Many professionals came up with their disagreements in this case. Prof Juan David Gutierrez from Rosario University said, “there is a need for urgent digital literacy training for judges”. A judge in Colombia’s Supreme Court, Octavio Tejeiro, said, “AI has instigated a moral panic in law as people feared robots would replace judges”. But he also shared his thought on the future acceptance of the AI tool by common people. He said that using ChatGPT for judgement is unethical and misleading, as they can be imperfect and propose wrong answers. “It must be seen as an instrument that serves the judge to improve his judgment. We cannot allow the tool to become more important than the person Tejeiro added.”

When checked on what ChatGPT would say if the Courts / Judges in India used it too, the results were uncannily similar to the judgments already pronounced by the Indian Courts.  

1. Can Amitabh Bachchan’s pictures, voice and name be used without his consent?

Delhi High Court in November last year passed an interim order restraining persons at large from infringing the personality and publicity rights of Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan.

 2. Can reservations be granted solely on the basis of economic criteria?

Supreme Court in its majority verdict pronounced in November last year, upheld the validity of the 103rd Constitutional Amendment Act 2019, which introduced 10 percent reservations for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) in government jobs and educational institutions.

3. Can forcible sexual intercourse between a husband and his wife in a marital relationship be labeled as rape?

Supreme Court is in the process of hearing petitions challenging the exclusion of marital rape from the definition of rape in the Indian Penal Code (IPC 375).

However, in May last year, the Delhi High Court had delivered a split verdict on petitions seeking criminalisation of marital rape – while one judge said “legitimate expectation of sex” is an “inexorable” aspect of marriage, the other said the “right to withdraw consent at any given point in time forms the core of the woman’s right to life and liberty”. 

Additionally, in September last year, a Supreme Court bench, while passing a verdict on unmarried women being entitled to seek abortion in the 20-24  week-period had held that the meaning of rape must be held to include "marital rape" for the purpose of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act and Rules.

 “To explore the use of AI in the judicial domain, the Supreme Court of India has constituted Artificial Intelligence Committee which has mainly identified application of AI technology in translation of judicial documents; legal research assistance and process automation,” Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju had said.

> ‘Supreme Court Vidhik Anuvaad Software’ (SUVAS), which is being used to translate judgments from English into Indian languages

> ‘Supreme Court Portal for Assistance in Courts Efficiency’ (SUPACE), a tool to help judges conduct legal research.

Source - thequint

In the midst of all these, the Punjab & Haryana High Court in Chandigarh, India, recently employed an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot called ChatGPT to assist in a bail case. Justice Anoop Chitkara used the tool to gain a wider perspective on the matter and to determine bail jurisprudence in a case where an assailant used cruelty. 

The chatbot - ChatGPT said :

"The severity of the assault, the defendant's criminal history, and the strength of the evidence against them are all factors that a judge will consider when deciding whether to grant bail. It is important to note that the presumption of innocence is a fundamental principle of the justice system, and all defendants are entitled to bail unless there are compelling reasons to deny it. Therefore even in cases where the assailants have assaulted with cruelty, they may still be granted bail if the judge determines that they do not post a risk to the community or a flight risk," ChatGPT replied in response to Justice Chitkara's query.

The judge in his order clarified: "Any reference to ChatGPT and any observation made hereinabove is neither an expression of opinion on the merits of the case nor shall the trial Court advert to these comments. This reference is only intended to present a broader picture on bail jurisprudence, where cruelty is a factor." The court subsequently dismissed the bail plea. (Source)

 

As per a BBC news report:

A New York lawyer is facing a court hearing of his own after his firm used AI tool ChatGPT for legal research. A judge said the court was faced with an "unprecedented circumstance" after a filing was found to reference example legal cases that did not exist. 

"Six of the submitted cases appear to be bogus judicial decisions with bogus quotes and bogus internal citations," Judge Castel wrote in an order,

 issuing a show-cause to the Lawyer, who apologized saying:

that he "greatly regrets" relying on the chatbot, which he said he had never used for legal research before and was "unaware that its content could be false". He has vowed to never use AI to "supplement" his legal research in future "without absolute verification of its authenticity". (BBC)

 Google cautions against 'hallucinating' chatbots, and warned against the pitfalls of artificial intelligence in chatbots. (Reuters)

Italian data-protection authority said it would ban and investigate OpenAI "with immediate effect", as there were privacy concerns relating to the model, which was created by US start-up OpenAI and is backed by Microsoft. The regulator said that not only would it block OpenAI's chatbot but it would also investigate whether it complied with General Data Protection Regulation. GDPR governs the way in which we can use, process and store personal data. (BBC)

Italian data-protection authority said OpenAI had 20 days to say how it would address the watchdog's concerns, under penalty of a fine of €20 million ($21.7m) or up to 4% of annual revenues. (BBC)

The Hype around these chatbots is slowly being diluted, by some of the glaring erroneous use cases athat are being reported in the news.  

With the breathless hype that has been spun up around ChatGPT and the underlying Large Language Models (LLMs) such as GPT-3 and GPT-4, to the average person it may seem that we have indeed entered the era of hyperintelligent, all-knowing artificial intelligence. Even more relevant to the legal profession is that GPT-4 seemingly aced the Uniform Bar Exam, which led to many to suggest that perhaps the legal profession was now at risk of being taken over by ‘AI’. Yet the evidence so far suggests that LLMs are, if anything, mostly a hindrance to attorneys, as these LLMs have no concept of what is ‘true’ or ‘false’. (Hackaday)

Chatbots like ChatGPT have been known to create fictional responses that appear to have no connection to information found elsewhere online.

In a case before the U.S. Supreme Court, whether a U.S. law that protects technology platforms from legal responsibility for content posted online by their users also applies when companies use algorithms to target users with recommendations, is likely to be decided by the end of June 2023. This decision may also have a bearing on where an AI model generated a potentially harmful response, and whether they should be protected from legal claims like defamation or privacy violations, according to technology and legal experts.

Hany Farid, a technologist and professor at the University of California, Berkeley, said that it stretches the imagination to argue that AI developers should be immune from lawsuits over models that they "programmed, trained and deployed."

"When companies are held responsible in civil litigation for harms from the products they produce, they produce safer products," Farid said. "And when they're not held liable, they produce less safe products." (Reuters)

Interesting times ahead. 

To be continued..

COVID19 - Plight of the Junior Lawyers / Lawyers in General in India

India’s coronavirus lockdown is revealing deep income disparities in the legal profession.

As the CoronaVirus or Covid19 spreads its tentacles in the society and the nation, a class of people who have been hit very hard, rarely find a mention in the mainstream media.

This class of people belongs to the Noble Profession of Lawyering, and are referred to as "Lawyers" or "Advocates". Over 79% of lawyers with less than two years of experience earn less than ₹10,000 a month, according to a survey by think tank Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy.

They are prohibited from seeking their livelihood, from all other means and occupations, except the Legal Profession (Lawyer-ing). They are prohibited from advertising about themselves, their skills, and their law practice in general.

This law, in the form of a binding directive, under Rule 36, Section IV,Part VI of the Bar Council of India Rules prohibits lawyers from ‘the soliciting of work or advertising, either directly or indirectly, whether by circulars, advertisements, touts, personal communications, interviews not warranted by personal relations, furnishing inspiring newspaper comments or producing his photographs to be published in connection with cases in which he has been engaged or concerned’. It is important to note that BCI is the designated authority under Advocates Act, 1961 with the power to make delegated legislations (subsidiary legislations intended to implement the parent law, which, in this case is the Advocates Act, 1961). The proponents of this blanket ban mostly find themselves justifying this oddity under the garb of public policy, public utility, social justice and nobility of the profession along with the belief that the legal ‘industry’ will become fiercely competitive and money-oriented if advocates are allowed to advertise and solicit work. That being said, due credit should be bestowed upon the Indian justice system for acknowledging the nobility aspect of the legal profession. Even the Supreme Court has, time and again, sanctified the yardsticks of nobility and integrity as the pillars of the profession. (Source)

As per the common law principles, the legal system is expected to adapt to the changing needs of society. Thus, in 2008, on the petitioning of this very matter by an advocate, the Supreme Court, in V.B. Joshi v Union of India, relaxed the absolute prohibition on legal advertising.

However, the Supreme Court was rather hesitant in revoking the prohibition (as was petitioned in the case) and instead diluted the provision to the allow the display of the following information on online and offline platforms:

(1) name of the lawyer; and (2) address, telephone numbers and email id; and  (3) (a) enrollment number, (b) date of enrollment, (c) name of State Bar Council where originally enrolled, (d) name of the State Bar Council on whose roll name stands currently and (e) name of the Bar Association of which the advocate is a member; and (4) professional qualifications and academic qualifications; and (5) areas of practice.

Although the VB Joshi Case did relax the norms of legal advertising, it was too late and too little. In fact, Allahabad High Court’s Lucknow bench has recently issued a contempt order on online portals like Justdial, Myadvo, Lawrato, Legalserviceindia among others which supposedly carry out advertising in the name of ‘enlisting’ in light of strict instructions from the high court to refrain from such activities.

While the law fraternity had been hoping for a progressive easing of the restrictions, the contrasting opinion pronounced by the court has created a sense of dismay and shock in the legal society.

On comparing ourselves with the other common law pioneers, we find that although the US and the UK did have an absolute prohibition on legal advertising till 1977 and 1990 respectively, both the countries revamped their internal regulations to adapt to the changing norms of globalisation and liberalisation. (source) 

In a historic move, an entire bench of the Supreme Court of India conducted its first ever paperless hearing on June 1, 2020. It was a rare sight as three judges sat in a virtual court, with laptops instead of bulky case files. Lawyers were seen giving presentations via video link, with the judges typing notes. However, with this new push toward virtual courts, there are also several structural challenges that have come to the fore. Many judges and lawyers feel that these need to be addressed as Indian courts traverse into the digital world.
On the other hand, several lawyers' bodies have written to the Chief Justice of India, calling for a return to physical courts. The Bar Council of India claims that 90% of lawyers and judges across the country are "unaware about the technology." Some lawyers are concerned about their livelihoods, claiming that virtual courts are currently accessible only to a few. (source)

The vast majority of lawyers depend on fresh filings and hearings for their income. With only urgent    matters listed, lawyers are finding it tough.

Mention lawyers and the image that strikes the public is that of famous names who move around in Audis and BMWs and charge massive amounts of money. But this section is a small fraction. The vast majority of lawyers, especially in the lower courts, function on a case-to-case basis for their income. And when the courts do not function, their economic situation becomes precarious. (source)

Patna civil court lawyer Abhishek said at least 95% lawyers at civil court are under financial stress. “Some of them can’t even meet their daily needs. They are part of justice delivery system. The high court should direct the state government to take steps to help these lawyers,” he said. The hearing at civil courts got crippled due to Covid-19 which directly affected practising lawyers. (source)

Last month, one Adv. K. Uthamakumaram found himself in the headlines last month when it was reported that the out-of-work Chennai lawyer was forced to weave baskets for a living. Earlier this month, Adv. Sapan Kumar Pal sold vegetables outside the Orissa High Court as a mark of protest after the state bar council allegedly delayed the release of promised financial assistance to lockdown-hit advocates. (source)  

Lawyers turn vegetable vendors, delivery boys to make up for lost income. As Aditya Kashyap sits by his vegetable cart in a bylane of Vasai, Mumbai, he tries not to think about five months ago when he was busy filing bail pleas in Magistrate Courts. (source)

 

Posted on 10th July 2020 is this Paper -  COVID-19 Epidemic: Indian Lawyers in Financial Crisis, Ignored, Depressed: In pursuit of Financial And Moral Support, by Chitranjali Negi Advocate Supreme Court of India, in which she says:

An advocate's duty is as important as that of a Judge. Advocates have a large responsibility towards the society. India ranks 68 out of 126 countries, down 3 places from last year in 2019 in “Rule of Law Index” which measures how the rule of law is experienced and perceived by the general public. The Indian Law profession is one of the largest in the world, with more than 2 million enrolled advocates Nationwide. The Nationwide lock down has brought to the fore the great disparity in the legal profession & lock down has financially damages lawyers. Lawyers in India are the most neglected and overlooked during COVID19 comparative of other professional. 70% Lawyers are almost daily wage workers who earn per appearance hearing. COVID-19 has impacted deep and triggered many social, mental and psychological issues as well.
The fundamental principle which determines the privileges and responsibilities of lawyer in relation to the court is that he is an officer to justice and a friend of the court. Lawyers status as an officer of justice does not mean he is subordinate to the judge. It only means that he is an integral part of the machinery for the administration of justice. (source)

In response to the current pandemic, which has already stirred havoc into the lives of advocates, various State Bar Councils (SBC) have initiated COVID-19 relief grant schemes on a first-come application basis, the grant criterion of which varies for each state institution. Some SBCs like Karnataka has released the list of beneficiaries but without the details of the relief amount granted, while others such as Rajsthan and Delhi have closed their application window without any intimation on future courses of action on the website.

Unless a person is tangibly benefitting from such schemes, there is really no direct way of knowing the procedure and result, as is. The inherent lack of transparency and absence of uniformity in the regulatory mechanism for advocates; and second, that the act of granting a measly Rs 5,000 to select advocates (the criterion and determination of which is also unknown) in hopes that this might help those individuals sail through a pandemic that has already put their lives at a standstill for over three months now. (Source)   

Framing rules and regulations to maintain the "Nobility of the Legal Profession" is easier than said, when it is not accompanied by the responsibility to support the members of the Legal Profession, in these hard times of Covid19, leave alone, equipping the Members with the benefit of a Continuing Legal Education.

Though the Central Government has announced that lawyers will come in the ambit of MSME loans, its is highly doubtful, if the Bankers recognise that lawyers are eligible for availing loans from Banks.


By the time the pandemic is over (??) most of the lawyers will be rendered indigent, and there will be no "nobility" left in the "Noble Profession", except for the top 10% creamy layer of lawyers.

Ref:
1. http://www.barcouncilofindia.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/BCIRulesPartVonwards.pdf
2. https://www.casemine.com/judgement/in/56e66855607dba6b53432154
3. https://www.firstpost.com/india/hit-by-job-cuts-during-covid-19-and-constricted-by-an-outdated-law-on-legal-advertising-young-lawyers-struggle-to-become-self-reliant-8476201.html
4. https://www.indialawjournal.org/archives/volume2/issue_1/interview_of_the_month.html
5. https://www.barandbench.com/news/litigation/allahabad-hc-issues-contempt-notice-to-15-private-websites-for-advertising-about-practising-lawyers
6. https://www.firstpost.com/india/hit-by-job-cuts-during-covid-19-and-constricted-by-an-outdated-law-on-legal-advertising-young-lawyers-struggle-to-become-self-reliant-8476201.html
7. https://www.dw.com/en/how-coronavirus-is-propelling-the-rise-of-online-courts-in-india/a-53774109
8. https://scroll.in/article/958528/indias-coronavirus-lockdown-is-revealing-deep-income-disparities-in-the-legal-profession
9. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/covid-19-lawyers-find-it-tough-to-make-ends-meet/articleshow/76222390.cms
10. https://theprint.in/judiciary/loans-part-time-jobs-pm-cares-lawyers-grasp-at-straws-as-covid-leaves-them-out-of-work/463371/
11. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/lawyers-turn-vegetable-vendors-delivery-boys-to-make-up-for-lost-income/articleshow/77569538.cms
12. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3646300 

My Quora Answer about Action against Bank Officers

My Quora Answer to:

What sort of legal action can be taken against bank officers for continuously ignoring unfair trade practices complaints? What sort of legal action can be taken against bank corporate office for not taking any action against it's own officers?

If your bank does not address your complaint within a month, you can approach the banking ombudsman. This is a senior official appointed by the Reserve Bank of India to redress customer complaints against deficiency in banking services, as per its scheme introduced in 1995. All scheduled commercial banks, regional rural banks and scheduled primary cooperative banks are covered under the scheme. So far, there are 15 ombudsmen, whose offices are located mostly in state capitals. Their addresses and contact details are available on the RBI website. You have to file the complaint at the office of the ombudsman under whose jurisdiction your bank branch is located. The grievances relating to credit cards and other types of services with centralised operations are to be filed with the ombudsman in whose territorial jurisdiction the billing address of the customer is located. You can put it down on a plain paper, send an e-mail, or fill the complaint form on the RBI website. There are no charges for filing a complaint.

Source: How to file a complaint against your bank

The Banking Ombudsman Scheme is an expeditious and inexpensive forum for bank customers for resolution of complaints relating to certain services rendered by banks. The Banking Ombudsman Scheme is introduced under Section 35 A of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 by RBI with effect from 1995. Presently the Banking Ombudsman Scheme 2006 (As amended upto July 1, 2017) is in operation. [1] The addresses of the Ombudsman are here : link . Before filing the complaint, have a look at the types of the cases handled by the Banking Ombudsman, listed here.

Hope this answers your question.

Footnotes

[1] Frequently Asked Questions

Contract Killings and Punishment

Anybody could be a hired killer in Delhi, say police; they are ready to pull the trigger for as low as Rs 40,000.

A mother of seven, a science graduate, a property dealer and a man looking for a job — the profiles of Delhi’s contract killers are diverse. For as little as Rs 40,000, some of these dreaded murderers for hire can fire a gun or wield a knife.

At least 50 contract killing cases were solved by the Delhi police in 2017. Not all of the accused had previous criminal records — some were first-time offenders with dreams of becoming rich overnight.

Former Delhi commissioner Ved Marwah said that though the phenomenon of professionals taking money to kill is spread across the world. “Contract killers are professionals and are everywhere in the world. But first-timers indulging in such crimes shows degeneration of social values. We have to strengthen the criminal justice system, raise the threshold of social behaviour and maintain higher standards.”

Source:  .hindustantimes.

Contract killings have not been alien to Delhiites but what is startling is the fact that they are no longer executed to simply settle scores in business or political rivalries but have even crept into family issues. 

A senior Gurgaon police official believes that over time contract killers have also become “sophisticated and smart.”

“They are no longer the rustic gangs from UP villages who usually worked under the patronage of some local politician or businessman. With landowners from Delhi’s fringe villages striking gold with the property boom, sufficient money has been pumped into these areas to fulfill the fancy for foreign-made guns. This explains the proliferation of guns in the NCR,” said the official.

Source: DNA

The Madras High Court Bench confirmed life sentence imposed on five contract killers, and speaking through the Division Bench of Justices A. Selvam and T. Mathivanan held :

“However high or wise a person is, when he happens to commit a crime against morality, he would certainly, in a flustered state, leave a mark of vestige. This is the archaism and that is what has happened in this case.” 

Source: the Hindu

Punishment:

The punishment for murder under India’s Penal Code is life imprisonment or death and the person is also liable to a fine.[16] 

Guidance on the application of the death sentence was provided by the Supreme Court of India in Jagmohan Singh v. State of Uttar Pradesh, where the Court enunciated an approach of balancing mitigating and aggravating factors of the crime when deciding on the imposition of capital punishment.[17]  However, this approach was called into question first in Bachan Singh v. State of Punjab where the Court emphasized that since an amendment was made to India’s Code of Criminal Procedure, the rule has changed so that “the offence of murder shall be punished with the sentence of life imprisonment.  The court can depart from that rule and impose the sentence of death only if there are special reasons for doing so.”[18]  The Court also emphasized that due consideration should not only be given to the circumstances of the crime but to the criminal also.[19] 

However, more recently the Court in Sangeet & Anr. v. State of Haryana, noted that the approach in Bachan has not been fully adopted subsequently,[20] that “primacy still seems to be given to the nature of the crime,” and that the “circumstances of the criminal, referred to in Bachan Singh appear to have taken a bit of a back seat in the sentencing process.”[21] The Court in Sangeet concluded as follows:

This Court has not endorsed the approach of aggravating and mitigating circumstances in [the 1971 case of] Bachan Singh.  However, this approach has been adopted in several decisions.  This needs a fresh look.  In any event, there is little or no uniformity in the application of this approach.

Aggravating circumstances relate to the crime while mitigating circumstances relate to the criminal.  A balance sheet cannot be drawn up for comparing the two.  The considerations for both are distinct and unrelated.  The use of the mantra of aggravating and mitigating circumstances needs a review.

In the sentencing process, both the crime and the criminal are equally important. We have, unfortunately, not taken the sentencing process as seriously as it should be with the result that in capital offences, it has become judge-centric sentencing rather than principled sentencing.

The Constitution Bench of this Court has not encouraged standardization and categorization of crimes and even otherwise it is not possible to standardize and categorize all crimes.

The grant of remissions is statutory.  However, to prevent its arbitrary exercise, the legislature has built in some procedural and substantive checks in the statute.  These need to be faithfully enforced.[22]

Source: https://www.loc.gov/law/help/sentencing-guidelines/india.php

After looking at the judgments of various cases, in my opinion, section 307 IPC is very confusing in so far as the basis of the conviction of accused is concerned. There is a common ingredient which is required for the conviction under this section and that element is intention along with the knowledge and the implication of the act done. All the courts across the board agree on the fact that the intention to commit murder and the preparation for the act must be present. However the element where the courts differ with each other is the matter of proving the intention.

The difference being that courts say that to prove the intention of the accused, the nature of the injury, the nature of the weapon used, preparation taken are taken into account however surprisingly the courts arrive at different conclusions regarding these facts. That is in some cases the courts have ruled that even if the weapon used was dangerous but caused a simple wound, there would be no conviction under section 307 and in another case the court rules that even if no injury is caused the accused can be convicted if intention to kill is proved. This is contradictory in nature. In one case the court also ruled that forced starvation can also be convicted under section 307.

The questioning of the constitutional validity of this section was a legitimate question which was solved by a very simple answer by the Andhra Pradesh High Court. The main conclusion is that there is no hard and fast rule about the methodology of proving the intention of the accused, that may vary from case to case and it is the judge’s responsibility to take cognizance of the facts before him and decide on the intention of the accused and it is the intention which matters the most in conviction.

The nature of the injuries, weapons used are merely clues that the judiciary uses to reach to a conclusion about the intention of the accused. So it can be safely said that even of no injury is caused a person can be convicted under this section.

Source: https://www.lawctopus.com/academike/attempt-murder-section-307-ipc/

Cabinet approves the Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Division of High Courts (Amendment) Bill, 2018

The Union Cabinet has approved the Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of High Courts (Amendment) Bill, 2018 for introduction in the Parliament.

The Bill seeks to achieve the following objectives:

• The Bill brings down the specified value of a commercial dispute to 3 Lakhs from the present one Crore. Therefore, commercial disputes of a reasonable value can be decided by commercial courts. This would bring down the time taken (presently 1445 days) in resolution of commercial disputes of lesser value and thus further improve India's ranking in the Ease of Doing Business.

• The amendment provides for establishment of Commercial Courts at district Judge level for the territories over which respective High Courts have ordinary original civil jurisdiction i.e in the cities of Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and State of Himachal Pradesh. The State Governments, in such territories may by notification specify such pecuniary value of commercial disputes to be adjudicated at the district level, which shall 'not be less than three lakhs rupees and not more than the pecuniary jurisdiction of the district court. In the jurisdiction of High Courts other than those exercising ordinary original jurisdiction a forum of Appeal in commercial dispute decided by commercial courts below the level of District judge is being provided, in the form of Commercial Appellate Courts to be at district judge level.

• The introduction of the Pre-Institution Mediation process in cases where no urgent, interim relief is contemplated will provide an opportunity to the parties to resolve the commercial disputes outside the ambit of the courts through the authorities constituted under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 will also help in reinforcing investor's confidence in the resolution of commercial disputes.

• Insertion of new section of 21A which enables the Central Government to make rules and procedures for PIM.

• To give prospective effect to the amendment so as not to disturb the authority of the judicial forum presently adjudicating the commercial disputes as per the extant provisions of the Act.

With the rapid economic development there has been considerable increase in commercial activities and consequent steep rise in number of commercial disputes at domestic and international level. Increase of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and overseas commercial transactions have further contributed to a significant increase of commercial disputes.

With a view to address the issue faster resolution of matters relating to commercial disputes and to create a positive image particularly among the foreign investors about the independent and responsive Indian legal system, the Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of High Courts Act, 2015 was enacted and commercial courts were established at District Levels in all jurisdictions, except in the territories over which the High Courts have original ordinary civil jurisdiction. These five High Courts i.e. the High Courts of Bombay, Delhi, Calcutta, Madras and of Himachal Pradesh, exercise ordinary original civil jurisdiction in regard to territories of cities of Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and the territory of the State of Himachal Pradesh respectively. In such territories of these High Courts as per proviso to sub-section (1) of section 3 there are no commercial courts at district level and instead Commercial Divisions have been constituted in each of these High Courts.

The specified value of such commercial disputes to be adjudicated by the Commercial Courts or the Commercial Division of High Court, as the case may be is presently Rs. one Crore.

Ease of Doing Business is an index of World Bank which inter alia refers to the dispute resolution environment in a country which facilitates the investors in deciding for setting up of and operation of a business.

Killer Potholes - Who is responsible?

The dialogue on Killer Potholes has started after the unfortunate death of the Lady Biker or Bikerni Jagruti Hogale, And should continue till this is resolved.

Why IndianPenalCode Section 304A cannot be made applicable to Civic Bodies?

Why is Causing death by Negligence by Civic bodies, National Highway Authorities and Road Contractors not punishable?

This is a 2015 Link on #KillerPotholes of India... .

If a doctor can face legal action for malpractice or negligence, and a manufacturer of a product be held liable for its poor performance, why can’t civic bodies be held responsible for road accidents that occur due to their negligence?

Priti Prasad of Ambarnath (in Mumbai’s metropolitan region) and Om Prakash of Bengaluru have been treated as culprits instead of victims despite one having lost a mother the other his wife. Both were riding their respective two-wheelers with a person riding pillion. And both crashed because of potholes on the road.

The law should have helped the survivors of the crash by punishing the culprits. But in both cases, the police went after the wrong person. Who then are the real culprits?

The civic authorities whose job is to maintain the roads and the contractors who laid the roads. In both cases, they obviously fell short. Instead those who were riding the vehicles have been faulted and booked.

A lurching halt in a pothole, even at a prescribed speed, can unseat the rider. The pillion rider has no control and risks falling which could lead to injury and death. The question of speeding here is not as relevant as the criminal liability of not maintaing the roads.

Priti Prasad tried to do the right thing by going to the heart of the matter. She argued that it wasn’t her driving at fault, but the pathetic condition of the road she was forced to use. The Ambernath police refused to register the FIR she was keen to file in order to target the contractor. She should ideally have listed the Ambernath civic body as well.

Standards are often ignored when building roads and sometimes a bad job is done to ensure that subsequent pothole repair contracts are secured as well. Each monsoon is a trigger for renewed loot.  In Mumbai, the high court has had to weigh in on behalf of the citizens, asking the civic body to ensure good roads and keep them pothole-free. It hasn’t become reality yet though.

Civic bodies, being impersonal and therefore insensitive, take these regular raps on the knuckle in their stride and provide sworn affidavits about how they will correct themselves.  The point is they don’t. Even Ganapati, the deity of Maharashtrian, has to worry if he can be brought in safely from the workshop and then taken for immersion without risking injury due to a pothole.

Perhaps the law of torts, whereby they are required to pay for damaged caused, would be the best way to cure the civic bodies of their habitual neglect. Suppose Prakash and Prasad take on the civic bodies by making a demand using torts, and seeking a corrective for a wrong done, it would be a nice start.

Given the number of potholes, not just on any city’s badly-kept roads but on toll-funded highways as well, authorities will have to reckon with the loss of finances and the need to have a separate department to deal with the cases. But they have to get the message that the city is run on tax-payer’s money.

It’s not enough to just have a civic body to provide employment to some and political opportunities to others. It would be a good idea if the accident laws were enabled to provide succour by levying the burden of compensation on the agencies.

Normally the person responsible for a road accident pays through insurance companies. So why not the civic bodies given they are the principal cause of accidents?

Source - http://www.firstpost.com/india/killer-potholes-of-india-civic-bodies-should-have-to-pay-up-for-the-deaths-they-cause-2444758.html

Slideshow on India's Killer Potholes: http://m.ndtv.com/photos/news/indias-killer-potholes-15625#&ui-state=dialog

Even as radio jockey Malishka and radio channel Red FM 93.5 are embroiled in a controversy with the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) over a satirical video about the bad condition of the city roads, almost 29 accidents per day, or one accident every 50 minutes, were reported due to potholes across the country between 2013 and 2015, according to this reply by the Ministry of State for Road Transport and Highways to the Rajya Sabha (upper house of Parliament) on March 27, 2017.

As many as 10,876 road accidents due to potholes were reported across the country in 2015, the latest figure available. The data for 2016 are yet to be compiled, according to this reply by the ministry to the Lok Sabha (lower house of Parliament).

Over three years, 31,681 accidents were reported due to potholes.

Source - https://www.indiaspend.com/viznomics/killer-potholes-29-accidents-reported-every-day-over-3-years-81157

A brilliant artist Baadal Nanjundaswamy hit national headlines after he planted a life-sized crocodile in the middle of a road after BBMP failed to repair a pothole. His efforts paid off and the city corporation filled up the pothole in just a day after the pictures went viral. A few weeks later Badal Nanjundaswamy drew a butterfly net around a pothole to wake up authorities! Again the red faced civic authorities immediately swung into action and filled up the potholes.
The location of Bengaluru is also partially responsible for the bad condition of roads. It is located 3000 feet above sea level and receives a lot rain. Since the rain leads to water logging, asphalted roads crack, creating potholes. However, the bad quality of work is the main reason for the ever increasing number of potholes across the city.
According to an estimate, there are 2,631 potholes in the city. It states that 910 potholes had come up on roads that are still under the defect liability period. Sources said that if there is any defect/pothole on the road when it is under the defect liability period, the contractor is liable to repair the same at his/her cost.
According to ‘The Hindu’ the report also states that there are 1,721 potholes on other roads, mainly arterial and sub-arterial ones. Sources said that a tender to fill the potholes on these roads would be called soon. The BBMP had earlier stated that a fine of Rs. 2,000 would be levied on contractors for each pothole.
In the last five years the BBMP has spent over Rs 100 crore to repair potholes across the city. However the potholes refuse to vanish. It clearly shows that the major portion of the spent has been siphoned off by the concerned people. Currently the BBMP is bankrupt, unless the Congress state government in Karnataka which snatched BBMP from the BJP releases generous funds for the road work, potholes continue to exist. Making Bengaluru is potholes free city should be the top priority of the BBMP and state government. Apathy kills.

Source - http://www.news18.com/news/india/killer-potholes-of-bengaluru-tragic-deaths-apathy-of-the-government-1106602.html

Filling up potholes is Mumbai man’s tribute to his son. - http://www.hindustantimes.com/mumbai/filling-up-potholes-is-mumbai-man-s-tribute-to-his-son/story-3Y1UQVIEQbir6KSwFrM5VM.html

In July 2015, Billhore’s son Prakash, 16, died when the bike he was riding hit an 18-feet wide water-filled pothole on the Jogeshwari-Vikhroli Link Road. Prakash was driving back home from college with his cousin

"The trench was made to repair burnt cable wires underground but was not covered after they were repaired. I lost my son due to negligence of civic authorities,” said Billhore.
Now, Billhore, 46, has made it his mission to highlight the callous way in which the municipal corporation maintains the city’s roads.
“Filling up potholes is a tribute to my son who was a bright student and was the hope for a better future of our family,” Billhore said.
Every Sunday, he and his two friends scout around Andheri looking for potholes and filling them up with sand or pebbles."

After the accident, the Aarey police station registered criminal cases against a municipal officer and an engineer from a private power company. The two were held guilty under section 304A (causing death due to negligence) and section 338 (act endangering life and causing grievous hurt). They have got anticipatory bail.
“The charge sheet will be filed this week and we expect court proceedings to begin soon,” said Vilas Chavan, senior inspector from Aarey police station.

#KillerPotholes

Lack of judicial reforms pulls down India's ranking - Times of India

A World Bank assessment on the performance of India on ease of doing business shows the largest democracy lags behind many of the sub-Saharan African countries and the east Asian nations in `enforcement of contract' largely due to the inefficient judicial system which has failed to keep up with the technological revolution that has changed the pace of the justice delivery across the world.

Giving the example of Rwanda, it says the African country has implemented the integrated electronic case management system across all courts which allows for an automatic registration of lawsuits, electronic organisation and scheduling of cases and automated claims processing. Many of the sub-Saharan African countries have done better than India, which has failed to implement crucial judicial reforms when it comes to implementing the electronic case management system. Some of the basic services such as summons are still being served using the antiquated practice. The law on adjournments is not followed in 50% of cases across courts while there is hardly any adherence to the timeline fixed for resolution of disputes, as per the findings.

An evaluation of the court structure and proceedings by the World Bank, while ranking countries on ease of doing business in its 2017 report, has painted a very grim picture for India compared to many of the sub-Saharan African countries that have done better by adopting a set of good practices, including case management, court automation and alternative dispute resolution--some of the parameters which resulted in India being ranked overall 130 among 190 countries.

The report refers to lack of electronic case management system for lawyers and judges in the courts dealing with commercial disputes in Delhi and Mumbai. There is no provision for pre-trial conference in these courts. "In addition, as the complaints cannot be filed electronically be fore the competent court and the documents cannot be served electronically , we were not given any points on that front," a government task force has observed on why India has been ranked so low in the World Bank's ease of doing business. In India, as far as commercial disputes are concerned, the complaint cannot be filed electronically in the absence of a platform within the competent court.It is not even possible to carry out service of process electronically for claims filed before the court. Only the court fees can be paid electronically and the judgments can be accessed online.

Source-
http://m.timesofindia.com/business/india-business/lack-of-judicial-reforms-pulls-down-indias-ranking/articleshow/59010558.cms

Maharashtra State Authority to hear complaints against Builders - country first

With complaints against Builders riding in numbers, the Maharashtra State Government has decided to constitute a Housing Regulatory Authority to safeguard the interests of homebuyers. 

The authority will be a quasi-judicial body and resolve disputes related to the housing sector. Four benches are likely to be established to hear the cases at different cities in the state.

With this decision, Maharashtra, with the highest ratio of urbanisation and real estate activities in the country, will become the first state to constitute such an authority,

The Maharashtra Housing (Regulation and Development) 2012 was passed two years ago and Presidential assent came in 2014.

The deadline to frame rules for the authority is October 31 and the process is underway.

An officer attached with the housing department, said, 

"There are over 30,000 disputes pending before various courts and forums regarding alleged malpractices by developers, Most of the complaints from Mumbai and Pune are because of the high density of housing construction activities. After drafting the rules, objections and suggestions will be invited from the people to make more reforms before constituting the body."

"The state has received the official nod from the Centre to set up its own regulatory authority for the state. We are in the process of forming rules and regulations after which the authority will come into existence," he added.

Source: http://www.punemirror.in/pune/civic/Govt-body-to-solve-homebuyers-woes/articleshow/54299390.cms

Personal Laws on the basis of Religion - A Trap

Supreme Court asked the government to file a copy of the report of a committee that is inquiring into personal laws relating to marriage, divorce and custody. Unsurprisingly, the uniform civil code (UCC) debate has been revived. The nationalists want a UCC to further their cultural majoritarian project. They cite the directive in Article 44 of the Constitution requiring the state to “endeavour to secure for the citizens a uniform civil code”. The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) sees the continued existence of Muslim personal law as a symbol of a distinct Indian Muslim identity and an area of law with divine sanction and, therefore, beyond the purview of temporal government. It uses the constitutional guarantee of the “right freely to profess, practise and propagate religion”.






Between these intransigent outposts stands the baffled liberal citizen. She worries about the AIMPLB’s indifference to another constitutional right in Article 15, which prohibits the state from discrimination on the grounds of sex, and rejects the claimed divine immunity because it is contrary to public reason. She is also skeptical of the Hindu right’s hypocritical use of the anti-discrimination argument, given its predilection to enforce gender norms and indifference to the discriminatory tax implications of the Hindu Undivided Family. Often forgotten are nuanced interventions by the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan, the All India Muslim Women Personal Law Board, Awaaz-e-Niswaan, and countless individual litigants.




Source - http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/the-trap-of-personal-laws-uniform-civil-code-aimplb-supreme-court-2775249/

New Cheque Dishonour Amendment Explained - Gujarat HC - Times of India

In an important order in a cheque bouncing case, Gujarat high court has explained and clarified the new law regarding jurisdiction of courts in such matters and where an aggrieved party can file a complaint.

In this case, the petition was filed by a resident of Uttar Pradesh after an Ahmedabad-based firm moved the Ahmedabad metropolitan court under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act against a dishonoured cheque. The cheque was issued in Badalpur, UP, and deposited in a bank in Gorakhpur, UP. When the cheque was dishonoured due to inadequate balance, the payee filed a complaint in Ahmedabad.

The UP resident questioned the jurisdiction of Ahmedabad court on the ground that the cheque was issued in UP and delivered in UP. No action in the matter had taken place in Ahmedabad. On the other hand, the Ahmedabad-based firm argued that the complaint was maintainable because the company had its bank account in Ahmedabad.

Justice J B Pardiwala rejected the UP resident's contention and gave a clarification on the amended law. The court made it clear that "when the cheque is delivered for collection through an account, the complaint is to be filed before the court where the branch of the bank is situated, where the payee or the holder in due course maintains his account and, secondly, when the cheque is presented for payment over the counter, the complaint is to be filed before the court where the drawer maintains his account."

The issue has a curious history. In 2014, the Supreme Court ruled that cheque return cases can be filed in a court where the issuer (drawer) maintains his account. This resulted in shifting of lakhs of cases from one town to the other and caused complainants difficulties.

To put an end to the payee's troubles, the President promulgated the Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Ordinance in June 2015. This provided that the complaint can be filed in a court where the payee maintains his bank account. While the amended law takes care of interest of the payee of the cheque, it also tries to ensure that drawer of multiple chequess is not harassed by payees filing different complaints at different places. In such a case, all complaints should be filed in the court where the first case was lodged.

Source -http://m.timesofindia.com/city/ahmedabad/High-Court-explains-new-cheque-bounce-law/articleshow/51751606.cms

In defence of a revolutionary - Reopening the trial of Shaheed Bhagat Singh and his team - IndianExpress

Eighty-five years after the hanging of Bhagat Singh, lawyers from India and Pakistan have joined hands to re-open, and overturn, the sham trial that led to his death.

In a dark, poky room that constitutes his chamber in the new block of the Supreme Court, Delhi, Nafis Siddiqui, a 77-year-old criminal lawyer, has been preparing for a most unorthodox case for the last two years. 

As part of his research, he has been reading up on cases where verdicts have been upended after long periods of time. He cites the case of George Stinney, a young boy, exonerated 70 years after his death by a court in US (in 2014), that found he was denied due process. Siddiqui points out another relevant trial; the ongoing legal battle between the British government and victims of Kenya’s Mau Mau emergency, who are demanding compensation 50 years after the events. “When it comes to infringement of fundamental rights, a delay in the matter is of no consequence,” he says.




With loose-flowing white hair, thick-framed glasses and oversized black coat, Siddiqui is an idiosyncratic figure. He pulls out a thick brown folder marked “Bhagat Singh”, with whom he has grown to be familiar through history books and family lore — Siddiqui’s father-in-law, Hasrat Mohani, a freedom fighter, communist and poet, credited for coining the slogan, “Inquilab Zindabad!”, had a great influence on the revolutionary. “I mostly handle cases of murder, and this is clearly a case of political murder,” he says.



Eighty-five years after the hanging of Bhagat Singh, a lawyer from Pakistan is trying to pull off what is either an audacious attempt to change the course of history, or a fool’s errand. In 2014, Siddiqui was approached by Lahore-based Imtiaz Rashid Qureshi — who has been fighting a lone battle to prove the innocence of Bhagat Singh — to advise him on his case. Qureshi’s petition, which was filed at the Lahore High Court in 2013, seeks to reopen the case of the hanging of Singh and his compatriots, Sukhdev Thapar and Shivaram Rajguru, whose death anniversary will be celebrated on March 23 as Martyrs’ Day. In February this year, a two-member division bench in Lahore referred the case to a larger bench. For Qureshi, who argued that only a bench of three or more members could undo the decision of the three-member bench that awarded the death sentence in 1930, it was a moment of victory.

The first breakthrough came in 2014 when the court handed him a copy of the original FIR for the murder of British police officer John Saunders lodged at Lahore’s Anarkali police station in December 1928. The FIR does not name any of the three accused.



This is just one of the many discrepancies of the Lahore Conspiracy Case, which lasted for nearly two years and is universally recognised as a sham trial. As AG Noorani detailed in his book, The Trial of Bhagat Singh, from the lower court to the tribunal to the Privy Council, it was a judgment that represented a total compromise of the legal process.

The accused remained absent through the proceedings and remained unrepresented. Halfway through the trial, an Indian judge, deemed sympathetic to the accused, was removed from the tribunal. Many other rules of law were flouted. In a scathing editorial that appeared in April 1931, in the Marathi newspaper Janata, soon after the hanging, BR Ambedkar called out the hypocrisy of the British who manipulated the trial for political ends.



“We are demanding two things, that the British government, through the Queen, apologise to both our countries, and pay compensation to the families of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev,” says Qureshi over the phone from Lahore. Loquacious and deeply committed to the cause, he calls himself a “lover of Bhagat Singh” and runs a memorial in his name, the Bhagat Singh Memorial Foundation. “This is a case that unites the two countries and it proves that Pakistan, an Islamic state, can also be liberal. Let’s not forget the Quaid-e-Azam was the only leader to have publicly defended him.” In a speech he gave in the Central Assembly in 1929, Mohammad Ali Jinnah had famously expressed his sympathy for the revolutionaries.

Qureshi’s pursuit has had a ripple effect in India. In Ludhiana, the descendants of Sukhdev Thapar have recently written to the Indian government, demanding a copy of the FIR and papers related to the judgment. Ashok Thapar, (a great-nephew, his grandfather was the younger brother of Sukhdev), who runs the Shaheed Sukhdev Thapar Memorial Trust, says, “We want government support to go to Lahore and pursue this case, or we will file an RTI. As his blood relations, we have a claim.”



More than perhaps the verdict, the reopening of the trial is crucial for another reason. There is renewed hope that the court will order the release of about 164 files related to the case, which are with the Punjab Archives in Lahore. They have been treated as “sensitive”, and no historian or researcher has ever been allowed to access them, says Ludhiana-based Jagmohan Singh, a researcher on Bhagat Singh. He also happens to be Bhagat Singh’s nephew, born to his sister Bibi Amar Kaur. But, unlike the sustained campaign around the declassification of the Netaji files, these files have been neglected. Yet, they are a crucial part of setting the record straight.



“The trial may or may not change history, but it’s the right of the people to know what happened, and those files will help us get there,” says Shantanu Rajguru, a great-grandnephew of Shivaram Rajguru. The family lives in Pune and is currently putting together a biography on the revolutionary. It was Rajguru, known as the marksman of the group, who fired the shot that killed Saunders. But Rajguru, like Sukhdev (who was in charge of coordinating the operation to avenge the death of Lala Lajpat Rai), has been reduced to a footnote in history, believes Shantanu. The descendants of Sukhdev believe that the retrial should not be held in the name of Singh alone.

*****
Apart from the context of historicity, the trial is significant as a measure of the democratic struggle in Pakistan being led by the civil society. The effort to reinstate Bhagat Singh as an icon has gathered force in recent times, as he has emerged as a symbol for the secularists in their battle against illiberal forces. Singh belongs to the pantheon of heroes of the Indian subcontinent. He is venerated in Punjab where he was born. “The PIL is an important political and historical development in a country and a region where history is often distorted in textbooks, held hostage to nationalist expediencies and heroes like Bhagat Singh are simply whitewashed or relegated to a footnote,” says Raza Naeem, a social scientist and activist from Lahore, over an email interview.



While there is no official celebration of his martyrdom day in Pakistan, every year, on March 23, there is a gathering of activists at Shadman Chowk, next to Lahore Jail, where he was executed. Since 2001, there has been a movement demanding Shadman Chowk be renamed Bhagat Singh Chowk. The government agreed a few years ago, but capitulated when Islamist groups objected to the icon on grounds of his religious identity. In a conciliatory move last year, the government announced a package of Rs 8 crore, for the restoration of his ancestral house in Faisalabad district.

“I have attended the annual gathering at the chowk for a few years and every year, the movement has grown,” says Haroon Khalid, Pakistani author and journalist. “It is now part of the broader debate that seeks to widen the horizons of Pakistani nationalism by incorporating non-Muslim heroes as well. Another interesting dynamic of this movement is that it also comes at a time when the Pakistani state actively wants to re-project itself as a liberal secular state. There has been particular focus on the protection and promoting of Sikh heritage in the country. Bhagat Singh is seen in that broader framework of this Sikh heritage,” he says.

*****


(The other aspects touched in the original article are not subscribed to or agreeable with me. It would be a narrow approach to stifle the Patriotic actions of the Revolutionaries under the Colonial Rule to a set of political isms. It is also equally wrong and disruptive to equate those Revolutionaries in the real sense to the present ongoing events involving a  few misguided, politically motivated individuals.)

SOURCE - 

http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/freedom-fighter-bhagat-singh-inquilab-zindabad-supreme-court-nafis-siddiqui-george-stinney-hasrat-mohani-in-defence-of-a-revolutionary/#sthash.WNn5MgTv.dpuf

Speedy Justice through the Fast Track Courts - Uber Driver Case

The conviction of a driver for raping a woman in a car booked through the Uber Technologies Inc. app less than a year after the attack is being described by those involved in the case as unprecedented for the speed at which it delivered justice for the victim of a sexual assault in India.

The “swiftness with which the trial was conducted is unprecedented,” said Madhur Verma, Delhi police officer in charge of the investigation. Judgment in a rape case typically takes three to four years in India. This one took less than nine months.

Lawyers and police officers involved in the case say it will be remembered as a “classic example” of how to conclude rape trials efficiently.

Source : http://www.wsj.com/articles/BL-IRTB-30692

Law ministry lists ways to reduce backlog - A Rehash of the same old Story?

Seems like an Old Read....
Would have helped if the previous Governments had given it a serious thought to Ramp up the Justice Delivery System in India.

From the Times of India dated:Jan 29, 2015, 06.47 AM IST

The law ministry has drawn up a list of good practices followed by some of the high courts (HC) and circulated them recently to chief justices of all HCs to implement the same as part of a common action plan to bring down pendency of cases, particularly those which are older than five years.

Setting up fast track courts, designating a special day in a week for disposal of older cases and adopting a case flow management system are some of the measures the Centre has suggested to all chief justices of high courts to be adopted for reducing pendency.

The government has also highlighted best innovative initiatives undertaken in many other countries to address the backlog. Encouraging pre-trial proceedings by several countries prior to commencement of the trial, court performance measurement and monitoring and mandatory prior notice in civil cases are some of the initiatives suggested.

In the pre-trial proceedings, followed in some countries, a meeting is arranged in chambers between judge, counsel for accused, and the prosecution and specific issues of trial are narrowed down in order to save time.

Regular assessment and monitoring of performance of courts is an effective way to bring about improved efficiency, transparency and accountability in judicial system. The law ministry suggests this could be done by introducing measurement indicators based on globally accepted benchmarks such as leadership and management, court planning and policies, court resources, court proceedings and public trust and confidence.

The government has also suggested mandatory prior notice in civil cases that would help in speedy trials. For this it has mooted a provision similar to section 80 of the Civil Procedure Code (CPC) for all categories of civil cases.

Section 80 of the CPC requires that a litigant must give two months' notice to the concerned party. The government thinks introducing this guideline by the court would help in curtailing unnecessary litigation.

Among the good practices followed by some of the HCs, the Allahabad HC has come in for praise for organizing Lok Adalats regularly during weekends. More than 3.22 lakh cases have been settled in 766 Lok Adalats in the state during March-June 2014. The largest HC in the country has also set up 171 reconciliation and mediation centres in districts with the help of the state government.

These mediation centres have settlement rates of 26%. The HC has also proposed to set up 81 fast track courts for trial of rape cases.

Scrapping the RTO setup, and Protest by RTO Agents - An interesting Saga in the Making

This Saga been waiting for years to happen, and now its started. 

 

Finally someone realised that its time to Scrap or amend the Motor Vehicles Act 1988. The Union Minister makes a statement, and the protectorates under the MV Act start running for cover. This Act has spawned innumerable Corrupt Officers and their Handmaids/Manservant - Agents, who together run a parallel RTO setup in the country, though not in unison, but on similar lines.

Remember the KamalHasssan starring Movie "Indian" in Tamil, or "Hindustani" in Hindi??

The story runs on two tracks. One is that of Chandra Bose alias Chandru (Kamal Haasan), a small-time broker outside the RTO (Regional Transport Office) who gets people to high positions by accepting bribes. He is supported in this work by Subbiah (Goundamani). Paneerselvam (Senthil) plays an officer in the RTO who has conflicts with Subbiah. Aishwarya (Manisha Koirala) and Chandru are in love with each other. Sapna (Urmila Matondkar) is the daughter of Gandhikrishna, an officer in RTO. Her father promises to get Chandru a job of being a brake inspector in the RTO, if he runs errands for them. He agrees to work for them, and soon he becomes a brake inspector.
The other track is of Senapathy alias Indian (Kamal Haasan), a 70-year-old man who kills top government officials (like Commissioners of Corporation etc.) in an extreme attempt to weed out corruption from Indian soil.

Thats about the EXTANT of corruption in the Regional Transport (Authority) Offices in the Indian Soil.

Now for the news....

 

After axing the Planning Commission of India, it seems that the Narendra Modi government will soon scrap the Regional Transport Offices (RTO) and replace them with an alternative system in the coming months. 

 

Union Minister of road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari while delivering the JS Karandikar memorial lecture in Pune said that the central government was in the process of bringing in a law to scrap the outdated Regional Transport Offices (RTO). He said, "There are some outdated laws and systems which need to be scrapped. Systems like RTOs will soon be abolished; there is no need for RTOs. We have prepared a law which will be introduced soon to replace RTOs." 

 

At RTOs, corruption has become a way of life Corruption has become an everyday phenomenon in RTOs and this has led to the word 'bribe' being replaced with ‘service charge,' and further encouraging the back-door policies. 

 

The future plan - alternative for RTOs Revealing more about the future plan of scrapping RTOs, Gadkari said that a new system will be employed with the help of the traffic models in the UK and other countries to nab the traffic violators. 

 

Not only the RTO offices even the RTO officials create a lot of problems for the public. In January a non -government organization (NGO) based in Thane had alleged that at the border check posts, the number of heavy carriage vehicles are underreported which in turn caused multi-crore losses to the state exchequer. 

 

Unless the middlemen (the agents) are eliminated and more people are appointed, corruption cannot be weeded out from these RTOs. Thus, it seems this plan to scrap these Regional Transport Offices will be in country's favour. 

 

Source: http://news.oneindia.in/feature/scrapping-rtos-another-step-narendra-modi-government-toward-1505198.html

The Association of RTO Agents, a body with 300 members who offer their services to Mumbaikars inside and outside the Mumbai RTO office in Tardeo, has decided to protest if such a move comes into being.

Ilyas, the head of the RTO Association, said, "We serve Mumbaikars charging a nominal sum. We make sure people get relevant documents on time. If the Central government is planning to scrap RTOs, where will we go and what will happen to our business and our families? We will definitely protest against this decision, if it gets implemented."

Agents in Mumbai countered Gadkari's argument of outdated computerisation, saying it is nothing but a strategy to make money for RTO officials. 

At the Tardeo RTO office, Ramesh Patel has been running pillar to post to renew his licence. "For the last two months, I have been trying to renew my driving licence. You can see this receipt given to me two months back. But till today, no RTO official is willing to give me the renewed licence or even not ready to give me a new date. I wasted my entire day today, but no one has an answer."

When asked if he had gone through any agent, he replied, "Why should I? These agents will take a good amount from me for just renewing my old driving licence. Why are these RTO officials here?"
Source: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/gadkari-regional-transport-offices-wrong-notions-mumbai/1/377865.html

Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on said that the government will introduce the Motor Vehicles Amendment Bill in the next Parliament session.

“The Bill, being prepared in sync with practises in six advanced nations – USA, Canada, Singapore, Japan, Germany and the UK will be introduced in the next session of Parliament. This will overhaul the sector bringing to an end the corrupt practises in RTOs,” Gadkari said.

The Act has become obsolete in the present context and needs overhaul, he said, adding the new law is designed in a way that will provide permits online besides slapping fines on violators of traffic rules on the basis of recordings in camera.

“The new law will provide a corruption free and transparent system with a proper record of driving licenses. Data would be utilised in e-governance. International norms are there for vehicle design, pollution control on the basis of prevalent laws in six advanced nations – US, Canada, Singapore, Japan, Germany and UK, I have firm faith that the new law will end corrupt practises in RTOs through e-governance,” he said.

Source: http://freepressjournal.in/motor-vehicles-bill-in-next-parliament-session/

Jurisdiction of cheque dishonor complaint - Judgement

Dis-honour of Cheque cases can be filed only to the Court within whose local jurisdiction, the offence was Committed; ie, where the cheque is dishonoured by the bank on which it is drawn.

Bhaskaran Vs Balan (2009) which allowed Five territorial Jurisdictions overruled [Read the Judgment]On August 4, 2014 by M.A.Rashid

A three Judge Bench of the Supreme Court finally held that  a Complaint of Dis-honour of Cheque can be filed only  to  the  Court  within  whose  local jurisdiction the offence was committed, which  in  the  present  context  is where the cheque is dishonoured by the bank on which it is drawn. The Court clarified that the Complainant  is  statutorily  bound  to comply with Section 177 etc. of the CrPC and therefore the  place  or  situs where the Section 138 Complaint is to be filed is not of his choosing.

The Supreme Court in Dashrath Rupsingh Rathod Vs. State of Maharashtra & Anr. Overruled the two Judge Bench Judgment in K. Bhaskaran v. Sankaran Vaidhyan  Balan  (1999)  7 SCC 510 wherein  it was held that “the offence under Section 138 of the Act can be completed only with the concatenation of a number of acts.

Following are the acts which are components of the said offence : (1) Drawing of the cheque, (2) Presentation of the cheque to the bank, (3) Returning the cheque unpaid by the drawee bank, (4) Giving notice in writing to the drawer of the cheque demanding payment of the cheque amount, (5) failure of the drawer to make payment within 15 days of the receipt of the notice”.” if the five different acts were done in five different localities any one of the courts exercising jurisdiction in one of the five local areas can become the place of trial for the offence under Section 138 of the Act. In other words, the complainant can choose any one of those courts having jurisdiction over any one of the local areas within the territorial limits of which any one of those five acts was done.”

The Court accepted the view of another two Judge Bench Judgment in Harman  Electronics  Pvt.Ltd. v. National Panasonic India Pvt. Ltd. (2009) 1  SCC  720. “It is one thing to say that sending of a notice is one of the ingredients for maintaining the complaint but it is another thing to say that dishonour of a cheque by itself constitutes an offence.

For the purpose of proving its case that the accused had committed an offence under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, the ingredients thereof are required to be  proved. What would constitute an offence is stated in the main provision. The proviso appended thereto, however, imposes certain further conditions which are required to be fulfilled before cognizance of the offence can be taken.

 If the ingredients for constitution of the offence laid down in the provisos (a), (b) and (c) appended to Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act intended to be applied in favour of the accused, there cannot be any doubt that receipt of a notice would ultimately give rise to the cause of action for filing a complaint. As it is only on receipt of the notice the accused at his own peril may refuse to pay the amount. Clauses (b) and (c) of the proviso to Section 138 therefore must be read together. Issuance of notice would not by itself give rise to a cause of action but communication of the notice would.”.

Justice Vikramjit Sen who wrote the main Judgment held that “We  respectfully agree  with  this  statement  of  law  and  underscore  that   in   criminal jurisprudence there is  a  discernibly  demarcated  difference  between  the commission of an offence and its  cognizance  leading  to  prosecution.

The Harman  approach  is  significant  and  sounds  a  discordant  note  to  the Bhaskaran ratio.  Harman also highlights the reality  that  Section  138  of the NI Act is being rampantly misused so  far  as  territorial  jurisdiction for trial of the Complaint is concerned.  With the passage of time  equities have therefore transferred from one end of the pendulum to  the  other.

 It is now not uncommon for the Courts to encounter the issuance of a notice  in compliance with clause (b) of the proviso to Section 138 of the NI Act  from a situs which bears no connection with the Accused or with any facet of  the transaction between the parties, leave aside the place where  the  dishonour of the cheque has taken place.
This is also the  position  as  regards  the presentation of the cheque, dishonour  of  which  is  then  pleaded  as  the territorial platform of the Complaint under  Section  138  of  the  NI  Act.