The Centre's fresh move to create 15,000 more courts appears to have fallen short of the estimation of Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan as he thinks the lower judiciary needs at least 35,000 judges as against the existing 16,000 to tackle the huge backlog of 2.71 crore cases. Law minister Veerappa Moily's initiative saw the cabinet clear a decision to create 15,000 more courts, but a Bench comprising...
More »SEARCH RESULT
The Rot Within by Brijesh D Jayal
Much like the tsunami waves that devastated many coastal areas five years ago, the closing weeks of 2009 saw an ill wind sweeping across many of our democratic institutions, highlighting that beneath the veneer of the nation’s aspirations towards great power status was a crumbling institutional core. To look at the fourth estate first. The preface to the Press Council of India’s “Norms of Journalistic Conduct” has a section that...
More »Can’t use RTI to question judge’s verdict: SC by Krishnadas Rajagopal
The Supreme Court on Monday said the Right to Information Act would not be used to question the intention of a judge for giving a particular verdict. A judge need not furnish reasons under the RTI on why he chose to give this verdict and not another, noted a Division Bench headed by Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan. “He (a judge) cannot go on explaining his judgments. The...
More »Eventful year for Supreme Court J Venkatesan
Notwithstanding controversies, it passed several important judgments The year 2009 was eventful and memorable for the Supreme Court and Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan. The Court faced several controversies, the notable being the collegium’s decision to elevate Karnataka High Court Chief Justice P.D. Dinakaran as one of its judges. This controversy was preceded by a clean chit to Punjab and Haryana High Court Judge Nirmal Yadav in the Rs....
More »Medical degree in 3.5-year for rural docs by Dhananjay Mahapatra
A medical degree in 3-1/2 years? This could soon be a reality with the health ministry and Medical Council of India (MCI) planning a shorter medical degree for rural students who would exclusively serve the rural populace. The hinterland, where few doctors want to serve, could soon have a dedicated corps of medical practitioners drawn from among students raised in rural areas. After incentives failed to lure doctors to practise...
More »