law ministry

Whenever we talk about the delay in Courts and the solution, many will be in dilemma as to how to deal with this issue comprehensively. The issues highlighted by many, including public, professionals and the eminent judges, in my opinion, on legal reforms are as follows: Full Article

School kids who resent being penalised for being late or for falling asleep in class can take heart. Hopefully, from the next year, even judges of Supreme Court and High Courts will be in serious trouble if they come late to court or cannot resist dozing off during arguments. Indeed, they can face inquiry and risk incurring punishment stretching from censure to removal. Full Article

In spite of the optimism shown by Asim Dasgupta, chairman of the empowered committee of state finance ministers, the much-anticipated goods and services tax (GST) is unlikely to be introduced on April 1, 2010. The process of Constitutional amendment to bring the new indirect tax legislation may take another five months. “It will take 5-6 months for the amendment and everything else to fall in place. Besides, wecannot start work on things like IT infrastructure as long.. Full Article

The Tribunal dismissed the excise appeal of the assessee for non-appearance. The application filed by the assessee for restoration of the appeal was also dismissed. The dismissal was challenged before the High Court on the ground that under s. 35C of the Excise Act (corresponding to s. 254 of the Income-tax Act) the Tribunal had no power to dismiss an appeal for non-appearance of the Appellant. It had to decide on merits. HELD: Full Article

Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan’s recent request to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to protect the judiciary from increasingly ‘‘intrusive’’ queries appears to have triggered an exercise to look for options to effect changes in the RTI Act. Following the CJI’s impassioned letter, which said questions asked by chronic litigants about the judiciary could erode its independence, the government has started looking into possible changesin the RTI Act, highly.. Full Article

With the mammoth task of garnering support on contentious issues like exempt exempt tax (EET) regime for savings and minimum alternative tax (MAT) still to be done, the Direct Tax Codes Bill, which will replace the archaic Income Tax Act, 1961, is not likely to be introduced in the ongoing Parliament session. According to official sources, the bill will be tabled in Parliament only in the Budget Session. Full Article

The government has put its act together to see that the Company Law Board (CLB), the quasi-judicial body that gives verdicts on litigation and complaints that come under the purview of the Companies Act, gets a fresh set of members soon. This is in the backdrop of the arrest of R Vasudevan, the senior most CLB member, on November 24. This has left the board with just two members to hear the pending cases that run into thousands. Full Article

In the apex court litigants and lawyers have been paying a insignificant fee for filing appeals or vakalatnama for more than 40 years, but it may register a 20-fold boost as per a current proposal being examined by law minister Veerappa Moily. Full Article