Finally, Kerala CM takes a stand on Lawyers vs Media fight

Almost three months after the tussle between various lawyers associations and journalists first hit the headlines, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan today took a stand on the issue, urging lawyers to let the media do their job. “The lawyers should realize that they do wrong in blocking journalists from accessing the court premises,” Vijayan said […]

Airtel sees Reliance Jio’s problems resolved after Jan 1

Hours after attending a meeting called by TRAI on providing interconnection to Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel said the new operator’s interconnection related problems should be resolved after January 1, 2017. Bharti Airtel said it expects Reliance Jio to be a ‘commercial telecom operator’ by January 1, after which such problems will no longer plague the […]

TRAI meets with Airtel, Vodafone, Idea on Reliance Jio interconnection tangle

Cracking down on incumbent operators’ efforts to block Reliance Jio subscribers from calling their customers, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has asked big GSM companies such as Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular and Vodafone to provide connectivity to the new operator, according to sources. Meanwhile, certain other industry sources said no final decision was arrived […]

Is Reliance Jio getting unfairly blocked by Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea?

Mukesh Ambani, India’s richest man and the chairman of Reliance Jio has given a rare interview in India’s largest newspaper accusing his telecom rivals of trying to use their incumbent power to violate the law. He said even Reliance Jio employees are having some trouble porting from rival operators to Jio’s 4G network. Ambani’s comments come […]

ACC, Ambuja among cement companies facing massive fines from Competition Commission

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has imposed fine of Rs 6,320.6 cr upon ten cement manufacturers for forming independent organization to limit competition by controlling the production and distribution of cement, said the Ministry of corporate affairs. The list of companies included ACC Cements, Ambuja Cements, Binani Cements, Century Cements, India Cements, J K […]

India extends ‘permanent residency’ to foreigners

The Indian Cabinet today approved extending ‘permanent residency’ to foreign investors. So far, one had to be a citizen to be a permanent resident in the country. Others faced hassles such as regular attendance at foreigners registration offices and visa extensions if they were to continue to remain in the country. The present tenure of […]

Admins of Kerala Facebook group face death threats over anti-religious posts

The administration panel of Kerala’s biggest anti-superstition and rationalist Facebook groups has come under death threats for prompting believers to desert the Islamic faith. The blog, named Mujahir 2015, is written in Malayalam, the language spoken in Kerala. “Those who insult the Prophet must be killed,” the blog said. “To carry out (such an act), […]

Christian man who married Hindu girl summoned by Tribunal

A Christian man who married a Hindu woman ten years ago has now received a notice from a ‘Special Administrative Tribunal’ of the Catholic Church seeking an explanation. The letter dated six days ago “requests” the man to appear before the ‘tribunal’ to discuss how he ended up getting married and living in a fashion […]

Supreme Court sends notice to Center on Muslim divorce laws in India

The Supreme Court today sent notice to the central government in a case based on a complaint by a Muslim woman that the divorce laws applied to her in India are not in conformity with the concept of gender equality promised by the Indian constitution. The court today sought the Union Government’s reply on questions […]

Delhi High Court pollution order to affect some models – Mahindra & Mahindra

India’s biggest sports utility vehicle maker said the Delhi High Court’s order banning the sale of diesel vehicles with engine sizes over 2 liter could hit its sales by about 2%. “Honourable Court’s order today affects the sales of some of the Company’s products in NCR. The vehicles affected represent about 2% of the Company’s […]

Supreme Court upholds 8th pass as minimum for Panchayat elections in Haryana

The Supreme Court of India has upheld the Haryana Panchayati Raj (amendment) Act 2015 that bans anyone with less than 8th standard education from standing for Panchayati Raj elections. They can, however, stand for Parliament and State Assembly elections. For general category candidates, the minimum qualification is 10th standard pass. The law has been passed […]

The hotspot of communal violence in India is not where you think it is

Incidents of communal violence increased this year compared to 2014, according to numbers from the Home Ministry. Adjusted for population, Karnataka saw the highest level of such incidents, while Madhya Pradesh showed the highest growth over 2014. Total number of such incidents are on track for a 15-20% jump in 2015 compared to last year, […]

Centre awaits SC nod on video-recording court proceedings

The central government is awaiting feedback from the Supreme Court before expanding digitization of court proceedings by introducing audio and video recordings of proceedings. The ministry of law and justice said that it has been getting suggestions that following the digitization of court documents, a move should be made to digitize and record entire proceedings. […]

Sunil Mittal takes a Rs 5 Cr pay cut to help under-trials

Bharti Enterprises is rolling out a first of its kind corporate initiative to provide legal assistance & aid and awareness and literacy to underprivileged undertrials across the country and will help the undertrials by paying the bail and surety amounts in exceptional cases. Bharti Airtel will provide an annual grant of Rs.10 Crores on an ongoing basis towards this initiative. Sunil Bharti […]

Gurgaon resident seeks Rs 1.25 cr damages from PepsiCo in ‘Slice’ complaint

The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, the apex consumer court in India, has dismissed a petition by Gurgaon-resident Gaurav Garg seeking a compensation of Rs 1.25 cr from PepsiCo India and its bottling partner after allegedly falling ill as a result of consuming a bottle of ‘Slice’ bottled mango drink. The NCDRC said the amount […]

POLL: Can banning porn reduce rapes in India?

The government of India has asked internet service providers to block 857 porn websites, including youporn.com and porntube.com. The move comes barely a month after the Supreme Court of India refused to ‘ban’ porn, saying that it could be construed to be a violation of the liberties guaranteed by the Constitution of India. Supreme Court […]