40 Landmark Judgments that changed India 

1. Jury decision overturned by High Court (KM Nanavati v State of Maharashtra) - 1961

Hardly an open-and-shut case, the nature of the crime garnered media attention.

This case is notable for being the last case when a jury trial was held in India. KM Nanavati, a naval officer, murdered his wife's lover, Prem Ahuja. The jury ruled in favour of Nanavati and declared him "not guilty" which was eventually set aside by the Bombay High Court.

2. Amendment masquerades as law (IC Golaknath v State of Punjab) - 1967

Parliament's prevented from taking away individual rights.

In the highly famous case of Golaknath V State of Punjab in 1967 the Supreme Court ruled that Parliament could not curtail any of the Fundamental Rights of individuals mentioned in the Constitution. Parliament's overarching ambitions nipped in the bud (Keshavananda Bharti vs State of Kerala) 1973.

3. Elected representatives cannot be given the benefit of doubt

A highly notable case which introduced the concept of "basic structure" of the constitution of India and declared that those points decided as basic structure could not be amended by the Parliament. The case was triggered by the 42nd Amendment Act.

4. Beginning of the fall of Indira Gandhi (Indira Gandhi v Raj Narain) - 1975

The trigger that led to the imposition of emergency.

In this landmark case regarding election disputes, the primary issue was the validity of clause 4 of the 39th Amendment Act. The Supreme Court held clause 4 as unconstitutional and void on the ground that it was outright denial of the right to equality enshrined in Article 14. The Supreme Court also added the following features as “basic features” laid down in Keshavananda Bharti case – democracy, judicial review, rule of law and jurisdiction of Supreme Court under Article 32.

5. A step backward for India (ADM Jabalpur v Shivakant Shukla Case) - 1976

Widely considered a violation of Fundamental Rights.

In this landmark judgment, the Supreme Court declared that the rights of citizens to move the court for violation of Articles 14, 21 and 22 would remain suspended during emergencies. Triumph of individual liberty (Maneka Gandhi vs UOI) 1978.

6. Overlapping zones of laws rectified thanks to a writ petition

The case caused a huge uproar over the definition of Freedom of Speech. The court ruled that the procedure must be fair and the law must not violate other Fundamental Rights.

7. Parliament limited by itself (Minerva Mills v Union of India) - 1980

In this landmark judgment, the Supreme Court of India in 1980 strengthened the doctrine of the basic structure which was propounded earlier in the Keshavananda Bharti Case. Two changes which were made earlier by the 42nd Amendment Act were declared as null and void by the Supreme Court in this particular case.

8. Constitutional validity of individual rights upheld (Waman Rao v Union of India) - 1981

SC ruled that Parliament had transgressed its power of constitutional amendment.

This case was a landmark decision in the constitutional jurisprudence of India. This case has helped in determining a satisfactory method of addressing grievances pertaining to the violation of fundamental rights by creating a fine line of determination between the Acts prior to and after the Keshavananda Bharati case.

9. Maintenance lawsuit sets precedent (Mohd Ahmed Khan v Shah Bano Begum) - 1985

Shah Bano won the right to get alimony from her husband.

The petitioner challenged the Muslim personal law. The Supreme Court ruled in favour of Shah Bano and granted her alimony. Most favoured it as a secular judgment but it also invoked a strong reaction from the Muslim community, which felt that the judgment was an encroachment on Muslim Sharia law and hence led to the formation of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board in 1973.

10. MC Mehta v Union Of India - 1986

Mounting environment-related concerns.

A PIL filed by MC Mehta in 1986 enlarged the scope and ambit of Article 21 and Article 32 to include the right to healthy and pollution-free environment.

11. Reservation in central government jobs (Indra Sawhney v UOI November) - 1992

Attempt to correct historic injustices constitutionally.

The constitutional bench of the Supreme Court held in this matter that caste could be a factor for identifying backward classes.

12. Wrangle over Supreme Court judge appointments (Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record - Association and another versus Union of India) - 1993

The National Judicial Appointments Commission Act and Constitutional amendment Act passed in 2014 aimed at replacing the collegium system of appointing Supreme Court judges. The act was struck down as unconstitutionalby the Supreme Court in October 2015.

13. Power of President's Rule curtailed (SR Bommai v Union of India) - 1994

Persecution of state governments stalled.

This landmark case had major implications on Center-State relations. Post this case the Supreme Court clearly detailed the limitations within which Article 356 has to function.

14. Scam-tainted politicians - 1997

The Jain Hawala case exposed bigwigs.

The Hawala scandal was an Indian political scandal involving payments allegedly received by politicians through four hawala brokers, the Jain brothers. In 1991, an arrest linked to militants in Kashmir led to a raid on hawala brokers, revealing evidence of large-scale payments to national politicians. The prosecution that followed was partly prompted by a public interest litigation. Many were acquitted, partly because the hawala records (including diaries) were judged in court to be inadequate as the main evidence. The high court decreed that the CBI had not brought on record any material which could be converted into legally admissible evidence.

15. Foundation for a female workforce (Vishaka v State of Rajasthan) - 1997

Definition of sexual harrassment and guidelines to deal with it laid down.

In this case Vishakha and other women groups filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) against State of Rajasthan and Union of India to enforce fundamental rights for working women under Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution. This resulted in the introduction of Vishaka Guidelines. The judgment of August 1997 also provided basic definitions of sexual harassment at the workplace and provided guidelines to deal with it. Hence the importance of the case as a landmark judgment.

16. Afzal Guru's death sentence sparked protests - 2002

Awarded death sentence for role in 2001 Parliament attacks.

Afzal Guru was sentenced to death on February 2013 for his role in the December 2001 attacks on the Indian Parliament. The judgment faced widespread criticism on three grounds – lack of proper defense, lack of primary evidence and judgment based on collective conscience rather than rule of law.

17. Justice deferred in Best Bakery case - 2003

Miscarriage of justice as a large number of witnesses turn hostile.

The Best Bakery was burned down, killing 14 people on March 1, 2002 as part of the 2002 Gujarat violence. The Supreme court, in a rarest of rare case, ordered a re-trial outside of Gujarat in which nine out of the seventeen accused were convicted by a special court in Mumbai in 2006.

18. State of Tamil Nadu V Suhas Katti - November 2004

Short conviction time of seven months.

This was notable for being the first case involving conviction under the Information Technology Act, 2000. A family friend of a divorced woman was accused of posting her number online on messenger groups which led to her being harassed by multiple lewd messages. The accused was later convicted and sentenced.

19. Rameshwar Prasad v Union Of India - 2005

Dissolution of Bihar Assembly unwarranted.

In this case, the petitioner challenged the constitutional validity of a notification which ordered dissolution of the legislative Assembly of the state of Bihar. The dissolution had been ordered on the ground that attempts were being made to cobble a majority by illegal means and lay claim to form the government in the state which if continued would lead to tampering with constitutional provisions. The Supreme Court held that the aforementioned notification was unconstitutional.

20. Victims of sexual assault or not? (Om Prakash v Dil Bahar) - 2006

Controversial ruling had many opponents.

The Supreme Court in the above case declared that a rape accused could be convicted on the sole evidence of the victim in spite of medical evidence not proving that it was rape.

21. Priyadarshini Mattoo case - October 2006

14-year-old fight for justice gets results.

In this matter the Supreme Court had commuted the death sentence awarded to prime accused Santosh Singh (son of former IPS officer), to life imprisonment for the rape and murder of the 23-year-old law student, Priyadarshini Mattoo.

22. Jessica Lal Murder Case - December 2006

Civil society makes big gains.

A model in New Delhi working as a bartender was shot dead and the prime accused Manu Sharma, son of Congress MP Vinod Sharma who was initially acquitted in February 2006 was later sentenced to life imprisonment in December 2006 by a fast track hearing by the Delhi High Court. On 19 April 2010, the Supreme Court of India approved the sentence.

23. Sanjay Dutt plays prisoner in real life - 2007

Conviction under TADA changed under milder Arms Act.

Well-known actor Sanjay Dutt was sentenced to five year imprisonment by the Supreme Court for illegal weapons possession in a case linked to the 1993 serial blasts in Mumbai. The Supreme Court also cited that the circumstances and nature of offence were too serious for the 53-year-old actor to be released on probation.

24. Nithari serial murders - 2009

Koli was served with multiple death sentences.

A Special Sessions Court awarded death sentence in 2009 to Surinder Koli and Moninder Singh Pandher for the murder of a 14-year-old girl. The murders believed to have been committed through 2006 involved instances of cannibalism. Pandher was later acquitted by the Allahabad High Court and was released on bail but Koli’s death sentence was upheld by both the High Court as well as the Supreme Court.

25. Aarushi Talwar murder - 2008

Verdict delivered under unusual circumstances.

A case which received heavy media attention involved the double murder of 14-year-old Aarushi Talwar and her 45-year-old domestic help in Noida. After five years a Sessions court convicted both her parents Rajesh and Nupur Talwar and sentenced them to life imprisonment.

26. Section 377 case (Naz Foundation v Govt of NCT of Delhi) - July 2009

Cause for rejoicing for homosexuals.

In 2009 the Supreme Court declared Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 as unconstitutional. The said section earlier criminalised sexual activities “against the order of nature” which included homosexual acts. This judgment however, was overturned by the Supreme in December, 2013.

27. Meagre closure for controversial Ayodhya (Ayodhya Ram Mandir Babri Masjid Case) - September 2010

Ruled that the land was to be divided into three parts.

The high court of Allahabad had ruled that the disputed land in Ayodhya where the Babri Masjid was situated before it was demolished in 1992 shall be divided into three parts. Two-thirds of the land was to be awarded to the Hindu plaintiffs and one-third to the Sunni muslim Waqf board.

28. Child sexual assault not to be taken lightly - 2011

Punishment not enough for child abusers.

The Supreme Court restored the conviction and sentence of six-year rigorous imprisonment imposed on two British nationals who were acquitted by the Bombay High Court in a paedophilia case. The Bench directed the accused to serve the remaining period of sentence. In a landmark judgment the Supreme Court observed “Children are the greatest gift to humanity. The sexual abuse of children is one of the most heinous crimes”.

29. Vodafone's name cleared in tax battle (Vodafone-Hutchison tax case) - January 2012

Landmark decision on taxability of offshore transactions.

The Supreme Court ruled in favour of Vodafone in the two-billion-dollar tax case citing that capital gains tax is not applicable to the telecom major. The apex court also said that the Rs 2,500 crore which Vodafone had already paid should be returned with interest.

30. Clean chit to Prime Minister Narendra Modi - 2012

Questions remains and victims of families yet to get closure.

In April 2012 the Supreme Court appointed Special investigation Team (SIT) gave current Prime Minister Narendra Modi a clean chit in the post-Godhra Gulberg massacre case citing that it found no evidence against him. Narendra Modi went on to become the Prime Minister of India with a huge mandate.

31. Mohd Ajmal Amir Kasab v State of Maharashtra - 2012

One of the most high-profile executions in the country.

The Supreme Court observed that the acts on November 26, 2008, had shaken the collective conscience of Indian citizens and had confirmed the death sentence awarded to prime accused Ajmal Kasab by the trial court and affirmed by the Bombay High Court, for waging war against India.

32. NOTA Judgment - 2013

The right to reject candidates formalised.

In 2013, the Supreme Court introduced negative voting as an option for the country’s electorate. According to this judgment an individual would have the option of not voting for any candidate (None-Of-The-Above) if they don’t find any of the candidates worthy.

33. Patent troubles of Pharma company Novartis (Novartis v Union of India & Others) - 2013

Case accused of dealing a death blow to innovation in medicine.

Novartis’ application which covered a beta crystalline form of imatinib, a medicine the company brands as "Glivec", which is very effective against chronic myeloid leukaemia (a common form of cancer) was denied patent protection by the Intellectual Property Appellate Board. The Supreme Court in its ruling upheld the board’s decision which eventually led to the medicine being made available to the general public at a much lower cost.

34. Illegalising convicted MPs and MLAs (Lily Thomas v Union Of India) - July 2013

Effected much-needed cleansing of legislative bodies.

The Supreme Court of India, in this judgment, ruled that any member of Parliament (MP), member of the legislative assembly (MLA) or member of a legislative council (MLC) who was convicted of a crime and awarded a minimum of two-year imprisonment, would lose membership of the House with immediate effect.

35. Uphaar fire tragedy (Sushil Ansal vs State Thr Cbi) - March 2014

Split judgment couldn't reach a decision on sentencing.

August 2015: Eighteen years after 59 people were killed in a fire in Delhi’s Uphaar cinema, the Supreme Court held that the prime accused did not necessarily need to go back to jail as they were fairly aged. The court further held that “ends of justice would meet” if the accused paid Rs 30 crore each as fine.

36. Nirbhaya case shook the nation - March 2014

Judiciary spurred into action and laws were strengthened for sex offenders.

Four out of the five accused in the horrific gang-rape case of Nirbhaya were convicted and given the death sentence. The case also resulted in the introduction of the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013 which provides for the amendment of the definition of rape under Indian Penal Code, 1860; Code of Criminal Procedures, 1973; the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012.

37. Recognising the Third gender (National Legal Services Authority v Union of India) - April 2014

Third gender acknowledged as citizens with rights.

In a landmark judgment the Supreme Court in April, 2014 recognised transgender persons as a third gender and ordered the government to treat them as minorities and extend reservations in jobs, education and other amenities.

38. Section 66A revised (Shreya Singhal v Union of India) - March 2015

Cracking down on "offensive" online content not easy.

Controversial section 66A of the Information Technology Act which allowed arrests for objectionable content posted on the internet was struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in March 2015.

39. Yakub Memon sentenced to death (Yakub Abdul Razak Memon V State of Maharashtra and Anr) - July 2015

No reprieve for the accused in 1993 Mumbai serial blasts.

Yakub Abdul Razak Memon was convicted and sentenced to execution by hanging in March 2015 for his involvement in the 1993 Bombay serial blasts. His conviction sparked a nationwide debate on capital punishment in India.

40. Dance bars functional again - October 2015

After a gap of two decades, dance bars open.

The Supreme Court in July 2013 passed a judgment directing the state government to reopen dance bars in Maharashtra which had earlier been banned under the Maharashtra Police Act. The resultant ban by the Bombay High Court was stayed.

Source : http://www.dailyo.in/

The ministry of external affairs has announced two major changes that will fast-track the process for first-time passport applicants and make it more convenient to secure an appointment at the local passport seva kendra.

Citizens will be granted a fresh passport under the normal category in a week if their applications are accompanied by three documents - copies of Aadhaar card, electoral photo identity card (EPIC) and PAN card - besides an affidavit in the format of Annexure-I (declaration of citizenship, family details and no criminal record).

Until now, the process would take a month, with the police verification eating up a lot of time.

Police verification of such applications will be conducted after the passport is issued. There will be no extra charge for the service, a statement issued by the ministry said. The process is subject to online validation of the Aadhaar number while processing and an approval from the granting officer.

In addition, EPIC and PAN cards may also be validated, if required, through respective databases in real time, before the application is approved. Besides, passports may also be impounded and revoked later, in case of adverse police reports.

The idea of the upgrade is to liberalise the process without compromising on security, explained Anil Kumar Sobti, director of the passport division in the ministry. "There are plenty of inbuilt safeguards in our system which can instantly spot fake identities and forgeries. Most importantly, our system is linked to the Aadhaar database which helps conduct real-time verification of the applicant while s/he is still at the passport seva kendra," he said.

"We are trying to integrate EPIC and PAN cards as well. Additionally, the granting officer interviewing the applicant can use his discretion to extend or withhold the facility. Besides, the option of impounding or revoking the passport post issuance is always available and we have exercised it several times in 2015," Sobti said.

Hailing the change as an applicant-friendly initiative, Pune's regional passport officer Atul Gotsurve said, "A smooth rollout of the facility hinges on accurate and complete documentation furnished by the applicant.

"Adverse police reports can be avoided if applicants themselves play a pro-active role in their verification to ensure that it is completed within a month since the passport is issued. We will also institutionalise measures to prevent an increase in such cases."

Source: TOI

Successors of those who migrated to Pakistan and China during partition will have no claim over the properties left behind in India, after the parliament passed a bill  on Tuesday to amend a 49-year-old law.

The Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Bill, 2016, which amends the Enemy Property Act, 1968, was passed by voice vote in the Lok Sabha, incorporating the amendments made by the Rajya Sabha last week.

The Lok Sabha had passed the bill earlier but certain amendments were introduced to it in the Rajya Sabha, on the recommendations of a Select Committee. Those amendments had to be approved by the Lower House, which was done on Tuesday.

RSP member NK Premachandran had moved a statutory amendment seeking to introduce clarity with regard to those properties which had already been acquired by the heirs of the 'enemy' property owners, a reference to nationals of Pakistan and China.

According to the bill, "Enemy property" refers to any property belonging to, held or managed on behalf of an enemy, an enemy subject or an enemy firm.

The government has vested these properties in the Custodian of Enemy Property for India, an office instituted under the central government.

After the India-Pakistan War of 1965, the Enemy Property Act was enacted in 1968, which regulates such properties and lists the custodian's powers.

"The purpose of bill is to clarify the 1968 Act. Inheritance law will not be applicable on Enemy Property... This will put an end to the long pending issue which should have ideally happened in 2010 when the Bill was introduced," Home Minister Rajnath Singh said while replying to a brief debate on the bill.

The government brought the amendment bill in the wake of a claim laid by the heirs of Raja Mohammad Amir Mohammad Khan, known as Raja of Mahmudabad, on his properties spread across Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. The matter is before the supreme court.

Five ordinances were promulgated on the bill. The last one is due to expire on Tuesday.

Justifying the move to amend the Act, Singh rejected the contention of some MPs that it was against the principle of natural justice and amounted to human rights violations.

"I wonder how it is against the principle of natural justice. Pakistan has seized the properties of Indian citizens... It will be natural justice if their property (of those who migrated to Pakistan) is not returned," he said.

The Minister assured the House that there will be no human rights violations following the amendments as the rights if Indian citizens are not being taken away.

"The law only applies on heirs of enemy property... The tenants of those property will be governed by the Tenancy Act," he said.

The amendments will be effective retrospectively.

Some members expressed concern over this provision, saying there could be litigations.

"Parliament and state legislatures have the power to formulate law... I do not see any adverse impact of retrospective amendment. As and when the situation arises, we will deal with it," the home minister said.

He also cited various Supreme Court rulings to allay concerns on this aspect.

An Ordinance to amend the law was promulgated for the fifth time on 22 December last year and it was due to lapse on Tuesday. An ordinance lapses after 42 days from the day a session begins unless a bill to replace it is approved by Parliament.

Singh said the bill could not be taken up for consideration in the first phase of the Budget session between 31 January and 9 February and it was necessary that it is passed on Tuesday.

"Our government is not in favour of bringing an ordinance again and again. It was in public interest that the President had to promulgate the ordinance for the fifth time," he said.

The ordinance was for the first time promulgated on 7 January 2016. It was passed by Lok Sabha on 9 March 2016, but was subsequently referred to Rajya Sabha Select Committee.

The home minister said the 'enemy' properties are worth thousands of crores of Rupees and that all such assets have been identified. "If any properties remain to be identified, those will also be identified...It is a continuous process," he added.

He underlined that a tenant will be unaffected by the new law even though Tenancy laws will apply.

On the claim laid on Raja Mahmudabad's properties by his heirs, Singh said they have no claim.

He said the Standing Committee of Parliament had strongly felt that 'enemy property' should not go to those who have migrated to Pakistan.

Congress member Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury opposed the provision to implement the legislation with retrospective effect and wondered what would be its ramifications.

While observing that new definitions of patriotism are coming up which is a "sad thing", he claimed that the bill would have adverse financial impact on the people, especially Muslims.

He urged the government to dispel the concerns regarding the bill.

He remarked that it was unprecedented that a government had promulgated five ordinances for a bill.

Taking a dig at the government for bringing five ordinances, TMC member Saugata Roy said, "if this is not ordinance raj, then I don't know what ordinance raj is".

There are many properties in Lucknow which were owned by the Raja of Mahmudabad, who after partition moved to Pakistan, he said, adding "If there is an eviction from such properties, then there would be a tremendous civil turmoil in Lucknow."

He also expressed concern that Lok Sabha members were deprived of their chance to give their input on the bill as he noted that it had earlier been referred to the Rajya Sabha Select Committee.

No ordinance has been promulgated five times on a bill and such moves reflect bad governance, NK Premachandran (RSP) said, adding that ordinances are brought only in compelling circumstances.

On the provision to implement the law retrospectively, he asked the government how it can take away the rights accrued by people since 1968, when the original law was brought into force.

The government has made structural change in the definition of "enemy" under the Bill, he added.

BJP member insisted that the bill was in the nation's interest and said it would help in saving such properties from the land mafia.

Enemy properties are estimated to be worth over Rs one lakh crore and if this legislation is not brought, then those would be lost, he noted.

Mohammed Salim (CPM) said the provision in the bill whereby people cannot go to lower courts would impact the poor as going to High Court would be expensive.

With these kinds of properties, there would have been corruption and loot. The government should look into it, he added.

Shiv Sena member Arvind Sawant the bill would help plug the legal loopholes.

However, Sawant, whose party is an ally of the ruling BJP, sounded sceptical about the government issuing ordinances on the matter, saying that even the President of India had expressed reservations on ordinances.

Welcoming the bill, Rajmohan Reddy (YSR Congress) said the proceeds from enemy property, estimated to be worth over Rs one lakh crore, should be used for welfare activities.

Jaiprakash Narayan Yadav (RJD) said more discussions were needed on certain provisions of the bill and added that people should get natural justice.

Thota Narasimham (TDP), Konda Vishweshwar Reddy and Kaushalendra Kumar (JD (U)) also spoke.

Source: Firstspot

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Clients look to you to provide tips and strategies to help them plan for the future. Offer tips and strategies on a regular basis. Social media is also a popular channel for news. Share reputable and accurate news that may be of interest to your followers – whether about taxes that affect their estate or succession plans, or more general business or lifestyle news that they will appreciate. Include quality imagery with your posts and utilize infographics whenever appropriate. Your posts will generate more engagement if accompanied by an image or infographic.

Why are images and infographics so popular? Pictures enhance or affect emotions and attitudes. Any image associated with your post will heighten its engagement potential, provided that it is relevant to the topic of the post and of good quality. An infographic uses the power of visually-appealing content to trick the brain into reading. Visual clues help us decode text and attract attention to information or direct attention increasing the likelihood that the audience will remember.

Sharing tips, news and infographics on money-saving, estate planning, tax minimizing and other financial topics that are interesting and compelling may help you increase engagement on your social channels. Enhance your firm’s retention, prospecting and recruiting activities by giving your social media marketing a boost with quality content. If you don’t have a marketing team to create your social media posts, SoOLegal can help you. 

conatct : www.soolegal.com

Amit Chaudhry said it was family loyalty that brought him in an international identity theft scheme so vast it ensnared a television actress.

"I never really dreamt of being a felon," the 44-year-old from Ashburn, Virginia, said in Alexandria federal court on Thursday before being sentenced to nine years in prison. "This is going to haunt me for the rest of my life."

On Sept. 21 he pleaded guilty to identity theft and money laundering. He faced up to 20 years in prison. 

A native of India, Chaudhry helped relatives overseas operate a multimillion-dollar scam that involved laundering money from stolen credit cards and identities through shell bank accounts. He was part of a related scheme advertising cheap travel packages. Customers' money would be stolen, and their hotel and airfare would be paid for with stolen credit cards. Many of the more than 1,000 victims found parts of their trips canceled after the fraudulent charges were discovered.

The group made over $25 million off fake credit cards, helped by a co-conspirator working at American Express in India. When their charges were challenged, they would use images of fake passports to back them up.

The scheme was uncovered in part because an FBI agent recognized actress Laura Vandervoort in one of those passports. The image was taken from a scene from the television show "V" involving visas, authorities said. Vandervoort, a Canadian, also played Supergirl on the TV series "Smallville" and last year appeared as the character Indigo on the "Supergirl" series.;

The image, authorities said, helped make clear some of the group's online behavior.

Chaudhry's attorneys said he was acting at the behest of relatives in India.

"This was all done out of family loyalty," defense attorney Danny Onorato said.

But Chaudhry, who emigrated from India in 1992, was also behind visa fraud and embezzlement schemes that had nothing to do with those crimes.

"What we're dealing with here is not a casual wrong turn," said Jeffrey Abish, the chief information officer for the defrauded company ActionNet. Chaudhry sent inflated and imagined IT invoices to the company, netting $4.1 million that he has now pledged to repay.

Onorato said Chaudhry has been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, which might help explain his behavior. Assistant U.S. Attorney Katherine Wong protested: "Asperger's doesn't cause anyone to steal or open credit card accounts in someone else's name."

Chaudhry is cooperating with authorities, who are still finding more victims and tracking down co-conspirators in the United States and abroad. Five of those co-conspirators have already pleaded guilty in Alexandria; two have been arrested in India.

Chaudhry said in court that his cooperation has made him a target of verbal and physical harassment in the Alexandria jail. But prosecutors said he will also likely get his sentenced reduced at some point for his help.


Source: NDTV

(1) Whenever the police is in receipt of any intelligence or tip-off regarding criminal movements or activities pertaining to the commission of grave criminal offence, it shall be reduced into writing in some form (preferably into case diary) or in s...

Read more at: http://www.livelaw.in/16-guidelines-issued-supreme-court-matter-investigation-police-encounters/

Birender Sangwan’s parents wanted him to be a doctor.

For two years, Sangwan even prepared for the medical entrance examinations in India before finally giving up. “I was always scared of hospitals,” he said in an interview at his modest two-room office at New Delhi’s Rohini court complex. “I still get dizzy and feel like vomiting when I go to hospitals.”

But in September 2014, he went to the Metro Hospital in Faridabad, a suburb of Delhi. A friend’s brother needed a coronary stent—a wire mesh planted in an artery to open up blood flow—fitted into his heart. The hospital charged his friend more than Rs1 lakh for this, without mentioning the device’s maximum retail price. “I asked the doctor to provide us with the purchase bill for the stent,” Sangwan said. “He refused.”

That refusal is the reason why 37-year-old Sangwan is at the centre of the storm sweeping through India’s Rs6.7 lakh crore ($100 billion) healthcare industry today.

A public interest litigation (PIL) filed by the affable lawyer in 2015 coaxed the Indian government to crack the whip on the country’s Rs3,300 crore ($531 million) coronary stent industry, ending years of rampant profiteering.

In a country where 30 million people suffer from cardiovascular problems and over two million die of heart attacks and strokes each year, stents have become essential. Every year, over 200,000 heart surgeries take place in the country. But this demand has stoked a racket of extraordinary proportions: Government data published last month showed that hospitals in Asia’s third-largest economy could be selling stents at margins of up to 654%.

Not any more, though.

On Feb. 13, the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA), the primary agency for fixing drug prices, notified a price cap (pdf) of Rs7,260 for bare metal stents (those without any coatings) and Rs29,600 for modern drug eluting stents. The latter have a polymer coating, which gradually releases a drug to ensure that the blockage doesn’t reoccur.

So far, the average retail price for a bare metal stent was Rs45,000 ($671), while drug eluting stents were priced at around Rs1.20 lakh ($1790).

In a five-page order, the drug pricing authority explained that the move was made after an analysis of pricing data and extensive consultations.

During deliberations, it was found that huge unethical markups are charged at each stage in the supply chain of coronary stents, resulting in irrational, restrictive, and exorbitant prices in a failed market system driven by information asymmetry between the patient and doctors, pushing patients to financial misery; and whereas under such extraordinary circumstances, there is an urgent necessity, in public interest, to fix the ceiling price of coronary stents to bring respite to patients.

Lawyer turned crusader

Born into a middle class family in Kohala, Sangwan grew up in the nondescript Haryana village till he left for the capital to study political science at Delhi University. After graduating in political science, Sangwan turned to study law from Maharshi Dayanand University in Rohtak, Haryana.

In 2007, he enrolled as a lawyer at the Rohini court, where cases from the west and north-west districts of Delhi are heard. “For three years, it was a struggle, because I hardly knew anyone and it was tough to find cases. Most of the cases I attended to were criminal ones,” Sangwan said. Three years into the profession, he added civil cases and writ petitions to his repertoire. By 2013, he was handling PILs.

Then, in September 2014, Sangwan witnessed the Metro Hospital episode. “The total bill at the hospital was more than Rs3.2 lakh,” Sangwan said. “That is really expensive for a country like India.”

Soon, he filed a query under the Right to Information Act to find out the number of hospitals in Delhi that performed angioplasty. He found 54 such hospitals and the rates of stents varied across the facilities.

A month later, bothered by what he calls doctors’ brutality, Sangwan filed a complaint with India’s health ministry. In November 2014, Sangwan filed another RTI to see if stents came under the drugs category or metal category.

The crusade had begun.

The government responded in December, informing him that stents came under the Drug and Cosmetic Act, but weren’t covered under the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM). This list identifies medicines that must be made affordable for citizens. So, in February 2015, he filed a PIL at the Delhi high court (HC) to get stents included in NLEM. The court asked India’s chemical and fertiliser ministry—which oversees the department of pharmaceuticals—to take action.

There was no response for months. In October 2015, Sangwan filed a contempt notice at the HC citing the government’s laxity.

It was only in July 2016 that the Narendra Modi government notified the addition of stents in the NLEM. Sangwan wasn’t done, though. In December, he filed another PIL seeking a limit on the maximum retail price of stents. This was followed by a HC order asking the government to fix the rates. Finally, on Feb. 13, the government placed the cap.

“Our fight isn’t against the stent makers,” said Sangwan, “It is against the distributors and hospitals who have been extorting patients.”

Margin mania

“If you look at a distributor, it is a highly working capital intensive industry for two reason. One is the inventory, the other is the outstanding (payments),” explained Ganesh P Sabat, CEO of Sahajanand Medical Technologies, one of India’s dozen or so domestic stent manufacturers.

The situation, according to Sabat, looks something like this. If a distributor stocks between 120 and 200 stents per hospital, with each device priced at between Rs25,000 and Rs30,000, the working capital requirement is upwards of Rs30 lakh per hospital. It’s obviously a lot more for more expensive stents. On top of that, there’s a possibility of about 10% of the stocked stents become unusable after they cross their expiry date, and approximately 5% of stents have a chance of incurring some damage during transport or storage.

Alongside, there’s the issue of outstanding payments, particularly for government healthcare schemes, where the payout can take anything between six months and a year. All through, the distributor has to pay an interest rate of about 15%.

“Because the distributor makes this substantial investment in the working capital, they end up asking for 30-40% margins,” said Sabat, “And the hospital adds its own margin on top of the distributors.”

Sangwan, too, agrees that it isn’t the manufacturers who are inflating prices. “The manufacturers have been selling at the same price for years,” he said. “The distributors, hospitals, and doctors are hand in glove with each other and they are the ones making the money. The product should come directly from the manufacturers to the patients.”

India’s healthcare service providers cannot deny that such malpractices are rampant. To start with, only about 1% of the hospitals in the country are accredited, the rest are wont to flout norms and rules. Industry leaders, speaking on the condition of anonymity, argue that once accredited, the margins of bona fide healthcare service providers come under pressure because of the cost of following prescribed norms and putting in place the required systems. And with shrinking margins, hospitals come to increasingly rely on pharmacy sales, medical devices, and medical diagnostic testing. The cap on stent pricing, therefore, will hit their balance sheets further, unless it is made up for by increasing the overall cost of cardiac procedures that use such devices.

Industry heartburn

The drastic price revision has rattled India’s stent market, especially multinational medical device manufacturers with expensive offerings.

The Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed), a Washington DC-based trade association of over 300 medical technology firms, including stent makers Abbott and Boston Scientific, said it was “deeply disappointed” by the NPPA order. In a statement, AdvaMed explained:

While the intent is to cap prices in patient interest, this pricing has the potential to block innovations and limit access to world-class medical care and options to deserving patients. The singular focus on controlling ceiling price of stents, without attempting to address the larger picture and correct inefficiencies in the healthcare ecosystem will not achieve its stated benefit, in the long run.

The decision also disregards the evolution of coronary stents over the last four decades, and blocking innovation may set our healthcare sector back by at least a decade, when there were far lesser options for Indian patients. There is a clear, measurable difference between different types of stents and their benefits. The government should have taken this categorization into consideration before regulating prices.

In the days immediately following the NPPA order, reports suggested that Abbott’s bioresorbable stents (which fully dissolves over time), previously priced at Rs1.6 lakh, were withdrawn from a number of Mumbai hospitals. In Kolkata, too, high-end stents suddenly went out of circulation.

The company, however, denied that anything of that sort happened. “Abbott continues to market our full range of coronary stents available in India, per the NPPA order of Feb. 13, 2017,” a spokesperson said. “We have also advised trade partners and hospital partners to abide by the ceiling prices determined by the NPPA order.”

Some part of the setback for multinational stent manufacturers is of their own making, though.

Girdhar J Gyani, director general of the Association of Healthcare Providers, which represents over 400 hospitals nationwide, explained that companies were unable to make a solid case for the use of more expensive, advanced stents, as opposed to older, cheaper variants.

“Unfortunately, our cardiologist friends were not able to produce the validated report which says that the fifth or fourth generation stents will give better outcomes,” said Gyani. “I wanted a very validated report but what I’ve been able to get are reports produced as marketing tools by the stent companies.”

Although the association supports the government’s move to cap some stents, Gyani argued that the NPPA order will make it difficult for patients to get top-of-the-line stents even if they want, and can afford, them. “Our final line is, please keep this option open for the patients who are affluent and who want fourth and fifth generation stents,” he said.

There’s also the fear that the pricing-cap on stents will drive away the lucrative wave of medical tourists who have been coming to Indian hospitals in growing numbers. “If we don’t give them the option, they may not want to come to us,” Gyani added. Well-heeled Indians, too, could fly overseas for treatment if the situation persists.

Indian stent-makers aren’t buying the argument. Their stents, they insist, are just as good as those of their foreign-made counterparts. “We can innovate much faster than them and we have more advanced features,” said Sabat. “With marketing and financial muscle, they try to show that they’re the most advanced.”

In any case, it’s not that multinational stent-makers can ignore India, said the managing director of another Indian firm, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “Can any company neglect this population? No. We have 1.2 billion people,” he said. “Let’s see after a year how many patients really went out of India (for treatment).”

Sangwan, meanwhile, is raring for another fight, this time to bring down the prices of orthopaedic products, including those used in knee and hip replacement surgeries.

“I am also planning to do my PhD in law,” he said. “After all, I must fulfill my parents ambitions of me becoming a doctor.”

Source: qz.com

The last year has been good to me. I got clients off of YouTube, Facebook (I know because I get messages on my business Facebook Page when I’m running an ad campaign), and other non-traditional sources. Although I am sure others are better authorities on the topic, I want to share what I’ve learned this last year so that the readers of Above The Law have a competitive advantage over the rest.

1. If you have been out of law school for over two years, no one cares about what you did in school. Take if off your website bio. It hurts you more than it helps you. I understand that you are proud that you were on the moot court board or were the treasurer of your 1L class, but clients do not care about that at all. Unless you’re focusing your marketing efforts on representing current law students, no one cares about the moot court board. And if you are targeting clients who are six figures in debt and have a just-enough-to-be-dangerous knowledge of the law, you need to look for a new target. Keep that stuff on your résumé, because employers care about it, but clients do not. In fact, if you are two years out and you have so few professional accomplishments that you need to start talking about what groups you were in back in law school, your potential clients reading your site are going to wonder if you are the right choice. Two years is the outside amount of time you should keep it on your bio, but you should start thinking immediately after you start working about taking it off and replacing it with accomplishments.
2. Know your audience and target your audience. Put yourself in the role of your target audience. Are you a plaintiff’s employment lawyer? Pretend you are a person who has been discriminated against. What Google searches do you do? Probably not “wage and hour attorney California” or “labor and employment counselor at law.” That’s how lawyers talk. Who is your ideal client and what would they google to find you? Try “paycheck dispute lawyer” or something more simple like that. Now, what do they find when they get to your site? Is it more stuffy legal talk, or does it immediately answer a question they have, or show them where they can find the answer on your website? Assume that visitors to your site are going to spend about 30 seconds there, and if they can’t find what they are looking for, they will go onto one of the other 100 websites that showed up in the Google search results for lawyers with your specialty in your area. People coming to your website are going to have three main questions: (1) do you seem intelligent/capable, (2) can you help me with my specific problem (do you do my area of law and have you had any good results in the past), and (3) how much do you cost? That’s about it. So create your website so that it answers those questions and make those the focus. Do I have to read paragraph after paragraph in your About Me section about your dedication to excellence and the highest standard of client care to mine for the answers to those three questions? No one coming to your site cares about that fluff language. Get to the point. You have 30 seconds before you lose the site visitor.
3. Use pictures of yourself. I don’t know if you have ever sought out legal counsel. I have, before I was a lawyer, and the process was frightening. I’m reading online bios, I’m searching for top lawyers in various trade journal “top lawyer” lists, and I have no clue who is actually good. And it’s a huge decision. It’s not like choosing an Uber. You are choosing someone who is going to either do a great job for you or ruin your life or your business if they miss a deadline. It’s actually hard to trust someone with a decision like that if you can’t look at their face. Putting a picture on your website or social media makes you a person, a human being. People expect there to be pictures of you online nowadays. If there are no pictures of you online and you have an online presence, I’m going to think, “What is this person hiding?”

Author: JEFF BENNION

Source: Above the law

It is an Act of the Parliament of India which seeks to protect home-buyers as well as help boost investments in the real estate industry. On 10 March 2016 the bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha and by the Lok Sabha on 15 March 2016. In this regard, Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (HUPA) had notified 69 of the total 92 sections of the Act to bring it into force from 1st May 2016. The Bill largely seeks to protect the interest of the allottees/purchasers by promoting accountability, transparency and efficiency in the construction and execution of real estate projects by promoters. It also holds the promoters accountable for not registering their projects with the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (Regulatory Authority) or for providing insufficient information regarding their project. In addition to the promoter and allottees, the Bill also brings real estate brokers who facilitate the sale and purchase of units in a project within its ambit. The real estate sector comprises activities of sale, purchase and development of land for residential, commercial,  and industrial purposes. Since land is a state subject, real estate sector comes within the ambit of the state governments.

Features of Real Estate Bill:

Regulatory authorities:

1. It is obligatory for all the states and union territories to establish state level regulatory authorities called Real Estate regulatory authorities (RERAs) within a year of the act coming in to force. It is provided that two or more states can establish a common RERA and each state/UT can also establish more than one RERA
2. Each RERA should consist of a chairperson and at least two full time members with experience in sectors such as urban development, real estate, law and commerce
3. Functions of a RERA include as follows:

• Ensuring registration of residential projects and ensuring the availability of relevant details on the RERA website
• Ensuring that all the stakeholders such as buyers, sellers, and agents comply with obligations under the Act
• Advising the government on matters pertaining to the development of real estate

4. Regulatory authorities have to draft regulations within 3 months of establishment. They shall promote a single window system of clearances, grade projects and promoters and ensure digitization of land records.

Real Estate Appellate tribunals:

1. To hear appeals against the decisions of RERAs, each state/UT has to establish one or more Real Estate Appellate Tribunals. Each Tribunal will consist of a chairperson and two members (one with a judicial background and one with a technical background)
2. An issue impacting competition may be referred to the Competition Commission by RERA
3. Appellate tribunals must adjudicate cases within 60 days and regulatory authorities must dispose of complaints within 60 days

Central advisory council:

1. Under this bill, a Central Advisory Council is to be constituted to advise the central government on major questions of policy and protection of consumer interests. The council will have representatives from union ministries, state governments, RERAs and representatives of the real estate industry, consumers, and labourers

Registration of projects and agents:

1. All the residential projects are to be registered under this act. Without registration, the promoters cannot book or sell the projects. However, registration is not required for the projects:

• Where the area of land does not exceed five hundred square meters or the number of apartments does not exceed eight inclusive of all phases
• Involve renovation/repair/re-development without re-allotment or marketing.

2. Also, the state governments can prescribe the lower limits for exemption. Real estate agents must also register with a RERA in order to facilitate the sale or purchase of property in registered real estate projects

Duties of the promoter:

1. Promoters should make site and layout plans for the project and upload all the relevant details of the project on the website of RERA. They should also update quarterly updates on status of the project
2. In case, if a buyer wishes to withdraw from the project due to loss incurred by him because of a false advertising, then the promoter must return the amount collected with interest to the buyer
3. Promoters must deposit at least 70% of their funds, including land cost, in a separate escrow account to be used for construction purpose only. However, state governments can change this amount below 70%
4. Promoters should not accept more than 10% of the total cost of the property as advance without a written agreement
5. Promoters should help in providing essential services till the association of buyers takes over the maintenance activities
6. Promoters should obtain a completion certificate from the relevant authority
7. In case, if a promoter is unable to give possession of the property, then the money received for the property along with interest has to be returned to the buyer
8. Promoters are responsible for fixing structural defects for five years after transferring the property to a buyer

Duties of buyer:

1. The buyer has to make the required payments as per the agreement signed with the promoter. If there is a delay in payment, then the buyer will be liable to pay interest for the delayed period. Buyers must also cooperate and participate in the formation of an association/society/cooperative society

Offences and Penalties:

1. If a promoter fails to register the property, he has to pay up to 10% of the estimated cost of the project as a penalty
2. Failure to register the property despite orders issued by RERA will attract imprisonment up to 3 years and or an additional fine of 10% of the estimated cost of the project
3. If a promoter violates any other provision he has to pay up to 5% of the estimated cost of the project
4. Real estate agents have to pay a fine of 10,000 for each day for the violation of provisions of the act

Reference: https://www.soolegal.com/resource-centre/the-real-estate-regulation-and-development-act-2016