Altamas Kabir sworn-in as 39th Chief Justice of India

Justice Altamas Kabir on 29 September 2012 was sworn-in as the new chief justice of India by President Pranab Mukherjee. He took over the office from Justice Sarosh Homi Kapadia, who retired after serving the Supreme Court for two and a half year. 64 year old Altamas Kabir will be in the office for a period of nine months, from 29 September 2012 to 18 July 2013. His oath ceremony was conducted at the ceremony held at Ashoka Hall of Rastrapati Bhawan.
At the swearing ceremony some of the dignitaries present were Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Vice President Hamid Ansari, working Chairperson of NDA L.K. Advani, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, RJD leader Lalu Yadav along with several Union Ministers.
About Justice Altamas Kabir
Justice Altamas Kabir was appointed as the Judge of Supreme Court on 9 September 2005 and is known for some of the landmark judgments related to election laws and human rights. He pursued his MA in LL.B from University of Calcutta and started his career as a practitioner in civil and criminal cases in the year 1973 at District court of Calcutta. Altamas Kabir was first time appointed as a permanent judge in the Calcutta high Court on 6 August 1990 and has served the Chief Justice of Jharkhand High Court.
Supreme Court of India
The Supreme Court is the highest court of appeal as established by Part V, Chapter IV of the Indian Constitution and Article 124 to 147 states about the composition of Supreme Court of India. Supreme Court of India consists of one Chief Justice and 31 judges. The bench that comprises 2 or 3 judges is termed as a Division Bench and the one that bench that consists of five or more judges is termed to be a Constitutional Bench.
Tenure and qualification of Judges in Supreme Court
President appoints the judges of the Supreme Court and the retirement age of these judges is 65. For being a judge or chief justice of a Supreme Court one must fulfill the following qualifications:
1. He must be an Indian Citizen
2. Should have served the High Court as its Judge for at least 5 years
3. He should have served the high court as its advocate for a period of 10 years
In case their occurs a vacancy in the CJI office due to any reason, the president appoints the acting Chief Justice as the Chief Justice of India from amongst the judges of the Supreme Court. The salaries and other allowances of the Judges in India are charged from the Consolidated Fund of India. At present the salary structure is:
1. Chief Justice of Supreme Court-Rs 1 Lakh
2. Other Judges of SC: Rs 90,000
Removal of Judges
The Judge can be removed from India on certain ground that includes incapacity to hold the office or proven misbehavior. They can be removed only after the resolution of both the houses of Indian Parliament that is supported by the majority of two-third of the members voting and present. The two judges against whom the proceeding was initiated:
1. V Ramaswami in 1993 was the first judge against whom the proceedings were initiated
2. Soumitra Sen in 2011 was the second judge against whom these proceedings were initiated

Jaideep Sarkar appointed as the new envoy to Israel

Jaideep Sarkar on 27 September 2012 was appointed as the new Indian Ambassador to Israel. The IITian and diplomat, is a private secretary to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and a joint secretary of external affairs ministry, has replaced Navtej Sarna, the former ministry spokesperson.

Former Navy Chief Nirmal Verma appointed as Indian envoy to Canada

Nirmal Verma, the former navy chief on 27 September 2012 was appointed as India’s high commissioner to Canada. His appointment to the post happened on the recommendation of the PMO to the president, who cleared his name for the vacancy.

Admiral Verma, will soon leave for Ottawa to join the office because Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s visit is scheduled to India in the near future.

Election Commission prohibited use of animals in Election Campaigns

The Election commission on 27 September 2012 directed the Political Parties and candidates not to use birds and animals in the campaigns. The commission also directed that in case the use of animal is unavoidable then the party or candidate will have to ensure that no harm is caused to the animal including violation of any law as well as cruelty towards the creature.

To justify the decision the commission pointed towards Article 51(g) of the Indian Constitution that states compassion for all living creature as well as Prevention of Cruelty of Animals Act, 1960. The commission also pointed towards the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 that prohibits overloading and torturing of the animals. The Election Commission has also sent letters to the political parties as well as the Chief Electoral Officers of every state and union territories.

The decision was made following the representations received by the election commission by some organization and individual stating the cruelty that animals suffered during the election campaign of the political parties.

Election Commission prohibited use of animals in Election Campaigns

The Election commission on 27 September 2012 directed the Political Parties and candidates not to use birds and animals in the campaigns. The commission also directed that in case the use of animal is unavoidable then the party or candidate will have to ensure that no harm is caused to the animal including violation of any law as well as cruelty towards the creature.

To justify the decision the commission pointed towards Article 51(g) of the Indian Constitution that states compassion for all living creature as well as Prevention of Cruelty of Animals Act, 1960. The commission also pointed towards the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 that prohibits overloading and torturing of the animals. The Election Commission has also sent letters to the political parties as well as the Chief Electoral Officers of every state and union territories.

The decision was made following the representations received by the election commission by some organization and individual stating the cruelty that animals suffered during the election campaign of the political parties.

There are alternative ways for allocation of Natural Resources

The Supreme Court in its verdict for routing of the allocation of Natural Resources on 27 September 2012 directed that the Auction being a preferable method for allotment of the natural resources can’t be turned up to be a constitutional limitation or requirement. The Supreme Court passed the statement in relation to the 2 G Presidential Reference in form of its advisory opinion.

The Supreme Court bench of five judges comprising Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia and Justices D.K. Jain, Dipak Misra, J.S. Khehar and Ranjan Gogoi in its statement declared that auctioning is one of the several methods that can be used in distribution of natural resources. The bench also stated that it is the government, who is responsible to decide the ways of distribution with concerns of common good.

Farmers moved to Supreme Court Challenging the Release of Water

Farmers of Karnataka moved to the Supreme Court on 25 September 2012 challenging the direction given to the state by the Union Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh who is the head of Cauvery River Authority (CRA) to release 9000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu from September 20- October 15.

The reason was drastically failure of monsoon in the last year which has affected the agriculture of Karnataka severely.

The farmers had given a writ petition mentioning that due to failure of monsoon to the extent of 40 percent, drought had severely affected almost half of the agricultural activities in the Cauvery basin of Karnataka.

The Petitioner mentioned that the demand of Tamil Nadu seeking water from Karnataka was uncalled for because Farmers in Tamil Nadu is going to get enough water during the North-East monsoon beginning in October and ending in December.

They had also mentioned that the crops can be grown with the help of rain received during the North-East monsoon. As also the storage in Mettur Dam was 45 tmcft, Tamil Nadu farmers are not in need of water as it is going to be sufficient for them till November.