CURRENT EVENTS

1) From next academic session, Medical Courses in Uttarakhand will also be taught in Hindi. Earlier UP & MP states decided to teach medical courses in Hindi too.

2) US President Joe Biden has criticized Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter saying the social media platform was responsible for spewing lies.

3) COP27 is being held from 6-18 Nov 2022 at Sharm El Sheikh (Egypt). More than 200 countries are taking part in the climate summit tasked with taming the terrifying juggernaut of global warming.

4) Justice DY Chandrachud will take over as 50th CJI of India on 9th nov 2022 for a two years tenure.

5) Jana Gana Mana & Vande Matram ‘stand on same level’: Govt in HC

The centre has told the Delhi high court that the national anthem ‘Jana Gana Mana’ and the national song ‘Vande Mataram’ “stand same level” and citizens should show equal respect to both.

It submitted that even though unlike the national anthem, there are no penal provisions or official instructions about singing or playing ‘Vande Mataram’, the song occupies a unique place in the emotions and psyche of Indians.

6)  Collegium system of appointing judges involves ‘intense politics, says Kiren Rijiju

Union law minister Kiren Rijiju has said the collegium system of appointing Supreme Court and High Court judges is “opaque” and involves “intense politics” on a scale higher than anything that politicians indulge in.

He advocated the creation of “a better system”, regretting the apex court’s quashing in 2015 of the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) that gave the government a say in judges’ appointments.

“it is intense politics there because they (judges) are part of the selection process. They have to do a lot of politicking. Judges should spend more time on delivering justice to people or more time in the administrative process?”

In all countries, Judges are appointed by Government but only in India Judges recommend appointment of Judges leading to pendency of cases as senior judges are busier with the administrative process of picking up judges.

Under the collegium system, the Chief Justice of India (CJI) and the four next senior- most Supreme Court judges recommend for appointment to the apex court. The government can send a recommendation back for reconsideration but must accept it if reiterated by the collegium.

The CJI and the three next senior-most judges select judges for the high courts after obtaining initial recommendations from the collegium of the high court concerned, made up of the high court’s chief justice and the next two senior-most judges.

Rijiju regretted that the court had struck down the NJAC without providing an alternative mechanism, and persisted with the collegium system. Apart from the CJI and two other senior-most judges, the NJAC had as its members the Union Law Minister and two eminent personalities chosen by a panel of the Prime Minister, CJI and the leader of the opposition Lok Sabha.

“No system can be 100 percent. But we should definitely look for a better system and better practice…when the Supreme Court struck it (NJAC) down, then the Supreme Court should tell what is the alternative option”.

Judges lack the information and expertise required to select judges, compared with the government which has more resources.

Rijiju underlined that even under the present collegium system, the government does due diligence on the basis of intelligence reports and other information that the judges lack access to.

“That is why we must come together and combine – that is what the NJAC talked about.”

HIGH COURT to law commission: Rethink age of consent has directed the law commission of India to reconsider the age of consent

The Karnataka high court has directed the law commission of India to reconsider the age of consent of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POSCO) Act.

“Having come across several cases relating to minor girls above 16 years having fallen in love and loped and in the meantime, having had sexual intercourse with the boy, we are of the considered opinion that the Law Commission of India would have to re think on the age criteria, so as to take into consideration the ground realities,” said a division bench of Justice Suraj Govindaraj and G Basavaraja in a judgement passed on 5 Nov 2022.

“The aspect of consent even by a girl of 16 years and above would have to be considered if there is indeed an offence under the IPC (Indian Penal Code) and/or Pocso Act,” the bench added.