CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Wednesday ordered notice to the Union Government directing it to file reply to the petition seeking to declare the three new criminal laws-Bharathiya Nyay Sanhita, Bharathiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and Bharathiya Sakshya Adhiniyam- ultra vires even as the Centre claimed that the names of the laws are in English.
When the petition filed by advocate B Ramkumar Adityan came up for hearing before the first bench of acting Chief Justice R Mahadevan and Justice Mohammed Shaffiq, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) AR L Sundaresan submitted that the names are given by the Parliament which reflects the will of the people and hence it cannot be found fault with.
“Article 348 of the Constitution is not violated as the entire Act is in English language only. Even the names are also in English alphabets,” he told the court.
The court adjourned the case to July 23 for further hearing, after directing the Centre to file the counter-affidavit by then.
Ramkumar Adityan had stated that the nomenclature in Hindi for the major criminal acts violates the fundamental right enshrined under Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution and Article 348 prescribes that the authoritative texts of all Parliamentary Acts must be in English and this includes the title of the Act; the Parliament has no authority to provide nomenclature or title to any Act in any language other than English.
BCI told to crack down on lawyer ads online
Chennai: Expressing concern over some legal professionals attempting to ‘commercialise the profession’, the Madras HC has directed BCI to initiate appropriate action against lawyers who made advertisements and online service providers for displaying these advertisements. A division bench of justices SM Subramaniam and C Kumarappan directed BCI to issue guidelines to the state bar councils to initiate disciplinary proceedings for misconduct against advocates, in an order passed on Wednesday, in a petition filed by PN Vignesh seeking a direction to BCI to act against quikr.in, sulekha.com, and justdial.com from providing legal services on their web portal or apps.