21 November, 2007

Legal hurdles likely to delay Bangalore’s Metro project

The city’s residents may have to wait longer than expected for ‘Namma Metro’ (or ‘Our Metro’, as the city’s local train service is branding itself) because of legal hurdles the Bangalore Metro Rail Corp. Ltd faces.

Executives at the corporation say that while they think they can complete the project by 31 December 2011, lawsuits could make them miss the deadline. There are eight writ petitions against the Rs6,395 crore project in the courts currently, BMRCL executives say. Some petitions have been filed by those whose land has been acquired for the project, while some demand a complete change of the planned route.

“Legal petitions take a toll on our energy and time. We expect more such hurdles in (the) near future, particularly when we start demolition (work) in residential areas,” said V. Madhu, managing director, BMRCL.

Around 621 private properties have been earmarked for acquisition by BMRCL. The Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board has been entrusted with the acquisition process. In areas such as Indiranagar, where the Metro will cut through residential and business properties, many people are opposed to the project.

“We have filed two petitions in the Karnataka high court due to which the Metro project cannot begin in the Indiranagar area. One petition challenges the project itself and the other is against (land) acquisition. We are seeking a change in the alignment of Metro...,” said Pramila Nesargi, a lawyer who is representing traders and residents in the area.

The BMRCL has also been criticized for ‘lack of foresight’ as only about 20% of the 33km Metro project is underground. Already grid-locked roads such as MG Road see traffic jams almost every day due to the ongoing project.

“We knew the limitations (of an overground track). However, money was an issue. Underground tracks cost 2.5 times more than overground tracks. An overground track costs Rs155 crore per km,” said Madhu.

Bangalore is the second city in India after New Delhi to build a modern Metro rail system, aimed at easing bumper-to-bumper traffic on the roads. Almost half of Bangalore’s 6.5 million residents own a two-wheeler or a car (or both); 1,000 vehicles are added every day to the three million already on road.

http://www.livemint.com/2007/11/20212227/Legal-hurdles-likely-to-delay.html?atype=tp

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Patent filings to be available free online from next year

Filings for approved Indian patents will be digitized by 2008 and thereafter made available online, free of cost, said a senior official at the department of industrial policy & promotion, requesting anonymity.

The new initiative is part of the second phase of modernization of the patent office, the official said. Complete applications of patents granted after 2006 will be available in the next few months.

In the first phase, which concluded this July, the government introduced e-filing facilities that allowed an aspirant patentee to register his application online instead of visiting the patent offices.

Currently, complete information on a patent granted in the country can be accessed through photocopied documents through a patent office or from private databases, both of which entail a charge.

Access to patent documents is vital, since it is only after perusal of these documents that other companies and individuals will often decide to proceed with their own filing for a patent. The minimum cost of filing a patent application is Rs5,000 for companies and Rs1,500 for individuals. This could, however, be higher, depending on the complexity of the patent claim.

Screening for prior patents is “a long process”, says Arun Jawar, research and development head for Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. “Because there’s no immediately searchable online database for Indian patents, searching for them in India takes the longest time. So the government’s move is certainly welcome.”

The patenting procedure here takes a minimum of two years and, according to Jawar, could cost up to Rs5 lakh, including lawyers’ fees. A successful Indian patent is published in the Patent Office Journal, which can be freely accessed online, but offers very little information.

Some patent lawyers welcomed the idea.

“As of now, my colleagues have to either search private databases or visit the patent offices and sift through applications,” notes Neil Mason, an intellectual property expert and managing partner, Mason and Associates. “All these add to delayed processing.”

The Technology Information Forecasting and Assessment Council, a government organization, maintains a database called Ekaswa.

Though it offers free patent searches, it is restricted to universities and government research organizations. As of now, the cost of perusing a single application will cost the user scanning charges per page and an extra 15% service charge, according to information on the council’s website.

Detailed patent searches are also useful to research organizations to find which niche in a specific research area could be exploited to develop patentable products.

“For instance, a pharmaceutical company might, on the basis of patent searches, figure out what are the known methods that exist to develop a particular molecule and what approaches may be explored,” said Dileep Singh, a biotechnology professor at the Delhi university’s microbiology department.

“The most important part of the patent is the list of claims made by an inventor,” said Mason, “but now you can only see an abstract, which merely summarizes a patent claim. Nothing concrete can be derived out of it.”

Source:- http://www.livemint.com/2007/11/20212442/Patent-filings-to-be-available.html?atype=tp

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19 November, 2007

The Food Safety Act and product liability clause in the Consumer Protection Act is going to be introduced

The Food Safety Act and product liability clause in the Consumer Protection Act is going to be introduced for protection of sub standard goods and services

*Deepak Miglani

The industrial revolution and the development in the international trade and commerce has led to the vast expansion of business and trade, as a result of which a variety of consumer goods have appeared in the market to cater to the needs of the consumers. The evil of substandard goods illegally getting marketed in India is increasing day by day. The Indian government is feeling the need to protect the consumer from the substandard goods.


The government has made a proposal based on recommendations made by the Planning Commission in the 11th five-year Plan, which is to be placed before the National Development Council next month. This proposal will substantially overhaul the existing consumer law.


The commission has recommended mandatory standards for products which impact health and safety of the consumer as well as harm the environment. These include electrical appliances, electronics, IT and telecom products, medical devices, industrial and fire safety equipment, helmets and material used for food packaging.

While making these recommendations, the government for the first time has admitted that there are serious shortfalls in achieving consumer welfare because of lack of laws regulating many products and services that impact health, environment and safety in general.

The Quality Council of India who is the apex body of regulating agencies lacks strength and its teeth also are not sharp. Therefore the commission has suggested setting up of National Quality and Standardization Authority. This authority would be empowered to provide voluntary standards for all areas of economic and social activities and mandatory standards for products that impact health, safety and environment.

To further strengthen the consumer protection legislative regime, the government has also suggested setting up of a National Consumer Protection Authority that could fill the gap created by the winding up of Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission. This authority would be empowered to look into deceptive practices and misleading advertisements by manufacturers and service providers.

The new Food Safety Act has been lying in the embargo for bringing the standard for packaged food items. The Food regulatory authority will b e set up in the month of December.

It is imperative that we educate our people about the law and help them to protect themselves from the onslaught of high-tech marketing of these substandard products.

For the protection of the consumer, the glut of adulterated and sub-standard articles in the market has to be checked. Inspite of various provisions providing protection to the consumer and providing for stringent action against adulterated and sub-standard articles in the different enactments ; the government is going to enact Food Safety Act and introduce the product liability clause in the Consumer Protection Act ,making erring manufacturers and suppliers liable to pay punitive damages.

References:-

http://fcamin.nic.in/

http://planningcommission.nic.in/

http://pib.nic.in/


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16 November, 2007

Moved by love :Love and Abortion:Supreme Court shows leniency

Moved by love, SC shows leniency
16 Nov 2007, The Times of India

NEW DELHI: Shall we say, all's well that ends well? A woman who filed a criminal case against her boyfriend for forcing her to undergo an abortion, later pleaded with the Supreme Court to let him off.

The reason for her change of heart -- the boyfriend had become her husband during the course of the trial.

The Supreme Court, however, said there was a small hitch in letting this love story have a perfect ending -- there's no provision in law allowing the plaintiff to reach a compromise in a criminal case where adequate evidence had been found to fasten guilt on the accused. Both the lower court and the high court had found adequate evidence against the man and sent him to jail.

But although justice, like love, is blind, it does have a heart. In view of the fact that the complainant and the principal accused had now got married, a bench comprising Justices G P Mathur and Altamas Kabir reduced the three-year prison term to a period of incarceration already undergone by the husband.

The case pertains to a village in Kokrajhar district of Assam, where one Hasi Mohan Barman fell in love with Haleswari Barman. The two got intimate and she became pregnant. The villagers put pressure on Hasi to marry her. Hasi refused and put pressure on the girl to undergo an abortion.

When she refused, Hasi forcibly took her to a pharmacist and kept her confined for nine days. After her pregnancy was terminated with the help of his pharmacist friend, she was sent back to her parents' house.

Haleswari lodged an FIR against Hasi and the police chargesheeted him and the pharmacist after investigating the complaint. During the trial, she deposed against Hasi, narrating the sequence of events leading to the forcible termination of her pregnancy.

The trial court, on the basis of her evidence and corroborative medical opinion, convicted Hasi under Section 313 of IPC for causing abortion without the consent of the woman. It sentenced him to seven years in prison. Hasi appealed against the order. The high court maintained the conviction, but reduced the sentence to three years' imprisonment.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Moved_by_love_SC_shows_leniency/articleshow/2544544.cms

Love & abortion: SC took note of previous rulings

16 Nov 2007, The Times of India

NEW DELHI: Haleswari Barman a woman from Kokrajhar district of Assam who filed a criminal case against her boyfriend, Hasi Mohan Barman, for forcing her to undergo an abortion, has now pleaded with the SC to let him off. The reason for her change of heart -- the boyfriend had become her husband during the course of the trial.

When Hasi appealed in the Supreme Court, Haleswari filed an affidavit stating that she had entered into a compromise and wanted the criminal case against her husband and his accomplice under Section 313 withdrawn.

The apex court sought a report from the Kokrajhar additional sessions judge, who verified the contents of the affidavit and reported back that Haleswari and Hasi were living peacefully as husband and wife.

In view of the report, Haleswari requested the SC to set aside the conviction of her husband. The Supreme Court now faced legal dilemma. The bench said the compromise could not be utilised for recording acquittal of the accused boyfriend-turned-husband as the offence under Section 313 is non-compoundable.

However, the bench took the help of previous decisions of the apex court where it had reduced the sentence of the accused on the basis of a compromise reached between the accused and the complainant.

It said: "We are of the opinion that the complainant and the principal accused having already married, it will be in the interest of justice if the sentence is reduced to the period already undergone. The conviction is maintained but the sentence is reduced to the period already undergone, which appears to be about 10 months. The fine imposed is also set aside."

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Love__abortion_SC_took_note_of_previous_rulings/articleshow/2544443.cms


With Thanks from THE TIMES OF INDIA

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05 November, 2007

'Insurance can't be denied for law violation'

5 Nov 2007 The Times of India

NEW DELHI: The National Consumer Commission has held that insurance companies, if the terms of the policy were not breached, cannot refuse to entertain claims on the pretext that the insured violated some other laws or conditions.

Allegations that the insured violated some other laws would not entitle insurers to deny just claims of "hapless" consumers, a commission bench comprising Justice MB Shah and members Rajya Lakshmi Rao and KS Gupta said.

It was deciding a petition filed against the Chennai State Consumer Commission verdict, justifying the repudiation of an accident claim by the United India Insurance Company Ltd on the ground that the car, at the time of accident, was being plied without the 'fitness certificate' as required under the Motor Vehicle Act.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Insurance_cant_be_denied_for_law_violation/articleshow/2517727.cms

With Thanks from THE TIMES OF INDIA

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