Legal Directions Newsletter April 2019

Newsletter on Indian and International Legal Affairs An initiative of RMN Foundation humanitarian organization VOL. II | ISSUE 4 | April 2019

Legal Directions Law Simplified

International Court of Justice

An Editorial Initiative of Raman Media Network Editor: Rakesh Raman

Legal Trends | Opinions | Events | Law Education | Reforms

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Main Stories in This Issue

People

Legal Cases

Justice Ghose Appointed as India’s Lokpal Insurance Scheme for Advocates in India

Trends

IBA Annual Litigation Forum 2019

Legal Services

ICJ to Appoint a New Registrar Use of Local Languages in Indian Courts

Attorney General Misled Court in Rafale Case Charity Seeks Pro Bono Legal Services

U.S. Support to International Criminal Court Law Firm Partner for Women Whistleblowers

21st Commonwealth Law Conference

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International Court of Justice to Appoint a New Registrar The International Court of Justice is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations.

Following the decision of the current Registrar of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to step down from his functions, the​ Court​ will elect a new Registrar for a term of seven years.

Pursuant to Article 22 of the Rules of Court, the Registrar is elected from amongst candidates proposed by Members of the Court.

UN Photo / ICJ-CIJ / Frank van Beek. Courtesy of the ICJ In order to ensure that a wide pool of candidates may be considered for the position and to make the process more transparent, the Court invites qualified candidates to submit applications in accordance with the specified procedure.

Candidates with high moral character must possess the legal, managerial, and diplomatic experience as well as the linguistic knowledge necessary to carry out the functions attached to the post. The deadline for applications is 15 April 2019.

The International Court of Justice, which has its seat in The Hague, is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations.

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India Plans Comprehensive Insurance Scheme for Advocates The committee will suggest the modalities of administration of the insurance scheme.

The Government of India has set-up a five-member committee to examine the issues related to framing of a proper, structured scheme for providing insurance cover to the advocates and also suggest modalities for the implementation of such scheme.

Ravi Shankar Prasad – Law Minister of India. (file photo). Courtesy: PIB India’s Minister for Law & Justice Ravi Shankar Prasad has set-up the committer under the chairmanship of Secretary Legal Affairs. Other members of the committee will include a senior representative from the Department of Financial Services and representative of Department of legal affairs. The committee will also have one representative each from Bar Council of India and State Bar Councils.

According to a government statement issued on March 8, ​Prasad has directed that the

committee will recommend a comprehensive insurance scheme for the welfare of advocates all over India to address concerns relating to untimely death and medical insurance. It states that the committee should submit its reports within three months and if the need be the committee may take opinion from all stakeholders including the representatives of the insurance companies to devise the proposed scheme.

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The committee also will suggest the modalities of administration of the insurance scheme under a high-powered body with adequate representatives of all stakeholders.

Reactions on Social Media You can ​click here​ to read the comments and suggestions of people about this story on social media site Facebook.

Earlier, a delegation of lawyers led by Manan Mishra, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India, including Members of Bar Council of India and office bearers of various Advocates Associations met the Law Minister in connection with their concerns and demands.

Women Whistleblowers Campaign Seeks Law Firm Partner A whistleblower is a person who takes risk and reveals illegal or unethical practice such as corruption in their own organization.

The Women Whistleblowers campaign is stated to be about women who have exposed wrongdoing in different organizations.

Women Whistleblowers Campaign Among them – according to the campaign - are Enron whistleblower Sherron Watkins, JP Morgan Chase whistleblowers Alayne Fleischmann and Linda Almonte, and PG&E whistleblower Erin Brokovich.

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These women challenged large corporations and agencies to bring about positive outcomes for the public. Women Whistleblowers seeks to help women expose fraud and wrongdoing within their organizations, including healthcare, the pharmaceutical industry, banking, and government administration.

So many women are in ideal positions to observe and record fraud, such as bookkeepers and administrators, and are ready and willing to speak out to protect the public.

Currently, the Women Whistleblowers campaign is seeking a law firm partner willing to represent these women.

"We hope to keep building momentum and help women expose fraud and corruption​," says Jessica Copen, senior writer. "With the right law firm partner, we can ensure these courageous women's voices are heard and protected."

A ​whistleblower is a person who takes risk and reveals illegal or unethical practice such as corruption in their own organization.

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Attorney General Misled the Court to Save Modi in Rafale Case With all these ambiguous statements, lies, or half-truths, the AG is trying to be loyal to Modi while he should be loyal to the Indian constitution and the rule of law.

You need to tell 100 lies to conceal one lie. That’s what the Indian government is trying to do in its attempt to hide the truth in the controversial ​Rafale deal in which PM Narendra Modi is a prime accused.

While India’s Attorney General (AG) K. K. Venugopal had told the Supreme Court on March 6 that the documents related to the Rafale fighter jet deal have been stolen from the Defence Ministry, he changed his statement just a couple of days later. Venugopal stated that when he said documents are stolen, he meant the documents were photocopied to use in the petition. In fact, Venugopal is trying to distort the truth when the Defence Ministry did not support his claim in the court that the Rafale documents were stolen.

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Nirmala Sitharaman taking charge as the Union Minister for Defence, in New Delhi on September 07, 2017. Photo (file) courtesy: PIB India’s Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman – who is also offering lame arguments to defend Modi in the Rafale deal – came to Venugopal’s rescue.

Tweet by Nirmala Sitharaman

“Venugopal told PTI News the Rafale documents were not stolen from the Defence Ministry and what he meant in his submission before the Supreme Court was that petitioners in the

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application used ‘photocopies of the original’ papers, deemed secret by the government,” Sitharaman ​tweeted​ on March 8.

However, Sitharaman is also lying as the PTI news story never used the word ‘photocopies.’ And if Venugopal says something that should mean something else, then God only can save India from such careless officers.

While it is a known fact that Indian politicians and legal professionals lack ​English language

skills, this kind of goof-up by India’s top legal officer in the top court must be a cause of concern for the entire judiciary.

Social Media Reactions You can read people’s comments and reactions about this article on social networking site Facebook. Click here for Facebook Group 1​, Facebook Group 2​, and Facebook Group 3 to read the comments. You can also write your comments and share the article with others.

The Supreme Court on March 6 began hearing petitions that seek review of the earlier court verdict on Rafale deal. The government told the Supreme Court that the review petitions are based on Rafale documents stolen from the Defence Ministry. AG Venugopal also submitted that the documents on the deal relied on by the petitioners were marked secret and classified.

He told the Supreme Court that since the review petitions are based on Rafale documents stolen from the Defence Ministry, they should be dismissed. Venugopal told the court that those who put the Rafale documents in the public domain are guilty under the Official Secrets Act and contempt of court.

In fact, with all these ambiguous statements, lies, or half-truths, the AG is trying to be loyal to Modi while he should be loyal to the Indian constitution and the rule of law.

This shows that India has become a ​kakistocracy (a government run by the worst, least qualified, or most unscrupulous people), where all law-enforcement agencies and institutions

are working as the wholly owned subsidiaries of Modi. They can’t dare to question Modi in any felonious case.

Since there are no checks and balances in the Indian system of governance, the case will gradually get closed although the Supreme Court of India has ostensibly decided to reopen the Rafale case.

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With an embezzlement of Rs. 30,000 crore (~ US$ 4 billion), the Rafale scam is stated to be the biggest government-led fraud in the world.

Download Previous Issues of Legal Directions September 2018

October 2018

November 2018

December 2018

January 2019

February 2019

March 2019

RMN Foundation Seeks Pro Bono Legal Services You can check out RMN Foundation activities in order to understand the scope of work for making individual cases to be filed in different courts.

RMN Foundation – which is a humanitarian organization – seeks the pro bono (free) services of lawyers and law firms to handle the Foundation’s legal work – particularly the public interest litigation (PIL) and other legal cases to help the disadvantaged and distressed people in the society.

These days, RMN Foundation is working in different areas such as Environment Protection, Anti-Corruption Activities, Children’s Education Rights, Labour Rights, and Political Awareness Campaigns.

Currently, all the activities of RMN Foundation are being managed single-handedly (without any support) by RMN Foundation founder Rakesh Raman who had left his job a few years ago to run this charity.

You can check out ​RMN Foundation activities at the following links in order to understand the scope of work for making individual cases to be filed in different courts.

Anti-Corruption

School Education

Environment Protection

Political Reforms Click here for details​.

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Environmental Damage and Pollution in India Appeal to Global Community

A new IQAir AirVisual report, which covered 3,000 cities of the world, has revealed that Gurugram (a.k.a. Gurgaon) a suburb of India’s capital New Delhi is the most polluted city of the world while 22 of the top 30 polluted cities are in India. Also, Delhi remains the most polluted capital across the world.

As pollution levels remain dangerously high throughout the year in India, all travelers including business executives, tourists, and diplomats need to exercise utmost caution while planning to visit India – particularly India’s capital New Delhi.

Moreover, companies and investors must not come to Delhi for setting up their businesses or for trade conferences as ​pollution can harm them as well as their families. Foreigners who have come to stay in India for their work, should preferably go back to their countries. Or, at least, they should not keep their children with them because ​Delhi’s pollution is very harmful for children.

Delhi Government, the Indian Government, and the pollution-control ​agencies are not taking proper steps to control pollution because most politicians and bureaucrats in India are corrupt, uneducated, and careless.

The extreme pollution in Delhi is being compared to the poisonous gas chambers used by Nazi Germany during the Holocaust for the genocide of millions of European Jews. As pollution in Delhi / India is harmful to millions of Indians as well as people in other parts of the world with its impact on global warming and climate change, its lethal effect is equivalent to weapons of mass destruction.

The Indian government - including bureaucrats and politicians - is causing serious environmental damage which is harmful for the entire planet. Therefore, the global ​community including the UN and the U.S. Department of State and the Office of Foreign Assets Control (​OFAC​) must impose strict economic, diplomatic, and trade sanctions on India and Indian officials.

Rakesh Raman

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Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose Takes Oath as India’s First Lokpal Although it is not clear how Lokpal will deal with high-profile corruption cases, people hope that Lokpal will be able to reduce corruption in the country.

The President of India, Ram Nath Kovind, administered the oath of office to Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose as Chairperson, Lokpal, at a ceremony held on March 23, 2019 at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

The President of India, Ram Nath Kovind, administering the oath of office of the Chairperson, Lokpal to Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose, at a swearing-in ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on March 23, 2019. Photo: PIB Justice Ghose will be the head of India’s first Lokpal (the top anti-corruption ombudsman) office. The Judicial Members of the Lokpal will be Justice Dilip B. Bhosale, Justice Pradip Kumar Mohanty, Justice Abhilasha Kumari, and Justice Ajay Kumar Tripathi.

Also, according to a government communique, members other than the Judicial Members will be Dinesh Kumar Jain, Ms. Archana Ramasundaram, Mahender Singh, and Dr. Indrajeet Prasad Gautam.

While most anti-corruption institutions such as the Central Vigilance Commission (​CVC​), Central Bureau of Investigation (​CBI​), and the Supreme Court of India exist as toothless outfits

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that have repeatedly failed to handle serious corruption cases, the Lokpal office is expected to weed out massive corruption from India.

As rampant corruption is happening at every step in India, the untamed bureaucrats are blatantly defying laws that are supposed to prevent corruption. The latest Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) released by Transparency International reveals that India is among the most corrupt countries of the world.

The index, which ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption, asserts that India, with a score of just 41, is ranked 78 in the world. In other words, India is more corrupt than 77 other countries.

The immediate task before Lokpal will be to resolve the pending corruption cases in which top politicians and bureaucrats are facing serious corruption charges. The Rafale corruption case – in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the prime accused - is at the top of the list.

In fact, Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has decided to file a complaint against PM Modi in the Lokpal. An AAP leader Gopal Rai said recently that his party will file Rafale and Sahara-Birla​ corruption complaints against Modi with Lokpal.

Although it is not clear how Lokpal will deal with high-profile corruption cases​, people hope that Lokpal will be able to reduce corruption in the country.

U.S. Urged to Support International Criminal Court The United States – led in the effort by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Robert H Jackson – was instrumental in ensuring that Nazi war criminals were tried in a court of law after World War II. In his keynote speech titled 'A Tribute to Robert H Jackson – Recalling America's Contributions to International Criminal Justice', President Eboe-Osuji tracked the instrumental role played by the United States throughout the development of international criminal justice institutions from the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg to the creation of the International Criminal Court (​ICC​) through the adoption of the Rome Statute in 1998.

The United States – led in the effort by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Robert H Jackson – was instrumental in ensuring that Nazi war criminals were tried in a court of law after World War II. Critical contributions of the U.S. continued toward ensuring that the key principles of the Nuremberg process would become widely recognized by the international community under the auspices of the United Nations, and that they would serve as essential ingredients of the groundwork for the first draft of the ICC Statute decades later.

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Against this background, the ICC President called on the United States to 'join her closest Allies and Friends at the table of the Rome Statute', and in the meantime, support the Court, 'whose values and objectives are entirely consistent with the best instincts of America and her values'.

ICC President Eboe-Osuji. Photo: ICC “The past, the present and the future victims of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes need her to do so. And, it is with all due sense of responsibility that I directly request the leadership of the United States to give this support to the ICC,” President Eboe-Osuji said.

During his stay in Washington D.C., President Eboe-Osuji also attended the ceremony for the 2019 Anne Frank Award, which was given to Ben Ferencz, former Nuremberg prosecutor and a long-time advocate of international criminal justice, with a Special Recognition Award presented to the Syria Justice and Accountability Centre.

21st Commonwealth Law Conference, Zambia 8th April 2019 The Commonwealth Lawyers Association partners with the Law Association of Zambia for the 21st Commonwealth Law Conference. The Conference entitled “The Rule of Law in Retreat?

Challenges for the Modern Commonwealth” targets all those who seek to uphold the rule of law, not just in the Commonwealth.

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The program promises to present topics which will interest lawyers, judiciary, academics, and law students from all over the Commonwealth including sessions on challenges to the profession including the growth of Artificial Intelligence and Technology, Environment, and Alternative Dispute Resolution. It also will include contemporary legal topics such as Freedom of Expression.

Appeal for Donations RMN Foundation - the publisher of ​Legal

Directions newsletter - is a humanitarian organization that was formed in May 2015 as an educational and public charitable Trust for the benefit of humanity at large. It is registered with the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi at New Delhi, India.

Currently, all the activities of RMN Foundation are being managed single-handedly (without any support) by RMN Foundation founder Rakesh Raman who had left his job a few years ago to run this charity.

As RMN Foundation has embarked upon some major humanitarian projects during the past over 3 years, now it needs a significant amount of funds in the form of ​donations to expand the scope of its activities.

DONATION DETAILS Individual Indian donors can help RMN Foundation with their contributions using the following bank details: Bank Name: ICICI Bank Bank Branch: HL Square, Plot No. 6, Sector 5 (MLU), Dwarka, New Delhi 110 075 Account Number: 025005004368 Account Name: RMN Foundation Type of Account: Current IFSC Code: ICIC0000250 Or you can ​click here​ to donate with PayPal, credit card, or bank account.

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Naidu Calls for Speedy Disposal of Criminal Cases Against Political Leaders Naidu also urged the Bar Association to promote the use of local languages in courts.

The Vice President of India, M. Venkaiah Naidu, has called for speedy disposal of election petitions and criminal cases against political leaders pending before various courts. He also suggested the setting up of separate benches to expedite all such cases within six months or one year.

M. Venkaiah Naidu at the 125th anniversary celebrations of Visakhapatnam District Court Bar Association, in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh on March 30, 2019. Photo: PIB The Vice President also wanted the presiding officers of legislative bodies to decide anti-defection cases within three months. Interacting with lawyers, judges, and the members of the Bar Association in Visakhapatnam on March 30, Naidu recollected his early days as a law student in Andhra University and shared his memories with the gathering.

Speaking at the 125th anniversary celebrations of Visakhapatnam District Court Bar Association, he expressed concern over the pendency of cases at various courts and said that time-bound approval of applications and disposal of appeals was absolutely essential.

Pointing out that a large amount of money was locked up in long pending tax-related litigation, the Vice President said that delays in judicial litigation and proceedings could affect the image of the country.

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Expressing concern over pendency of 3.12 crore cases at various courts, Naidu urged the Courts and the Bar Associations to seriously dwell on the matter and see that pendency was reduced.

Quoting a popular adage, ‘Justice delayed is justice denied’, Naidu emphasized the need to undertake reforms to improve the functioning of judicial institutions to ensure speedy justice and equitable justice particularly to the common man.

Naidu also urged the Bar Association to promote the use of local languages in courts as it was convenient and appropriate that the proceedings were held in the respective state’s official language.

IBA Annual Litigation Forum 2019, Berlin, Germany 8th May 2019 A conference presented by the IBA Litigation Committee.

Topics Include: ●

Collective redress

●

The effect of protectionism and other geopolitical forces on litigation

●

Litigation game theory

●

Blockchain / cryptocurrency litigation

Economic Sanctions Enforcement and Compliance 2019, Washington, DC 2nd May 2019 The 12th Annual Advanced Forum on Economic Sanctions Enforcement and Compliance is stated to be the flagship event for senior executives and practitioners, who work in the areas of global sanctions compliance, internal audits and investigations, international trade, banking, insurance, forensic accounting and white-collar crime.

The 2019 program will cover: • Impact of the snapback of Iran sanctions • Potential blocking statutes in the EU • Latest changes in Russia secondary sanctions • Lessons learned from recent enforcement actions

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• How to minimize risk and upgrade your sanctions compliance program • Potential new sanctions restrictions on Venezuela and North Korea • Impact of Brexit on sanctions enforcement

• How a multinational company can stay abreast of various sanctions restrictions, and how to

coordinate the rules from multiple government agencies efficiently • Recent trends emerging from OFAC, DOJ and SEC investigations of sanctions violations • Latest developments on New York State-level investigations and enforcement actions • Benefit from CLE and CPE credit Featuring senior government representatives from OFAC, Department of Justice, Federal Reserve, US Department of Commerce, FDIC and Department of State, this event targets economic sanctions community.

Meet the Editor

The editor of ​Legal Directions newsletter ​Rakesh Raman is a national award-winning

journalist and social activist. Besides working at senior editorial positions with leading media companies, he was writing an exclusive edit-page column regularly for The Financial Express (a daily business newspaper of The Indian Express Group).

Nowadays, for the past about 8 years, he has been running his own global news services on different subjects. He also has formed a free Education and Career Counselling Center for deserving children at a poor J.J. Colony in Dwarka, New Delhi under his ​NGO – RMN Foundation.

He runs an exclusive community-driven anti-corruption social service “​Clean House​” to help the suffering residents of Delhi raise their voice against the growing corruption and injustice.

He also has formed an environment-protection group called​ Green Group​ in Delhi.

He creates and distributes a number of ​digital publications that cover areas such as technology, law, environment, education, politics, corruption and transparency.

He has created a comprehensive online information ​service to educate the Indian voters for the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

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Earlier, he had been associated with the United Nations (UN) through United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) as a digital media expert to help businesses use technology for brand marketing and business development.

Collaboration with Legal Directions Project The ​Legal Directions newsletter is being published by RMN Foundation. It is being circulated among the top UN agencies, legal professionals, law colleges / universities, law-enforcement agencies, civil society organizations, social activists, and others in India and abroad.

RMN Foundation is looking for sponsors and collaborators across the world who can help us expand the legal content activity around ​Legal Directions​.

Contact

Rakesh Raman Founder RMN Foundation

463, DPS Apts., Plot No. 16, Sector 4, Dwarka, Phase I New Delhi 110 078, INDIA

Contact by email