The Law Bulletin… Page 1www.abhyaas.in

Abhyaas Law Bulletin … For the quintessential CLAT aspirant

June10th 2012 ALB20120606

The Editor’s Column

Dear Student,

Welcome to the June edition of the Abhyaas LawBulletin. CLAT 2012 results are out and we feel weshould share what one of our students who made it toNALSAR(Hyderabad) said.

This month saw the Oil Marketing Companies(OMCs)increase the price of petrol by over 7 rupees, thesteepest rise ever. With Team Anna levelling chargesof corruption against the PM and his cabinetcolleagues, the battle lines are drawn. The GDPgrowth rate went below 6%, the lowest ever in a nineyear period. The AP High court stuck down 4.5%minority reservation in the fields of publicemployment and education.

Happy Reading !

(Rakesh Dubudu)

Index:

Page 2: National

Page 3: National

Page 4: Spotlight

The Scoop Of The Month

Petrol price raised by Rs. 7.54 a litre in steepest-ever hike

The UPA-II, celebrating three years in office, gavethe “common man” a gift, the steepest- everincrease of Rs. 7.54 in petrol prices. The increase isthe first in the past six months.

Petrol price in Delhi was increased by Rs. 7.54 alitre to Rs. 73.18 with effect from midnight May23rd, the state-owned oil marketing companiessaid in separate, but identical, statements.

However, the rates of diesel, LPG and kerosene,raised in June last year, have been left untouched.But officials said the government would soon havea look at them as they also needed an increase tosave the oil marketing companies from goingbankrupt.

The previous steepest increase in petrol prices wasRs.5. The oil marketing companies had twiceraised the prices by Rs. 5 — on May 15, 2011,when the rate in Delhi was increased from Rs.58.37 to Rs. 63.37; and on May 24, 2008, when itwas jacked up to Rs. 50.56. The increase comesafter a 14.5 per cent rise in crude oil prices and a3.2 per cent fall in the value of the rupee.

With Thursday's increase, petrol will cost Rs. 78.57a litre in Mumbai, against Rs. 70.66. In Kolkata, the

(contd…)

Before joining Abhyaas I was unsure about the rightway to prepare for CLAT. Abhyaas provided me withthe right guidance, encouragement andexhaustive current affairs material which helpedme get through CLAT. The wonderful faculty thatAbhyaas has motivated, challenged and at timespushed me to give my best. Thank you Abhyaas.

Elizabeth Thomas – NALSAR

The Law Bulletin… Page 2www.abhyaas.in

June10th 2012

National:

rate will go up by Rs. 7.85 to Rs. 77.88. In Chennai, itwill be Rs. 77.53, up by Rs. 7.98.

Interestingly, on May 22nd, Petroleum and NaturalGas Minister Jaipal Reddy hinted at a price increase,arguing that the rupee depreciation had badly affectedthe oil companies.

The oil marketing companies, which had lost Rs. 4,860crore on petrol sales in the fiscal to March 31 this year,are now losing Rs. 6.28 on a litre of petrol. Factoring inthe 20 per cent value-added tax, the desired increasein Delhi comes to Rs. 7.54. The companies are losingRs. 512 crore a day on the sales of diesel, domesticLPG and kerosene. Diesel is now sold at a loss of Rs.15.35 a litre, kerosene at Rs. 32.98 a litre and a 14.2-kgdomestic LPG cylinder at Rs. 479.

The companies had together lost Rs. 138,541 crore inrevenue during 2011-12. This year, the loss isprojected to be Rs. 193,880 crore. During 2011-12,petrol prices were revised five times in order to bringdomestic prices in line with those in the internationalmarket. The rates were increased on three occasionsand lowered on two. During the last revision, onDecember 1, the rate was brought down to Rs. 65. 64,by Rs.0.78.

GDP growth slumps to 9-year low

In tandem with a host of negative factors at home andabroad impacting the macro-economic environment,the country's GDP (gross domestic product) growthslumped to a nine-year low of 5.3 per cent during thefourth quarter (January-March) of 2011-12 ascompared to a robust 9.2 per cent expansion in thesame quarter of the previous fiscal.

The main culprit, as has been for the past fewquarters, was the manufacturing sector which, alongwith the farm segment, fared dismally and draggeddown the economic growth rate for 2011-12 to 6.5 percent. At this level, it is not only way lower than the 8.4per cent GDP growth achieved in 2010-11 but alsomarks a downward revision from the 6.9 per centexpansion estimated earlier for the fiscal year. Themining sector output turned negative to 0.9 per cent in2011-12 as against the growth rate of five per cent ayear ago. The farm sector growth also moderated to2.8 per cent from seven per cent in 2010-11

Bhattacharya is new CMD of SCCL

Sutirtha Bhattacharya, senior IAS officer, assumedcharge as Chairman-Cum-Managing Director ofthe Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL)on May 10th. He stepped into the shoes of S.Narsing Rao who has been appointed as CMD ofthe public sector Coal India Limited.

Minimum seven-year jail term mandatory forrape: Supreme Court

Rapists should be awarded a minimum sentenceof seven years, which can be reduced only inspecial circumstances, the Supreme Court hasruled, ticking off the Rajasthan High Court forreducing the punishment of two convicts in a rapecase. “Such an order is violative of the mandatoryrequirement of law and has defeated thelegislative mandate. Deciding the case in such acasual manner reduces the criminal justicedelivery system to a mockery,” said a Bench ofJustices B.S. Chauhan and Dipak Misra in ajudgment. The Court passed the judgment whileupholding an appeal filed by the RajasthanGovernment challenging the High Court's decisionto reduce the sentence of two rapists withoutrecording any special reasons for taking thelenient view.

10-year-old's RTI posers stump PMO,Government

When some simple questions came to the mind ofAishwarya Parashar, a Class-VI student of the CityMontessori School, Lucknow, she did not let themlanguish unasked. She went seeking out answersthrough the Right to Information (RTI) Act.Aishwarya's inquisitiveness and willingness topursue the source of information has yielded, tilldate, the establishment of a public library on thesite of a garbage dump and the nation beingbetter enlightened about the Father of the Nation,Mahatma Gandhi.

All of just 10 years, Aishwarya is a confident littlegirl, who herself answers a mobile phone andurges those wanting some written informationfrom her to send her an SMS giving their e-mail IDand even forwards e-mail and communicatesabout her work on her own

The Law Bulletin… Page 3www.abhyaas.in

June10th 2012

A.P. High Court strikes down Centre's quota for religious minorities

A Division Bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court,comprising Chief Justice Madan B. Lokur and JusticeP.V. Sanjay Kumar,set aside the office memorandaissued by the Central government, carving out a sub-quota for minorities, from within the quota for theOther Backward Classes (OBC), in the fields of publicemployment and education.

From 2013, single entrance test for IITs and NITs

The joint entrance examination (JEE) for admission tothe undergraduate engineering programmes will beheld from the next academic year, with the IndianInstitutes of Technology (IITs) managing a separatemerit list for those aspiring to join them. Theexamination will also consider the marks obtained inClass XII Board examinations. Announcing this, UnionHuman Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibalsaid a consensus was reached after deliberationsspanning over two years. A meeting of the JointCouncils of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs),the National Institutes of Technology (NITs), the IndianInstitutes of Information Technology (IIITs) and otherCentral educational institutions approved the commonadmission process with weightage to performance inthe Class XII Board examinations. The Senate andfaculty of the IITs had resisted the plan, citing thestandards of the institutions. But the problem wasresolved, with the IITs having been allowed tomaintain a separate merit list.

‘Just 50' won't mitigate bribery, rules Court

Observing that corruption corrodes the spine of thenation and makes its economy sterile, the SupremeCourt has held that guilty officials do not deserve anyleniency even if the bribe amount is just Rs. 50. Itwould not be appropriate even for the Supreme Courtto reduce the minimum punishment of six monthsprescribed under the Prevention of Corruption Act,said a Bench of Justices B.S. Chauhan and Dipak Misra.“The amount may be small but to curb and repress thiskind of proclivity the legislature has prescribed theminimum sentence. It should be borne in mind thatcorruption at any level does not deserve eithersympathy or leniency. In fact, reduction of thesentence would amount to putting a premium on theoffence, the Bench said.

International

Nepal's CA fails to write Constitution

Four years after being elected, Nepal's ConstituentAssembly (CA) got dissolved on May 27th withoutdelivering a statute. Prime Minister BaburamBhattarai's Cabinet, despite opposition from amajor ruling partner, decided to hold freshelections on November 22 for a new CA. The deal-breaker was the contentious issue of federalism.The Maoist-Madhesi combine sought a firmcommitment that the 10- state model or the 14-state model, recommended by the constitutionalcommission and committee respectively, would beguaranteed as the basis for federal restructuring.The Janjati MP caucus also agreed to have multiplenames ,one ethnic and one neutral, in the hillprovinces, a key demand of the NC and the UML.

Facebook CEO Zuckerberg rings Nasdaq openingbell

Setting the stage for the much-awaited trading ofFacebook, its founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg,on May 18th, rang the opening bell at the Nasdaqstock exchange. Mr. Zuckerberg rang the bell fromthe headquarters of Facebook in California. Thepopular social networking site would be the largestU.S. company at its debut with a market value of$104 billion. Facebook shares leapt some 12 percent in opening trade, then pared their gains, asthe wildly popular social network made a splash inits market debut. The shares, priced at $38 in thelargest-ever initial public offering for a technologycompany, jumped to $42.55 in the openingNasdaq trades before settling back with moremoderate gains.

Obama says same-sex couples should be able to marry

US President Barack Obama has ended months of hedging on the issue of gay marriage by saying he thinks same-sex couples should be able to wed.

He has become the first sitting US president toback gay marriage. Mitt Romney, the Republicanwho is set to challenge Mr Obama for the WhiteHouse in November's elections, promptly said hewas against gay marriage.

The Law Bulletin… Page 4www.abhyaas.in

June10th 2012

Spotlight: NLSIU, Bangalore

The National Law School of India University (NLSIU or NLS) is an institutionfor under-graduate and graduate legal education. Based in Nagarbhavi, asuburb in the western extremities of the city of Bangalore, the NLSIU wasestablished in 1987 after a statute was enacted for that purpose by theLegislative Assembly of the State of Karnataka, and officially exists sinceAugust 29, 1987.

Historically, legal education in India was open only to graduates and seenmerely as professional training. Dismayed at the quality of legal educationin conventional universities, members of the legal fraternity debated themerits of introducing a new system of legal education through the 1970sand 1980s. NLSIU has been consistently ranked as the best law school inIndia for 8 out of the past 10 years by India Today.

Feel free to write to: lawprep@abhyaas.in We don’t wish to print this journal, save paper, avoid printing.

This month in pictures:

Y S Jaganmohan Reddy isarrested by the CBI in thedisproportionate assetsCase

Sachin Tendulkar & actress Rekha are nominated to the Rajya Sabha

Julian Assange loses appealagainst his extradition toSweden to face allegations ofsexual assault in the UKSupreme court

Vishwanathan Anand wins theworld Chess championshipdefeating Boris Gelfand

Anshu Jain will take over the reinsof German banking giantDeutsche Bank as co-CEO

Kolkata Knight Riders win the 5th

Edition of the IPL defeatingChennai Super Kings

It admits 80 students for its 5-year B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) programme every year. Students are chosen on the basisof an all-India entrance exam CLAT (Common Law Admission Test).The NLS library is the largest law library in India. Most of those who graduate from NLSIU prefer a career incorporate litigation or as legal advisers to companies with attractive pay packages.