Appointment of Judges, Collegium Recommendations, Rajesh Exports, AI Regulations and More

“I am not a person who makes statements only…  will create some kind of a robust mechanism under which the women not only join the profession, they stay there for a longer period and build real professional capability and show their worth in the legal profession.”

-CJI Surya Kant on women representation in Indian judiciary while speaking at the Oxford Union

Another Alleged Misgovernance Case Shines Light on Need for Tighter Scrutiny
Yet another case of alleged misgovernance emerges raising questions about regulatory oversight in the Rajesh Export case. The market regulator has accused the company of misrepresentation of its financial statements and diversion of funds and the amount alleged is mammoth. SEBI has alleged a discrepancy of about 15 trillion rupees in the revenue of this company which has denied all allegations and wrongdoing. The company is a also a beneficiary of PLI scheme of the government. It has to be seen if the allegations will impact the scheme’s benefits for the company. Also, if there are changes needed in the scheme to deal with errant companies. If the allegations are proven, this case is likely to join ranks of some of the biggest financial misreporting cases in India. Regardless of the outcome of the probe, the need for stronger scrutiny of companies, particularly those with multinational corporate structures cannot be denied.

Key Judgments:

Courts: 

• Delhi High Court protects Zee Entertainment’s broadcast rights for FIFA World Cup 2026, bars unauthorised broadcast by rogue sites

• Madras High Court affirms tax demand from Vedanta over payments made to foreign parent company

Quasi Courts:

• SEBI bars Rajesh Exports promoter Rajesh Mehta from dealing in company’s securities after alleging a large-scale misrepresentation of financial statements and diversion of funds

Others:

• Supreme Court publishes draft guidelines and regulations on use of AI in court, invites comments and inputs

The Big Listings:

• Supreme Court, Delhi High Court will be on summer break this week

• Jun 12: Delhi High Court to hear NSUI’s petition against irregularities in CBSE’s OMS system

• Jun 23: Securities Appellate Tribunal to hear appeal by Jane Street challenging SEBI’s move to allegedly refuse access to important documents to the firm in the case against it

• Jul 15: Delhi High Court to hear Apple Inc.’s plea against India’s competition law’s provisions on global turnover-based penalties on MNC

• July: Supreme Court to hear PIL petition seeking tighter probe into Anil Ambani’s fraud allegations

• Jul 27: Delhi High Court to hear Anil Ambani’s defamation lawsuit against NDTV

* The dates of hearing can change and a concrete list is prepared just a day before

Legal Moves: 

• Five new judges take oath as judges of the Supreme Court after centre notifies appointment

• Centre notifies appointment of acting chief justices:

• Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra at Punjab & Haryana High Court

• Justice Ravindra Ghuge at Bombay High Court

• Justice Vivek Rusia at Madhya Pradesh High Court

• Justice Sanjeev Kumar at the Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh

• Collegium recommends appointment of:

• Justices Harmeet Singh Grewal and Deepinder Singh Nalwa as permanent judges

• Advocate Amit Lahoti as a judge at the Madhya Pradesh High Court

• Three judicial officers as judges at the Himachal Pradesh High Court

• Six lawyers as judges at the Karnataka High Court

• Centre notifies appointment of Justice Meenakshi Madan Rai as the chief justice at Patna High Court

• Abhishek Ranjan, Akash Mittal, and Sadhvi Gupta leave Deloitte Tax Practice to launch Fair & Square Legal 

• Aditya Shamlal joins Times Internet as Chief Legal Officer

• Karanjot Singh leaves LKS as partner to join DMD Advocates

• Hema Patnaik, Rangam Sharma of Trilegal join DSK Legal as associate partners

• Hiral Motta returns to Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas

• Dhruv Kaushal joins King Stubb & Kasiva in data privacy practice  

• Madhu Damodaran joins Singhania & Partners, leaves AMLEGALS