The Brave Pedestrian

Mumbai, 28th March, 2018: It appears on the face of it, that MahaRERA order on Xander's interest in Bhagtani Serenity dated 16th March safeguards the interests of Serenity allottees. Mumbai Mirror interpreted the order in a positive way, and said, "Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority... ruled that Xander Finance... will have to protect the interests of the home buyers." Is this positive interpretation 100% correct, 50% correct, or only 10% correct? Before we start searching for answers to this question, let us acknowledge the efforts of Trivesh Pooniwala and other Serenity victims, and Adv Tanuj Lodha who ably represents them. This article is not intended to belittle their efforts and achievements; indeed, it is meant to support them in their quest for justice. It appears that on the face of it, RERA judge BD Kapadnis has passed an order in the interests of Serenity allotees. But bear in mind that jo dikhta hai, woh hai nahin, aur jo hai, woh dikhta nah...

Mumbai, 19th December, 2017: Based on Bombay High Court's spoken order yesterday, Bhagtani's victims have cause for optimism again. Although this is not reflected in Justice AS Gadkari's written order , tomorrow's proceedings may confirm this. It appears now that Bhagtani's victims will get their money back, but several questions remain. Will ALL the flat buyers from all the projects -- Riyo, Serenity, Sapphire, Savannah, Krishaang and others -- get their money back? When? And how much? In an ideal world, Judiciary will just hold Diipesh, Mukesh and Lakshman Bhagtani upside down and shake them until all the money falls out of their pockets into the hands of the court receiver.  In an ideal world, Judiciary will then call each victim by name -- regardless of whether he is an intervenor or not -- and refund not just the booking amounts, but also 15, 18 or 24% interest PLUS compensation for legal expenses and mental trauma and loss of real-estate appreciati...

Mumbai, 17th December, 2017: Diipesh Bhagtani's amazing talent for scamming was on full display yesterday at Bandra's Rang Sharda Auditorium, in front of several hundred angry home-buyers determined to get their money back immediately . After repeatedly promising to repay their money with interest for years, and breaking that promise every single time, guess what? He made another promise to them yesterday, and guess what? Happy with his promise to repay them in six months, people ended up giving Bhagtani what he wanted i.e. a No-Objection-Certificate for granting anticipatory bail signed by the lawyers representing over 300 home-buyers in Riyo, Sapphire, Serenity and Savannah projects. People were hypnotized into thinking that Bhagtani had given them a genuine undertaking to repay their money with 15% interest within six months. Many hours after the meeting, people awoke from Dipesh Bhagtani's hypnotic spell realized that Bhagtani had taken what he wanted i.e. the joi...

3 July, 2015: "BUS KYA, DATTU? DAWA-DAARU ke liye public se paise leneka, lekin public ko hisaab nahin  denaka. Tum judge-log bhi na... " That's what the man-on-the-street will be saying today. Many of CJI Dattu's brother-judges in High Court and Supreme Court are presenting INFLATED OR COOKED-UP MEDICAL BILLS for getting reimbursement from taxpayers' money. Surely he knows this? It's an open secret. And that's really why the Supreme Court bench presided over by Chief Justice H L Dattu yesterday rejected a plea for disclosing medical expenditures of judges and their family under RTI. “There should be some respect for privacy and if such information (is) disclosed, there will be no stopping,” the bench told advocate Prashant Bhushan. Prashant Bhushan, representing RTI activist Subhash Chandra Agrawal, argued that the public felt that judiciary was not willing to follow the standards of transparency and accountability that it expects from other autho...

Seasoned lawyers charge clients large amounts because of their ability to manipulate hearing of specific matters by judges with known political and social beliefs, and habits. In this way, they control the outcome of cases by using the known personal biases of judges, rather than with genuine law points. Indian judiciary has been functioning in this way for decades. Regards, Krishnaraj Rao 9821588114

If our new Prime Minister is really a common man at heart, he should take initiatives to ensure that judiciary becomes accessible to the common man. Like  ·  Comment  ·  Share

About 50% of Indian magistrates (and 80% of public prosecutors) are widely known to take bribes for going easy on undertrials seeking bail. Magistrates safeguard themselves by channeling the bribes through policemen. Like  ·  Comment  ·  Share

My main objective in running this poster campaign about judiciary is to tear the veil of silence surrounding the judiciary. I just want to throw open the judiciary to public scrutiny and debate, just like all other democratic institutions. My being right or wrong is irrelevant; I try to be right in what I say, but I am at best a journalist or cartoonist, NOT a legal expert. I’m provoking thought and discussion around various issues concerning the judiciary’s dealings with the public. BUT SOME PEOPLE FEEL THAT NOBODY SHOULD TALK ABOUT JUDICIARY. They feel that judges and lawyers must not be blamed or criticized for the nation’s ills. They feel that although we may criticize government, political parties, and individual politicians, we must never criticize anything concerning judiciary. Let us look at some of the ARGUMENTS of these people, who are self-appointed guardians of judiciary: ARGUMENT # 1: Criticism of "weaken the authority” or “erode the institution” of judiciary, ...

CORRUPTION OF FACE-VALUE: Anybody who has been to court knows that a "bada vakil" can do what a "chhota vakil" cannot i.e. favourably influence judges and cow down opposing lawyers of lesser stature. As humans, we are awestruck and bedazzled by those with who are more wealthy. Judges, being human, put senior counsels on a pedestal, and treat relatively junior lawyers like dirt. So, if you can only afford to engage an ordinary lawyer, while the other side has engaged Jethmalani, Singhvi, Jaitley etc, then God help you! Like  ·  Comment  ·  Share