Raised at the Bar

Reader Rashid S. Medora of Ahmedabad has written to inform Parsiana that among those elevated as senior advocates in the list issued by the Gujarat High Court this year are Rustom Ratan Marshall and Percy Cawas Kavina.

Information listed in the bio datas provided indicates that Marshall’s designation became effective on July 28, 2008 while Kavina was elevated on August 13. Marshall completed his education in Surat, obtaining the BCom and LLB degrees and enrolled as an advocate with the Bar Council of Gujarat in 1982. He first joined the chambers of S. N. Shelat, former advocate general of Gujarat and started independent practice two years later. Marshall has appeared in a number of matters on behalf of the municipal corporations of Ahmedabad and Surat, nationalized insurance companies and corporate giants like Larsen and Toubro and Tata Motors. He practices mostly in the High Court of Gujarat with occasional appearances before other courts and forums.

Holding a BA and an LLB Sp (Income Tax Group) from Ahmedabad, Kavina enrolled with the Bar Council of Gujarat in 1988. He has worked in the chambers of senior advocate Kersasp Shethna, the current president of the Ahmedabad Parsi Panchayat, as well as those of K. G. Vakharia, handling both civil and criminal matters in the High Court. After a stint in the chambers of Anil Dave, additional solicitor to the Government of Gujarat, he has been in independent practice since 1992 appearing in writ petitions, company petitions and civil appeals in the High Court and City Civil Court of Ahmedabad and other civil courts in the state including the Debt Recovery Tribunal in the same city, his bio data reveals.

Software donation

Non-profit and non-governmental organizations (NPOs and NGOs) in India are eligible to receive donations in the form of software, hardware and services under a NASSCOM Foundation program called "BiG Tech,” details of which are available on its website, www.bigtech.in, informs the July-August 2008 issue of Philanthropy, the newsletter of the Centre for Advancement of Philanthropy.

Legal eagles Percy Kavina (left) and Ratan Marshall

In partnership with TechSoup, a San Francisco based organization, NASSCOM Foundation is offering over 100 Microsoft products and has plans to add other software and hardware over a period of time. Over 90 percent of these products have software assurance, which means organizations get the latest product upgrades. Among the most popular products donated at present are Microsoft Windows XP Professional upgrade (Rs 390), Vista upgrade (Rs 390) and Office Professional 2003 and 2007 (Rs 761).

The newsletter details the simple procedure for acquiring such donations. The organization needs to register on the website: http://www. bigtech. in/user/register Once it qualifies for the service, the organization must select the desired software and place an order, the turnaround time for which is one week. A small administrative charge is levied for this service, which is usually four percent of the software’s retail price. Payment may be made by cash or cheque at any bank convenient for the organization. The software will be sent by courier and licences can be downloaded from the Internet. Delivery is usually within two weeks, subject to clearance of the cheque, the newsletter notes.

The Foundation aims to reach out to Indian NGOs, NPOs and community groups who would otherwise spend money on buying software at retail prices or end up using pirated versions. Inquiries may be addressed by e-mail to bigtech@nasscomfoundation.org, or by telephone to +91-22-28234851.