Blanket Forbearance From Modifying An Arbitral Award – How Far Justiciable?

Non-interference of courts, except to the extent of supervision, is the spinal cord of arbitration legislations across the jurisdictions. However, the difference between interference and supervision is often differentiated by a thin line. One such occasion raising the question of whether an indulgence of the court is supervision or interference arises while answering the question of whether the court while entertaining an application for setting aside an arbitral award has the power to...

Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill Problematic : Project 39A Report

On March 28, 2022, the Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill, 2022 ('Bill') was tabled in the Lok Sabha. The Bill seeks to create a framework that allows the collection of certain 'measurements' by police or prison officers. The term 'measurements' has been defined to include a wide range of sensitive personal information like finger, palm and foot impressions, iris and retina scans, biological samples, and behavioural attributes. The Bill allows for the measurements and their records to be...

National Company Law Tribunals; Reeling Under Poor Infrastructure

The National Company Law Tribunals (NCLT) were constituted in 2016 for adjudication of matters arising out of the Companies Act, 2013, and exclusive jurisdiction under the Companies Act was vested with the NCLTs. After the enactment of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 in December 2016, NCLT has been vested with exclusive jurisdiction to deal with cases arising out of IBC. However, like any other tribunal, NCLTs have also received indifferent treatment from the government and...

Shadow Of Unconstitutionality On DMC Amendment Bill 2022

The union government is in a mood to bring about a drastic change in political landscape of the Delhi. If dragged to court once passed, there are several legal nuances which might be interpreted, but that's up to the court to decide. Let us have a look and understanding of what provisions and basic features are in discussion to oppose or defend the bill, introduced in the Lok Sabha on 25th March, 2022 by Minister of State for Home, Shri Nityanand Rai. The Delhi Municipal Corporation...

Courts And The Sexual Minorities: Transgender Day Of Visibility 2022

Back in 2009, Rachel Crandall (a US based transgender activist) took the initiative and since then March 31 is celebrated as International Transgender Day of Visibility. Sexual minorities all over the world have been facing stigma, discrimination and oppression but with time we saw how things are getting better with rising awareness amongst the citizens and judicial intervention. In India, the National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India ("NALSA judgment") was the first ...

Delay In Release After The Bail Order

Today, the Chief Justice of India, Justice N.V. Ramana, has launched "Fast and Secure Transmission of Electronic Court Laws (FASTER)", a software developed to transmit court orders swiftly and securely. This was in response to the newspaper reports regarding prisoners not being released immediately even after the supreme court granting them bail for various reasons. It is not clear whether the system is created only for transmitting the bail orders passed by the supreme court or for the...

The Corporate Democracy And Demarcation Of Powers Of NCLT & Civil Courts

The recent developments appear to suggest that Invesco, one of the investors of Zee, has decided to withdraw its requisition notice which sought the removal of MD and CEO Mr. Punit Goenka from Board of Directors ("Board") of Zee. Though the withdrawal might end the dispute, the Order of the Division Bench of the Hon'ble Bombay High Court ("Division Bench") will be significant in reaffirming the position as far as corporate democracy and shareholder's statutory rights are concerned. The...

Effect Of Increase In Threshold Limit Under Section 4 Of IBC, 2016- Conflicting Judgements Of NCLT

Ever since the central government has issued the notification dated 24.03.2020 for increasing the threshold limit of default from Rs. 1 Lac to Rs. 1 Crore under Section 4 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 "Code" different benches of NCLT are giving contradictory judgements as to whether this notification has prospective or retrospective effect. The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), New Delhi Bench-III has recently ruled in the matter of the "Bansal Trading Company V....

Smart Contracts And The Indian Perspective

Of the many innovations the 21st century has seen, Blockchain is arguably the most important. Briefly put, a blockchain is a virtual platform that records and stores exchanges or transactions that involve digital assets, primarily cryptocurrencies. To have a blockchain one needs multiple individuals, more than three preferably to create a distributed network, thereby ensuring the network or platform is not in the hands of anyone, i.e., it is decentralized. A given number of transactions or...

Hijab Judgment: More Questions Than Answers

In my view the consequence of Hijab Judgment is of making a song and dance about nothing. It will be read and celebrated by many who have been campaigning for 'homogeneous' identity of Indian citizens forgetting its diversity in public space. It was a thin issue where some girls who had chosen to cover their hair and neck along with the uniform of the School. It is not an issue where these girls insisted not to wear normal uniform which others did. Did this additional piece of cloth...

Can't Women Serve Liquor In Bars? Constitutional Analysis Of Legal Restrictions

Exactly a week after International Women's Day, the Excise Department of Kerala registered a case against the Manager of a bar in Kochi for deputing three Russian women as bartenders during its launch party. The matter reached the excise officials after a video of the women bartending in style took social media by storm. Although the officials cited certain irregularities in the bar's stock register, the Manager was primarily booked for employing women at the bar, violating the Kerala Foreign...

2018 Amendment To The Specific Relief Act: Retrospective Or Prospective?

The common law treated money as a measure of every loss. Until the English Courts of Chancery assumed the jurisdiction to decree Specific Performance, the only remedy in common law for the non-performance of contracts was damages. To fill that void, the Courts of Equity, at their discretion, compelled the party to a contract to perform his/her part of the contract when damages recoverable at law were not an adequate remedy. The Specific Relief Act, 1963 ("the Act") embodied this equitable...