Articles
Judge-Wise Statistics Of Reportable Judgments Of Supreme Court In February 2022
In February 2022, the Supreme Court authored 83 Reportable Judgments in diverse areas of law. The highest number of Judgments (i.e. 21 Reportable Judgments) were authored by Justice M.R. Shah, followed by Justice Dr. D.Y. Chandrachud authoring 10 Reportable Judgments.In continuation of the statistical study and searchable PDF of Reportable Supreme Court Judgments (as reported in January 2022), the authors of this article present to you a Judge-Wise Statistical study of Reportable Supreme...
To Sanction Or Not To Sanction- The Fundamental Duties Debate
Ask not what your country can do for you- Ask what you can do for your country' are John F. Kennedy's most memorable words. Many continents away, it is this phrase that best captures the idea of fundamental duties found in the Indian constitution. It was by the 42nd amendment in 1976 that the 'Fundamental Duties' part was incorporated in our Constitution. The concept of fundamental duties was taken from the 1936 USSR Constitution, following the recommendations of the Swaran Singh...
Critical Analysis Of Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill 2021 And Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Bill 2021
The scope of this article is to analyze the effects of the recently passed Surrogacy Regulation Bill 2021 (SRB) and Assisted Reproduction Technology (Regulation) (ART) Bill 2021. To that end, the article first lays down the salient features of both laws. It then reviews specific provisions of the Bills in the context of the existing legal setup and the prospective outcomes produced. Finally, the article suggests an alternative methodology ensuring maximum effect for the involved...
Decree Holders As Creditors Under The IBC - Need For Clarity
The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 ("Code"), right from its enactment has been the subject of legal debate. While various issues that have cropped up from time to time, have been ironed out, by amendments and by judgements, there still exist a plentitude of legal questions, waiting to be raised in the right case. One such question is the status of a "decree-holder" as a creditor. Section 3 (10) of the Code, defines a "creditor" as "any person to whom a debt is owed and includes...
Ukraine War: Test of Law and Civilizational Progress.
I. As I write this piece, Ukraine, a nation of 44 million free citizens fights valiantly to defend its freedom and territorial integrity against Putin's "war of choice for all the wrong reasons". Caught between disbelief, despair and compulsions of realpolitik, the world at large seems helpless to help beyond an expression of outrage even as the Russian armed forces continue to penetrate deep inside Ukraine. Moscow has placed its nuclear forces on alert in an ominous signal of a possibly...
Homage To Sir With Love
"As your father is in real life, your Senior is in your professional life." We juniors of Advocate K. Bhaskaran Nair (we are and call ourselves the KBN family) found this axiom in actual operation in our Senior's chambers. Sir upheld and maintained that legacy of the Calicut bar in the sublime relationship between seniors and juniors. I met my Senior first at the Chinmaya Gita classes. Sir was an active founder member of the Calicut Chinmaya mission where some of us, as young college...
Plant Variety Authority Revokes The Breeder's Right: Is This A New Chapter For The Protection Of Plant Varieties And Farmers' Rights Act,2001 ?
The Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Act, 2001 (PPVFRA) is sui-generis indigenous legislation enacted by the Indian government. The significance of protecting farmers' rights and balancing it with the rights of breeders forms the characteristic feature of the PPVFRA. The farmer's right to use the seed is an important concurrent right to that of breeders rights. The Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Authority is empowered to adjudicate upon the disputes ...
Class Action Proceedings- Challenges In Consumer Fora
The provision for filing a class action complaint by a group of consumers is a big boon to the consumers and has existed in the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 and has been continued in the new Consumer Protection Act, 2019. Due to illegal acts and omissions of some Builders/Developers in the past decade, there has been a flood of class action complaints under Section 12(1)(c) of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 (now Section 35 read with Section 59 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019)...
Justice H. R. Khanna: A Great Defender Of Rule Of Law, Human Rights & Dignity
Today falls the death anniversary of Justice H R Khanna, an outstanding judge, who is well-known for his courageous dissenting judgment in the infamous ADM Jabalpur case, pronounced during the period of National Emergency in 1976, when the President had placed people's fundamental rights under suspension as per Article 359 of the Constitution. Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer famously observed in an article entitled 'A Courageous Voice of Dissent', "Justice Khanna was a gentle person, true in...
The State's Duty Of Reparation For "Lost Years" And The Supreme Court's Power To Issue Guidelines
One of the firmest pillars of the rule of law and administration of justice has been maximed in Latin- Ubi Jus Ibi Remedium or simply where there is a right, there is a remedy. Basic human right protections against unlawful prosecutions, illegal detentions, arrests etc. are guarantees available to every person under the umbrella of Article 21 and 22. However, the presence of these safeguards in the fundamental rights chapter has neither deterred nor impeded these frequent violations. ...