Having A Central Bank Digital Currency: Path Ahead

In the Union Budget for 2022-23, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will introduce the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) as India's official digital rupee in 2022. In a major boost to crypto players, a 30 percent tax rate has been imposed on income from transfer of virtual digital assets. While the Government is yet to regulate the investment, transaction and use of private cryptocurrencies in India, the Government's decision to launch an...

Model Code Of Conduct: An Equalizer Lost In Implementation

The role of free and fair elections in any democracy cannot be understated. And the enormousness of that task in a democracy as heterogeneous as India can only be tackled by a body free of state interference, mandated under constitutional powers, armed with the ability to take immediate, spontaneous remedial action in case anyone intends to make a plaything of the election process which is the foundation of a democratic country. And although the Election Commission of India is a...

Analysis Of Recent Changes In The RPT Framework Vis-À-Vis SEBI (LODR) (Sixth Amendment) Regulations, 2021

On September 28, 2021, SEBI in its Board meeting approved changes in the Related Party Transaction ('RPT') framework under the SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements), Regulations 2015 ("LODR").[1] The changes were based on the recommendations of the Working Group,[2] constituted in November 2019, to review the policy space pertaining to related party transactions. The approved changes in the form of SEBI (LODR) (Sixth Amendment) Regulations, 2021 were notified on...

Bridge Over Troubled Waters of Art & The Law

One of the few things to have stayed with me throughout law school is Justice Hidayatullah's quote in the landmark judgment Sajjan Singh v. State of Rajasthan, "The Constitution gives so many assurances in Part III (of the constitution) that it would be difficult to think that they were the play things of a special majority." Essentially, he says artists either try to depict the prescriptive power of law, its limitations, the lacunae it leaves in its midst or the very notion of...

'Think Mediation First' A Tribute to the Doyen of Indian Mediation – Mr D.S. Parikh

Mr D.S. Parikh, Senior counsel and a doyen of Indian Mediation, was spoken about with deep affection and in awestruck voices even by the most reputed Mediators in India. He passed away recently, on 28th January, at the age of ninety-four years, in the 73rd year of his practice He enrolled on 4th February 1949 as a first-generation lawyer at the young age of 21 at the chambers of Bhaishanker Kanga and Girdharlal. Harnessing experience gathered over several decades of practise in the...

Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui – Let Love Triumph!

Why must I always have to leave? I left my school, my home, my city….. I don't want to run away anymore. I am what I am and I am not ashamed of it. These dialogues which appeared in a recently released Bollywood movie Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui directed by Abhishek Kapoor, is one of the striking dialogues from the movie where it portraits how transgender's life is pushed aside for the prevailing hegemonized binary "female" or "male" to reign. Here the female lead character named...

SC's NEET Judgment Has Five Messages For Anti-Reservationists In India

A recent judgment of the Supreme Court allowing implementation of reservation for OBCs and EWS in the PG Courses of Medical Sciences has ended impasse on NEET admissions. However, this landmark judgment has five messages for anti-reservationists as well as the Government of India. We analyse the five messages based on the closer reading of the judgment in the context of philosophical debate on reservation which is also known as the policy of affirmative action worldwide. Marks Is...

Ball In The Court

Recently (on January 20th), the Australian High Court gave reasoning for its judgment, which had rejected Djokovic's appeal to look into the order given by Minister to cancel the best tennis-player's visa. The whole Djokovic Saga came to a halt; which left many legal questions unanswered that in what manner should state take the measures to counter COVID-19, and to what extent in compliance with National, and International Laws. On January 20th, Federal Court of Australia reasoned its...

We, The People, Found 73 Constitutional Wrongs, Sir!

The people of India are celebrating the 73rd Republic Day of India, today, the day on which, 72 years ago, we the people of India, gave unto ourselves the Constitution of India, promising that we cherish constitutional values and ideas. The day calls for introspection into happenings in the country to verify whether they are in tune with or against our world's best Constitutional ideals. Following are the wrongs and breaches of duties one could notice and it is a coincidence that there...

73rd Republic Day: The Promise of Purna Swaraj

The 26th of January every year is celebrated as the Republic Day- to commemorate the adoption of the Indian Constitution which came into effect on this day in the year 1950. In Indian political history, three dates hold special significance- 15th August, 1947 the day on which India won Independence; 26th November, 1949 as the day on which the Constitution of India was adopted by the Indian Constituent Assembly and 26th January, 1950 the day on which the Constitution came into...

Can Transgender Persons (Protection Of Rights) Act, 2019 Be A Saviour?

Recently it appeared in the newspapers that a petition was moved by a highly qualified transwoman to the legal aid cell of Kerala High court seeking for euthanasia as she had no hope to survive with dignity. Despite being qualified for the job, merely based on her gender she remains invisible to all. As rightly pointed out by the feminist scholar Nivedita Menon, the hegemonic understanding of the human body is explicitly and unambiguously male or female, pushing large number of bodies ...

Liability Of Personal Guarantor Of Corporate Debtor Vis A Vis The Insolvency And Bankruptcy Code

As per Section 128 ofthe Indian Contract Act, 1872, the liability of a guarantor is co-extensive with that of the principal debtor. Further, it is settled law that upon conclusion of insolvency proceedings against a principal debtor, the same amounts to extinction of all claims against the principal debtor, except to the extent admitted in the insolvency resolution process itself via the approval of resolution plan by the National Company Law Tribunal ("NCLT"). This is clear from Section 31 of...