The Pernicious Persistent Paternalism Of Indian Courts

In the words of Granville Austin, the Constituent Assembly envisaged the Indian Judiciary as a bastion of rights and justice. However, recent string of orders from the Punjab and Haryana High Court reflect the court's tendency to relinquish their constitutionally mandated role, in favour of acting as a guardian of 'public morality' and 'social fabric' of society (see here, here and here). The court on May 18, 2021, in a rather injudicious order, declined to grant protection to a couple who...

Hoarding And Black Marketing – Undefined And Unchecked Wrongful Gains In A Time Of Acute Crisis To Be Tested Morally Or, Legally?

The pandemic has had a profound impact on access to health care services and has been made more disruptive by the parallel clandestine market. Admist the Covid-19 pandemic, the problems faced have only been exacerbated by the institutional lack of necessary supplies like medicines, oxygen, refilling of oxygen cylinders and unavailability of hospital beds. In such times of distress and hardship, silver lining is, people helping each other find these essential lifesaving commodities....

"A Critical Comment On Supreme Court's Judgment In Forum For People's Collective Efforts v. State Of West Bengal"

While entertaining a Writ Petition under Article 32 of the Constitution of India, 1950 (hereinafter referred to as "the Constitution") filed by a non-profit company[1], a two Judges Bench of the Supreme Court in Forum for People's Collective Efforts (FPCE) & Anr v. State Of West Bengal and Others[2] (hereinafter referred to as "the FPCE case") struck down the West Bengal Housing Industry Regulation Act, 2017 (hereinafter referred to as "HIRA"). In its elaborate analysis[3], the...

Digitalization Of The Corporate World

The COVID-19 pandemic has severely altered the manner in which companies conduct their business. Almost all leading industrialised nations have already enacted crisis legislation in the field of company law. It has become difficult and sometimes impossible to conduct in – person meetings. After taking the cognizance of the disruptions in the functioning of companies, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India ("MCA") announced several relaxations in regulatory and statutory ...

Takeaways For The Indian Cross-Border Insolvency Regime In Light Of COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic is a crisis unlike any other. It has wreaked havoc on the economies of many countries around the world. As COVID-19 spreads, several companies have been negatively affected, and others have come to a halt. The vast number of major corporate downturns in the last two years have involved multiple jurisdictions, rendering foreign insolvencies common, rather than something rare. Cross-border insolvency refers to a scenario in which an insolvent debtor has assets in...

Comparative Analysis Of Eligibility Criteria For The Accredited Investors Proposed By SEBI

The SEBI, through its consultation paper, has recently introduced the concept of Accredited Investors (AI) in the Indian Securities Market. The objective behind introducing this concept is to recognize a certain class of investors who have good financial acumen with a tendency to make informed decisions regarding the investments and have the ability to take the risk due to their higher loss absorption capacity. It is a commendable move by the SEBI where it has gone beyond its...

The COVID-19 Chronicle: An Analysis Of Institutional Execution Of The Constitutional Mandate

Background of Constitutional Obligation: Access of Right to Health When faced with determining issues of medico-legal significance, Indian courts have emphatically highlighted the constitutional obligation cast upon the government to lend paramountcy to the safety and wellbeing of the citizenry. In the Paschim Banga Khet Mazdoor Samity & Others case, the Supreme Court emphasised that as a welfare state, the improvement of public health is a primary duty, hence, it is obligated to ...

Arbitrability Of Fraud Disputes

Arbitration is convenient and time efficient. It is the preferred way for resolution of disputes outside court for parties who do not want to opt for litigation. A surge in commercial disputes has led the corporate sector to have their matters adjudicated by arbitrators rather than in open courts. However, it is not immune from issues. One question which hinders the process of arbitration in India is whether Frauds are arbitrable under the Arbitration & Conciliation Act, 1996...

Law On Reels : Krammer v. Krammer

" Dear Billy, sometimes in the world daddies leave and mommies have to raise their little boys but sometimes mommies leave too, and daddies have to bring up their little boys" These heart wrenching words are from the Dear John letter which Joanna Krammer writes to her five-year-old son Billy whom she chooses to abandon. Krammer v. Krammer is a 1979 classic legal drama film directed by Robert Benton starring Meryl Streep and Dustin Hoffman in lead roles. The film follows the story of a...

Rethinking Abortion In India: A Human Rights Conversation

The issue of abortion has gained particular momentum in the past few months with two interesting developments in very different parts of the world- the passage of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) (Amendment) Bill 2020 in the Rajya Sabha (Upper House) in India and the recent passage of the Argentinian abortion bill, that legalises abortions up to the 14th week of pregnancy. While the MTP (Amendment) Bill 2020 extends the existing time period within which abortion can be...

Arbitration Court Reckoner : March 2021

By way of the present column, an attempt is made to briefly review the salutary judgments pronounced by the Courts in the month of March 2021 under the Arbitration & Conciliation Act, 1996 (hereinafter referred to as the 'Act'). That while as many judgments as possible are sought to be reviewed, owing to the limited column space, some judgments would invariably be left out. That also while an attempt is made to include and review some judgments of various other High Courts, the...

Justice Beyond Prejudice: Need Of Awakening Before It Gets Too Late

"There is nothing more frightful than ignorance in action" - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. There are civilizations across the world, which may, though, profess themselves to be progressive; yet, their norms may not always illustrate a liberal thought process. In fact, it is often observed that the steering forces of such societies are certain congenital dogmas and philosophies, mostly favoring the members who comprise a majority. Resultantly, constricted approach towards anything...