The Supreme Court Should Go Back To Doing What It Is Designed To Do By Our Constitution

In a village brawl a village elder ends the brawl by advising withdrawal from the ego fight and to let the by-gones be by-gones. Supreme Court tried to be that wise old elder unsuccessfully and drew a huge flack. Basically it is constitutionally unsuitable for such a role. However whether or not it was appropriate for it to do so, it halted the implementation of the Farm laws indefinitely. It constituted a 4 member Committee of experts in the field, to hear the grievances of the farmers and...

The Collegium & Open Secrets

Unlike the British and American Constitution, the Indian Constitution provided for a method of appointment that neither gives the executive absolute authority (which the British model does) nor does it permit the Parliament to have any role in the appointment (American model of appointment) that involves a possibility of subjecting judicial appointments to political pressure. The text of the Constitution postulated a consultative and participatory process which unfortunately has not been...

'The Wages Of Struggle : Putting Impunity First' - Dr Upendra Baxi's Talk On Kannabiran Memorial Lectures

[This lecture, delivered on 1st February 2021, was the Concluding Lecture of the KG Kannabiran Lectures on Law, Justice and Human Rights – organised by the family of KG Kannabiran (1929-2010) to celebrate his life, his work and its futures]. 1. Impunity, Democide, Constitutionalism I wish I had met with KG Kannabiran (fondly known to his family and friends as Kanna) more often than I did, so that I could have learnt and unlearned a lot. I have indeed met more...

"The Supreme Court's E-committee Can Enable Wider Access to Legal Resources: SCRs and ILRs, Low Hanging Fruit?"

As chairperson of the Supreme Court's e-committee, Chandrachud J has presided over a major drive to digitise court records and hearings. In public address, he has spoken about how technology can be "extraordinarily enabling and empowering for young lawyers" and has committed to developing technologies that would make justice delivery more inclusive. Supreme Court judgements are the stock-in-trade of lawyers. However, private databases that carry the judgements and that are accepted by...

Defending Human Rights, Challenging State Impunity : Henri Tiphagne's Talk At Kannabiran Lecture

[This lecture was delivered on 18 January 2021 as part of the KG Kannabiran Lectures on Law, Justice and Human Rights – organised by the family of KG Kannabiran (1929-2010) to celebrate his life, his work and its futures]. Abstract: Kanna advanced the argument that there should not be any form of prior sanction for prosecuting a policeman in a Human Rights Court. The fact that there is the establishment of a Human Rights Court at the district level under the protection of Human Rights...

Law, Liberty And The Lack Of Urgency In Dealing With Habeas Corpus Petitions By The Jammu & Kashmir High Court

Liberty is not a privilege, but a fundamental right guaranteed to all citizens under our Constitution. The High Courts and the Supreme Court are guardians of this right against State excesses. I have reviewed the functioning of the Jammu & Kashmir High Court vis-à-vis its adjudication of Habeas Corpus petitions filed before it in 2019. An evaluation of the data available on the High Court's website as on January 18, 2021, paints a rather regrettable picture of the performance of the...

CSR Amendment Rules, 2021: A New Paradigm

The concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (hereinafter referred as CSR) is known for its philanthropic nature. The term has its traces from the pre-independence era when Mahatma Gandhi urged rich industrialists to contribute their share of wealth towards poor and marginalized sections. Thus, CSR acts as an ethical obligation on the companies to utilize their resources in addressing the needs of society and to ensure the companies' sustainability in the long run. With the passage and...

Gujarat Land Grabbing (Prohibition) Act, 2020- Slapdash Drafting, Reflects Lack Of Vision And Unconstitutional

The Gujarat Land Grabbing (Prohibition) Act, 2020 (Hereafter, referred to as "the Act" for convenience) has been enacted by the Government of Gujarat by notifying the same in the Gujarat government Gazette/extraordinary volume LXI dated 09/10/2020 and the same has been brought into force from 29/08/2020. From the reading of the Act, it is clear that it is a special law providing civil and criminal remedies and liabilities under one roof with regard to the act of land grabbing. It provides ...

Victim Restitution- A Vanishing Point In Criminology

"Victimology must find fulfillment not through barbarity but by compulsory recoupment by the wrongdoer of the damage inflicted, not by giving more pain to the offender but by lessening the loss of the forlorn." - Krishna Iyer J. in Maru Ram & Ors. v. Union of India & Ors[1]. The traditional methods of criminology have been unsuccessful in furthering the aims of criminal justice. A shift from retribution to restitution began in the mid-1960s and gained momentum in the following...

The Helpless Custodians!

Lately, there has been public distress about policing which calls for strong police reforms. The "2019 Data on Police Organization by Bureau of Police Research & Development" suggests that there is a shortage of policing resources and tools, and thus, to tackle the same, India not only needs an augmentation of budget and grants, but also an evaluated resourcing. This blog employs the latest government data and survey reports by civil societies and research groups, to evaluate the ...

International Best Practices For Whistle-Blowers: What India Can Adopt?

Whistleblowing is an act whereby an individual discloses any unethical, illegal or unauthorised act of an individual to the public at large. The RTI Act, 2005 has come to be as 'twin sister' of whistleblowing. The Act has been used effectively to expose off the illegal activities. Much of the information that comes out through this is related to development projects, illegal mining, land acquisitions, welfare schemes, money laundering, etc. But, the large number of whistle-blowers has to...

Does Election Commission Possess The Power To De-Register A Political Party

In India, not every association requires to get itself registered by the Election Commission. Only an association or body of individual citizens of India referring to itself as a political party and intending to avail itself of the provisions of Part-IV-A which relates to registration of political parties of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, is required to get itself registered with the Election Commission of India. Part-IV-A of the Representation of the People Act contains...