Decriminalization Of Dishonour Of Cheque And Fundamentals About Section 138 Of The N.I Act, 1881

The outbreak of the novel COVID-19 has an impact on almost all the sectors across the globe and economy being no exception. The pandemic is causing ripping effect on various sectors of Indian economy as well. To mitigate the effect of this pandemic on the economy, the Central Government announced several important relief measures in the areas of Income Tax, GST, Customs and Central Excise, and Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code, with the aim to boost the economy. One such measure which the...

Breakdown Of Police – Public Relations And How Community Policing May Be A Solution

Killing of George Floyd by police officers of Minneapolis, USA has triggered massive world – wide protests. The question of racial inequality, without doubt, is the central narrative but what it has also laid bare is the callous attitude of police towards general public. A complete lack of apathy and use of brute force was in front of the whole world to witness. India is no stranger to police brutalities. In the past few months, police has become much maligned due to their handling of...

Central Administrative Tribunal's Contempt: Can The High Court Interfere?

Service Matters are evergreen and abundant in Indian litigation. Same is reflected by the pendency of service matters before not only the Administrative Tribunals but also in the High Courts across the nation. One of the leading judgments pertaining to the powers of Tribunals constituted either under Article 323A or under Article 323B is certainly L. Chandra Kumar Vs Union Of India And Others (1997) 3 SCC 261. What is largely understood by the aforesaid judgment is that by virtue of...

Commercial Courts Act, 2015 "An Overview"

This Act came into force with effect from 23rd Day of October, 2015, and further amended on 3rd May, 2018, with primary objective of adjudication of disputes falling under this Act in a swift time bound manner and lesser hassles to the litigating parties and by introducing minimal interference by the higher courts, when the dispute is pending before the Commercial Court constituted under this Act. To generate confidence of the parties entering into commercial agreement/transactions in...

Finding Mentorship In The Legal Profession

One of the side effects of the Covid-19 lockdown is the deluge of webinars being hosted on a variety of legal subjects. This spurt in discussion and mentorship in the legal profession is undoubtedly seasonal and is unlikely to continue when the lockdown eases. When everyone becomes busy again, young lawyers would need to actively seek out mentorship rather than it being offered to them gratuitously. Over the past 15 years, first as a law student and then as a lawyer, I have learnt a little about...

IBC (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020: A Pandemic Of Bad Drafting

Much awaited amendment has been made in IBC by an Ordinance promulgated on 5th June, 2020. It is not happily worded, and within a short span of time we have seen many conflicting interpretations. Two Sections, viz. 10A and 66(3) have been incorporated in the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016. The arrangement of expressions in the newly-inserted Section 10A is very poor, creating the unwanted confusion, compelling me to name it "A Pandemic of Bad Drafting". The main part of Section...

Can Jurisdictional Objection Be Raised At Any Stage Of The Arbitration Proceeding? - A Legal Conundrum

Section 16(2) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 [hereinafter "the Act"] mandates that a plea that the Arbitral Tribunal does not have jurisdiction shall not be raised later than the submission of the statement of defence. However, the Arbitral Tribunal may admit a later plea on jurisdiction if it considers the delay is justified [Section 16(4) of the Act]. Additionally, Section 4 of the Act states that a party who knows that any provision from which the parties may derogate,...

ICLU And Law Students Work Together For Migrants

According to the census of 2011, there are 454 million migrants. The Economic Survey shows that migration within India continued to swell manifold and on average, migration within states is around four times that across states. When the pandemic engulfed the world, and a nationwide lockdown was put in place, the announcement of the deferral of interstate transportation and inter-district transportation came as shock to the migrant population who had left their homes in search of decent...

Drafting An Effective Arbitration Clause: Challenges And The Way Forward

"No party can be allowed to take advantage of inartistic drafting of arbitration clause in any agreement as long as clear intention of parties to go for arbitration in case of any future disputes is evident from the agreement and material on record including surrounding circumstances." – [VISA International Ltd. v. Continental Resources (USA) Ltd (Arbitration Petition No. 16 of 2007)] In spite of these clear observations by the Supreme Court, it is not uncommon to see parties taking...

The Naming Saga In Andhra Pradesh

As the descendants of colonialism and monarchies, we are quite familiar with the practice of naming the institutions, buildings, important roads in the memory of the Kings and Queens who ruled us. The Victoria memorial, King George hospitals, Nizam College, Krishna Raja market, Maharaja's colleges etc. are etched into our memories. At least here, we can console ourselves by saying that it is a practice in a monarchy. But, what if the practice of naming after the incumbent heads of the...

Baghjan Fire Disaster: A Case Of Criminal Negligence

The Oil India Limited (OIL) announced on 20 May 2020 that the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF) had given it clearance for extension drilling and testing of hydrocarbons in seven locations under Dibru Saikhowa National Park area and North-West of Baghjan in the Tinsukia district of Assam. In less than a week, there was a blowout in its oil well in Bhaghjan 5. The unchecked leakage led to a huge fire in the oil well on 9 June 2020, killing two fire fighters. Nearly...

Payment Of Wages And Judicial Evasion In A Pandemic

Two days ago, on this blog, we discussed the pending challenge before the Supreme Court to the government's directions requiring employers to pay wages to their workers during the nationwide lockdown imposed under the Disaster Management Act. At the time, the matter had been reserved for orders; today, the Supreme Court passed an order that can only be described as bizarre: it refused to rule on the legal issues before it, postponed arguments to the end of July (seven weeks from now), directed...