Coordinating Judgements: Ensuring Certainty In The Law

Introduction On 19th June, a 3-judge bench of the Supreme Court headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan pronounced judgement in S. Kasi v. State through the Inspector of Police("S. Kasi"). The case involved a criminal appeal against the judgment passed by the Learned Single Judge of Madras High Court sitting at the Madurai bench dated 11.05.2020 in Crl.O.P.(MD) No.5296 of 2020. The Appellant had moved the High Court praying for grant of default bail as per Section 167(2) of the Code of...

Italian Marines-Enrica Lexie Case : Deciphering PCA Award In 'The Italian Republic v The Republic Of India'

Let us weigh in the gains and losses for India, as best as they can be discerned from the 'Extracts for Advance Publication' which has been released on July 2 by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the case between Italy and India with respect to the Enrica Lexie case. Perhaps that will enable us to decide whether we should celebrate the Award or whether we should seriously ponder over the legal course of action to be taken, so as to secure our fishing folk from similar ignominies in the...

Ethical Lawyering: An Overview

'Ethics' is the activity of man directed to secure the inner perfection of his own personality' – Albert Schweitzer – 20th Century Theologian and a Polymath. The above quote and the ethical caption may appear to be an aberration in today's context, as the whole world is desperately fighting for just survival, yet in these lugubrious times, it is worthwhile to ruminate over the duties and responsibilities of the lawyer community towards their clients, the institution, ...

Undermining Environmental Protection From Within: The Draft EIA Notification 2020

"Goals for conserving and sustainably using nature and achieving sustainability cannot be met by current trajectories, and goals for 2030 and beyond may only be achieved through transformative changes across economic, social, political and technological factors." -Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, 2019 The Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Notifications were enacted by the Central Government in exercise of powers under Section 3(1)...

Reminiscing Justice Protik Prakash Banerjee

Life is uncertain, and death is the ultimate truth. We cannot ward off this truth even if it is before time. Justice Protik Prakash Banerjee is no more with us today, which we are finding difficult to accept, but that is the destiny, and we have to accept it.Calcutta Boy's School, Class XII, 1988Justice Banerjee was born on the 1st June of 1969, illuminating the house of Senior Advocate Mr. Mukul Prokash Banerjee and Advocate Mrs. Lekha Banerjee. He did his primary schooling at Calcutta...

Decriminalisation Of Dishonour Of Cheque- A Right Initiative?

Introduction: The Ministry of Finance ("Finance Ministry"), Government of India has recently floated a proposal dated June 08, 2020, inter alia, to decriminalise the offence of dishonor of cheque which is punishable under section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 ("NIA"). The main reasons, inter alia, provided by the Finance Ministry in support of decriminalising the said offence are that it will attract investments both from domestic and foreign investors; help in doing ...

Settlement And Commitment: A New Way Forward

INTRODUCTION The need for a legislation to ensure fair competition in the Indian market became even more pronounced due to the liberalisation and privatisation of the early 1990s. The enactment of Competition Act in 2002 replaced The Monopolistic and Restrictive Trade Practises Act, 1969 and the Act has seen some amendments since. Recently, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs has proposed amendments to the Competition Act and draft bill has been put up for public comments. The...

Experimenting With The Limited Physical Hearing Of Supreme Court

For the past 3 months, the Supreme Court has stopped the physical hearing in the Courts. The Court has been functioning through Video Conferencing instead. The earnest desire of the Court to be available for the dispensation of justice is clearly reflected through the arrangements for video conferencing. However, by and large the feedback that is available from the Advocates is that most of them, in fact almost all, are not satisfied with the hearing through video conferencing. The ...

Democracies Can Die – In Broad Daylight Too!

Democracy is not a mere once-in-5-years exercise of getting inked on the finger. It is about an alert citizenry staying well-informed, engaging with one another to understand the problems and continuously participating in building opinions and engaging with policy making.

Courtroom Hearings – Part Of The 'Basic Structure' ?

A moniker most precious to our hearts, is the coveted 'Basic Structure', which was coined during the hearings of India's most celebrated decisions of Kesavananda Bharti; it was done so, not on 13 laptops but on a single bench with 13 seats in a single courtroom, and arguments not advanced from Ipads but by doyens of the profession over 2 podiums, spread few feet apart and from the bench, thundering down the law by the wit of their minds and the sweat of their brow. If only we could turn...

Marital Rape- Has The Law In India Made Sufficient Progress?

The issue of marital rape has perplexed the law makers and the society alike, since time immemorial, across the world. Marital rape was eventually criminalized in most of the countries as they realized that sexual intercourse within a marriage cannot be regarded as a right of a spouse. As per a Report published by India Today Web Desk on 12.03.2016, India is one of the 36 countries where marital rape is not criminalized as on date. We are in the company of nations like Pakistan, ...

POSH Act 2013 : Are There Legislative Gaps Which Need To Be Bridged?

This write up is written in response to the article published here namely Sexual Harassment At The Workplace – Bridging The Legislative Gap For A Better Tomorrow by Riddhika Girimala Shetty and Pranshu Bhutra on 16 Jun 2020, 1) Currently, the Act is only restricted to complaints of sexual harassment of an aggrieved woman. There is no dedicated legislative mechanism available for sexual harassment faced by men and most importantly transgenders, who continue to be unfortunate objects of...