The Designs Act Conundrum : Who Should Decide The Validity Of A Registered Design - High Court Or The Controller ?

Introduction: As a person creates, innovates or invents, Intellectual property rights step in to acknowledge, encourage and protect the creator, innovator or inventor of his rights in the said product who could also be called either as the owner or proprietor of the said product. The intellectual property laws have been brought into force for the owner of the product to apply, register and enforce his/her rights and to restrain others either to use or imitate without prior permission...

False Promise To Marry- A Case Study Of Law Of Rape

a) Introduction When it comes to the law relating to Rape, it is clear in the cases of lack of consent for sexual intercourse viz. 'no means no'. However, the situation gets tricky when the courts have to examine cases when there is consent of prosecutrix but such consent is contended to be no consent, in other words, a case where 'yes' actually means 'no'. This article examines the law relating to offense of rape in cases where consent for sexual intercourse was obtained on a false...

Mazdur : Suspension of Labour Laws

Mai mazdur hun. Mere pas mere shram ke alava kuch nhi hai (I am a labourer. Apart from my labour, I don't have anything else with me). I was born to labour. Labour in fields ; labour in factories ; labour in shops, restaurants, homes, schools, construction works, railways, metro, etc; labour to clean drains, build roads, flyovers, and so many services. Indian economy cannot function without my labour. The country knows this. I am called Vishwakarma. Some say I am Seshnag and the world hinges on...

What True Justice Should Be Like

There is a Latin maxim ' Dura lex, sed lex ', which means ' The law is hard, but it is the law '.This maxim can be illustrated by a historical example.In the South Indian sultanate of Bijapur there was a Sultan whose son, the Crown Prince ( wali ahad ) had committed the crime of raping a poor girl.When the Sultan heard of this he made enquiries and found the allegation to be true. He then ordered his son to be given 100 lashes as punishment.When the 90th lash was given the son died. Then the...

A Case Of Ultra Vires Orders: Section 144 CrPC And Delhi Police Act

In the last few months various news platforms have reported instances where the State has invoked Section 144 of Cr.P.C. While, the section has been used in common parlance by professionals and laymen, its very nature has barely been explained during news reporting. It is common belief that Section 144 restricts gathering of inviduals. However, it actually provides wide powers to wide powers to magistrates cases requiring urgent measures. The use of this provision was seen in January...

Role of Facilitation Council Under MSMED Act – A 'Conciliator' Or An 'Arbitrator'?

Introduction: Since the implementation of The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Act, 2006 ["MSMED Act"], which is a special Act[i], there has always been a controversy as to whether the 'Facilitation Council' can act as both - a 'conciliator' as well as an 'arbitrator', when disputes are referred to it under Section 18(1) thereof. There are divergent views of the High Courts on this very issue and till date, there is no definite answer. The...

Is India Hasmukh Enough?

Hasmukh, a show streaming on Netflix starring Vir Das has been in the news due to the legal controversy it has found itself in. Vir Das plays the titular character, a stand up comic in the show, who derives his content by murdering 'evil' persons. One such murder happens to be of a lawyer who has duped him. His set, right after the incident labels lawyers as thieves and scoundrels. It states that "these keepers of law shall never be arrested since they rape with their pen" and ends with "people...

SC Could've Been More Pro-active To Come To The Rescue Of Poor Migrants

The pandemic that we all have come to know as Corona or Covid-19 is here to stay for some more time; at least that is what seems to be the near-unanimous view of experts. While a vaccine for the deadly virus will eventually be found, the cause for worry, apart from mounting deaths and positive cases, is the absence of any cohesive, concrete and viable plan by the Central Government and State governments for the smooth and stress free travel of the already harassed migrant labour back...

Hazardous History From Bhoposhima To Vishakha: Destroying The Poor And Rule Of Law

V R Krishna Iyer, legendary justice has described Bhopal catastrophe as 'Bhoposhima'[1]. It is not less serious than Hiroshima – both the man-made-disasters. Can the 'rule of law' make the original owner of the LG Polymers, a multi-nationa,l vicariously liable according principle of absolute liability? Whether criminal liability for causing culpable homicide of 11 lives and attempting to end lives of 25 persons besides injuring the flora and fauna and ecology around Visakhapatnam? ...

Is Arbitration A Never-Ending Merry-Go-Round?

In McDermott International Inc. versus Burn Standard Co. Ltd.1, the Supreme Court in some manner without adequate diagnosis, explanation or reasoning held – "The court cannot correct errors of the arbitrators. It can only quash the award leaving the parties free to begin the arbitration again if it is desired." Consequently, a few pertinent questions arise - i) What is the role of a Court while deciding objections against an Award under Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act,...

Pre-Litigation Mediation, Empowerment And Enforcement Of Settlements

Introduction Pre-litigation mediation is arguably the most empowering method of dispute resolution. Mediation, as a mode of Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) is a voluntary process, where the parties to a dispute have an opportunity to decide the terms of mutual settlement, with the assistance of a neutral called the 'Mediator'. The Mediator facilitates in identifying issues, in reducing misunderstandings, clarifying priorities and exploring areas of compromise, while not imposing any...

The Scales of Justice Should Be Tilted In Favour Of The Poor

Justice Deepak Gupta who retired from the Supreme Court recently in his farewell speech lamented that the Indian judicial system today favours the rich, and is weighted against the poor, when a real judicial system should be the other way around, and should be weighted in favour of the poor, because it is the poor who need protection.In this connection I may refer to a historical incident narrated in the Rajtarangani, the famous 12th Century Sanskrit treatise by the Kashmiri historian Kalhan,...