Coronavirus And The Constitution – II: Household Staff And Employment Protection: Obligations, Not Charity

Over the last few days, concerns have been voiced over workers in India's informal sector and how restrictions imposed by the government due to covid-19 might impact them. In his address to the nation, the Prime Minister pleaded with citizens that they continue to pay their employees who would suffer disproportionately as a result of the ongoing situation. Gautam Bhatia has recently written on the rights of employees to a safe working environment under the constitutional framework (in...

COVID 19 And Patent - A Cautious Note

COVID -19 is now over 198 countries with a reported case of 492,465 and mounting day by day. WHO has declared the COVID 19 as pandemic. From a public health issue it is now driving the global economy into a recession. The Chief of International Monetary Fund stated that the rescission is started. Currently there is no vaccine for COVID-19 and a new vaccine is still at least another 12-18 months away for public use. Many a different treatment options have been proposed and some older...

MTP (Amendment) Bill 2020 : Still A Long Way To Go In Recognizing Women's Autonomy

The Lok Sabha passed the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Bill, 2020 on 17th March 2020 to amend section 3 of MTP Act, 1971. In its Statement of Objects and Reasons, the Bill identifies that with the advancement of medical technology there is a scope to increase the upper gestational limit for terminating pregnancies, which up till now stood at twenty weeks, but with the passing of the Bill, would stand at twenty-four weeks. The Bill does away with the anachronistic lower limit of twelve...

Courts Adopting Video Conferencing : A Welcome Change

Covid-19 has been able to get cases across courts all over India adjourned for the next few weeks. Rightly so, the court crowd is an easy target for the monstrous corona virus. To contain its spread, courts all over the World are diverting courthouse traffic to virtual courts using remote video technology. In India, the Supreme Court is spearheading this change, with many High Courts following suit. It is arguable whether this technological breakthrough would have been introduced if not for...

Situating Death Penalty Discourse Beyond Abolition-Retention Discourse

A sufficiently just and analytically coherent system of criminal law is an unrealistic expectation- Allen NorrieAs was expected, the hanging of the convicts in Nirbhaya gang rape case has evoked sharp reactions and criticism from several quarters including the Amnesty International, the International Commission of Jurists and the United Nations. The same has reignited the debate on the tenability of death penalty in the modern society. On the other hand, the award of death penalty in the...

NCLAT Bench Chennai - Some FAQ's

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) in a very relevant measure has announced the setting up of a Bench of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) Bench at Chennai a few days ago. This was done by the Ministry's notification dated 13th March 2020, notifying this constitution of a NCLAT Bench at Chennai vide its notification with Ref No. MCA N/No/S.O. 1060(E). The first NCLAT Bench is situated at Delhi and has been functional for about three years. This move has been by and...

Protection Of Interests Of Suppliers Of Goods And Services To Corporate Debtor Under Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process

Scope of the Study: The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (Hereinafter referred to as "the Code") required the Resolution Professional to manage operations of the corporate debtor as a going concern during corporate insolvency resolution process[1] (Hereinafter referred to as "CIRP"). Receipt of supply of goods and services is imperative to maintain the corporate debtor as a going concern during CIRP. The business risk taken by such suppliers should be adequately protected. This...

CAA, Coronavirus, And Civil Rights At The Bar Of The High Courts

Amidst the continuing fall-out of the CAA/NRC/NPR protests, and the new fall-out of Covid-19, some of India's High Courts have delivered admirable judgments protecting civil rights in fraught times. In Kamil Siedczynski v Union of India, a single-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court set aside a "Leave India Notice" ["LIN"] issued by the government to the Petitioner, who was a Polish student studying in India. The ostensible basis of the Notice – issued under Section 3(2)(c) of the Foreigners...

Their Lordships Are "Also Humans"! : Justice Anand Venkatesh

Mental Health in common parlance includes our emotional, psychological and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel and act. It also determines how we handle stress, relate to others and make choices. Mental health is important at every stage of life. Positive mental health allows people to realize their potential at its fullest capacity, cope with the stresses of life, work productively and make meaningful contributions to the community. Judges, in particular, undertake the difficult...

Shreya Singhal v. Union Of India's Blindspot: Website Blocking

Shreya Singhal v. Union of India is perhaps best known for striking down Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 ('IT Act') as unconstitutional. In Part one of this three part series commemorating five years of the judgement, we focused on the Supreme Court's decision to strike down Section 66A as unconstitutional. However, in the same judgement, the Supreme Court also upheld the constitutionality of another tool of web censorship under the IT Act: Section 69A and the accompanying...

Raising Of IBC Threshold : Retrospective Or Prospective?

On 24th March 2020, a press conference was held by the Union Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitaraman, at which she set out various decisions that were to be taken by the Government to combat the economic crises that has arisen due to the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the decisions was to raise the threshold of loan default amounts that could trigger insolvency proceedings from Rs. 1 Lakh to Rs. 1 Crore.[1] The Finance Minister also stated that the government was "considering the suspension of...

Justice In The Time Of Covid-19: First-Hand Experience Of Videoconferencing At Supreme Court

After a self-imposed quarantine of more than 10 days, it was rather exciting to see the cause list on the website of the Supreme Court which showed that my matter was listed at 3 PM on 27.03.2020.What is rather commendable is that in times of complete lockdown due to Covid-19, the Apex Court has evolved an extra-ordinary process to ensure the listing and hearing of urgent matters. The method to get the matter listed is simple and, in my experience, far easier than getting the matter listed...