Articles
Can Government Protect Migrants From Eviction?
Across the world, countries and governments have adopted social distancing as an important measure to control the community transmission of COVID-19. In India, the Union Government, using powers under Disaster Management Act 2005, implemented a number of steps to shut down commercial and non-essential activities for a period of three weeks across the country, starting from 24 March 2020, effectively imposing a lock down. While this was meant to facilitate social distancing, large numbers...
My Lords Have Offered Us Eden, But Will We Take It?
As the initial excitement of having absolutely nothing to do slowly started turning into a surprising and unexpected want to go back to the ways of the practise, I realized that it may never be the same again, and shouldn't. The Pandemic has done more for the environment than any PIL or Judge could, despite trying. We are saving on paper more than ever, thousands of lawyers aren't having to travel all over courts like they do every morning and frivolous petitions, which make up a large chunk of...
Court Management Post-COVID 19
The present circumstances propelled by a worldwide health emergency has necessitated all in the justice delivery system to look into 'better' use of technology to ensure administration of justice even at an adverse time , bearing in mind that maintenance of law and order by Courts is an equally essential service for smooth functioning of a nation. The Courts all across India have certainly risen up to the occasion to deal with the sudden vaccum created by the need for an immediate lockdown in...
Coronavirus And Constitution: The Supreme Court's Free Testing Order
The coronavirus pandemic is a question of public health, but it is also a question of equality. Crucial dimensions of this crisis will be missed if it is framed only as a question of public health. The migrant labour issue – discussed in the last post – presents this starkly, but so does the issue of testing. In an interim order passed yesterday, a Supreme Court bench of Ashok Bhushan and S. Ravindra Bhat JJ directed that testing for Covid-19 in India would be free. The order was subjected to...
Supreme Court Order On Free Corona Testing: A Well Balanced, Fair and Equitable Order
Controversy over the order of the Supreme Court for free testing by private labs has raised some controversy. Can the Supreme Court issue such an order which is in the nature of a policy direction? Should the Supreme Court have interfered at all? Is the nature of direction appropriate? The petition was a PIL. COPY had been served on the Solicitor General but no counter affidavit had been filed. The private labs were not made a party and direction against them was ex parte. The direction is of a...
Coronavirus And The Constitution – VI: On The Freedom Of Movement
Earlier on this blog, I had pointed out that the statutory guidelines issued under the National Disaster Management Act do not ban individual movement; nor is individual movement banned under regulations passed by the several states under the Epidemic Diseases Act or by Magistrates under Section 144 of the CrPC. Consequently, while there exists a "lockdown" – in the sense of a general closure of shops and public spaces, and a ban on public gatherings – there does not exist a "curfew" (i.e.,...
Sulamérica's Case And The Three-Stage Inquiry To Determine The Law Of Arbitration: Recent Developments & The Divergent Indian Approach (Part I)
Introduction The Indian jurisprudence on the choice of the law of arbitration has evolved through various judicial pronouncements of the Supreme Court of India. The Supreme Court of India has cited approvingly in BALCO's Case[1] and several later judgments[2], the judgments delivered by Lord Justice Longmore in C v. D[3] and Mr. Justice Cooke in Sulamérica Cia Nacional de Seguros SA v. Enesa Engelharia SA[4], to affirm the view that where there is no express choice of the law for the...
China Shadow On World After Corona
American call the corona virus a Wuhan or China virus. China says it was planted by USA military. The world knows that the virus first showed up in Wuhan prefecture of Hubei province in China. From their it was carried to Japan, Korea, middle east., Australia, South America, Europe and USA. Today practically the whole world including India is affected by it. What began from the wet market in Wuhan has become a pandemic. Countries are battling corona with different degrees of control and...
At What Stage Is Sanction Required Within The Contours Of Section 188, Criminal Procedure Code, 1973?
Every so often Section 188 of Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 has attracted fragmentary interpretations from the Courts in India. For instance, in the case of Om Hemrajani v State of Uttar Pradesh [(2005) 1 SCC 617], the Apex Court inter alia interpreted the expression "at which he may be found" under Section 188 and held that a victim may come to India and approach any court convenient to him and file complaint in respect of offence committed abroad by an Indian. In the Italian Marines...
Live Streaming Of Hearing During COVID 19: Kerala HC And Justice Gautam Patel Of Bombay HC Lead The Way
Supreme Court of India started with video conferencing on 27.03.2020. Close on the heels of the Supreme Court, the Kerala High Court started hearings through video conferencing since 30th March. [1]The difference however was that the hearings of the Supreme Court were highly guarded and permitted the participation only of the advocate on record of a particular matter listed before the Hon'ble Court. The cause list clearly indicated that if the video conferencing link is shared with...
Does The Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 Need An Overhaul?
The law that is at the center stage of our life and times today is not the GST Act, not the IBC, not even the Constitution. Its the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 ("the Act"), an Act that the practicing lawyers knew little about till recently, is not taught in law schools, not important enough to find a place in a handy compilation of Central Civil Acts. But today, this is the Act to go to. By now, we know that it's an as short an act as it can be, of barely five sections (effectively,...