Articles
Jammu And Kashmir: Dubious Call Of Integration
The abolition of Article 370 led to dubious drum beating about final integration of Kashmir into India. In the year 1954 when the Presidential Order (1954) was issued comprehensively determining the extent of Union control over Kashmir, the same kind of trumpet blowing occurred. I call it drum beating and trumpet blowing as I find it distasteful. There was again a heated debate, based on no evidence at all, about who supported what in terms of merger of the States. Patel was projected as the...
Electronic Cigarettes Ordinance- A Peculiar Case of Legislative Mismatch
By putting curbs on the commercial activity pertaining to electronic cigarettes and leaving consumers/users out of its purview, the Ordinance militates against the principle of reasonable classification and is open to challenge under Article 14.
Justice Kureshi Saga : Death Knell For Independence Of Judiciary
Late on Friday night, a resolution passed on September 5 by the Supreme Court Collegium was uploaded on the court's website. Through the resolution, the Collegium, headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, modified the recommendation it had made on May 10 to the central government to appoint Justice Akil Abdulhamid Kureshi as the Chief Justice of Madhya Pradesh High Court to now appoint him as Tripura High Court's Chief Justice. Though no reason was given for this sudden modification, it...
"The Darker Side Of Sunlight"-Court Reporting In The New Age
Recently, while hearing a PIL to regulate cosmetic clinics, a High Court judge made an observation, in a lighter vein, about the centrality of such clinics to the life of many, only to make a quick retraction saying that "what ever we say gets published in the press!" The Supreme Court has also indicated it would consider a request to record/broadcast the Ayodhya Case proceedings. In the age of 24X7 news and hyper active social media, as courts mull over whether live-streaming of proceedings...
Resource Efficiency-A Need Of The Hour
When the last tree is cut down, the last fish eaten and the last stream poisoned, we will realize that we cannot eat money. It is interesting in this light to look at the observations made on the Earth Overshoot Day which has been taken as a reference point to understand the extent of natural resources we humans can exploit in a given year. The Earth Overshoot Day for 2019 was on 29th July which is a month before what it was the last year. In the context of such observations, the Central...
Why Separation Of Powers In India Is Like Love
Until the 16th of September, 2019, we believed that there were some fundamental principles that underlay our constitutional system. These principles were as fundamental as breath and as natural. We took them for granted. For example:Fundamental rights cannot be infringed in the absence of law (Kharak Singh v State of UP).If there exists a law, that law must be promulgated publicly, so that citizens may know what it says, and know the basis on which fundamental rights are being restricted. Secret...
J&K Petitions : When SC Feels Unburdened By The Constitution
"The State of Jammu & Kashmir, keeping in mind the national interest and internal security, shall make all endeavours to ensure that normal life is restored in Kashmir; people have access to healthcare facilities and schools, colleges and other educational institutions and public transport functions and operates normally. All forms of communication, subject to overriding consideration of national security, shall be normalized, if required on a selective basis, particularly for ...
Arbitrability Of Fraud: A Critique Of India's Problematic Jurisprudence
The issue relating to arbitrability of fraud has a chequered judicial past in Indian courts and the judicial pronouncements have not settled the controversy at rest. The decisions on this subject matter that are germane for a clear understanding are N. Radhakrishnan v. Maestro Engineers & Ors,[1] Swiss Timing Limited v. Commonwealth Games 2010 Org Committee,[2] World Sport Group Limited v. MSM Satellite,[3] Booz Allen & Hamilton Inc v. SBI Home Finance Limited & Ors,[4] ...
The Effect Of Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019 On Ola And Uber
With the progress in technology and the advent of cab-aggregator platforms such as Ola and Uber in India, an amendment to the Motor Vehicles Act was long due. The Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2019 ("2019 Amendment") has amended Section 93 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 ("Principal Act") by adding the term "aggregator" to the existent terms "agent" and "canvasser" to the section. The term "aggregator" has been defined as "a digital intermediary or marketplace for a passenger to connect...