Articles
Two Be Or Not Two Be: Section 33(7) Of Representation Of Peoples Act 1951
Recently there has been news about Congress President Rahul Gandhi considering Wayanad as a second seat to contest Lok Sabha polls. Contesting elections from more than one seat is not new in the Indian scenario. Indira Gandhi contested the 1980 general elections from Medak and Rae Bareli, Sonia Gandhi contested from Amethi and Bellary in 1999. More recently, the current Prime Minister Narendra Modi contested the 2014 elections from Vadodara and Varanasi. The list incorporates various other...
SC's RBI Circular judgment: A Treatise On Interpretation Of Statutes
The recent Supreme Court judgment on the RBI circular dated 12th February 2018 is a treatise on the subject of interpretation of statutes. The judgment, sound on its reasoning, struck down the circular issued by RBI through which it had asked the lenders to institute a board-approved policy for the resolution of stressed assets. The circular which was struck down gave defaulting companies with debts over INR 2,000 crores and above a period of 180 days to agree on a resolution plan with lenders...
Speeches And Elections In India: What Can The Electoral Candidates Not Say?
India, the world's largest democracy shall be witnessing elections for the parliament shortly. The election season in India has candidates across political parties, making passionate speeches to convince the voters to choose them over their rivals. The speeches range from issues of progress, living standards and at times race, religion, caste etc. A common misconception however, exists that electoral candidates have absolute freedom over the content of their speeches. In a country as diverse as...
Evolution Of The Model Code Of Conduct
The Election commission of India, recently, i.e. in March, announced the Model Code of Conduct, 2019 for the upcoming General Assembly Elections. Since we are not faraway form general election, I make an attempt to explain the historical evolution of the Model code of conduct, the challenges faced regarding its legality and the key highlights of the 2019 Model Code of Conduct (hereinafter referred to as 'MCC'). HISTORY OF THE MODEL CODE OF CONDUCT According to a Special release of the...
How Inclusive And Diverse Jamia Millia Islamia Is? – Jamia Diversity Census 2018-19
Inclusion and diversity need to be cultivated in Indian legal education. There is research showing top law schools, particularly NLUs, are elite and exclusive; the elusive islands of excellence are majorly populated by privileged students– the financially sound, the upper caste, the resident of big city and the child of educationally strong parents. Within that pool, the best performers possess a greater degree of such privileges. In this context, viewing Jamia Millia Islamia, a Muslim-minority...
Applying Basic Structure Theory To Strike Down Original Provision Of The Constitution: A Strange Tale In Honduras
In 1973, the Supreme Court of India became the first Constitutional Court in the world to recognize implied limitation on amendment power (Basic Structure Theory) of the legislature in the famous Kesavananda Bharati Case.[1] The Supreme Court declared that the original constitution contains certain features that are beyond amendment. The judgment was denounced by many constitutional experts who found the invocation of the doctrine as a facet of judicial overarch. However, with passage of time,...
President And People Must Save RTI From This Bureaucratic Onslaught On CIC
The proposal to create two bureaucratic panels to receive complaints against CICs will reduce the CIC to the level of a glorified clerk without glory. It is a ridiculous proposal to make such 'officers' who are supposed to obey the directions of ICs and CIC, as superior authorities to inquire into the complaints against CICs. This is another conspiratorial attempt to kill the institution, which was asking the Government offices to disclose the corruption and other cases against its officers. Its...
On Money Bills And Judicial Review
Over the course of the last five years, several laws of substantial and wide-reaching importance have been enacted without securing the Rajya Sabha's assent. These have included, among others, legislation such as the Aadhaar Act, the Specified Bank Notes (Cessation of Liabilities) Act, 2017, which provided imprimatur to the government's demonetisation programme, and the Finance Act of 2017, through which a raft of statutes was amended, and various different judicial tribunals were either newly...
Judicial Backlogs Can Become History
We have been hearing that the Indian Judiciary would need decades to clear its backlog.The judicial system has become irrelevant for the common citizens, and this is responsible for many ills plaguing our Nation, like disrespect for laws and corruption. The ease of doing business also suffers and the rule of law cannot really prevail. The poor and marginalized are hit most in this state of affairs. Supreme Court judge Justice A M Khanwilkar acknowledges that at least 90 percent people give up...
Goa Assembly: The Midnight Merger X-Rayed
Borrowing words from the historic Freedom at Midnight ('Tryst with Destiny') speech of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru to paint the midnight political drama in the Speaker's Chamber at the Goa Assembly Secretariat on March 27, would be parody. Nonetheless, when the whole India was asleep, at the midnight hour, Goa awakened to a new dawn of political darkness and illegitimate defections christened as merger at the unholy communion delivered by Deputy Speaker Michael Lobo, presently the Acting Speaker. ...
