Articles
Judicial Impact Assessment: 'An Important Facet Of The Institutional Independence Of The Judiciary'
Judiciary today is the most trusted institution of democracy as it is essentially the place of last refuge and the bastion of millions of citizens of this nation, but higher the trust, greater is the responsibility to maintain this trust and the faith of the people, and so it is a continuous challenge for the Judiciary to ensure that the faith of the public in the judicial system continues. It is now well settled that "Judicial Independence" of Judges does not merely means the independence of...
Meghalaya Rat-hole Miners' Rescue Operation: All Eyes On SC Now
Shillong has been news with the Supreme Court telling the Kolkata police chief to appear before the CBI in this hill station of Meghalaya, which is over 700 km from Kolkata, for questioning in connection with chit fund scams. That being so, all eyes will be on Shillong in the coming days, given the political interests. But, barely a 100 km from this 'Scotland of the East' is East Jaintia Hills where 15 poor miners have been trapped inside a flooded illegal rat-hole mine since...
Not Fully Matured Premature Release In India
The fundamental objective intrinsic to premature release, as mentioned in the Delhi Prison Rules-2018, is the reformation of the convicts. The conduct, behaviour and performance of the prisoners is imperative in deciding their release. There is a general perception among the prisoners that preferential treatment is given in some cases. There is a widespread belief that the system is arbitrarily operated by the Sentence Review Board.THE issue of premature release is back in the news as Manu...
The Promise Of Prompt Listing: Would The Curtain Fall Over The Legacy Of 'Mentioning'?
In tune with Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi's endeavour to eliminate the morning ritual of 'mentioning', the Supreme Court registry on Wednesday notified the new guidelines for listing of cases which would ensure that all fresh matters are posted for hearing within 3 days to a week of being filed. Aggrieved that much of the court's precious time is lost on 'mentioning' (while numerous death penalty cases lay pending for years, as he has so put it earlier), last week the Chief Justice had hinted...
Does The Constitution Protect Fake News?
The issue of fake news has recently generated substantial discussion around the globe. Different countries and jurisdictions are adopting different measures in response. For instance, Malaysia has enacted and the Philippines seek to enact criminal legislation against fake news dissemination by individuals. The suggested measures in the European Union, in contrast, are mostly soft in nature. These include investing in technology that would help people separate the true from the false and the...
Petitioner Interest Litigation – Time To Check.
PIL-1 & PIL-2 The advent of Public Interest Litigation (PIL-1) was perhaps one of finest moments in the history of Indian judiciary. Rules of Locus Standi were relaxed, formal requirements regarding lodging of a petition were simplified, the procedure adopted was not adversarial in nature, Courts could order far reaching remedial measures and the execution of the remedial orders so passed was supervised and followed up. While notable judgments were passed in PIL-2, a transformed version...
The Hearing That Was (Not): The Story Of CBI Acting Chief, And Of Conflicting Interests And Recusals
"We get a feeling that Your Lordships do not want it to be heard"Said Senior Advocate Dushyant Dave to Justice A. K. Sikri last Thursday, perturbed at the latter's segregation of himself from the hearing on the challenge to M. Nageshwar Rao's continuation as the interim CBI Director, coming close on the heels of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi's recusal from the matter. The PIL by NGO Common Cause and RTI Activist Anjali Bharadwaj had come to be placed before the second senior most judge of the...
Evolution Of Seniority Convention And Appointment Of Chief Justice Of India
The Constitution of India, 1950 is the longest national Constitution of the world. The original Constitution that was adopted and enacted by the Constituent Assembly on 26th November 1949 contained 395 Articles divided into 12 parts and 8 schedules. As of 2014, the total word count of the Indian Constitution was 1,46,385 which is well above the average length of a Constitution which comprises 21, 960 words and it is twenty-times longer than the Constitution of the United States which its current...