Articles
Essentials Of Anti-Sexual Harassment Policy At Work Place
IntroductionRecently the world saw widespread employee outcry in the form of collective walkouts across countries, protesting against sexual misconduct and oppressive anti sexual harassment policy of a US tech giant. This was triggered by a newspaper story on the way the company previously protected one of its high performing employees charged with sexual harassment by paying him heavy exit package and maintaining silence about the complaint. The outcry led to the company announcing considerable...
Overcriminalisation: Are We Heading To Unprincipled Criminalisation?
It's surprising if not alarming. As a country, we do not know, in definite terms, the exact number of laws that criminalize conduct and provide punishment. Crude estimates range from 12,000 to 1.5 lakh. But, for sure, we have more laws than we require. Many laws mean many crimes; it also means overcriminalisation. The R. Ramanujam Committee (2014) observed the existence of 2,781 laws on the central statute book. This Committee, as well as the Law Commission over the years, have been recommending...
Why Latest SC Judgment Denying Gratuity To Teachers Is 'Per Incuriam' ?
In what can be unhesitatingly termed as a 'Per Incuriam' judgment, the Supreme Court on Monday held that a teacher, irrespective of the type of educational institute he/she is working, is not an 'employee' under Section 2(e) of the Payment of Gratuity Act and, therefore, has no right to invoke the Act for claiming gratuity from his/her employer.Per Incuriam judgment is the one which is decided without reference to a statutory provision or earlier judgment which would have been relevant. This...
Mental Health Of Lawyers & Judges :Need To Shed Stigma
"The judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts are not immune to this problem. Judges are quite often seen exhibiting impatience, irritability, anger management issues, stubbornness etc. in courts. Such erratic behaviour from persons who are otherwise learned and judicious cannot be dismissed as mere personality issues; they could be pointers to work-induced stress, which is affecting the temperament of judges."
Who Reads A Judgment?
"CR" in legal circles does not refer to Christiano Ronaldo, the mercurial Portuguese striker. Rather, it is a contraction for 'Certified for Reporting" and refers to judgments deemed worthy of publication in the law reports by the judge himself. To the judge concerned it is the raison d'etre of his whole being, a manifestation of his selfless desire to edify the masses-both laymen and lawmen; even though the inveterate cynic would snidely remark that it is merely a cheap ticket to imagined...
