40 Important Judgments On Insolvency And Bankruptcy Code, 2016 [Part-1]

To borrow the golden words of Justice Rohinton F. Nariman in Swiss Ribbons Pvt. Ltd. & Anr. vs. Union Of India WP(Civil) No. 99 of 2018 whereby upholding the Constitutional validity of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 ("IBC") it was held as under: "85. The Insolvency Code is legislation which deals with economic matters and, in the larger sense, deals with the economy of the country as a whole. Earlier experiments, as we have seen, in terms of legislations having failed,...

Sedition And Transgender Identity: Two Important Civil Rights Judgments From High Courts

This month has seen two important civil rights judgments come out of the High Courts. The Kerala High Court reaffirmed the narrow scope of sedition, while the Madras High Court reaffirmed the right of self-determining one's gender identity. Neither judgment broke new ground; but affirming – and entrenching – existing jurisprudence is often equally important, especially in circumstances where the possibility of erosion is ever-present.The Kerala High Court, Sedition, and the UAPAIn Union of India...

The EVM Conundrum - Has The Supreme Court Intervention Helped Mitigate The Issue?

"To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain." - Louis L'Amour Elections are the fulcrum of a functional democracy. The EVM conundrum raises a perplexing yet pertinent question - If a citizen is not allowed to cast a vote, thanks to his/her name missing from the electoral list or if the vote cast is manipulated with, isn't it synonymous to he/she being deprived of a chance to participate in an inclusive...

Dealing With Allegations Of Sexual Harassment Against The CJI

Judiciary comprises of judges, advocates and ancillary staff. All of them play important unique roles. The institution is run by advocates and handled by the judges. Staff supports them. Sitting judges are the strongest pillars of the judiciary. People of this country have immense trust on judiciary due to the failure of successive governments. This trust has to be maintained at any cost. Judges, being special members of the judiciary, therefore, must not only be honest but should also be...

Lacunae In Law On Who Will Judge The Judges

"Kanche chenu mesthe" (is a Telugu proverb that means 'when the fence eats the crop'). When that happens how do we protect the crop from the fence? Among the three estates of the Constitution, the judiciary is the only saviour where wrongdoings of the executive and the legislatures need to be corrected. If the guardians of the Constitution, the judges themselves, are pulled into the accused's box, who will judge them.There was an RTI request to know where to file the complaint, if any, against...

Important To Follow Established Principles Governing Sexual Harassment Inquiries, Say Women Lawyers

Since the events of 20th April, where the Chief Justice of India responded to sexual harassment allegations against himself by speaking from the Bench after instituting a suo moto writ petition, several developments have occurred at the Supreme Court, including the setting up of a three-member committee by Justice Bobde (the second senior-most judge) comprising of himself, Justice N. V. Ramana (the third senior-most judge) and Justice Indira Banerjee, to conduct an inquiry into the complaint....

Courting #MeToo: Conspiracies And Conundrums

In 2014, when sexual harassment charges were brought before Justice Swatanter Kumar, retired Supreme Court judge, who was then functioning as the chairperson of the National Green Tribunal, he was quick to point out that the allegations were part of a deep rooted 'sinister' conspiracy to adversely impact his work as the chair of the tribunal where he dealt with 'sensitive' matters on a daily basis. The tribunal even passed a resolution that Kumar was being 'unjustifiably mob-lynched'. Kumar's...

Sexism In Courts: A Daily Reality

When a female senior advocate faltered with her arguments last week at the Madras high court, the judge asked her if she had had a busy morning in the kitchen that day. The entire court hall laughed at the supposed witticism.A human rights advocate with 20 years of experience, was appearing before the Karnataka High Court in a saree. She was wearing the lawyer's band as per the Bar Council rules. One of the judges on the division bench asked her why she wasn't wearing the collar along with the...

Why Dismissal Of SC Staff Who Alleged Sexual Harassment By CJI Is Disproportionate?

"Sentence has to suit the offence and the offender. It should not be vindictive or unduly harsh. It should not be so disproportionate to the offence as to shock the conscience and amount in itself to conclusive evidence of bias".

Enquiry Strengthens The Independence Of Judiciary

Yes we must stand rock solid with the Judiciary and the Judges . We must protect the Independence of the Judiciary too. What does this mean in the present context of a very serious charge of sexual harassment levelled by an employee of the court against the CJI ? We are told that there is a larger conspiracy to deactivate the CJI and wreck the independence of the Judiciary. We are also told that some left oriented and Congress oriented web portals and lawyers are raking up this issue to...

Some Questions In The Wake Of A Matter Of Great Public Importance

A complaint of sexual harassment against the sitting Chief Justice of India was sent (along with an affidavit and other supporting evidence) to the other sitting judges of the Supreme Court of India asking for the constitution of an inquiry committee of senior retired judges to investigate and adjudicate these serious allegations. The legal institutional response to such a complaint as mandated under the "In-House Procedure" applicable to Judges of the Supreme Court and the High...

Allegations Against The CJI And Taking Up The Issue On The Judicial Side – Key Issues

Four online portals published a detailed account ofallegations made by a former Supreme Court employee against the current Chief Justice of India. The complaint and the response by the Secretary-General, Supreme Court was also published. CJI Gogoi as the master of the roster, today constituted a bench comprising of himself, Justice Arun Mishra and Justice Sanjiv Khanna as "In Re: Matter of great public importance touching upon the independence of the judiciary – mentioned by Shri Tushar...