Disputing "Dispute" Under IBC

Recent order of NCLT at Hyderabad in the matter of K Sashidhar, MD of Kamineni Steel & Power India Private Limited vs Kamieneni Steel & Power India Ltd[1] passed on November 27, 2017 has thrown open lots of questions which all the stake holders would need to address in time.Kamineni Steel & Power India Private Limited is a Private incorporated on 20 October 2008. In connection with its project to set up a manufacturing facility for production of steel billets at Sreepuram, Nalggonda...

Aadhaar Database Fails Privacy Test, Draft Data Protection Bill Committee Is A Trojan Horse

Ahead of the hearing in the Supreme Court on 17 January amidst push for biometric gnawing concerns about privacy, the issue of Aadhaar’s realistic chances of survival and its acceptance as fait accompli after imminent verdict in UID/Aadhaar case has assumed huge significance in our national life. If one draws on Justice DY Chandrachud ‘s 266-page-long order as part of the 547-page-long right to privacy verdict of the 9-judge bench in the case related to 12-digit biometric Unique Identification...

Time To Legislate Blood-Sucking Banking Charges On Current And Savings Accounts (CASA)

“It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system. For if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning,” Henry Ford once said. The statement may be proving to be true with the increasing trend in bank transaction charges in India.The country's largest lender, State Bank of India (SBI), collected Rs. 1,771 crores between April-November 2017 as charges from customers for failing to maintain monthly average balances in their...

Why Rajya Sabha Needs To Closely Scrutinize Triple Talaq Bill Before Passing It?

The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights On Marriage) Bill 2017, is no doubt a piece of progressive social legislation, well warranted. In the celebrated words of Justice Wendell Holmes of the American Supreme Court, it appears to have been actuated by the ‘felt necessities of the times’. Such a legislation in India was long overdue. The evil practice of talaq-e-biddat was prevalent in India since long and had to be abolished at the earliest. The Supreme Court of India, therefore, felt it...

An Open Letter To Dr. Rajeev Dhawan

Dear Dr Rajeev Dhawan,Your letter retracting from your self-imposed exile from the profession is great news to ring in the New Year. But, we press on for your larger contribution and not confining yourself to the pending cases. And let me tell you why.Most of us quite vividly remember when the news spread in the Supreme Court that you were joining the bar. That someone who had already published 17 works on the Constitution was going to be amongst us generated the excitement it deserved. I guess...

Constitutional Solidarity

The Constituent Assembly had framed with idealism the provisions related to the Judiciary. The Courts were idealized as the guardian of the Constitution. In his classic book “Indian Constitution: Cornerstone of a Nation” (p. 205), Granville Austin highlighted the importance that the constitution makers had placed on the judiciary: “The Assembly went to great lengths to ensure that the courts would be independent, devoting more hours of debate to ensure that this subject than to almost any other...

Triple Talaq Bill: Textbook Case Of Legislative Incompetence

The triple talaq Bill (The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2017), which is being hailed as a historical reform for benefit of Muslim women, was hurriedly passed by the Lok Sabha on Thursday. The present regime has shown its intellectual mediocrity and legislative inefficiency through this poorly-drafted piece of legislation.The draft Bill raises some important questions most importantly that of urgency in getting the Bill tabled and passed in Lok Sabha. The object statement...

Triple Talaq Bill In Current Form May Create More Victims Than Help Any

The government has passed The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2017 (in common parlance, known as the Triple Talaq Bill), in a great hurry without any serious discussion or debate. The immediate question which arises is whether anyone has thought of the practical implications of such a harsh step like penalizing of triple talaq.Let us try to understand whether the ostensible victims of triple talaq would really find succour in this Bill. Will it help the victims, or add to...

Utilizing Young Lawyers In Urbane Dispensation Of Justice: Challenges & Opportunities

Young lawyers are fresh legal graduates who enter into a practical world, who are excited, agile, fresh read and who are looking for an appropriate opportunity to work, where they can learn and grow as legal professionals. Problems in the smooth dispensation of justice are multifold. This work focuses on bringing out the problems being faced in justice dispensation system and how young lawyers can be utilized in restricting the same.POTENTIAL OF YOUNG LAWYERSLegal education system in India...

Why Biometric Aadhaar Database Project Should Be Abandoned

Biometric databases have given birth to gnawing present and future civil liberties and civil rights concerns. Biometric identification exercise has been in use at least since 19th century. History of biometric profiling is a history of violence and repression. A stolen password can be changed but stolen fingerprints cannot be changed.Biometric identification is an invitation to violence. A motorist in Germany had a finger chopped off by thieves seeking to steal his exotic car, which used a...

Using Sword, Sans Notification, No Offence?

Conflicting decisions of two co-ordinate benches of the High Court of Kerala creates doubts regarding the proper application of the Arms Act, 1959 (the Act), in Kerala. First one is that held in Azzi vs State of Kerala [2013(4) KLT 439] and the other one is in Jinu vs State of Kerala [2017 (4) KLJ 787]. Both by single benches. In the former one, the court held as follows:“I am of the opinion that though the accused has not inflicted injuries with arm on any person, the act of threatening or...

2G Scam: Legality Vs Criminality

The judgment in 2G "scam" has shocked the Indian middle class dominated by technocrats. The answer lies in their failure to understand the difference between what is meant by legality and what is known as criminality.The SC, in its writ jurisdiction, tested the legality of 2G license allocations and finally in 2012 struck down the allocation on the ground that the allocation was arbitrary, as the transparent procedure of public action was not followed.On the other hand, criminality is a...