Transparency In Collegium Strengthens The Independence

Voluntary maximum disclosure is the internationally accepted principle of achieving good governance. The Indian Supreme Court of justice took a significant step forward to implement the obligation of disclosure under section 4(1)b) of Right to Information Act, 2005. Its note said: “Resolution is passed to ensure transparency and yet maintain confidentiality in the Collegium system,” it read:  “The decisions henceforth taken by the Collegium indicating the reasons shall be put on the website of...

How Reliable / Authentic Is The Prescribed Procedure For Determining A Juvenile ?

A gargantuan distinction exists between a juvenile and an ordinary offender. Such distinction is most apparent in the sentence meted.  While, an ordinary offender would meet the full force / the wrath of law, a juvenile offender would undergo reformative and rehabilitative treatment with a limited sentence completed under / before Juvenile or Special Care Homes.  With juveniles now accused / or charged with heinous crimes, e.g.- murder, rape, dacoity etc., and likewise with the increasing number...

Legal Training in India- The Missing Link

Structured Legal Training in India In India, the concept of a structured legal training for lawyers is absent. Any legal practitioner would agree that legal training is absolutely essential despite acquiring an LLB. A degree does not equip one enough to practice as a lawyer. Indian law students depend heavily on internships to learn about the profession. However, neither the quality nor the duration of these internships are monitored or regulated.Only a handful of Indian law firms have developed...

Undeclared Practices At The Supreme Court - I

Sampling the Supreme Court, I recently wrote on how the bench and bar are inseparable. Sharing an unfortunate incident of altercation between the bar and bench, I made an attempt to highlight a growing concern of steep rise in heated exchanges between members of the bar and bench. I closed my submission writing that a spade needs to be called a spade, be it a lawyer or the bench.The current piece borrows inspiration from a recent incident where a notable Advocate-on-Record traced it to the Chief...

Decoding The Millennial Lawyer

Equipped with a fresh outlook, the new generation of lawyers is breaking away from the traditional mold. The change has brought opportunities and challenges in equal measure…The term “Millennials” (also called Generation Y) is used by demographers and researchers to refer to the group born between the early 1980s and the mid-1990s to the year 2000. The millennial generation is credited with ushering in change through entrepreneurial spirit; collaborative attitude; technological know-how;...

Talwars’ Case: An Acquittal Well Deserved

The Allahabad High Court has acquitted Rajesh Talwar and Nupur Talwar in the Arushi-Hemraj double murder case for the right reasons. The theory of honour killing has been debunked and moral pontification about loss of family values in the upper middle class section has been rendered context-less, with the high court setting aside the judgment of the CBI court which had held the Talwars guilty of the murder of their daughter Arushi and their domestic help Hemraj. The alleged motive of the twin...

The Supreme Court’s Right to Privacy Judgment – X: Conclusion: The Proof of the Pudding

Maneka Gandhi vs Union of India is one of the most famous cases in the history of the Indian Supreme Court. It is the crown jewel of our constitutional canon, India’s answer to Brown vs Board of Education, the case that revolutionised the Court’s civil rights jurisprudence. It is the judgment that consigned the notorious A.K. Gopalan to the dustbin of history, inaugurated an era in which the Constitution’s fundamental rights were to be read in an integrated and holistic manner, and breathed life...

Secularism vis-à-vis Religions By Justice KT Thomas

The word ‘secularism’ is mistakenly translated in Malayalam as  Mathanirapekshatha (disjuncted from religion).  This Malayalam word represents  only a very restricted meaning for secularism.  Therefore Malayalees by and large have understood the word  secularism in such  restricted sense.  No doubt disjunction from religion is one of the attributes of secularism, as I understood it.  But the concept of secularism has much wider and more valuable connotation than the religion related nuance.  It...

The ICJ Statutes And The Rohingya Refugee Issue

A perception is increasingly gaining ground in legal circles that the case of the Union of India before the Supreme Court in the Rohingya refugee issue has amounted to making a declaration that international law is only ‘a vanishing point of jurisprudence’. The stand taken by the Union government  through its affidavit before the Court, they feel, is a swift and sudden strike marking a paradigm shift in the approach of the union government towards principles of international law, especially in...

Adjudication Of Second And Third Generation Of Human Rights

The constitutional jurisprudence developed by the Supreme Court of India in relation to the enforceable fundamental rights is unique, as the court has by its innovative use of the tool of judicial interpretation obliterated the age old distinction between the generations of rights as propounded by the French jurist Karel Vasak. The court has read into fundamental rights, (fundamental rights apparently belong to the first generation of human rights) specifically Article 21, which provides for the...

Reference To A Constitution Bench

Article 145(3) mandates that any matter that involves “a substantial question of law as to the interpretation of this Constitution” should be heard by a Bench of not less than five Judges of the Supreme Court – what is commonly referred to as a Constitution Bench. Simply put, not every matter that relates to the interpretation of the Constitution or the laws is to be referred to a Constitution Bench, but only those that have a substantial question of law in relation to the constitutional text....

Why Political Parties Should Be Brought Under The Domain Of Right To Information Act?

Once again, the matter whether political parties are answerable under the provisions of Right to Information Act, 2005 or not reached Supreme Court of India(SC). A public interest litigation was filed by Advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay requesting the apex court to declare political parties as ‘public authorities’ under Section 2(h) of the above Act. The issue raised in the petition is quite pertinent as political parties as ‘institutions of governance’ are second to none when it comes to their...