Understanding Financial And Penal Liability Under RERA

The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 (RERA) (and rules made thereof) promises to pave the way for a new era in the Indian real estate sector - an era of regulation, transparency, structure and security. Prior to RERA coming into force, in most cases of delay or default by developers, the main recourse for thousands of disillusioned homebuyers pan India was to approach the consumer forums in order to enforce the terms and conditions of their builder buyer agreements and obtain...

Extra Detention! Early Release!! State Fights OP Gandhi & Stands by Sanjay Dutt

While the super-star Sanjay Dutt defended him from the prosecution with the support of battery of lawyers at every stage for every benefit of doubt and concession available in criminal justice system, poor convict Om Prakash Gandhi in Delhi struggled to get for every bit of information through Right to Information. What media & lawyers did for Sanjay Dutt, was done by RTI to the Om Prakash Gandhi.One is a celebrity and the other an unknown common man. Both are convicted and jailed. Common...

Money Bills And Judicial Review: A Major Constitutional Challenge Is Brewing

As three High Courts issue notices to the Central Government,this article throws up new insights questioning SC’s earlier decisionsAadhaar has kicked up two major constitutional debates. First, whether the right to privacy is a fundamental right under the Indian Constitution or not. Second, whether the Speaker’s decision classifying a bill as a 'money bill' is subject to judicial review or not. While the first issue has snowballed into a major hearing before a nine-judge bench of the Supreme...

Fourteenth Year Of Madurai Bench Of Madras High Court

Until 1956, the Madras High Court with its jurisdictional expanse encompassing the parts of the present day States of Odissha, Telengana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala, was at the centre of Madras Presidency.  It is fascinating to note that the Union Territory of Puducherry which was a French Colony until 1964 was not under the Territorial Jurisdiction of the Madras High Court. Once, the Madras [Later Tamil Nadu] was created, the place of the High Court was in the northern most part of...

National Law Universities, Original Intent & Real Founders

“We have just few islands of excellence in the sea of mediocrity,” said Manmohan Singh, former Prime Minister in 2010 acknowledging the remarkable contribution made by National Law Schools. We have 20 such schools today with Maharashtra alone having as many as three. The admission to these schools through CLAT is in news yet again due to several errors in the question paper. It seems Bar council of India wants to take over admission test. The matter is in Supreme Court for last three years....

Justice Karnan Case Extraordinaire: Psycho-Legal Explorations

The judgment has been delivered in Suo Motu Contempt Petition (Civil) No. 1 of 2017 in the matter of “In Re: Hon’ble Shri Justice C.S. Karnan” as per the respectful title with the honorific in the judgment. Justice Karnan is in jail as a punishment and the ‘Civil’ in the petition does strike a bit of a discordant note. However, the deal is done and Justice Karnan stands convicted of ‘scandalising the court’ and ‘interference in the proceedings’ of the Apex Court and has been sentenced to six...

Transparency in Realty: A Reality

“Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place even to lay his Head” - Mathew 8: 20, New Testament, BibleOwning a home to live at an affordable cost is a life time dream of every middle-class Indian in a country where the real estate industry was not regulated until the enactment of Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 (“RERA” in short). The industry which is known for its practice of luring the middle class to pour money and inducing them to pay more and...

Usage Of Mics In The Courtrooms – Another Step Towards Transparency And Accessibility

Imagine a Monday morning. You have a case listed in the highest court of the land. You have travelled for more than 10 hours to reach New Delhi. You barely had some sleep. You were able to speak to your lawyer on the phone who directed you to be at the Supreme Court around 10 a.m. to manage a Visitor’s pass for you. You stood in a queue, got your pass and at sharp 10.30 a.m. you find yourself before the courtroom where the matter is listed. It is jam-packed with lawyers. There isn’t an inch to...

Mischief Likely To Be Caused By Section 436-A Of The Code Of Criminal Procedure, 1973

I am working as Secretary, District Legal Services Authority, Thane. As a member of Judiciary, I have seen that many undertrials are languishing in jail for long period for various reasons. No doubt, there are several provisions in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (hereinafter referred to as the 'Cr.P.C.' for short) as to grant of bail. Besides, insertion of provision like Section 436-A has reduced the number of undertrials.  However, I humbly opine that some amendment is necessary in...

Clinical Legal Education-[Part II] Models Of Clinical Legal Education In India

This piece is in continuation of the former piece titled ‘Clinical Legal Education In India As A Means To Advance Access To Justice’. As Part II, this piece will look into the functioning of three different law school legal aid clinics in India to understand how these clinics work and the general approach towards clinical legal education in India. It does so by doing a brief case study of three law school clinics in India.1) ILS Legal Aid Programme (LAP)/College Legal Aid Centre (LAC), Indian...

Celebrating 125th Year Of Madras HC Buildings

The Madras High Court was originally located in the buildings just opposite to Madras Harbour on First Line Beach.In 1892, the present high court buildings were completed after four years of construction. On July 12, 1892, the high court and the court of small causes moved into the new buildings.The original estimate of the cost was Rs. 9,45,000 and the final cost was Rs.12,98,163. The building is in the Indo-Saracenic style. The building was formally opened by his Excellency, the Right Hon’ble...

Life And Times Of Jury System In India- A Legal Analysis

With the screening of the Hindi feature film “Rustom” in the year 2016 - a crime thriller based on the real life incident and trial by jury of K.M. Nanavati   a Naval Officer for the murder of his wife’s lover some fresh interest has  been generated about the jury system of trial in India. A puerile plea has also been raised in some quarters to consider the revival of the jury system of trial in India. The suggestion and argument for revival of the jury system in India is stated to be...