Justice (Rtd) Karnan Judgment: Did SC Miss the Main Issue?

The seven-judge bench of the Supreme Court, which was constituted to examine whether or not Justice CS Karnan was guilty of having committed contempt, has now released its detailed judgment in continuance of its earlier order dated May 9, 2017, whereby it had found Justice Karnan to be guilty of contempt of court. When the order had come, I had co-authored a piece arguing that the actions of Justice Karnan have certainly lowered the image of the judiciary before the general and therefore, the...

Why Prime Minister Wants To Install His Own Man In Rashtrapati Bhavan?

The new President of India would assume office on 25th July. The people of India are discussing about the constitutional role of the President of India. The majority of people believe that the President has no special power and he is only a rubber stamp who acts as per the wishes of the elected Government which plays a very important role in his election. Many of them expect many things from the President as he adorns the highest constitutional office of the country and state that he can play a...

President And The Politics Of Appointment

Only in the United States of America does a presidential candidate make a statement like “the justices I make will be pro-life”, or “they will have a conservative bent”.  This would be treated as shocking abomination in most anglo saxon jurisdictions. Donald Trump as a Presidential Candidate kept his promise. He appointed Neil Gorsuch who in less than three months has set the ideological footprints along with fellow travelers Samuel Alito J. and Clarance Thomas J. reinstating travel ban, siding...

Green Journalism: Vanishing Point of Indian Media?

Nero, a great Roman emperor was known for his grand and élite feasts. Now, one such feast is fondly remembered by the great Roman historian Tacitus. The great Roman historian Tacitus who in his book, The Annals (XV, C.E. 62-65) notes: “(they) were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination when daylight had expired. Nero offered his gardens for the spectacle.” However, the issue is not Nero. The issue is Nero’s guests. Who are Nero’s guests? P.Sainath, former Rural...

How The Finance Act 2017 Cripples National Green Tribunal(NGT)

Background In 2010, the Parliament enacted the National Green Tribunal (NGT) Act and the National Green Tribunal started functioning from 2011. Over the last 6 years, the National Green Tribunal has emerged, without doubt, as the most effective environmental court in the world. With hundreds of cases heard and decisions rendered, India's citizens have for the first time an institution which is independent, responsive, compassionate and able to deal, to some extent, with the environmental crisis...

Rule 49 & The Fate Of Lawyers In Law Firms

Rule 49 of Chapter II, Part VI of the Bar Council of India Rules, which lay down rules on Standards of Professional Conduct and Etiquette, reads as under:“49. An advocate shall not be a full-time salaried employee of any person, government, firm, corporation or concern, so long as he continues to practise, and shall, on taking up any such employment, intimate the fact to the Bar Council on whose roll his name appears and shall thereupon cease to practise as an advocate so long as he continues in...

Government, Governance, Lynching And Rule Of Law

India, being the largest democracy in the world, is the outcome of the principle of the rule of law and aspires to establish an egalitarian social order. Democracy has been best defined as “the government of the people, by the people for the people”, it expects prevalence of genuine orderliness, positive propriety, dedicated discipline and sanguine sanctity by constant affirmance of constitutional morality which is the pillar stone of good governance. Democracy requires us to respect and develop...

Clinical Legal Education As A Means To Advance Access To Justice In India

Background The Preamble of the Indian Constitution provides that justice – social, economic and political has to be provided to the citizens. Part IV of the Indian Constitution provides fundamental rights to the citizens. Art. 8 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides that ‘everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the Constitution or by law.’ Art. 39A of the Indian Constitution...

A Legend Steps Out To Bat On A Dicey Pitch: What Lies Ahead For The New Attorney General For India

Senior Advocate KK Venugopal, a doyen of the Indian bar is the thirteenth lawyer to become the Attorney General for India. At the age of eighty-six, he will also be the oldest man to have been appointed AG. This shouldn’t case any doubts on his ability to do this enormously stressful and important job – anyone who has seen him in the Supreme Court for a length of time would know that he is as sprightly and as active as someone less than half his age. In just the last few years, he has handled...

Remembering Justice Tarkunde: A Crusader For The Cause Of Civil Liberties

Today is the 108th Birthday of Justice TarkundeToday, when the country is passing through a severe stress on the state of Human Rights in different dimensions, we remember the role and contributions of Justice Tarkunde on his 108th birthday.After the passing away of Tarkunde on March 22, 2004, the country has faced Human Rights issues under different regimes.From time to time, the civil liberties movement has been responding to such challenges. Time has come to consider the responses of the...

GST: A Zollverein of India

Goods and Service Tax(GST) will be in effect from July 1, 2017; the most awaited and highly debated taxation system of India. Its implementation will be the most effective step in the Indian tax reform history, after the introduction of VAT, GST would be the next effective step in the journey of Indian tax reforms. VAT was introduced in order to replace Sales Tax, which was in operation at State level, whereas GST will be applicable at both Union and  State level and will replace taxes like VAT,...

Remembering Justice HR Khanna On His 105th Birthday

July 3, 2017, marks the 105th birth anniversary of the late Justice HR Khanna.  This is my small tribute to a great son of India.Even after so many years, Justice Khanna's courage and independence continue to inspire and remind generations of lawyers and judges of the sacrifice he made in upholding human rights, the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary.He was born in 1912, joined the Bar in 1934, was appointed a district and sessions judge in 1952 and was elevated to the Punjab High...