World Environmental Day: Connecting People With Nature & Judiciary

Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have played a great role in protecting the environment of our country.Litigations brought by them have helped the judiciary to render several judgments for the protection of the environment of the country. The Supreme Court has laid down the principle of ‘polluter pays’, precautionary principles, reversal of burden of proof, public trust doctrine, sustainable development etc. There are no parallel legislations even now. But people like MC Mehta and other...

Meeting Of Committee Of Creditors – Insolvency Code: Practical Hitches And Possible Solutions Thereto

Practice makes a man perfect and the same practice (read: implementation) makes a law seamless. Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 along with its allied rules and regulation is just a year old technically (and around 5 months old effectively) and surely there are gaps which are being detected during implementation.One such gap is in the provisions laid down for convening the meeting of the Committee of Creditors (CoC).Quorum for the meeting As per Regulation 22 of the CIRP, 2016, minimum...

From Kyoto To Paris: Coming Full Circle Of Being “Trumped”

The Kyoto story11 December 1997 was a momentous occasion for the international community when the world gathered to adopt a binding decision on cutting greenhouse gas emissions. Members attending the COP-3 to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) assembled at Kyoto, Japan and almost unanimously accepted - the reality of global warming. A binding treaty was signed that came to be known as the Kyoto Protocol in which signatories resolved to take emissions to a “level...

Criminalising Revenge Porn: Why Stakeholders Must Not Be Happy With Present Legal Setup…

With the growth of the usage of social media, several new trends of cyber offences have surfaced like interpersonal crimes, especially crimes resulting from emotional breakups.Revenge porn is one of the worst forms of interpersonal cyber crimes. Way back in 2009, I first came across such forms of ‘harassments’ in social media like Facebook when some women victims contacted me for help.I term this ‘harassment’ because at that time we had a newly amended Information Technology Act, 2000 (amended...

Film Certification In India And The Curse Of Pre-Censorship

PreludeI’ve come across several news reports concerning Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) and a film called An Insignificant Man.This piece is not about An Insignificant Man or about what the CBFC has said about it.However, the said news reports have prompted me to write on pre-censorship of films in India, which is unfortunately being passed off as film certification.For starters, I am setting out the ascending order of interference by the government with peoples’ rights: Regulation...

Supreme Court Orders And New Cattle Rules

The prevention of cruelty to Animals (Regulation of Live Stock Markets) Rules 2017 were notified by the central government in order to regulate the animal markets and curb trans-border smuggling of cattle. As per the notification no one can bring cattle to an animal market unless he or she has furnished a written declaration that cattle will not be sold for the purpose of slaughter. Even if the notification does not ban slaughter, it is likely to have a major impact on cattle slaughter across...

“See You In Court” Or “See You Out Of Court” ? A Burdened Judicial System; Can ADR System Be An Answer?- Part III

Mediation: The Indian Experience A non-adjudicative process where a neutral third party (“mediator”) assists the parties to a dispute to arrive at a mutually acceptable solution is referred to as Mediation. The mediator, an expert in the process of mediation, may require the assistance of lawyers in facilitating the process by imparting their legal expertise to the entire process. In India, mediation has been prevalent in informal avatars, but its formal integration with the judicial system has...

Beef Ban: Setting The Terms Of The Debate Right

In the aftermath of the brutal lynching of Akhlaq in Dadri, several op-eds appeared pointing towards the contradiction between the shared belief of Hindus in general and the different holy texts of Hinduism in particular, suggesting that eating beef was not forbidden in Hindu religion, in fact several instances cited in these pieces have demonstrated that eating beef including cow has been considered pious for Hindus. These revelations have endeavoured to assert the fact that milch animals...

The Jadhav Case & Jurisdiction Of The International Court Of Justice

The recent case of Kulbhushan Jadhav has got a lot of people talking about International Law and the International Court of Justice (“ICJ” or the “World Court”). While a majority of the views expressed in this regard are essentially based on the media reports on the case, there are a lot of genuine questions & queries on the functioning of the court. The issue that has gained a lot of coverage is, Pakistan’s plea of the ICJ not having jurisdiction to entertain India’s application. It was...

Key Takeaways From The NCLAT Judgment In Kirusa Vs Mobilox

In the context of initiating corporate insolvency resolution by an operational creditor against a corporate debtor under section 8 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 ("IBC"), a corporate debtor can, at a preliminary stage, resist such initiation (within the prescribed time limit under the IBC) in one of the two ways; either,(a) it can bring 'to the notice of the operational creditor existence of a dispute, if any, and record of pendency of the suit or arbitration proceedings filed...

Ban On Trade Of Cattle For Slaughter, Does The Centre Have The Power?

Slaughtering the law, prevention of cruelty to animals, cruelty to humans.The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Regulation of Livestock Markets) Rules, 2017 were notified by the Central Government. Ostensibly to regulate animal markets all over India.The term ‘animal market’ is defined in Rule 2(b) as “a market place or sale-yard or any other premises or place to which animals are brought from other places and exposed for sale or auction and includes any lairage adjoining a market or a...

Finally, Interpretation Of 'Dispute' By NCLAT In Kirusa V. Mobilox

Under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 ("Code"), an operational creditor can initiate a corporate insolvency resolution process ("CIRP") of the corporate debtor by filing an application before the relevant National Company Law Tribunal ("NCLT/ Adjudicating Authority") upon occurrence of a default in payment of its operational debt.However, the operational creditor must first send a demand notice or invoice to the corporate debtor, demanding the payment of the defaulted debt. In case the...