Why Prevention Of Cruelty To Animals (Regulation Of Livestock Markets) Rules 2017 Is Unsustainable In Law?

When the parent Act expressly permits slaughter of animals for food, how can the Rules impose a ban on sale of cattle for slaughter? When slaughter for food is not prohibited by the parent Act, how can the Rules impose ban of sale for slaughter? This is the apparent anomaly of the Rules that makes it ultra vires the parent Act. The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Regulation of Livestock Markets) Rules 2017 notified by the Central government, with effect from 23.05.2017, is unsustainable in law...

The Mishap Of CLAT 2017

The Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) is the key filter to top law schools in the country. This year, more than 50,000 students appeared for this coveted exam! With only 2,175 seats across the 18 national law universities in India, the stakes were rather high!Given the importance of this exam, one expects a fair degree of accuracy. Unfortunately this was not to be! And much as with earlier years, CLAT 2017 simply failed to deliver. CLAT 2017 had more than 15 errors! What should have been a test...

Taking Cognizance of Offence, The Disillusionment Still Continues

THE CONUNDRUM What are the courses open to a Magistrate, when he receives a complaint, wherein more persons than the one are made as accused and when he finds that the allegation against some of them is sufficient for further proceedings and insufficient as against the others? What happens, if his judicial mind impels him to take a decision to proceed against some selected accused against whom allegations are sufficient and to abstain from doing his action against the others, to whom the...

Justice Karnan – A Constitutional Conundrum

Days lapsed since the sentencing order was passed by the Apex Court. The Nation read the terse order punishing Judge of the Calcutta High Court for contempt of court. The events constituting the contempt are not spoken authentically by the Supreme Judiciary till today. Nation digests the overall escapades and idiosyncrasies of Karnan spelt out in media as the basis of conviction. No official documentation of saga of Karnan’s contempt is coming out. The saddest part of the unprecedented...

PPPs Model: A Valuable Instrument To Speed Up Infrastructure Development In India

India’s infrastructure deficit, whether congested roads and ports, inadequate hospitals or wastewater treatment facilities, and slow trains is a key factor constraining rapid, competitive growth and job creation and thereby imposing huge costs on society. Low productivity, poor competitiveness, high costs, and the slow pace of urbanization are some of the consequences of this deficit.In this context, PPPs in infrastructure represent a valuable instrument to speed up infrastructure development in...

Scope Of Privacy Of ‘Public’ Servant: An Analysis Of Girish R Deshpande Vis-A-Vis Other Binding Precedents

The privacy of public servant is becoming a highly contentious issue since the advent of Right to Information Act, 2005 enabling citizen to seek information about public authorities and their officers.  An employee of the state is legally defined as public servant and every citizen will be a virtual employer in electoral democracy. Can privacy hamper the regime of transparency and scrutiny of public conduct of the public servant? If government employees privacy is limited, to what extent?  The...

Impact Of GST On The Power Sector

AbstractThe central theme of this paper is an analysis of the impact of tax on fossil fuel electricity production in India. This presentation attempts to sequentially examine the existing tax structure, and draw a parallel to the new GST structure. As an economy about to embark revolution, it becomes vitally significant to understand the approach adopted by other GST countries, whose experience can be considered as reliable precedents to India’s evolution. Hence, this paper takes an evaluative...

‘Free Speech’ Dimension Of Justice Karnan Gag Order

The Supreme Court order dated May 9, 2017, punishing Justice Karnan states inter alia that “since the incident of contempt includes public statements and publication of orders made by the contemnor, which were highlighted by the electronic and print media, we are of the view, that no further statements made by him should be published hereafter”. This part of the order is not only strange and unusual, but offends free speech in dangerous ways. I will argue that this prohibition of publication has...

Safeguarding Indian Investments In Dubai

Dubai has recently passed a law permitting non-Muslim expatriates to register Wills that are not governed by the Sharia’. It is the first, and currently, the only jurisdiction in the Middle East that offers such an opportunity to foreign investors. India has a solid trade relationship with Dubai and Indian investors have made billions of dollar worth investments in Dubai. Nevertheless, it is disappointing that a large number of Indian investors is unware of the legal development and is missing...

Kulbhushan Jadhav And The ICJ: A Legal Analysis

How strong can be the International Court of Justice in giving relief to Kulbhushan Jadhav and his family? This vexed question of fact and law has engaged the attention of many students of law and legal practitioners and now it is increasingly felt in India that the effectiveness of ICJ is highly critical for global peace and progress in the 21st Century.Under the United Nations regime, the ICJ otherwise known as the ‘world court’  is the “Principal Judicial Organ” charged with two primary...

A Peep Into Justice Karnan’s Contempt Saga – II

Recently, I wrote about the conduct of Justice Karnan that led to his conviction and sentence for contempt of court by the Supreme Court (read here). I also raised 10 questions surrounding the whole issue and in this piece, I will attempt to answer those.With the detailed judgment still awaited; as per news reports, Justice Karnan has approached the Supreme Court seeking recall of the judgment convicting him. He also refused to tender an unconditional apology and also approached the President...

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

OVERVIEW The practice of amicable settlement of disputes is as ancient as the Vedic civilization when disputes between members of a particular occupation or community/area were resolved by elders through a council of village known as panchayats.The panchayats dealt with a variety of disputes - contractual, matrimonial, even criminal in nature (The Law and Practice of Arbitration and Conciliation, OP Malhotra, second edition, 2006).The decision of the panchayats was respected and hence a...