Welcome HC order on Abuse of RTI Act: Lack of RTI knowledge at all levels

It refers to significant judgement dated 19.01.2016 of Delhi High Court in WP(C) 406/2016 imposing fine of rupees 25000 on a petitioner having challenged a CIC-verdict dated 30.10.2015 clubbing thirteen petitions. Detailed HC judgement has cited one of the thirteen petitions dated 18.02.2014 which is apparently much-much more than 500 words. Delhi High Court deserves all praise for deciding the matter so quickly.Lack of knowledge at all levels is also evident when none dealing with RTI petition...

What are Startups--A Legal Definition?

On January 16, 2016 the Honorable Prime Minister of India formally launched an initiative ‘StartUp India, StandUp India’ by announcing action plans to support early stage startups. It is indeed a historical day that recognized the contribution of innovations, startups and entrepreneurship culture in India.The startup story in India has been simply mindboggling. Flipkart has redefined the Retail. Ola has changed the way we commute for business or pleasure. Paytm is changing the way how consumer...

RBI Governor for Transparency

Most institutions in our country pay tributes to the idea of transparency, but usually display an allergy to it when asked to provide information and show accountability under Right to Information.  A recent judgment of the Supreme Court and Mr. Raghuram Rajan’s response  appear to herald a very welcome change.  Reserve Bank of India and some financial institutions had refused to provide information relating to investigations and audit reports of banks, warnings or advisories issued, minutes of...

Judgment on the Minority Character of AMU: A Classical Case of Fallacious Legal Reasoning

The constitutional debate about the minority character of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) has its genesis in the Supreme Court judgment of Azeez Basha v. Union of India (1968 AIR 662). In fact, the judgment of Allahabad High Court in Dr. Naresh Agarwal v. Union of India substantially relies upon the reasoning of Azeez Basha to declare unconstitutional the AMU Amendment Act, 1981 which itself was intended to change the basis of Azeez Basha's reasoning!Many attempts have been made in the past by...

Azeez Basha: A Ghost Roving Around the Corridors of Aligarh Muslim University

With a vision of crafting an institution like Oxford, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, a Muslim philanthropist started Aligarh Muslim University movement but would not have imagined that his dream will be a matter of polemics and politics. Parliament though passed Aligarh Muslim University Act, to upgrade and confer MAO College the status of a University in 1920 which was the vision of the founder but his full vision is droopy in the doldrums. Long perceived as one of the most contentious debate,the...

Dear Constitutional Courts, Please do Not Quash an FIR before it ripens into a Police Report; An Analysis of Yeddurappa Judgment

As per the common order dated 05-01-2016 in  Shri. B.S. Yeddyurappa Vs. The State of Karnataka (Writ Petition No. 41228 of 2015 and connected cases), a learned Judge of the Karnataka High Court, has quashed fifteen F.I.Rs. registered against the accused (former Chief Minister of Karnataka ) inter alia, for offences under Sections 409 and 420 of the Indian Penal Code ( “IPC” for short) and Sections 13(1)(c) and 13(1) (d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 ( ‘P.C.Act for short) and Sections...

Old Wounds Still Bleeding

The Detention of Maulana Masood Azhar- Time for Extradition now?The wounds we received from the hi-jacking incident of Indian Airlines Flight 814 (IC-814) are proving to be the deadliest which still stems blood every now and then.  The brutal terrorist attacks in Pathankot shows that India has failed to learn from the repeated history of terror acts and especially from the infamous Mumbai experience.It is believed at least apparently that Jaish-E- Mohammad (Army of Mohammed) JEM is behind the...

Statutory Analysis of Scope of crafting separate punishment for Child Rape Offenders

PrefaceSwami Vivekananda wrote – “Just as a bird could not fly with one wing only, a nation would not march forward if the women are left behind”. One day before Swami Vivekananda’s 153rd birth anniversary, the Supreme Court heard a petition raising an important socio-legal question in the same context expressed by him {SCWLA v UOI [WP 4/16]}. The petition sought imposition of ‘chemical castration’ as an additional punishment for child rapists. The Court rightly held that it is the domain of the...

Serpent Beneath The Falcon’s Shadow

NUT SHELLA statutory prescription that has beckoned much litigation has recently been granted as a boon on a platter to upcoming economic tycoons in private sector; is the point of discussion that has been attempted to ventilate through this pieceDays passed away; as the undulate ocean waveLife galloped; with the swiftness of a horseAs the tulips; await its autumn springSo shall the law; evolve with the efflux of time.“BE A VOICE NOT AN ECHO”The fiscal policy of the democratic government as...

Prepare Email-Directory of Govt. Offices; CIC directs NIC

Question before a 3-member bench of CIC was whether the National Informatics Centre has a duty to prepare and make accessible an email directory of Government officers and departments? Challenge was how to introduce effective controls against misuse of the set of email ids of officers. I am also part of the Bench headed by Shri Basanth Seth and Shri Yashovardhan Azad, who are seniors to me and very serious in enhancing values of RTI. After a prolonged hearing, taking opinion of experts,...

Perhaps, the bull is not holy enough!

Recently Union Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoEF) issued a notification to permit ‘Jalikattu’ (a bull taming sport of Tamil Nadu) which was banned by the Supreme Court in Animal Welfare Board v A. Naragaja [2014]. This pernicious notification, which also permits bullock cart racing in Maharashtra, raises important legal questions.Firstly, whether the ruling establishment can step over a writ issued by the highest court of the land through a notification? And secondly, whether the...

Tacit Consent and Technological Advancement

This paper identifies two technologies: Spark Nano for cars tracking and Google map GPS cell phone tracker for mobile phones, and explains the manner in which law enforcement can use each one of them to apprehend criminals. Modern developments in technology have improved the possibility of locating the position of anything, be it a person, a vehicle, an electronic device and many others. Global Positioning System is an efficient tracking technique of working to establish the geographical of...