Supreme Court Structural and Jurisprudential Problems

The First V.R. Krishna Iyer Memorial National Law Lecture delivered by Hon'ble Justice J.Chelameshwar on November 28, 2015 at Kochi.Ladies and Gentlemen, I am before you overwhelmed by emotions, which are conflicting. It is a singular honour to be called upon to deliver the ‘First V.R. Krishna Iyer Memorial Law Lecture.’ But, at the same time, the very fact that I have to come back for a memorial lecture within a year after attending Justice Iyer’s 100th Birthday Celebrations stirs in me...

Online sales and Pricing Mistakes

Online retailers have been in your face with their advertisements this festive season and seem to have done brisk business, selling things ranging from electronic goods to holidays. As thousands of products are sold, the online retailers are forever close to making pricing mistakes. Would a store honour a price if a customer has completed the transaction and the credit card debited? A contract once formed is binding on the parties. However, there are also exceptions to the principle.A contract...

Haryana and Beyond: Right to Contest in Elections

An amendment to the Haryana Panchayati Raj Institutions Act resulted to unwarranted controversy and is now challenged before the Supreme Court of India. The impugned amendment prescribes qualifications for contesting in elections to the local self governments and also holding positions.The Constitution of India directs the Government to take steps to organise village panchayats and also endow them with such powers and authority as may be necessary to enable them to function as units of...

Anti-Corruptiion Bureau and Caesar’s Wife

After going through the verdict in The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau Directorate Vs. Neyyattinkara P. Nagaraj and Others – 2015 (5) KHC 532 which had virtually de-throned a Cabinet  Minister of the State, I am penning down the legalities and illegalities of the said verdict which, in my opinion, could have been rendered after deeper study and research.  Some of the findings recorded in favour of the writ petitioner (Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-corruption Bureau) and some of the...

3588 petitions disposed in single CIC-order: Remedies required for early disposal of petitions at CIC

It refers to 139-page CIC-verdict dated 19.11.2015 in petition-numbers CIC/CC/A/2014/001053 etc disposing 3588 petitions of a retired IAF officer against different public-authorities where the petitioner hinted more his regular petitions pouring at CIC. Chief Information Commissioner while giving required relief under eight points in para 37 of the verdict, directed in para 38 of the verdict his own registry to with the objective of putting in place a system for handling RTI applications that...

Judicial Appointments and Collegium System of Appointments

The Supreme Court by striking down the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act and the 99th Constitution (Amendment) Act as unconstitutional has focused public attention once again on the process of appointment of Judges to the higher judiciary. Neither the Executive-appointment model which prevailed till 1998 nor the Judges-appointing-Judges (Collegium) model as practiced till recently have been found satisfactory to preserve the independence of judiciary while promoting efficiency and...

Winning the IP game: Embracing Offensive IP Strategy

The ever-growing importance of innovations has changed the way corporate boards overlook their intellectual property assets, thus focusing more on developing and managing their IP strategy. In today’s knowledge-driven economy, innovation has become the critical factor for determining competitive advantage and sustainable development. Give the intense competition; there is immense focus on IP protection and attain an innovative position vis-à-vis competitors.  Majority of the companies have...

Reforming the Collegium: Issues at stake

As the Supreme Court's Constitution Bench continues its unusual consequential hearing on the question of reforming the Collegium to recruit Judges on November 18, the doubts and misgivings expressed by the bench as well as the counsel on November 3 and 5 on the scope of reform itself stem from interpretations placed on the judgments in the Second and Third Judges cases. Do the judgments in these cases, decided by a larger bench, give scope for reforming the collegium by a smaller bench of five...

Barry Sen, Counsel’s Counsel

A tribute to Eminent Lawyer and former legal adviser to the Ministry of External Affairs B.SEN who passed away on November 8 at the age of 90.In the summer of 1949, the Chief Justice of the Federal Court of India, Sir Harilal Kania, was in London for his vacation. The jurisdiction of the Privy Council over appeals from India had been abolished and Kania was set to take over as the first Chief Justice of India under the Constitution. He decided to meet Indian barristers practising before the...

Issues Facing The Legal Sector – A Wish List of Reforms

The recent Supreme Court judgement in the NJAC case has once shone the spotlight on the current state of the Indian legal system and the need for reform. There are a number of key issues facing Indian lawyers and in many cases there is no right answer or a perfect solution. This article is an attempt to generate a debate around some of the most important issues, in the hope that it will bring change.How can the prestige and standing of the legal profession be improved?Low Threshold For Entering...

Is it “petition allergy", “application phobia” or “motion disgust”?

A learned Judge of the Hon’ble High Court of Kerala has inter alia observed as follows:-“13.    It is noticed that numerous applications are being filed before the High Court and the Sessions Court for enlargement of time for the deposit of fine as the Trial Courts refuse to accept the fine/compensation after the period stipulated by the superior Courts, even after the decision of this Court in Gireesh Vs. Muthoot Capital (supra).  It is to be remembered that the default sentence is not...

Policing the Kitchen. Whether permissible under the Delhi Agricultural Cattle Preservation Act, 1994 ?

Cow slaughter has always been a controversial topic in India. Many states have passed laws banning cow slaughter and such laws have been challenged before the Supreme Court of India. Article 48 of the Constitution of India, which forms part of the Directive Principles of State Policy states that the State shall take steps for prohibiting the slaughter of cows and calves and other milch and draught cattle. The Supreme Court of India as early as in 1959 in Mohammed Hanif Quareshi’s case upheld the...