Retirement Age Raise: Panacea for Pendency ?

Recently an advocate in person filed a Writ Petition (Civil No.773/2013) before the Supreme Court of India, which came for hearing on 7th Oct 2013. The petition was filed to enhance the retirement age of Judges of the Constitutional Courts and Trial Courts. The grounds taken by the petitioner include the huge pendency of cases as well as the increase in the health index and life span of the people. Times of India reported this under the caption “SC: We can’t adjudicate increase in our retirement...

A case of misjudgment

A magazine, born with the criminal cases and proud of defending them, finds itself fumbling in legal recourse chosen for its creator. The ‘man enough’ is hit badly, may be legally forever. The chargé d'affaires, of the enterprise, who allowed herself to be sandwiched between the man and the victim, seems to have acted upon the advice of a quack online Lawyer! She now blames herself and accuses the celebrity discourser on prime time television, for ‘her legal misjudgment’ while dealing with...

Open Audit !

I salute Chief Justice Sathasivam for speaking about the allegation of unpardonable aberration by one of his former colleagues on the Bench on the occasion of Law Day celebrations.  The whole world knows what it is.Soft spoken, but determined CJI has assured that justice will be done. The courageous reference to unpleasant allegation makes Law Day-2013 slightly different.The Law Day, a day to commemorate the marathon exercise of making the basic text-‘The Constitution’and its formal adoption has...

Analysing Google Books Project through the Fair Use Prism

Authors Guild v. GoogleIn the year 2004 Google announced agreements with several major research libraries to digitally copy books in their collections. Thereafter Google had scanned more than twenty million books, delivered digital copies to participating libraries, created an electronic database of books and made text available for online searching through the use of snippets. Since many of the books scanned by Google, were under copyright and Google did not obtain authorisation from the...

Induction of National Court Management Authority in Indian Judicial System : Need of the Hour - Part -2

RecommendationAs we saw about the lethargic justice delivery system in India, millions of cases are pending because of one and other reasons and millions of citizens are waiting for justice to be done. Looking at this scenario we have made small attempt to highlight lethargic condition of Indian Judiciary in two papers presented at the National and International Conferences. In the beginning of year 2012,  paper on ‘Delayed Justice – Denial of Fundamental Rights’ at the Gujarat State Level...

Be you ever so high, the law is always above you!

It is an irony of a sort that Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court delivers a judgment (Lalita Kumari Vs Govt. of U.P. & Ors) permitting preliminary enquiry in exceptional cognizable cases where there is abnormal delay in initiating criminal prosecution and reporting without explaining the reasons for delay. Thus, it permits the police to hold back registration of FIR until prima facie satisfied. Before the ink dries away from the Judgment, within hours, Supreme Court had to set up a...

Indian Criminal Justice System and Rape Survivors: Reflections

The patriarchal set of laws, male dominated profession and closed outlook of majority of judges add to the woes of the Indian ‘Rape Survivors’ (read as ‘rape victims’).  The archaic procedure practiced by our courts in a bid to ensure justice to ‘rape survivors’ and also to do justice to the accused, in practice turns out to be an ordeal for the ‘rape survivors’.Prominent lawyers, professors, women's advocates and even some judges share the view that one of the biggest hurdles to justice in a...

Induction of National Court Management Authority in Indian Judicial System: Need of the Hour

“Delays render the common man’s knock on the temple of justice- a frustrating experience. Litigants are not able to lead normal lives being unsure of the verdict in their case.’’ - H.E. PratibhaDevisinghPatil, Former President of India “Justice delayed is justice denied” this phrase is somehow inherently associated with the functioning of Indian Judiciary system. Being a law graduate I always feel that there is a requirement of focusing on certain important aspects of the application of the law...

The 120th Constitutional Amendment: A Constitutional Hara-kiri. Extracts from “Choosing Hammurabi: Debates on Judicial Appointments”

But when politicians talk thus, or act thus without talking, it is precisely the time to watch them most carefully. Their usual plan is to invade the constitution stealthily, and then wait to see what happens. If nothing happens they go on more boldly; if there is a protest they reply hotly that the constitution is worn out and absurd, and that progress is impossible under the dead hand. This is the time to watch them especially. They are up to no good to anyone save themselves. They are trying...

The Code for Journalistic Ethics

After taking into consideration the various draft codes prepared by the All-India Newspaper Editors' Conference (A.I.N.E.C.) and the Indian Federation of Working Journalists, as also the code formulated by the United Nations Sub-committee on Freedom of Information and of the Press, the Press Commission of India in its report of 1954 presented the following code of journalistic ethics:As the press is a primary instrument in the creation of public opinion journalists should regard their calling as...

The Fourth Estate and the Need If Any, For its Empowerment

The term “fourth estate” comes from the Reporter's gallery in the House of Commons of the British Parliament. The said expression is currently issued to mean the journalistic profession and the news media. The origin of the term “fourth estate” is attributed to Edmund Burke, a British orator, writer and statesman born in Ireland in the year 1729. Burke is said to have used the term “fourth estate” in a parliamentary debate in 1787 on the opening of the press reporting of the House of Commons of...

Clinical Trials in India- The Chances and Challenges

Clinical trials are a set of practices performed to certify and ensure the safety of a new drug molecule. Pursuant to an amendment to the Indian Patents Act 1970 in January 2005, drugs can be made by following both the product and process patenting. This has facilitated the emergence of India as a preferred and sought after destination to conduct clinical trials. The availability of highly trained physicians, nurses and technical personnel; world class medical facilities; good IT infrastructure;...