Fixed-Term Employment Paradox: Workers' Security Vis-a-Vis Employers' Flexibility Under New Labour Code

With the four new Labour Codes, India's labour law framework has introduced one of the most significant reforms by formally recognizing the Fixed-Term Employees (“FTEs”). They are one of the most relied workforce categories under the flexible staffing models.As per Section 2(34) of the new Code on Social Security, 2020 (“CSS”), an FTE is any employee who has been engaged directly by the employer through a written contract, for a pre-determined period. Therefore, the employment of the FTE...

Union Budget 2026-27 And Access To Medicines

The Union Budget 2026-27 made two major announcements regarding medicines. First, it removed basic customs duty (BCD) on 17 cancer medicines. Second, it extended import duty exemptions to seven additional rare diseases for personal imports of drugs, medicines, and Food for Special Medical Purposes (FSMP). This is the third consecutive budget announcing BCD exemptions. In 2024, the BCD...

Judicial Overreach

Making a final evaluation of the U.S. Supreme Court, Willis in his Constitutional Law said that 'the final judgment of the American people will be that their constitutional rights are safe in the hands of the judiciary.' He paraphrased William Wirt that if the judiciary were struck from our system, there would be little of value that would remain. And that it would be as rational to talk of a solar system without a sun as to talk of a government in the U.S. without the Supreme Court. This...

Controlling Love Marriages Under The Pretext Of 'Love-Jihad'

In 1999, the Supreme Court had said in a famous case of noted writer Githa Hariharan[1] that: mother of a minor cannot be relegated to an inferior position on the ground of sex alone since her right as a natural guardian is equal like a father. It was a case under a Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act of 1956. After 26 years, recently Bombay High Court[2] has again – while recognising the right of single mother as a 'complete parent' said in a very strong words; acknowledging the rights of...

The Quagmire Of Interim Injunctions In Probate Cases

The desire to initial civil litigation in India is often evoked by the necessity of seeking interlocutory injunctive reliefs. Proceedings seeking validity of a 'will/testament' usually follow the same script. The need to initiate such proceedings arises when due execution of a will stands disputed by a legal heir. In such situations, the executor or the beneficiaries of a will are constrained to initiate suitable legal proceedings.Under Indian Law, validity of a will can be adjudicated either in...

When Referee Plays The Game: Ai, Data Foreclosure, And Limits Of Indian Competition Law

The Platform Paradox: Marketplace, Data Engine, CompetitorIndia's e-commerce sector, projected to exceed $160 billion in gross merchandise value by 2028,[1] is dominated by platforms that occupy three distinct commercial roles simultaneously. Amazon India and Flipkart operate as marketplace intermediaries hosting thousands of third-party sellers, as aggregators of granular transactional data generated by those sellers and their customers, and as direct competitors to those same sellers through...

“Intellectual Dishonesty” In The Dock: When Prosecution Withholds Truth From The Court

In a criminal trial, the Public Prosecutor is not a mouthpiece of the police but a Minister of Justice. Unlike the police, whose primary function is to investigate and collect evidence, the prosecutor's duty is supposedly owed to the court and the truth, not just to convicting the accused. Yet in the span of a month, the Madhya Pradesh High Court has accused the prosecution in Panna district of “intellectual dishonesty” for withholding exculpatory information and has characterized an entire...

'16-Year-Old Boy Can't Have Sex But Can Rape'- Need For Romeo–Juliet Clause In POCSO

This is not a dialogue but harsh reality of our Indian legal system which fails to change itself as per the evolving society. The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO) was enacted with a positive intent to address a serious and pervasive problem: sexual abuse of children in India. The law adopts a strict, child-centric framework by criminalising all sexual activity involving persons below the age of 18, irrespective of consent. While this approach was intended to ensure...

Asset Reconstruction Companies In India: High-Handedness, Judicial Reckoning, And Regulatory Reform

Anyone of us who have appeared before a Debt Recovery Tribunal, a High Court, or the NCLT in a Non-Performing Asset matter has, at some point, encountered an Asset Reconstruction Company on the other side of the record. They arrived with an ambitious mandate: to clean the Indian banking system's distressed debt backlog through professional, non-adjudicatory enforcement, free from the delays that frustrated bank-led recovery for decades. The Narasimham Committee I (1991) and Narasimham Committee...

Progress: The Great Lie That Is Destroying Us All

Imagine chasing a shiny dream that promises endless riches, bigger houses, faster cars. You run after it, day and night, trampling everything in your path—forests, rivers, even your own peace. That's “progress” for you. Not the real kind, but the fake story we have all swallowed. Samuel Miller McDonald nails it in his eye-opening book, Progress: A History of Humanity's Worst Idea. He calls it a deadly myth cooked up by the powerful to grab more, while the rest of us pay the price. And you know...

When Does A Broken Promise To Marry Turn Into A Crime?

For decades, criminal courts in India have grappled with a singular, messy question: When does a broken promise to marry turn into a crime? Under the Indian Penal Code this was usually dealt under Section 375, specifically relying on the "misconception of fact" clause. The courts were often forced to fit complex relationship dynamics into the rigid framework of rape laws.The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita attempts to fix this by carving out a specific niche. Section 69 introduces a distinct offense i.e...

Welfare Is Policy, Timing Is Politics - Why Supreme Court Must Lay Down Guidelines On Direct Cash Benefit Transfers And Freebies

The debate around direct cash benefit transfers and freebies in electoral politics is marked by a curious contradiction. Publicly, there is near-universal agreement that elections should not be influenced by material inducements. In practice, however, pre-election announcements of cash transfers and benefits rarely trigger discomfort- either among political actors or beneficiaries. This dissonance becomes more pronounced as governments increasingly unveil welfare schemes and direct cash...