The Designer Baby Quandary- An Insight Into Gene Editing And Its Legality

Gene editing or genome editing, a type of genetic engineering is a method of altering an organism’s DNA. it may involve adding, removing or altering the genetic material in the genome. A prominent one among the various developed approaches is the CRISPR-Cas9 (Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) approach. The prominence of this approach emerges from its increased efficiency, accuracy and being comparatively cheaper in relation to the other methods.The avid interest...

Surveys, Searches And Seizures: Some Constitutional Dimensions

Traditionally, under the law and the Constitution, the process of search and seizure by authorities was legal only when backed by a warrant showing probable cause. This principle is the bedrock of individual liberty and privacy against the tyrannical state in the common law world. In the words of Lord Camden in 1763 in Huckle v. Money, “To enter a man's house by virtue of a nameless warrant, in order to procure evidence, is worse than the Spanish Inquisition.” The rapid expansion of...

Election Commission & Dissent Within Political Parties, Time To Consider Reform Of Anti-Defection Laws

The Election Commission decided to reserve the “Bow & Arrow” symbol to the Maharashtra Chief Minister, Eknath Shinde’s faction of the Shiv Sena while the Supreme Court deferred the reference to a seven-judge bench of the question ‘whether the Speaker can adjudicate disqualification petitions under the Tenth Schedule - if the motion for her removal from the office is pending before the House – because it is abstract.Though both these news events on Friday had to do with the ongoing tussle...

Whether Cooperative Societies Come Under The Purview Of Sec. 2(H) Of RTI Act, 2005?

It has long been a matter of debate whether a cooperative society would be subject to the requirements to provide information under the RTI Act and fall under the definition of "public authority" as per Section 2(h) of the said Act. Before delving into the nuances of the subject, lets understand what a cooperative society is. “A co-operative association is a union of individuals commonly laborers, farmers, or small capitalists, formed for the prosecution in common of some productive...

“Can Slogans/Tag Lines Be Copyrighted In India Or Abroad?”

Many brands, during business, compose and develop phrases or catchy combination of words with a view to create a lasting impression in the minds of the consumers, to augment popularity of their goods and/or services. These phrases essentially constitute of a slogan or tagline associated with the said product or service and are used for the purposes of advertising or expanding brand identification, as well as improvement of product/service sales, e.g., on coming across the phrase, “The...

Antrix-Devas Dispute: Will The Anti-Arbitration Injunction Order Turn The Chain Of Events In Favour Of India In The New BIT Arbitration

Recently, the Indian government achieved a major victory in its third treaty arbitration dispute with Devas Multimedia, as the Supreme Court of Mauritius barred Devas from proceeding with its latest arbitration proceedings against India. Judge Prameeta Goordyal-Chittoo issued the interim order on 12th January 2022, prohibiting the three Mauritius-based Devas investors from proceeding with their UNCITRAL arbitration under the India-Mauritius bilateral investment treaty.[1] In other words...

Trade Union Recognition Under The Industrial Relations Code,2020, Needs Introspection

According to the International Labour Organization , collective bargaining can be defined as “the key means through which employers and their organizations and trade unions can establish fair wages and working conditions.” Though the Indian Constitution doesn’t explicitly provide for a fundamental right of collective bargaining, the Supreme Court held in All India Bank Employees vs National Industrial Tribunal that the right to form a union comes under the ambit of the right to form an...

Protection Of Minority Shareholders And Related Party Transactions

The Company is an artificial entity incorporated under the Companies Act, 2013[1] (hereinafter, ‘Company Act’), and conducts its affairs through its board of directors who owe a duty to take care towards all the stakeholders of the company and to conduct the affairs of the company in a neutral and unbiased manner. Shareholders of a Company can be in broad terms divided into majority shareholders and minority shareholders. Majority shareholders are those who have more than 51% or more...

Section 27 Of The Evidence Act Re-Visited In The Wake Of Supreme Court Judgement In “Ramanand @ Nandlal Bharti”

Any discussion on Section 27 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 will be incomplete without reference to Sections 25 and 26. Section 25 of the Evidence Act prohibits proof of “confession” made to a police officer by an accused person. Section 26 interdicts proof of a “confession” made by an accused person while he is in the custody of a police officer. Section 27 which is in the form of a “proviso” to Sections 25 and 26, reads as follows:-“27: How much of information received from accused may be...

Socialism And Stock Market Meet At Social Stock Exchange

The Hon’ble Finance Minister, as part of the Budget Speech for the Financial Year 2019 -2020 had proposed to initiate steps towards creating a Social Stock exchange in India, under the regulatory ambit of Securities and Exchange Board of India (“SEBI”), for listing of social enterprises and voluntary organizations. In the budget speech, the Hon’ble Finance Minister said: “It is time to take our capital markets closer to the masses and meet various social welfare objectives related to...

Valentine’s Day : Right to Love & Indian Supreme Court

Valentine’s Day is upon us again. It is a holiday of mysterious provenance but has come to widely represent a festival of love and devotion (not to mention, consumerism) that is celebrated and dreaded in equal measure. Whether you have a significant other, are (un)happily unattached, think Valentine’s Day is nothing more than a grotesque capitalistic spectacle, or rail against the ‘dazzle of western civilisation’, there is no escaping the fourteenth of February, and all the associated...

Justice S.Abdul Nazeer’s Appointment As The Governor Without A Cooling-Off Period Brings It Under Scrutiny

The news that the former Judge of the Supreme Court, Justice S. Abdul Nazeer, who retired on January 4, has been appointed as the Governor of Andhra Pradesh, should cause concern to all those who value judicial accountability and reputation.Although it is not the first time that a former Judge of the Supreme Court has been appointed as the Governor of a state, this is the first time that a former Judge of the Supreme Court has been appointed so soon after his or her retirement. Justice S.Fazl...