Justice GS Patel Initiates Contempt Action Against Litigants, Lawyers Who Committed Fraud On Bombay HC [Read Order]

There is some something very rotten in the state of our commercial litigation. It is exemplified by this case. If ever there was an example of a commercial fraud and a fraud on the court, this is it. This is how Justice GS Patel of the Bombay High Court described the case at hand wherein a litigant named Jitenderpal Singh Chadha, his father-in-law Prithipal Chadha and a lawyer Chadha...

People’s RTI Versus State’s Aadhaar

Right to information is people’s right ever since Evidence Act was passed in 1872 as its Sections 74 and 76 provided access to public records on payment of copying charges. This right was constitutionalized in 1950 under Article 19(1)(a) and then legally facilitated in 2005 through Right to Information Act. While right to vote made India democratic with equal chance of exercising its choice of governors, the RTI took a step forward to empower the citizen with information.  If liberty of thought...

Aadhaar Hearing [Weeks 2 and 3]: Petitioners’ Case in Detail

In an earlier post, I examined, in broad terms, the nature of the petitioners’ challenge in the Aadhaar case. Senior counsel Shyam Divan concluded his arguments this week. Therefore, this second post will flesh out the substance of Mr Divan’s arguments.In the remainder of this post, I will unpack the arguments over the last two weeks under three broad heads: (a) the privacy judgment; (b) challenges to the Aadhaar Act; and (c) the court’s concerns.(A) The Privacy JudgmentThe readers will recall...

Pakistani Human Rights Activist And Senior Lawyer Asma Jahangir Passes Away

She was the first woman president of Pakistan Supreme Court Bar Association Celebrated Pakistani human rights activist and senior lawyer Ms. Asma Jahangir passed away in Lahore on Sunday at the age of 66. According to reports, the former UN special rapporteur died of cardiac arrest.Born in 1952, Ms. Jahangir did her schooling at the Convent of Jesus and Mary and completed her LLB from the...

Evolution Of Law Of Corporate Insolvency [PART -II] Formation Of NCLTs And Evolution Of  Insolvency Jurisprudence

Law Commission of India vide its 124th Report[1], while highlighting the issues of multiplicity of jurisdictions with High Courts, pendency of cases, multiplicity of stages of appeal/ review/ revision under the Code of Civil Procedure, and need of having specialized bodies to deal with specialized matters, recommended for setting up of specialized Tribunals. This paved way of setting of various Tribunals.NCLTs were set up under section 408 of the Companies Act, 2013 w.e.f. 01st June 2016....

Post Hunger-Strike By Lawyers, Centre Notifies The Appointment Of 5 New Judges In Karnataka HC [Read Notification]

The Centre, on Friday, notified the appointment of five Judges to Karnataka High Court, after Advocates Association of Bangalore, the Karnataka State Bar Council and several designated senior Advocates had initiated a hunger strike on Monday protesting the vacancies.Those appointed to the High Court are- Krishna S. Dixit, Shankar Ganapathi Pandit, Ramakrishna Devdas, B.M....

Rajasthan HC ‘Reviews’ ‘Padmaavat’ While Quashing FIR Against Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Deepika Padukone [Read Judgment]

The complainant and the like-minded persons who are carrying unjustified prejudice against the movie would be better advised to realise the folly of their acts, the Judge said.Portrayal of the characters of ‘Maharani Padmavati’ and the King of Chittorgarh as depicted therein would fill the heart of every citizen of this country, more particularly those of Rajasthan and Mewar, with...

Justice Antony Dominic Sworn In As New Chief Justice Of Kerala High Court

Justice Antony Dominic has been sworn in as the new Chief Justice of Kerala High Court. The ceremony was conducted before Governor Mr. P Sathasivam, in the presence of Chief Minister of Kerala, Mr. Pinarayi Vijayan.It may be noted here that approving Justice Dominic's appointment as the Chief Justice of his parent High Court, the Supreme Court collegium had earlier explained, "It is made...

Justice Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf Elected As New President Of International Court of Justice (ICJ)

The International Court of Justice (ICJ), on Tuesday, elected Mr. Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf as its new President and Ms. Xue Hanqin as its Vice-President. Both of them will serve a term of three years.Mr. Yusuf will take over from French Judge Ronny Abraham to become the 25th President of ICJ as well as the 3rd one from Africa. He has been a Judge at ICJ since 2009 and was elected as its...

Are We Nearing Collapse In The Dispensation Of Justice In India?

India perceives its justice system as one of the pillars of its democracy (Kant, 2017). However, Sengupta suggests that India’s justice system is erratic, slow and under-staffed thereby implying that cases have taken so long to be heard and justice has long been denied to many people. For example, after the Sikh riots were held in 1984, a final decision on those that had been accused has not been delivered (2017). Not just this, umpteen number of cases do not see the light of justice in a time...

Buried Conscience

Unprecedented are the happenings in the Supreme Court in the recent past. It seems that the new jurisprudence is in the offering, where the bar and the bench are contributing to shaking faith in the judiciary. Something unwarranted witnessed the Chief Justice Court on Monday, which in ordinary course merits dismissal with exemplary cost.  However, surprisingly it ended in uproar by few regular practitioners, and thereafter business as usual.These days, conscience is a word used in the Court...

Judge Loya Case: Denied Justice, Delayed Justice Or Just-Ease

Hearing of the Petition seeking an investigation in the death of Judge Loya presiding over the CBI court in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case has been ongoing for quite a few days in the Supreme Court of India and a battery of esteemed lawyers are fielding for both the sides, whether an independent probe should be ordered, or not. Astonishingly the State of Maharashtra is opposing an independent probe in the matter citing an already concluded purportedly executed probe by Commissioner...