Hon’ble Justice Vikramajit Sen turns 65 on the last day of this year and retires duly. I shall forever associate him with ‘precedents’. What binds and what holds is a recurrent theme in several of his Judgments. Rashmi Metaliks, (2013) 10 SCC 95: SC often has to “face lengthy arguments in each case because of the […]
Read more "Sen J I"“Section 18(2) of The SARFAESI Act provides that the Appellate Tribunal shall follow the provisions of The Recovery of Debts Due to Banks and Financial Institutions Act, 1993 in disposing of the appeal unless otherwise provided under The SARFAESI Act or the Rules made thereunder. The proviso to Section 20(3) of The RDDBFI Act empowers […]
Read more "Condonation of Delay III: Section 18, SARFAESI Act Appeals"A meeting was called by Chief Justice of India after Bomb Blasts outside Delhi High Court on 07.09.2011. Court on its Administrative Side, after deliberations with Delhi Police, prohibited vendors to squat along the perimeter of Supreme Court. There is a road called Bhagwan Das Road after Supreme Court compound wall. After crossing the road, […]
Read more "Safety and Security of Supreme Court"In Bottled Water Processors Association v. Union of India, [Writ Petition (C) No. 11672 of 2009] Hon’ble Justice S. Muralidhar found, “considering water borne diseases are on the increase during summer months, time is of the essence”. Many summers have gone by. The Task Force, ordered to be constituted, for cracking down on units manufacturing […]
Read more "Lawyer Profiles I: The Case of Counterfeit Bottles and Spurious Medicines"In Julius v. Bishop of Oxford, (1880) 5 AC 214 it was observed, “The words ‘it shall be lawful’ are plain and unambiguous. They confer a faculty or power, and they do not of themselves do more than confer a faculty or power. But there may be something in the nature of the thing empowered to […]
Read more "Power Coupled With Duty I"The Last Word: As per standards of Hurra, (2002) 4 SCC 388 a Curative Petition shall be circulated amongst “3 Senior-Most Judges” of SC and “Judges who passed the Judgment complained of, if available”. When a Majority concludes, a hearing is required – it should be listed. Hon’ble Justice Dipak Misra: “Needless to say, the availability […]
Read more "The Yakub Hanging"Review Petitions, Curative Petitions, Mercy Petitions, Media Petitions are all variations of soft law jurisprudence. Judges are soft. As per standards of Hurra, (2002) 4 SCC 388 a Curative Petition shall be circulated amongst “3 Senior-Most Judges” of SC and “Judges who passed the Judgment complained of, if available”. When a Majority concludes, a hearing is […]
Read more "My Name is Memon"“No question other than relating to Fundamental Rights will be determined in a proceeding under Article 32. The difference between Article 32 and 226 is that while an application under Article 32 lies only for the enforcement of Fundamental Rights, the High Court under Article 226 has a wider power to exercise its jurisdiction not only for the […]
Read more "Battle of the Articles I: 32/226"“Needless to say that to constitute an offence punishable under Section 406, IPC the essential ingredient is the ‘entrustment’ of the property. It is only after entrustment is shown, it can be said that there was criminal breach of trust. In Ram Narayan Popli, (2003) 3 SCC 641 this Court, per Majority, has explained ‘entrustment’ […]
Read more "Section 405/406, Indian Penal Code I"“Section 31(7) of The Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 by using the words ‘unless otherwise agreed by the parties’, categorically specifies that the Arbitrator is bound by the terms of the contract so far as award of interest from the date of cause of action to the date of the award is concerned. Therefore, where […]
Read more "Section 31(7) of The Arbitration Act I"It is said that Truman Capote started investigating The Clutter Murders after reading a 300-word New York Times article. 6 years spent on the case, gave us ‘In Cold Blood’, the first book of its kind. Capote was no journalist and Avirook Sen is no author. ‘Aarushi’ is a compelling read, no doubt. But I […]
Read more "A Review of “Aarushi”"Recently, SC, while imposing exemplary costs of Rs. 10,00,000/- (Rupees Ten Lakhs) on Industrialist-Appellant, in Vijay Mallya v. Enforcement Directorate, [Criminal Appeal No. 1406 of 2009], quoted Anatole France. The famous words of Anatole: “The law in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in […]
Read more "Anatole France"“It may be recalled that owing to curial fiat, it is no longer necessary to state the name of the father in applications seeking admission of children to school, as well as for obtaining a passport for a minor child. However, in both these cases, it may still remain necessary to furnish a birth certificate. […]
Read more "Birth Certificates"Paragraph 37, Salem Advocate Bar Association v. Union of India, (2005) 6 SCC 344: “Judicial notice can be taken of the fact that many unscrupulous parties take advantage of the fact that either the costs are not awarded or nominal costs are awarded on the unsuccessful party. Unfortunately, it has become a practice to direct parties […]
Read more "Costs Jurisprudence I: Actual Reasonable Costs"“It may not always be safe for a Writ Court to decide issues and facts having great impact on general public or a large part of it only on basis of Oath against Oath.” – Hon’ble Justice Dipak Misra, Riju Prasad Sharma v. State of Assam, [Civil Appeal Nos. 3276-3278 of 2013]. ‘Oath against Oath’ […]
Read more "Oath Against Oath"My Lord, What is Pension? “It is a well known principle, pension is not a bounty. The benefit is conferred upon an employee for his unblemished career. In D.S. Nakara v. Union of India, (1983) 1 SCC 305 D.A. Desai, J speaking for the Bench opined: “The antiquated notion of pension being a bounty, a […]
Read more "Pension is Not a Bounty I"Markandey Katju (MK), for those uninitiated, was once a Hon’ble Judge at Hon’ble Supreme Court of India. Honorably Retired MK writes abundantly and appears to be angry. He called Subhash Chandra Bose, ‘A Japanese Agent of Japanese Imperial Interest’. MK served Supreme Court between 10.04.2006 and 19.11.2011. In the opening game, Late Hon’ble Justice Sabharwal was […]
Read more "Agent Markandey Katju"An excerpt from Manoj Mitta, The Fiction of Fact Finding, (2014), pgs. 112 to 121: “A key element of the monitoring was the mechanism of the Amicus Curiae, a Senior Lawyer appointed by the Supreme Court to provide independent advise to it. The one for Jafri’s complaint was Senior Advocate, Raju Ramachandran. Much as he played […]
Read more "“History Has Its Own Eccentricities”"My Lord, What is Truth? “‘Satyameva Jayate’ is a mantra from the ancient scripture Mundaka Upanishad. It was adopted as the National Motto of India. It is inscribed in Devanagari script at the base of the National Emblem. The meaning is as follows: truth alone triumphs; not falsehood. Through truth the divine path is spread […]
Read more "The Importance of Being Earnest I"I know a corrupt judge when I see him. You are almost there, Mr. Rohtagi. Don’t forget Hon’ble Justice Joseph’s BenchMate in almost 150 orders/judgments. The one who saved the President in Purno Agitok Sangma v. Pranab Mukherjee, (2013) 2 SCC 239. The one who became a Chief Justice of India too. “Are you watching closely?”
Read more "Almost There, Mr. Rohtagi"
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