A reading [State of Assam v. Ranga Mahammad, (1967) 1 SCR 454; Jagdish Chander Gupta v. Kajaria Traders (India) Ltd., (1964) 8 SCR 50; Rajasthan State Electricity Board v. Mohan Lal, (1967) 3 SCR 377; CBI v. Braj Bhushan Prasad, (2001) 9 SCC 432; Godfrey Phillips India Ltd. v. State of U.P., (2005) 2 SCC […]
Read more "Civil Sheep & Criminal Wolf"“In every case where a statute inflicts a penalty for doing an act, though the act be not prohibited, yet the thing is unlawful, because it is not intended that a statute would inflict a penalty for a lawful act. It is a question of construction in each case whether the Legislature intended to prohibit […]
Read more "The Revival of Ray LXI"Unfortunately, there is no substantive domestic legislation or sector-specific regulations which may throw light upon the issue of whether banks are responsible for loss of articles placed inside the locker. This requires factual findings on knowledge of the contents of the locker; or whether the locker holder had prepared any receipt or inventory of the […]
Read more "The Hurt Locker"The provisions of Section 89 of The Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 must be understood in the backdrop of longstanding proliferation of litigation in Civil Courts, which has placed undue burden on the judicial system, forcing speedy justice to become a casualty. The purpose, being sacrosanct and imperative for effecting timely justice in Indian Courts, […]
Read more "Section 89 of The Code of Civil Procedure, 1908"Two-Judge Bench in ABL International Ltd. v. Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India, (2004) 3 SCC 553 analyzed a long line of precedent [K.N. Guruswamy, AIR 1954 SC 592; Gujarat State Financial Corporation, (1983) 3 SCC 379; Gunwant Kaur, (1969) 3 SCC 769] to conclude, Writs under Article 226 are maintainable for asserting contractual rights […]
Read more "Writ Jurisdiction in Contractual Arena"“Inheritance is in some sort a legal and fictitious continuation of the personality of the dead man for the representation is in some sort identified by the law with him who he represents.” In Chiranjilal Shrilal Goenka, (1993) 2 SCC 507 the primary question arose, whether an Arbitrator appointed by Court, by consent of parties, […]
Read more "The Proof of Valid Wills III"A transaction which is sham or collusive would only create an illusion that money has been disbursed to a borrower with the object of receiving consideration… when in fact the parties have entered into the transaction with a different or an ulterior motive. In other words, the real agreement between the parties is something other […]
Read more "Sham Transactions"It is well settled, an Arbitration Agreement is distinct and separate; independent from the substantive commercial contract in which it is embedded. The autonomy of the Arbitration Agreement is based on the twin concepts of separability and kompetenz – kompetenz; which, though inter-related, are distinct. The Doctrine of Separability of Arbitration Agreement connotes, the invalidity, […]
Read more "Referred to Larger Bench XXV: Doctrine of Separability of Arbitration Agreement"An election of remedies arises when two concurrent remedies are available and the aggrieved chooses to exercise one, in which event he loses the right to simultaneously exercise the other for the same cause of action. Doctrine of Election was discussed in A.P. State Financial Corporation, (1994) 2 SCC 647; P.R. Deshpande, (1998) 6 SCC […]
Read more "The Doctrine of Election"The sheer amount of time and effort that is dedicated to household work by individuals, who are more likely to be women than men, is not surprising when one considers the plethora of activities a housemaker undertakes. The conception that housemakers do not ‘work’ or that they do not add economic value to the household […]
Read more "Value of Housework"A ‘group of 34’ gathered in a public park to analyze their new-found hobby of collectively maintaining absolute silence for two hours, each day of one astrologically-permissible week. Of course, curiosity arose. There were those who wished to break the silence and there were those too who joined in, just to see where it all […]
Read more "Collective Maintenance of Absolute Silence"The disqualification under Section 8 of The Representation of People Act, 1951 is relatable to Article 191(1)(e). Therefore, any interpretation to Section 8 should be in sync with the constitutional scheme. Once the period of disqualification starts running, the seat, hitherto held by the person disqualified, becomes vacant by virtue of Article 190(3). His name […]
Read more "Timing of Votes"Mr. Peter Leaver [Queen’s Counsel], Justice V.K. Gupta [Retd.] and Mr. Anthony Houghton [Senior Counsel] delivered their International Arbitral Award in New Delhi, on 12.05.2014. Majority Award [Mr. Peter Leaver and Mr. Anthony Houghton] was in favor of Anglo American Metallurgical Coal Pty Ltd. and Dissenting Award [Justice V.K. Gupta] dismissed the claim of Anglo […]
Read more "Section 34 of The Arbitration Act IV / Arbitral Award Dissent"Samir Agarwal sought, by an information filed, CCI to initiate an inquiry, under Section 26(2) of The Competition Act, 2002, into the alleged anti-competitive conduct of Ola and Uber. Shri Rajshekhar Rao, appearing on behalf of Ola, submitted, Samir cannot be said to be a ‘person aggrieved’ for the purpose of sections 53B and 53T. […]
Read more "Section 53 of The Competition Act / Aggrieved Person II / The Revival of Ray LVII"P.A. Mohammed Riyas v. M.K. Raghavan, (2012) 5 SCC 511 was overruled in G.M. Siddeshwar v. Prasanna Kumar, (2013) 4 SCC 776 on the question whether it is imperative to file an affidavit in terms of Order VI, Rule 15(4) of The Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 in support of the averments made in the […]
Read more "Election Petitions III"Charan Lal Sahu v. Giani Zail Singh, (1984) 1 SCC 390 must clearly govern the present case. It is settled, where a person has no interest at all, or no sufficient interest to support a legal claim or action, he will have no locus standi to sue. The entitlement to sue or locus standi is […]
Read more "Maintenance of Election Petitions"See, Frame v. Smith, [1987] 2 SCR 99. Hospital Products Ltd. v. United States Surgical Corporation Ltd., (1984) 156 CLR 41 rightly observed, the scope of fiduciary duties is moulded according to the nature of the relationship and facts of the case. Principles of Fiduciary Relationships are equitable. Equity never operates in an absolute manner […]
Read more "Principles of Fiduciary Relationships"It is not always affordable to approach a Court of Law. Even if approached, it may be years before a final decision. Imtiyaz Ahmad v. State of Uttar Pradesh, (2012) 2 SCC 688 had a simple answer: “Pendency is merely a localized problem, in the sense that it affects some High Courts far more than […]
Read more "The Persistent Illusion of Judge-Strength"The words ‘any other sufficient reason’ appearing in Order 47, Rule 1 of The Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 must mean a reason sufficient on grounds at least analogous to those specified in Order 47, Rule 1 as was held in Chhajju Ram v. Neki, AIR 1922 PC 112 and approved by this Court in […]
Read more "Any Other Sufficient Reason"There is a body of case law which clarifies, sans a statutory duty, a positive direction to do something, in a specific manner, cannot be given. It must be shown, there is a statute which imposes a legal duty and the aggrieved party has a legal right under the statute to enforce its performance. – […]
Read more "The Nature of Judicial Power: Hon’ble Justice S. Ravindra Bhat"