What looms before us is Lord Hale’s Ghost. Exception 2 to Section 375, IPC is referred to as Marital Rape Exception. MRE is bad in law as it violates Article 14. A ‘conjugal expectation’ to have sexual communion is not to be equated with an unfettered right to have sex without consent. J. Sai Deepak’s […]
Read more "Conjugal Expectation of Lord Hale’s Ghost"T. Arivandandam v. T.V. Satyapal, (1977) 4 SCC 467; Azhar Hussain v. Rajiv Gandhi, 1986 Supp SCC 315; Sopan Sukhdeo Sable v. Assistant Charity Commissioner, (2004) 3 SCC 137; Rajendra Bajoria v. Hemant Kumar Jalan, 2021 SCC OnLine SC 764. Dahiben v. Arvindbhai Kalyanji Bhanusali, (2020) 7 SCC 366 had an occasion to consider various […]
Read more "The Drastic Power of Rejecting a Plaint V"A party should not be penalized for failing to adopt legal proceedings when facts or documents have been wilfully concealed from him. A party who had acted fraudulently should not be given benefit of limitation, running in its favor, by virtue of such frauds [Pallav Sheth v. Custodian, (2001) 7 SCC 549]. Section 17 of […]
Read more "Referred to Larger Bench XXVII: The Drastic Power of Rejecting a Plaint IV"Phrases – such as: ‘question of law’ – are open textual expressions, used in statutes to convey a certain meaning which Legislature would not have intended to be read in a pedantic manner. When words allow narrow as well as wide interpretations, Courts have developed art and technique of finding correct meanings by looking at […]
Read more "Question of Law"Whether, and if so where, an employee should be posted are matters which are governed by exigencies of service; an employee has no fundamental right or a vested right to claim a transfer or posting of their choice; individual convenience of persons who are employed in service is subject to overarching needs of administration. Court […]
Read more "Proportionality in Culture of Justification II"My Lord, District Magistrate or Chief Metropolitan Magistrate can appoint and authorize an Advocate under Section 14(1A) of The Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002? Yes. It is well established, an Advocate is a guardian of constitutional morality and justice equally with a Judge. He bears responsibility towards […]
Read more "Subordinate Officer"We rely on Jasbhai Motibhai Desai v. Roshan Kumar, Haji Bashir Ahmed, (1976) 1 SCC 671: “It will be seen, in context of locus standi to apply for a Writ of Certiorari, an applicant may ordinarily fall in any of these categories: (i) ‘person aggrieved’; (ii) ‘stranger’; (iii) ‘busybody’ or ‘meddlesome interloper’. Persons in last […]
Read more "The Writ of Busybody Strangers / The Revival of Ray LXXXI"Where a statute is adjudged to be unconstitutional, it is as if it had never been. Rights cannot be built up under it; contracts which depend upon it for their consideration are void; it constitutes a protection to no one who has acted under it and no one can be punished for having refused obedience […]
Read more "The Doctrine of Prospective Overruling"Two-Judge Bench in JP Builders v. A. Ramadas Rao, (2011) 1 SCC 429 observed, Section 16(c) of The Specific Relief Act, 1963 mandates ‘readiness and willingness’ of plaintiff and is a condition precedent to obtain relief of specific performance. Court further observed, ‘readiness’ refers to financial capacity and ‘willingness’ refers to conduct of plaintiff wanting […]
Read more "Readiness and Willingness"The main departure of The Companies Act, 2013 from statutory regime of The Companies Act, 1956 is specific inclusion of fraud ‘directly’ as a circumstance in which a Company could be wound up [See, Section 271 of 2013 Act, as it now stands after 2016]. Section 271(c) of The Companies Act, 2013 covers three circumstances […]
Read more "Fraud II"As many as 35,642 cases of Indian Made Foreign Liquor of different brands got destroyed in fire on 10/04/2003. We need not delve, for present purpose, on classification or various other jurisprudential features of ‘liability’. We are primarily concerned with question of ‘liability’ arising out of ‘negligence’. Without multiplying case law, sufficient it would be […]
Read more "Act of God"The question had been floating for a while. It was January 1, 2019 when I wondered who amongst then Chief Justices of HCs, if elevated, could be our 51st CJI. January 18, 2019 – we finally received an answer. CJI No. 51 would be Hon’ble Justice Sanjiv Khanna who wasn’t ever a Chief Justice of […]
Read more "The Nature of Judicial Power: Article No. 1101"We cannot read, a word in singular, namely, ‘consumer’, will not include plural. If vowel ‘a’ and word ‘consumer’ appearing in Section 2(5)(i) of The Consumer Protection Act, 2019 are to be understood to exclude more than one person, it will result in a disastrous consequence while reading Section 2(5)(vi). A way of interpreting Section […]
Read more "Class Action, Consumer Disputes II"Court has propounded several tests for determining reasonableness for purpose of Article 19(1)(g). These have ranged from testing restrictions for arbitrariness [Dwarka, AIR 1954 SC 224; Shree Meenakshi Mills, AIR 1974 SC 366], excessiveness [Chintaman Rao, AIR 1951 SC 118] and discerning their objective of compliance with Directive Principles of State Policy [Saghir Ahmad, (1955) […]
Read more "Proportionality in Culture of Justification I"Waiver is abandonment of a right which normally everybody is at liberty to waive [Pravesh Kumar Sachdeva v. State of Uttar Pradesh, (2018) 10 SCC 628]. Waiver of mandatory requirement of a statute was considered by this Court in depth in Commissioner of Customs, Mumbai v. Virgo Steels, Bombay, (2002) 4 SCC 316. Similarly, in […]
Read more "The Doctrine of Waiver"As per settled proposition of law, mere mentioning and using of word ‘fraud’/’fraudulent’ is not sufficient to satisfy test of ‘fraud’. Hon’ble Justice Vivian Bose, Bishundeo Narain v. Seogeni Rai, (1951) SCR 548: “Now if there is one rule which is better established than any other, it is – in cases of fraud, undue influence and […]
Read more "Fraud I"After Narayan Govind Gavate v. State of Maharashtra, (1977) 1 SCC 133 a ‘discordant note’ came to be struck in Pista Devi, (1986) 4 SCC 251. Chameli Singh, (1996) 2 SCC 549 proceeded to consider decisions in Gavate, Pista Devi and Rajasthan Housing Board, (1993) 2 SCC 84. Chameli Singh was not noticed in Om […]
Read more "The Revival of Ray LXXVI"Lord Diplock in Council of Civil Service Unions v. Minister for Civil Service, [1985] AC 374; Lord Greene in Associated Provincial Picture Houses Ltd. v. Wednesbury Corp., [1947] 2 All ER 680. An administrative action is subject to judicial review on grounds of illegality, irrationality and procedural impropriety. _____ When a person takes a chance […]
Read more "Risky Participation / The Revival of Ray LXXV"This is a case of cheques, issued pursuant to a deed of compromise, being dishonoured. The dishonour of cheques, issued subsequent to a settlement agreement, would give rise to a fresh cause of action attracting liability under Section 138 and other remedies under civil law and criminal law. A contrary interpretation would lead to contradictory […]
Read more "Settlement Deed Cheque"The meaning of the phrase “heard and finally decided” was considered in Krishan Lal v. State of J&K, (1994) 4 SCC 422 where it was held, matter must have been heard on merits to have been “heard and finally decided”. Erach Boman Khavar v. Tukaram Shridhar Bhat, (2013) 15 SCC 655 has held, res judicata […]
Read more "Heard & Finally Decided"
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