The Harmon Doctrine

The Doctrine of Absolute Territorial Sovereignty is most often identified with an opinion prepared in 1895 by the 41st Attorney General of the United States, Judson Harmon, in response to a request by the Department of State for advice concerning a dispute with Mexico over the use of waters of the Rio Grande. Pursuant to […]

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The Last Word on Padmaavat

Witnessing Padmaavat unfold on screen, on its first day of release, was unique, especially since your smart phone kept reminding you of persistent violence. The casual viewer may have even ignored a woman threatening to immolate herself or even a policemen who stood guard, but the skeptic whispered if a riot broke out… on which […]

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The Doctrine of Arbitrariness / Substantive Due Process I

Abhinav Chandrachud is not incorrect in noting, Doctrine of ‘Fairness’/‘Non-Arbitrariness’ laid the foundation of Substantive Due Process in our country. Justice Nariman supports this view. In a richly cited CJI K.G. Balakrishnan Judgment [2010] it indeed was held, ‘Substantive Due Process’ is a part of Indian Constitutional Jurisprudence. 5 years later, in Rajbala v. Haryana, (2016) 2 SCC […]

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The Nature of Judicial Power: The Theory of Creative Interpretation

My Lord, Section 2(1)(d) of The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 should engulf and embrace, in its connotative expanse, the mental age of a person or the age determined by the prevalent science pertaining to psychiatry so that a mentally retarded person or an extremely intellectually challenged person, who even has crossed […]

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The Doctrine of Widest Construction

“The jurisprudential basis for the ‘rule of widest construction’ is the hallowed belief that a Constitution is drafted with an eye on future providing a continuing framework for exercise of governmental power. Therefore, it must be elastic enough to meet new social, political and historical realities often unimagined by the framers of the Constitution. Chief […]

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The Advanced Age of Sushil Ansal

On March 05, 2014 Hon’ble Justice T.S Thakur, not yet CJI, observed, “cynical Chalta Hai Attitude… more often than not costs society dearly in man-made tragedies” [(2014) 6 SCC 173]. The price of Sushil Ansal’s ‘Chalta Hai Attitude’ was pegged at Rs. 30 Crores [(2015) 10 SCC 359]. That is merely 18 Crores more than what a […]

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Referred to Larger Bench XII: Doctrine of Relation Back in Admissions

My Lord, Can grant of monetary compensation be considered as the sole and adequate remedy for a student who has been deprived of admission, despite he or she being meritorious, vigilant and diligent, because of lapses committed either by the counselling authority or the administrating authority intrinsically connected with the process of admission? “It is […]

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Monsters-In-Law III

Appellant-Husband was treated cruelly by Respondent-Wife. There were repeated threats of suicide [Pankaj Mahajan v. Dimple, (2011) 12 SCC 1]; levelling of disgusting accusations of indecent familiarity with a person outside wedlock [Vijaykumar v. Neela, 2003 (6) SCC 334]. Both are acts of cruelty within the meaning of The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955. Respondent-Wife wanted […]

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