For over 50 yrs., High Court has been disposing of Writ Petitions raising claims or challenges to exercise of powers or dereliction of duties under The Maharashtra Slum Areas (Improvement, Clearance and Redevelopment) Act, 1971. The propensity and proclivity of 1971 Act to generate litigation are worrisome. The exasperation of High Court is understandable. Court […]
Read more "Assessment of Statute"“Earth teaches us patience, love; Air teaches us mobility, liberty; Fire teaches us warmth, courage; Sky teaches us equality, broad-mindedness; Water teaches us purity, cleanliness.” State of Bihar v. Murad Ali Khan, (1988) 4 SCC 655, speaking through Venkatachaliah J, observed, “‘Every source from which man has increased his power has been used to diminish prospects of […]
Read more "The Doctrine of Intergenerational Equity"Haridas Das v. Usha Rani Banik, (2006) 4 SCC 78 while reiterating decisions in Aribam Tuleshwar Sharma v. Aribam Pishak Sharma, (1979) 4 SCC 389 and Meera Bhanja v. Nirmala Kumari Choudhury, (1995) 1 SCC 170 drew out narrow contours within which review jurisdiction of this Court had to be exercised and held, Order XLVII, […]
Read more "The Nature of Judicial Power: Powers of Review of Supreme Court II"What cannot be done directly, cannot be done indirectly. It is apt to refer to a decision of a Division Bench of Karnataka High Court in Nalini Sunder v. GV Sunder, AIR 2003 Kar 86. It was held, a party could not make out a case on basis of evidence for which he/she has laid […]
Read more "Forfeiture of Right to File Written Statement"We do not find any infirmity, much less any perversity, warranting any interference by this Court. However, there is one aspect which requires clarification. Doctrine of Legitimate Expectation does not always result in relief. A protection of legitimate expectation is subject to overriding public interest. Even if an individual’s expectation is reasonable and based on […]
Read more "The Doctrine of Legitimate Expectation VI"“It would be very wrong to say, under a particular statute, bail cannot be granted.” According to Police, Sheikh Javed Iqbal had confessed, he was engaged in illegal trade of supplying counterfeit Indian currency notes in Nepal. Sheikh Javed Iqbal was arrested on 23.02.2015. We are in July, 2024. 9 years have gone by. A […]
Read more "Bail for Sheikh Javed Iqbal and Ors."It is a fact, certain High Courts maintained a view, sentencing to undergo ‘imprisonment till rising of Court’ would be no sentence at all according to law. It cannot be said, imposing a sentence of ‘imprisonment till rising of Court’ is impermissible or an action amounting to evasion of statutory provisions. However, we have no […]
Read more "Flea-Bite"We are examining legality of arrest of Arvind Kejriwal on 21.03.2024. Gifford v. Kelson, (1943) 51 Man. R 120 accurately explains difference between “reasons to believe” and “suspicion”. “Suspicion” requires lower degree of satisfaction and does not amount to belief. An arrestee should be furnished “reasons to believe” to enable him to exercise his right […]
Read more "Referred to Larger Bench XXXVIII: Necessity to Arrest"Nachiketa Walhekar v. Central Board of Film Certification, (2018) 1 SCC 778 held, Court will be extremely slow to restrain creative works, once Board had approved exhibition. The context, intention and overall message must be considered before protection of free speech is lifted. We have heard Sanjoy Ghose, Senior Counsel and Jai Anant Dehadrai, Counsel […]
Read more "Able Disable All People Together II"“Let justice be done though the heavens fall” In early hours of 19/05/2024 a ghastly incident killed 2 young individuals in Pune and cause for same happened to be a Porsche rashly driven by Master X, a child in conflict with law. On very same day, he came to be released on bail. Juvenile Justice […]
Read more "Fiat Justitia Ruat Caelum, Again"State of Kerala v. V.R. Kalliyanikutty, (1999) 3 SCC 657 did not dispute, a statute of limitation only bars a remedy and does not extinguish a debt. It would also be apposite to point out, recently, K.C. Ninan v. Kerala State Electricity Board, 2023 INSC 560 noticed V.R. Kalliyanikutty and concluded, a statute of limitation […]
Read more "Referred to Larger Bench XXXVII: Limitation and Debt"Time and again Court has said, there should not be any element of political consideration in matters like appointment of a Public Prosecutor. The only consideration for Government should be ‘merit’. A good, seasoned and experienced Public Prosecutor will not only bring contradictions on record, but will also cross-examine a hostile witness at length. It […]
Read more "Public Prosecutor"Many times, Parents including Close Relatives of a Wife make a mountain out of a mole. No sooner it reaches Police, fair chances of reconciliation would get destroyed. The foundation of a sound marriage is tolerance, adjustment and respecting one another. Tolerance to each other’s fault to a certain bearable extent has to be inherent […]
Read more "Criminal Proceedings in Marriages"A ‘service’ involving ‘art’ necessarily involves ‘freedom and discretion in presentation’. Before release of ‘Fan‘ in 2016, Yash Raj Films Private Limited circulated a ‘promotional trailer’, both on television and online, which contained a song in form of a video. Afreen Fatima Zaidi states, ‘Fan‘ did not contain the song, even though the song was […]
Read more "Promotional Trailers"Karikho Kri-Independent, Dr. Mohesh Chai-Bharatiya Janata Party and Nuney Tayang-Indian National Congress contested from 44 Tezu (ST) Assembly on 11.04.2019. Karikho Kri emerged victorious with 7538 votes, while Dr. Mohesh Chai secured 7383 and Nuney Tayang secured 1088 votes. Once it is accepted, Kri’s Kinetic Zing Scooty-AR-11/4474, Maruti Omni Van-AR-11A/3100 and TVS Star City Motorcycle-AR-11/685 […]
Read more "The Case of Three Vehicles"A ‘corrupt practice’ is easy to level but difficult to prove. No allegation would fall within definition of ‘corrupt practice’ of ‘undue influence’ as envisaged in Section 123(2) of The Representation of the People Act, 1951. Election Petition No. 01 of 2021 of Aminul Haque Laskar against Karim Uddin Barbhuiya also lacks ‘concise statement’ of […]
Read more "Disobedience of Section 83(1)(a) of RP Act, 1951"Chief Justice Sabyasachi Mukharji in Charan Lal Sahu v. Union of India, (1990) 1 SCC 613 felicitously described, “Principles of Natural Justice are fundamental… no man or no man’s right should be affected without an opportunity to ventilate his views… we are also conscious, justice is a psychological yearning.” This echoes what Lord Megarry said […]
Read more "Referred to Larger Bench XXXVI (Answered): Principles of Natural Justice X"The procedure provided under Sections 15 and 19 of JJ Act, 2015 has been held to be ‘mandatory’ by this Court in Ajeet Gurjar v. State of Madhya Pradesh, 2023 SCC Online SC 1255. Court held, ‘may’ in Section 19(1) be read as ‘shall’. As can be seen, there has been a flagrant violation of […]
Read more "Claim of Juvenility VIII"In matters of appointment of Judicial Officers, opinion of a High Court is not a mere formality because a High Court is in best position to know about suitability of candidates as District Judges. Constitution therefore expects Governors to engage in ‘constructive constitutional dialogue’ with High Courts before appointing persons to a post of a […]
Read more "The Revival of Ray XCIII"Duality of Sir Amitabh in Shahenshah, (1998) as a Corrupt-Comic Police Officer and a Costumed Crime-Buster compelled many to wonder, what did Sir Amitabh do with his illegal gratifications? No matter what you answer, acceptance of those gratifications were without law. Court has not refrained from reconsidering a prior construction, if it proves to be […]
Read more "Illegal Gratification IV"
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