P. Jaganmohan Reddy was born into an aristocratic, wealthy, and prominent family in Former Princely State of Hyderabad on 23 January, 1910. An uncle of Jaganmohan Reddy, though a Lincoln’s Inn Barrister, never practiced law. Jaganmohan Reddy was the first member of his family to practice law as a profession. He was 59 when he […]
Read more "The Kesavananda Bench III: Pingle Jaganmohan Reddy"“Writ of Quo Warranto cannot be issued on basis of assumptions, inferences or suspicion regarding factum of fulfillment of eligibility criteria. Being an extraordinary power, ordinarily such a Writ ought to be issued only on basis of indisputable facts leading to a singular conclusion – incumbent was in fact or in law disqualified to occupy […]
Read more "The Writ of Quo Warranto I"Last year, it was claimed before Bombay High Court, trailers of The State v. Jolly LL.B 2 projected Indian Judiciary and Indian Legal System in a derogatory manner. Court found there was a prima facie case of contempt. It constituted a Three-Member Committee, out of which Two Members were Lawyers. Bom HC’s ‘Legitimization of Special […]
Read more "The Last Word on Aiyaary"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 […]
Read more "The Harmon Doctrine"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 […]
Read more "The Last Word on Padmaavat"Two months ago, Judges 2-3-4-5 of Supreme Court wrote a long letter to the Chief Justice, complaining of assignment of Benches without any rational basis. Last Friday [*January 12, 2018*], the Judges called a Press Conference, irreversibly provoked by the Bench chosen by the Master of the Roster [Chief Justice of India], to hear a plea […]
Read more "An Alleged Judicial Crisis on Swami Vivekananda’s 155"TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA launched the world’s first hybrid car, ‘Prius’, in Japan in 1997. In India, the car was released in 2009 and until that point of time Toyota had not obtained registration of the mark ‘Prius’ in the Indian jurisdiction. M/S PRIUS AUTO INDUSTRIES LIMITED had got the mark ‘Prius’ registered way back […]
Read more "The Goodwill in Passing Off Actions: The Toyota Prius Story"In July, 2017 a Bench of Three in Nithya Anand, (2017) 8 SCC 454 speaking through Justice A.M. Khanwilkar disapproved of the “first strike” principle developed in Surya Vadanan, (2015) 5 SCC 450. It had been argued, since the mother had not sought custody of the child by approaching any competent Indian Court prior to […]
Read more "The “First Strike” in Child Custody Battles II"Advocate represented its Client before a Motor Accident Claims Tribunal and charged a fee of Rs. 10,00,000 [Rupees Ten Lakhs]. Tribunal awarded compensation. Client was compelled to sign a further cheque, in favour of Advocate, towards payment of a certain percentage of decretal amount. That cheque stood dishonoured and Advocate in due time initiated proceedings […]
Read more "A Legally Enforceable Debt III"I had earlier defended Explanation 1 to Section 499 and Subramanian Swamy v. Union of India, [Writ Petition (Criminal) No. 184 of 2014], in the wake of strong arguments that, the legal regime of defamation as set out in Sections 499 and 500 is unconstitutional. Legislature in its wisdom has still not thought it appropriate to abolish […]
Read more "Section 499, Indian Penal Code III"Hon’ble Justice R.F. Nariman has now clarified, a Majority in Triple Talaq Judgment (3/5) held, arbitrariness in sense of manifest arbitrariness would apply to negate legislation under Article 14. “In so far as ‘manifest arbitrariness’ is concerned, it is important to advert to Majority Judgment of this Court in Shayara Bano v. Union of India, […]
Read more "The Doctrine of Arbitrariness / Substantive Due Process III"There are always the traditionalists. They imagine Live Tweeters in Court when ADM Jabalpur was on going, and shiver at the thought. Ray CJI would have had none of it. The present Chief Justice seemingly does not subscribe to old world ideas. Juniors who have the time and the resources are travelling to SC every day […]
Read more "The Live Tweets Ailment II"A Senior Advocate proclaimed recently: One wonders if ‘all present in the hall’ were not judicially urged to ‘stand up to show respect to the National Anthem’ whether there would be objections against playing of the Anthem itself. (Turns out: Yes!) This is specially important because very few have availed the opportunity to protest the […]
Read more "In Re: Ramachandra Guha on National Anthem in Cinema Halls"In George Leslie v. State of Kerala, AIR 1970 Ker 21 the term ‘Kuttikanam’ was explained. It was held, ‘Kuttikanam’ is neither a fee nor a tax. A tax or fee is levied in the exercise of sovereign power. ‘Kuttikanam’ means Government’s share of the value of the reserved trees. It was further held by Mathew […]
Read more "Kuttikanam / Seigniorage"Justice Arvind Kumar Mishra of Allahabad High Court commenting on (Retd.) Justice Shyam Lal, in Nupur Talwar v. State of U.P., [Criminal Appeal No. 293 of 2014]: “Learned Trial Judge has prejudged things in his own fashion, drawn conclusions by embarking on erroneous analogy conjecturing to the brim on apparent facts telling a different story […]
Read more "The Finesse of a Trial Judge"“In State of A.P. v. McDowell & Co., (1996) 3 SCC 790 a 3 Judge Bench of this Court held that an enactment could be struck down, if it is being challenged as violative of Article 14, only if it is found that it is violative of the equality clause, equal protection clause or violative […]
Read more "The Doctrine of Arbitrariness / Substantive Due Process II"There was a Full Court Reference at Supreme Court on 7th August, 2012 in memory of Late Shri Prabha Shankar Mishra, Senior Advocate. It was briefly mentioned, P.S. Mishra was appointed as a Judge of Patna High Court in 1982; was transferred to Madras High Court in 1990; was thereafter appointed as Chief Justice of […]
Read more "The Story of Justice Prabha Shankar Mishra"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 […]
Read more "The Doctrine of Arbitrariness / Substantive Due Process I"ADM Jabalpur must be confined to the dustbin of history. Hon’ble Justices Aftab Alam and A.K. Ganguly in Rajnath Chauhan, (2010) 14 SCC 209 were clear on that conclusion. Two months after the pronouncement of Judgment, Times of India carried the following headline: ADM Jabalpur is a flop movie, only remembered fondly for the stellar […]
Read more "The Discomfort of ADM Jabalpur I"Former Delhi Excise Chief, Dr. Anup Kumar Srivastava received a reprieve from Supreme Court, recently. “There is no material evidence on record in order to bring home a charge of conspiracy against Respondent. There is no direct or circumstantial evidence to prove, Respondent has demanded any illegal gratification and has accepted or obtained any such […]
Read more "The Question of Six Zeroes in Call No. 51"
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