I am an Advocate, not an Academician. The practical impact of a Judgment interests me. Subramanian Swamy v. Union of India, [Writ Petition (Criminal) No. 184 of 2014] pronounced recently, is a significant weapon in my hand. Explanation 1 to Section 499 of The Indian Penal Code, 1860 reads as, “It may amount to defamation to […]
Read more "Section 499, Indian Penal Code II"“Since the inception of mankind, many lacs have suffered from different types of physical handicaps (today about 600 million people suffer from such handicaps). But, many of them overcame all kinds of handicaps and achieved distinctions in various fields. Sarah Bernhardt – French actress was disabled by a knee injury. Her leg was amputated in […]
Read more "Able Disable All People Together I"“The entire basis of this Doctrine of Promissory Estoppel has been well put in a Judgment of Australian High Court reported in Commonwealth of Australia v. Verwayen, 170 C.L.R. 394, by Deane, J. The statement, based on various earlier English authorities, correctly encapsulates the law of Promissory Estoppel with one difference under our law – […]
Read more "Promissory Estoppel IV"“Under Article 19(6) of The Constitution, the State has to conform to two separate and independent tests if it is to pass constitutional muster – the restriction on the fundamental right must first be a reasonable restriction, and secondly, it should also be in the interest of the general public. Perhaps the best exposition of […]
Read more "Reasonable Restriction I"Any attempt at interpretation of a long line of cases proves to be tiresome. Modern Dental College and Research Centre v. State of Madhya Pradesh, [Civil Appeal No. 4060 of 2009], delivered on 02.05.2016, provides a brave summary. Accept it with abundant caution. 5 Judges have no jurisdiction to interpret 7 or 11 erstwhile Lords. The […]
Read more "Look, T.M.A. Pai Again"One of the examples cited as an abuse of the process of Court is re-litigation. It is contrary to justice and public policy for a party to re-litigate the same issue which has already been tried and decided earlier against him. Recently, Messer Holdings Ltd. v. Shyam Madanmohan Ruia, [Special Leave Petition (Civil) 33429 of […]
Read more "75 LAKHS FOR NALSA"Four notifications, two dated 21.12.2010 and two dated 31.05.2012, issued by Medical Council of India and Dental Council of India, were challenged in CMC, Vellore v. Union of India, (2014) 2 SCC 305. CJI Altamas Kabir held, the notifications were ultra vires the provisions of Articles 19(1)(g), 25, 26(a), 29(1) and 30(1). Hon’ble Justice Anil […]
Read more "Curse of NEET, 2016"“It was a scorching summer day on 31st May, when the NIA sleuths gathered in the chambers of Gopal Subramanian, the Attorney General of India. He had just returned from the US where he had spent hours discussing the David Headley issue with the US Attorney General, Eric Holder… Behera spoke, ‘We will be leaving […]
Read more "D for Dayan, D for David"It is a settled legal proposition, law of limitation may harshly affect a particular party but it has to be applied with all its rigour when the statute so prescribes. A result flowing from a statutory provision is never an evil. Court has no power to ignore that provision to relieve what it considers a […]
Read more "Dura Lex Sed Lex"There is a need to build confidence to help road accident victims. Good Samaritans fear of legal consequences, involvement in litigation and repeated visits to Police Station. There is a need to provide certain incentives to Good Samaritans. There is also a dire need to enact a Good Samaritan Law. Ministry of Road Transport and […]
Read more "A Good Samaritan Law"“It needs no special emphasis to mention, provisos can serve various purposes. Hidayatullah, J had observed, a proviso is generally added to an enactment to qualify or create an exception to what is in the enactment, and the proviso is not interpreted as stating a general rule. Further, except for instances dealt within the proviso, the […]
Read more "The Proviso I"“It is a matter of complete disgrace, you were hounded by Press and you were intolerant of them when there was a case against you…” – Padma Bhushan, Anupam Kher, The Telegraph National Debate, 2016 The choice of Retired Hon’ble Justice Ashok Kumar Ganguly as a Panelist at The Telegraph National Debate, 2016 was confusing […]
Read more "History Has No Dustbin: Hon’ble Justice Ashok Kumar Ganguly"In England it was the practice in times of danger to the State to pass what were popularly known as Habeas Corpus Suspension Acts. Suspension did not legalize an illegal arrest; it merely suspended a particular remedy in respect of particular offences. House of Lords took the view, the power to detain could not be […]
Read more "The Diamond-Bright, Diamond-Hard Hope"‘Res judicata’ literally means a ‘thing adjudicated‘ or ‘an issue that has been definitively settled by judicial decision‘. The principle operates as a bar to try the same issue once over. It aims to prevent multiplicity of proceedings and accords finality to an issue, which directly and substantially had arisen in the former suit between the […]
Read more "Res Judicata – Cause of Action"History will not forget Hon’ble Justice Pratibha Rani at the crossroad of Kanhaiya Kumar v. State of NCT of Delhi, Writ Petition (Crl.) 558 of 2016. “While dealing with the Bail Application of the Petitioner it has to be kept in mind, by all concerned, they are enjoying this freedom only because our borders are […]
Read more "The Country Without a Post Office"My Lord, What is the meaning of the expression “specific provision to the contrary” in Section 4(1) of The Code of Civil Procedure, 1908? The scheme of Section 4(1), as its marginal note provides, is to ‘save’ any special or local law from the applicability of The Code of Civil Procedure. The said Section therefore […]
Read more "Section 4(1) of The Code of Civil Procedure, 1908"Though the Rule of Casus Omissus i.e. “what has not been provided for in the statute cannot be supplied by Courts” is a strict rule of interpretation there are certain well known exceptions thereto. The following opinion of Lord Denning in Seaford Court Estates Ltd. v. Asher, (1949) 2 All ER 155 should be taken […]
Read more "Casus Omissus"Thank You, Chief. “Halsbury’s Laws of England, Fourth Edition, Volume I(I) 151 explains the meaning of ‘legitimate expectation’ in the following words: A person may have a legitimate expectation of being treated in a certain way by an administrative authority even though he has no legal right in private law to receive such treatment. The […]
Read more "The Doctrine of Legitimate Expectation III"My Lord, What is the James Scott Cumberland Reid Principle? Rules of construction are not rules in the ordinary sense of having some binding force. They are our servants not our masters. They are aids to construction, presumptions or pointers. In each case we must look at all relevant circumstances and decide as a matter […]
Read more "Lord Reid"My Lord, Perverse Judgment? “This Court has already laid down as to which finding would be called perverse. It is a finding which is not only against weight of evidence but altogether against evidence. This Court has held in Triveni Rubber, AIR 1994 SC 1341, a perverse finding is one which is based on no […]
Read more "Erroneous Judgment v. Perverse Judgment II"
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