27 SC Judges on CJI Lalit J’s retirement day [08/11/2022] turned to 28 with Datta J’s arrival [12/12/2022] and 27 again on Nazeer J’s retirement [04/01/2023]. A month later [06/02/2023], 5 Judges were elevated to SC [Mithal, Karol, S. Kumar, Amanullah, M. Misra JJ]. Also, within a week [13/02/2023], 2 more Judges were elevated to […]
Read more "34, The Nature of Judicial Power: Article No. 1434"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: 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"High Court is constitutionally independent and not subordinate to Supreme Court. _____ We do not live in an ideal world. Constitution Bench of Sanjeev Coke Manufacturing Company, (1983) 1 SCC 147 held, “We have serious reservations on whether it is open to a Court to answer academic or hypothetical questions. We think it is inexpedient […]
Read more "The Nature of Judicial Power: Asian Resurfacing"Registrar: “Curative Petitions filed were heard and disposed of in an Open Court. In this regard, Rule 2(1), Order XLVIII, S.C.R., 2O13 reads: Petitioner, in Curative Petition, shall aver specifically, grounds mentioned therein had been taken in Review Petition and it was dismissed by circulation. Since aforesaid Review Petitions were disposed of in an Open […]
Read more "Curative Jurisprudence"Ensuring a free and fair electoral process is imperative to maintain legitimacy of trust in a representative democracy. Kuldeep Kumar is declared to be validly elected as Mayor of Chandigarh Municipal Corporation. We echo observations by Justice VR Krishna Iyer in Mohinder Singh Gill v. Chief Election Commissioner, (1978) 1 SCC 405. “At the bottom […]
Read more "The Little Pencil"Pt. Deendayal Upadhyaya Institute for Physically Handicapped called for appointment of Primary School Teachers and reserved a right to evaluate, review its process of selection at any stage. This one is a classic case of arbitrary action. While primary duty of Constitutional Courts remains control of power, including setting aside of illegal or arbitrary actions, such […]
Read more "The Rules of The Game Principle X"The fear of reprisal and vindictiveness does not evaporate. The so-called protection exists only on paper. – Hon’ble Justice Sanjiv Khanna, Association for Democratic Reforms v. Union of India, [Writ Petition (Civil) No. 880 of 2017]. Constitution guarantees a right to informational privacy of political affiliation. Can such right be extended to contributions to political […]
Read more "Deep Association of Money and Politics"Where a statute confers particular powers without prejudice to generality of a general power already conferred, those particular powers are only illustrative of the general power and do not in any way restrict the general power. However, the general power cannot be so exercised as to bring into existence ‘substantive rights or obligations or disabilities’ […]
Read more "Principle of Generality v. Enumeration"On 19.10.2018, secret information was received about 2 hanging cloth banners, on which Khalistan Jindabad and Khalistan Referendum 2020 was written, at Pillars Kot Mit Singh Flyover, Amritsar. Language of bail limitation adopted in Section 43D(5) of The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 remains unique. Courts are burdened with a sensitive task. Call Detail Records […]
Read more "Gurwinder’s Bail"Learned Senior Counsel, Dr. S. Muralidhar vehemently submitted no error could be said to have been committed by High Court. We set aside. Harshness of a provision is no reason to ‘read down’ same. _____ Privy Council in Kunwar Chiranjit Singh v. Har Swarup, (1926) 23 LW 172 was referred to and relied upon by […]
Read more "Forfeiture in Public Auctions"A proposition traceable to Forbes v. Git, [1922] 1 AC 2564 was approvingly taken note of by a Three-Judge Bench of this Court in Radha Sundar Dutta v. Mohd. Jahadur Rahim, AIR 1959 SC 24. “If in a deed an earlier clause is followed by a later clause which destroys altogether the obligation created by […]
Read more "Earlier Clause v. Later Clause"
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