The Rules of The Game Principle VI / Recruitment of Constable, Rifleman

By a Notification dated 03/12/2011, Staff Selection Commission invited applications for recruitment of Constables (GD) in Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) such as ITBP, BSF, CISF, CRPF and SSB and of Rifleman (GD) in Assam Rifles. My Lord, Candidates who have indicated preference to a Particular Service can be kept out of consideration for appointment […]

Claim of Juvenility II

The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 stands repealed by The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015. The procedure for determining age is now part of Section 94 of 2015 Act which was earlier provided under Rule 12 of The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Rules, 2007. […]

Involuntary Resignation

My Lord, Was Resignation of Ms. X, on 15/07/2014, Voluntary? We are only examining, i) correctness of Order of Transfer, ii) rejection of ‘representations’ and iii) question as to whether ‘resignation’ could be construed to be voluntary or not. Ms. X tendered a ‘resignation’ on 15/07/2014, which was accepted by Government of Madhya Pradesh, Law […]

Review of Death Penalty XXV

Even when we find no reason to consider interference in concurrent findings of fact leading to conviction, question still remains about correctness of Death Sentence. Principles of Penology have evolved. This has led to evolution of ‘rarest of rare’. High Court though has made rather intense comments has, thereafter, proceeded to confirm Death Sentence with […]

The Doctrine of Prospective Overruling I

Where a statute is adjudged to be unconstitutional, it is as if it had never been. Rights cannot be built up under it; contracts which depend upon it for their consideration are void; it constitutes a protection to no one who has acted under it and no one can be punished for having refused obedience […]

Mitigating Death Sentences

Supreme Court of India (SC) held in Deena v. UoI, (1983) 4 SCC 645, hanging by neck is scientific and least painful. SC has also held, only ‘rarest of rare’ issues, literally meaning rarest even in rare, allow passing of a death sentence. A punishment of death is imposed when life imprisonment is absolutely inadequate. […]

Action Against Gross Disorder

Raja Ram Pal v. Hon’ble Speaker, Lok Sabha, (2007) 3 SCC 184 delineated principles. These principles have been restated in Amarinder Singh v. Special Committee, Punjab Vidhan Sabha, (2010) 6 SCC 113. It is open to demonstrate, ‘action’ of Legislature is manifestly arbitrary. As expounded in Amarinder Singh, important consideration for scrutinizing exercise of legislative […]

The Rules of The Game Principle V / The Revival of Ray LXXIX

Judgments cited on changing ‘rules of game midway’ referred to changes in selection criteria or procedure for selection. Those cases are distinguishable from case before us. _____ An examination can only reflect current competence of an individual but not gamut of their potential, capabilities or excellence, which are also shaped by lived experiences, subsequent training […]

The Revival of Ray LXXVIII

The Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (Medical Teaching Faculty Posts) Recruitment Regulations, 2008 and The Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (Medical Teaching Faculty Posts) Recruitment Regulations, 2015 have statutory effect by virtue of Section 97(3) of The Employees’ State Insurance Act, 1948. It is settled law, regulations framed by statutory authorities have force of enacted law. Constitution […]

An Identical Trademark

The Trade Marks Act, 1999 came into force on 15th September, 2003. When a trade mark is identical with a registered trade mark and goods or services are identical too, Court shall presume it is likely to cause confusion on public. Court has pointed out, essentials of a passing off action cannot be equated […]

Safety and Security of Prime Minister

Lawyer’s Voice v. State of Punjab, Writ Petition (Civil) No. 13 of 2022 arises out of an incident, dated 05/01/2022, wherein, on a visit to Hussainiwala, District Firozpur, State of Punjab, convoy of Prime Minister was stuck. We have studied provisions of The Special Protection Group Act, 1988 along with relevant contents of The Blue […]

152.8 Grams of Heroin

Shaikh Istiyaq Ahmed was convicted by Supreme Court of Mauritius for possession of 152.8 grams of heroin and was sentenced to imprisonment for 26 years. He was transferred to India as per The Repatriation of Prisoners Act, 2003 on 04/03/2016. Incompatibility with Indian law is with reference to enforcement of sentence, imposed by Supreme Court […]

The Rules of The Game Principle IV

Number of candidates was not quite large. 4270 in U.P. Public Service Commission v. Subhash Chandra Dixit, (2003) 12 SCC 70. 51524 and 5748 in preliminary and main examinations respectively in Sanjay Singh v. U.P. Public Service Commission, Allahabad, (2007) 3 SCC 720. 3000 in Mahinder Kumar v. High Court of Madhya Pradesh, (2013) 11 […]

The Nature of Judicial Power: Article No. 1101

The question had been floating for a while. It was January 1, 2019 when I wondered who amongst then Chief Justices of HCs, if elevated, could be our 51st CJI. January 18, 2019 – we finally received an answer. CJI No. 51 would be Hon’ble Justice Sanjiv Khanna who wasn’t ever a Chief Justice of […]

Review of Death Penalty XXIV

In our opinion, it is a sound and well-established rule of law, Court is concerned with quality and not with quantity of evidence necessary for proving or disproving a fact. Generally speaking, oral testimony in this context may be classified into three categories, namely: (1) wholly reliable; (2) wholly unreliable; (3) neither wholly reliable nor […]

Review of Death Penalty XXIII

It is clear, for resting a conviction in case of circumstantial evidence, circumstances from which conclusion of guilt is to be drawn should be fully established and all facts so established should be consistent only with hypothesis of guilt. There must be a chain of evidence so complete as not to leave any reasonable ground […]

Justice Ranjan Gogoi’s Justice

Dibrugarh offered a simple, uncomplicated lifestyle and we grew up in a milieu with a consistent feel-good ambience. My greatest satisfaction as a Lawyer was, help I could render to my Father outside Court when he had faced a disqualification under Tenth Schedule in 1994. P.K. Goswami, Senior Advocate, represented my Father. Amitava Roy [Retired […]

900 Grams of Smack

24.04.2011 – Kallu Khan, riding an unnumbered motorcycle, turned back and tried to run away. Suspecting his conduct, he was apprehended and questioned. Eventually, a polythene bag, containing a brown substance resembling and confirmed to be smack, weighing 900 grams, was found in Kallu’s motorcycle. It was contended, motorcycle seized in commission of offence does […]

Review of Death Penalty XXII

Mofil Khan v. State of Jharkhand, [Review Petition (Criminal) No. 641 of 2015 in Criminal Appeal No. 1795 of 2009] has observed, possibility of reformation and rehabilitation of convict is an important factor which has to be taken into account as a mitigating circumstance. It is also our duty to take into consideration, state of mind of […]

Proportionality in Culture of Justification I

Court has propounded several tests for determining reasonableness for purpose of Article 19(1)(g). These have ranged from testing restrictions for arbitrariness [Dwarka, AIR 1954 SC 224; Shree Meenakshi Mills, AIR 1974 SC 366], excessiveness [Chintaman Rao, AIR 1951 SC 118] and discerning their objective of compliance with Directive Principles of State Policy [Saghir Ahmad, (1955) […]

The Last Word

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