Parliament often begins to legislate with remarkable vigor but about the same time it gives up the attempt to govern. It begins to lay down general rules, entrusting its working to Officials/Secretaries of State/Boards of Commissioners/Law Courts, who are endowed with new statutory powers. Once or twice upon a time, Ecclesiastical Courts could pronounce a divorce, ‘a mensa et […]
Read more "A Mensa Et Thoro"Shyam’s Offer Shyam also met Karna and in attempt to avert war told him what no one else had told him. ‘Know that your birth mother is Kunti. By law, you are the eldest son of the man she married, Pandu. This makes you, by law, the eldest Pandava, with full rights to Pandu’s kingdom […]
Read more "Consistent Loyalty v. Contextual Thinking"“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"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"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"Jactitation of marriage means persistent boasting of a marriage, falsely alleged to have taken place. The suit prays for a decree of perpetual silence on the subject. This is the only case in which a matrimonial suit can, as of right, be proceeded without prima facie proof of a marriage de facto. For the object […]
Read more "Jactitation of Marriage"My Lord, Section 2(1)(d) of The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 should engulf and embrace, in its connotative expanse, the mental age of a person or the age determined by the prevalent science pertaining to psychiatry so that a mentally retarded person or an extremely intellectually challenged person, who even has crossed […]
Read more "The Nature of Judicial Power: The Theory of Creative Interpretation"‘Scandalisation of Court’ is not ‘precisely explained’ in Supreme Court cases [See, In Re: Hon’ble Shri Justice C.S. Karnan, Suo-Motu Contempt Petition (Civil) No. 1 of 2017]. It is a species of contempt and may take several forms. A common form is the vilification of the Judge [See, Shri Baradakanta Mishra v. The Registrar of […]
Read more "Scandalisation of Court"SC in Mohapatra, (2002) 8 SCC 1 had accorded primacy to Hon’ble Chief Justice in consultative process for appointment of an Orissa Lokayukta. Justice Lokur in Chandrashekaraiah, (2013) 3 SCC 117 however confined law laid down in Mohapatra to the facts of that case only. It was held, views expressed by Chief Justice of High Court […]
Read more "Primacy of Views III: The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013"The principles for interference in exercise of review jurisdiction are well settled. In Thungabhadra Industries Ltd. v. Government of Andhra Pradesh, AIR 1964 SC 1372 Court while dealing with scope of review had opined: “A review is by no means an appeal in disguise whereby an erroneous decision is reheard and corrected, but lies only […]
Read more "Order 47, Rule 1 of The Code of Civil Procedure, 1908"A citation of questionable scientific standard. _____ In a child custody dispute in Suburbs of Pittsburgh, 3 teenage boys begged a Family Court Judge not to force continued visits to their father because, they said, he was physically abusive towards them. Judge relied on an Expert Witness, retained by the father, a Columbia University Professor […]
Read more "The Disputed Reality of Parental Alienation Syndrome"Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board ridded certain students of their results, awarded in their professional MBBS course, on the ground, they had gained admission to the course by resorting to unfair means. Hon’ble Justice Chelameswar (Presiding Judge) had expressed the view, complete justice in the matter would be rendered, if the qualifications successfully acquired by […]
Read more "1+3 Judges Disagree With Justice Chelameswar on ‘Cheating Students’"“After all the 11 Judgments of the Court were orally pronounced on April 24, 1973 CJ Sikri produced and read out in Court a paper which was called “The View by the Majority” and passed it on for signatures of all 13 Judges on the Bench. 4 Judges, Justices Ray, Mathew, Dwivedi and Beg would […]
Read more "The Kesavananda Bench II: The Chandrachud Angle"Armed with 35 years of hindsight, Justice Bhagwati, in 2011, expressed regret for his 1976 Judgment upholding Prevention Detention during the Emergency. Justice Chandrachud did so in 1978 in case his chances of being CJI were blighted. Were these declarations simply a flourish to catch the public eye? Do Judges even concede they are wrong? […]
Read more "Contemptuous Katju"Retired Hon’ble Chief Justice of India A.N. Ray, though expected to be President, one day, once said, as evidenced by George H. Gadbois, Jr, “An Indian Chief Justice, like the Lord Chief Justice, in England, should not take up any post-retirement positions.” Taking up a post-retirement position is one thing; soliciting one is quite another. […]
Read more "Chamber Practices of Former Supreme Court Judges"[The following was first published here] It is murder, if the intentional infliction of bodily injury is sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause death. In February 2011, a day before her engagement ceremony, 23-year-old Soumya was injured, raped and robbed. She died a few days later, in a hospital, having never regained […]
Read more "The Exquisite Corpse of Soumya II: Law and Other Things, 05.10.2016"“It hardly needs elaboration that a distinguishing feature of any democracy is the space offered for legitimate dissent. One cherished and valuable aspect of political life in India is a tradition to express grievances through direct action or peaceful protest. Organized, non-violent protest marches were a key weapon in the struggle for Independence, and the […]
Read more "Compensatory Jurisprudence of Constitutional Courts V: Peaceful Protests of Kashmir"Enviro Legal Action v. Union of India, (2011) 8 SCC 161 elaborated scope of Article 137. Kamlesh Verma v. Mayawati, (2013) 8 SCC 320 further held as under: (A) Review Maintainability: Discovery of new and important matter or evidence which, after the exercise of due diligence, was not within knowledge or could not be produced; […]
Read more "The Nature of Judicial Power: Powers of Review of Supreme Court I"Bl. Titus Brandsma courageously resisted Nazi ideology and died at Dachau in 1942. The Titus Brandsma Award recognizes a journalist who has made a major contribution to the struggle for human rights. Anto Akkara was conferred the Award in 2013 for having exposed the brutal persecution of Christians in India. In its Award Citation, The […]
Read more "Compensatory Jurisprudence of Constitutional Courts IV: Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati"My Lord, Why is Supreme Court not a Constitutional Court? Relying upon Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, Mr. Venugopal established, Supreme Court had strayed from its original character as a Constitutional Court and gradually converted itself into a mere Court of Appeal to correct every error it found in decisions of 24 High Courts and […]
Read more "Referred to Larger Bench X: Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy"
The Last Word 
You must be logged in to post a comment.