“Where Courts find that the words appear to have been accidentally omitted, or if adopting a construction deprives certain existing words of all meaning, it is permissible to supply additional words but Courts should not easily read words which have not been expressly enacted. Court should construct the provisions harmoniously having regard to the context […]
Read more "Word Supply II"Section 5 of The Limitation Act is held applicable to Section 48 of The Himachal Pradesh Value Added Tax Act, 2005 as in Section 48 there is no express exclusion. Because of scheme of Act of 2005, it cannot be inferred, Section 5 of The Limitation Act is excluded. Section 29(2) of The Limitation Act […]
Read more "The Plea of Limitation XI: Inclusion of Section 5 of The Limitation Act, 1963"Khaki Files chronicles the adventures of Police Officer, Neeraj Kumar. He joined the IPS in 1976 and retired as Commissioner of Police, Delhi in 2013. Government of India recognized his good work by awarding him the Police Medal for Meritorious Service in 1993 and the President’s Police Medal for Meritorious Service in 1999. Khaki Files comes after Dial […]
Read more "The Da Lakhvi Code"“The rule of interpretation of Contra Proferentem has been pressed into service. As observed in United India Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Pushpalaya Printers, 2004 (3) SCC 694 : “It is also settled position in law that if there is any ambiguity or a term is capable of two possible interpretations, one beneficial to the insured […]
Read more "The Contra Proferentem Rule V"“Judge who had rendered any decision in a smaller combination is not disqualified from being part of a Larger Bench when a Reference is made to the Larger Bench. Rather, it is a consistent practice prevailing in various High Courts as well as of this Court to include the same Judge/Judges in Larger Benches. Litigants […]
Read more "The Art of Recusal"“The principal issue involved in the matter is whether a Charitable Trust could maintain an action under the provisions of The Consumer Protection Act, 1986. The reliance was placed on Pratibha Pratisthan, (2017) 3 SCC 712 to hold that a Trust would not be a ‘person’ and consequently not a ‘consumer’. The definition of ‘person’ in terms […]
Read more "Referred to Larger Bench XIX: Trusts Not Consumers"It should be interesting to note, crushed capsules of poppy, ‘poppy husk’, even though isn’t ‘poppy straw’, bears the same meaning as ‘poppy straw’ under The NDPS Act. Baljinder Singh was driving a Qualis, PB-13-D-7000. Khushi Khan was sitting with the driver. The vehicle was searched, during which 7 bags of poppy husk, each weighing […]
Read more "238 Kilograms of Poppy Husk"“The same set of judicial precedents were cited and debated before us by both sides. The first in sequence is, Judgment of Constitution Bench in Mohammad Shujat Ali v. Union of India, (1975) 3 SCC 76. While referring to observations of Justice Brewer, “the very idea of classification is that of inequality”, it was recognized, […]
Read more "The Revival of Ray XXXI"Sudhir Krishnaswamy taught me at National Law School of India University, Bangalore in 2006. This book, first published in 2009, grew out of his Doctor of Philosophy in Law Dissertation at Oxford University. Extensively researched. Magnificently written. Excerpt, follows. _____ The Basic Structure Doctrine evolved in the context of challenges to the constitutionality of land […]
Read more "The Doctrine of Basic Structure I"On 1st March, 1954 United States conducted its largest ever nuclear weapon test, code-named Castle Bravo, at the Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands. The explosion, more than 1,000 times as powerful as Hiroshima, reached a yield of 15 megatons. Sacred Games, Season 2 (2019, dir. Anurag Kashyap, Neeraj Ghaywan): Inspiration from reality isn’t new. […]
Read more "Sacred Games of Arthur Fleck"“Retail outlets for sale of arrack were started by Kerala State Beverages Corporation Limited in 1995, in view of decision taken by Government of Kerala to abolish arrack shops which were hitherto run by private parties. There is no dispute that a number of abkari workers lost their livelihood due to ban on arrack in […]
Read more "The Doctrine of Legitimate Expectation IV"“At the outset, it is required to be noted and does not seem to be in dispute, since last 22 years both the Appellant-Husband and the Respondent-Wife are residing separately. It also appears, all efforts to continue the marriage have failed and there is no possibility of re-union because of the strained relations. Thus, it […]
Read more "Irretrievable Breakdown of Marriage I"“There can be no rule of law, there can be no democracy unless there is a strong, fearless and independent Judiciary. This independence and fearlessness is not only expected at the level of Superior Courts but also from District Judiciary. Most litigants only come in contact with District Judiciary. They cannot afford to come to […]
Read more "Purity of Character II"It was my request to Supreme Court that all while they let go of death in case after case, to not only explain always why those cases are not ‘rarest of rare’, but also explain whether death is a penalty or an award. In the last 11 months, I have briefly described 15 cases whereby […]
Read more "Review of Death Penalty XVI-XVII-XVIII"“It must be noted that though it may be a relevant consideration in sentencing that the evidence in a given case is circumstantial in nature, there is no bar on the award of the Death Sentence in cases based upon such evidence [Swamy Shraddananda v. State of Karnataka, (2007) 12 SCC 288; Ramesh v. State […]
Read more "Review of Death Penalty XV"The primary function of Courts is to interpret and apply laws according to will of those who made them and not to transgress into domain of policy-making. It is not for Court to pronounce policy. It cannot term a particular policy as fairer than the other. Courts must exercise restraint. “Untouchability though intended to be […]
Read more "Untouchability"Sahi Ram was driving a Tavera, RJ27-TC-0323. The vehicle was searched, during which 7 bags of poppy straw, the gross weight being 223 kilograms, were found behind the driver’s seat. Sahi Ram was convicted for offence punishable under Section 8 r/w Section 15 of The NDPS Act; sentenced to suffer rigorous imprisonment for 15 years […]
Read more "223 Kilograms of Poppy Straw"Kedar Nath Motani, (1960) 1 SCR 861 had an occasion to consider the question of application of the maxims ‘ex turpi causa non oritur actio‘ and ‘ex dolo malo non oritur actio‘. Three-Judge Bench, speaking through M. Hidayatullah, J (as His Lordship then was), observed thus: “The correct position in law, in our opinion, is, […]
Read more "Ex Turpi Causa Non Oritur Actio"“I am glad, Arghya Sengupta and Ritwika Sharma have decided to publish a book dealing with appointment of Judges to Supreme Court of India. From time immemorial, mankind desired to have wise and humane Judges with the wisdom to discriminate between truth and falsehood. The legends of King Solomon and Dharmaraja and the like are […]
Read more "Appointment of Justice"“It is settled law that the fundamental right under Article 30 cannot be waived. The historical reasons for enacting Article 30(1) have been set out in some detail in the Judgment of Shelat, J. and Grover, J. in Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala (1973) 4 SCC 225. This was further fleshed out in the […]
Read more "The Revival of Ray XXX"
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