April, 2012 ‘Madam, I’ll tell you what I know,’ he said, pushing his spectacles up, ‘but promise me, you won’t reveal my name… King Khan’s friend D.K. in Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi is Anuj Tikku… He owns all first-floor-flats. There are 3 of them. His old father was murdered. I hear his paying guests […]
Read more "India’s New Serial Killers I: Vijay Palande"“There is no provision under The Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 or The Interest Act, 1978 which permits imposition of interest on litigation costs. In view of the deletion of Section 35(3), CPC grant of interest on costs is no longer recognized under Indian law. The same does not mean that Indian Courts are powerless […]
Read more "Costs Jurisprudence II: Interest on Litigation Costs"Social activist Shyam Narayan Chouksey’s (‘SNC’) life changed the day he went to see ‘Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham’ (2001, Director: Karan Johar). In one scene, a boy sings the National Anthem of India at a school function in London (‘scene’). He forgets the last five words. “To some it may appear lapsus linguae, slip of […]
Read more "The K3G National Anthem Scene Reloaded"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"“Purposive interpretation in a social amelioration legislation is an imperative, irrespective of anything else. This is eloquently brought out in Atma Ram, (1988) 4 SCC 284. How labour legislations are to be interpreted has been stated and restated by this Court time and again. In Surendra Kumar, (1980) 4 SCC 443, this Court reminded, semantic […]
Read more "Etymological Excursions in Bread & Butter Statutes"“When a law is enacted with retrospective effect, it is not considered as an encroachment upon judicial power when the legislature does not directly overrule or reverse a judicial dictum. The legislature cannot, by way of an enactment, declare a decision of the Court as erroneous or a nullity, but can amend the statute or […]
Read more "The Nature of Judicial Power: Hon’ble Justice Dipak Misra"“Recently in Afcons Infrastructure Ltd. v. Nagpur Metro Rail Corporation Ltd., 2016 (8) SCALE 765 a Two-Judge Bench eloquently exposited… “We may add, the owner or the employer of a project, having authored the tender documents, is the best person to understand and appreciate its requirements and interpret its documents. Constitutional Courts must defer to […]
Read more "Tender Law IV"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"Fraud is a knowing misrepresentation of the truth or concealment of a material fact or abuse of a position of confidence to induce another to act to his detriment. Serious allegations of fraud may not be referred to Domestic Arbitrations. “When the case involves serious allegations of fraud, the dicta contained in N. Radhakrishnan, (2010) 1 […]
Read more "Section 8 of The Arbitration Act II: Arbitrability of Fraud"Appellant-Husband was treated cruelly by Respondent-Wife. There were repeated threats of suicide [Pankaj Mahajan v. Dimple, (2011) 12 SCC 1]; levelling of disgusting accusations of indecent familiarity with a person outside wedlock [Vijaykumar v. Neela, 2003 (6) SCC 334]. Both are acts of cruelty within the meaning of The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955. Respondent-Wife wanted […]
Read more "Monsters-In-Law III"[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"A ‘domestic violence‘ within the meaning of The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 is ‘gender neutral‘; physical abuse, verbal abuse, emotional abuse and economic abuse can all be by women against other women. “Even sexual abuse may, in a given fact circumstance, be by one woman on another.” SC in Hiralal Harsora […]
Read more "Monsters-In-Law II"It was contended before SC in Vikas Yadav v. State of Uttar Pradesh, [Criminal Appeal Nos. 1531-1533 of 2015], under Section 302 of The Indian Penal Code, 1860 life is minimum and maximum is Death Sentence and therefore Court has a choice between the two and is not entitled to follow any other path. It would […]
Read more "Judge Made Law: Fixed Term Sentences I"“On a careful reading of Section 50 of The Arbitration Act, 1996, it is limpid that an appeal can lie if an order is passed refusing, to refer the parties to Arbitration as engrafted under Section 45, or to enforce a Foreign Award as envisaged under Section 48. Section 50(1)(b) has not been amended by […]
Read more "Section 50 of The Arbitration Act I"In Gibson v. Skibs, (1966) 2 All ER 478 it was held, “prima facie one would expect that when two different words, although practically synonymous in ordinary use, are employed in different parts of the same regulation dealing with the same kind of topic, they are intended to have some different meaning.” SC held in […]
Read more "Synonymous Words, Different Meanings"To commit an offence, within the meaning of Section 138 of The Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 there must be a legally enforceable debt or other liability subsisting on the date of drawal of the cheque. This is important to point out for sometimes cheques are post-dated. Notably, in Indus Airways Pvt. Ltd. v. Magnum Aviation […]
Read more "A Legally Enforceable Debt II"“The sole evidence of a handwriting expert is not normally sufficient for recording a definite finding about the writing being of a certain person or not. A Court is competent to compare the disputed writing of a person with others which are admitted or proved to be his writings. It may not be safe for […]
Read more "Experts II: Handwriting Experts"My Lord, 1997 Amendment to Section 28 of The Indian Contract Act, 1872 – Retrospective? No. “What emerges on a reading of the Law Commission Report together with the Statement of Objects and Reasons for the Amendment is that the Amendment does not purport to be either declaratory or clarificatory. It seeks to bring about […]
Read more "Section 28 of The Indian Contract Act, 1872"The rule of construction by reference to ‘contemporanea expositio‘ is a well established rule for interpreting a statute by reference to the exposition it has received from contemporary authority, though it must give way where the language of the statute is plain and unambiguous. This rule has been succinctly expressed in Crawford on Statutory Construction […]
Read more "The Doctrine of Contemporanea Expositio I"
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