Articles
Chief Justice Govind Mathur Of Allahabad High Court Will Be Remembered As A Defender Of Civil Liberties
Justice Govind Mathur has retired as the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court. Originally from Rajasthan High Court, Justice Mathur was transferred to the Allahabad High Court in November 2017. He served as a Chief Justice of the High Court for a little over two years. In this short span, Justice Mathur made his mark as a fearless defender of personal liberty and human rights....
CEDE: Envisioning An Inclusive Legal System
Quite recently, we have witnessed a couple of judges openly speak about the need for diversity on the Bench. The demands for equal representation are, however, not new. They have existed for more than a century now. Lack of Representation The issue of representation was central to India's constitutional reforms, which happened even prior to the enactment of the Constitution...
Post-Award Interim Reliefs Under Section 9: Is The Exclusion Of Award-Debtors Justified?
S.9 is the provision under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 which provides for judicial intervention for the purpose of granting interim reliefs to the parties to arbitrations. The provision lays down three stages at which a party can approach the Court for seeking an interim relief namely, "before or during arbitral proceedings, or at any time after the making of the award...
The Legality Of Fantasy Gaming
With the proliferation of data users across the country, India is emerging as one of the leading online fantasy sports gaming platform throughout the world. The United States of America (USA) had the largest Fantasy Gaming market by user base, with industry reports attesting to daily fantasy sports contests in the US generating USD 2.91 billion in revenue and valuing the market at USD...
Tribunals Reforms Ordinance : Certain Points Of Concern
Adding another episode to its attempts to overhaul the Tribunal system in the country, the Union Government recently brought the Tribunals Reforms (Rationalization and Conditions of Service) Ordinance 2021.The Ordinance, promulgated by the President on April 5, follows the Rules made by the Centre in 2017 and 2020, which came under severe criticism from the Supreme Court. The 2017...
CCI Takes On Tech Behemoths: WhatsApp Policy Update And Antitrust Concerns
Ever since WhatsApp notified its Terms of Service and Privacy Policy 2021 ('2021 update') on 4 January 2021, it raised eyebrows throughout the world, the most notable being Tesla CEO Elon Musk's tweet encouraging users to switch to Signal. Notably, the Union government has opposed the 2021 update on the grounds of data privacy concerns and differential treatment between Indian users...
Gauging The Constitutionality Of S. 69 Of The IT Act Vis-À-Vis Test Of Proportionality Laid Down In KS Puttaswamy
Section 69 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 (the "Act") affords the Central and State Governments the power to issue directions for the interception, monitoring, or decryption (hereon referred to as "surveillance"), of any information through any computer resource. However, is Section 69 of the Act constitutionally valid on the touchstone of the test of proportionality laid down in...
Insolvency Amendment- Pre- Pack For MSME's
The Central Government recently promulgated the IBC Amendment Ordinance 2021, allowing a pre-packaged insolvency process for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), in consonance with international best practices. The ordinance in essence has amended the the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code 2016 allowing the Central Government to notify such pre-packaged process for defaults of not...
What's New With Novation? A Comment On Sanjiv Prakash v. Seema Kukreja & Ors
A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court in SanjivPrakash v. Seema Kukreja & Ors.,[1] recently held that the issue whether an agreement which contains an arbitration clause has or has not been novated, cannot be decided by the Courts at the Section 11 stage. The judgment is a step forward, since it clarifies the narrow scope of judicial intervention at...
Google v. Oracle : Perspectives on Copyright, Fair Use and Industry Implications
On 5th April 2021 the United States Supreme Court (USSC) finally delivered its verdict on the most keenly watched copyright dispute of this century. USSC's 6-2 decision is a big win for Google as it overturned the 2018 decision of Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit which decided in favour of Oracle. USSC held that Google's use of the Java Application Program Interface was a fair use as...
Consumer Protection Act, 2019: A Criminal Imbalance
It is said, with great power comes great responsibility. Amidst the bunch of responsibilities that come with power, one of them is that of being aware of the consequences of the power that one wields. The Consumer Protection Act, 2019 ("Act") received the assent of the President of India and was subsequently notified in the Gazette of India on August 9, 2019. Several Sections of the...
An Overview Of Vicarious Liability Under Section 149 Of IPC
An "Offence" shall mean any act or omission made punishable by any law for the time being in force as defined in Section 3(38) of the General Clauses Act. Section 40 of the Indian Penal Code, inter alia, defines the word "Offence" denoting a thing made punishable by this Code. Article 20(1) of the Indian Constitution by guaranteeing as a fundamental right, mandates that no person shall...