Articles
The Untenable TikTok Ban
Over the last two months, authorities in the United States of America ("US") and India have issued orders limiting the access and downloading of TikTok, a mobile application owned by ByteDance Ltd.. While the nature of the orders differ, the rationale seem to be articulated by the two Governments in a similar fashion. ByteDance has adopted a conciliatory stand in India requesting for...
Section 10A Of IBC- Is It Equitable?
On 5th June 2020 , the Ministry of Law and Justice through an Ordinance inserted Section 10A to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 ("IBC"), suspending the initiation of Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) under Section 7, 9 and 10 of the IBC for a period of six (6) months, w.e.f. 25th March, 2020. Subsequently, repacing the Ordinance, the Parliament on 21st September...
CBI v. States: A Threat To Co-operative Federalism?
This is not the first time India's premier investigating agency CBI is under scrutiny. Since it's very inception the institution invited unsolicited deliberations over its controversies rather than its often short lived triumphs. Recently, ex CBI Chief Nageshwar Rao tweeting Swami Agnivesh's death as 'good riddance' attracted criticism on social media. This conduct from someone who was...
Can Indian Courts Arrest Ships In Foreign Seated Maritime Arbitrations?
There are two important and recurring issues which the Courts in India face in the field of International Commercial Maritime Arbitration. The first issue is whether a Court in India can exercise its admiralty jurisdiction to arrest a vessel when the dispute between the parties falls within the scope of an arbitration agreement having an arbitration seat outside India. The second...
A Case For The National Courts Of Appeal
The rising heap of pending case-dockets in Indian courts and the resultant 'delayed justice' and sometimes 'hurried justice' cry out loudly that our judicial system has become "a beautiful and ineffectual angel, beating in the void his luminous wings in vain". Justice has been reduced into parchment and law has been divorced from life. According to the Indian Judiciary Annual...
India's Overdue Appointment With Data Privacy
The past couple of years have been very exciting for data privacy enthusiasts in India. Beginning with the pronouncement of the judgement in the case of Justice K. S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) and Anr. vs Union Of India And Ors. by the Supreme Court of India, which has enunciated the Right to Privacy as a fundamental right falling under Article 21 which guarantees Protection Of Life...
Mental Health Insurance: A Case Of Legislative Wrong That Insurers Cannot Fix
October 10 was World Mental Health Day. Fittingly, this year's theme is Mental Health for All – Greater Investment, Greater Access. A recent report in India Today suggests that there has been a 20% increase in the mental illness cases reported in India post imposition of lockdown in March, 2020. India is definitely one of those countries where greater investment is needed to ensure...
K R Narayanan Acted As A 'Constitutional President': A Centenary Tribute
27 October marks the 100th birth anniversary of former President Mr K R Narayanan, India's first Dalit President, and a statesman par excellence. He was an outstanding scholar, a brilliant diplomat, and a great citizen who always stood for the cause of common people. He was a great defender of constitutional principles and values. As the President of India, he proved that the President...
Right to Dignity; The Institutional Deficit
On the Global Dignity Day (October 21), India joined the world in celebrating human dignity, about which Thomas Paine had famously written that "…the sun never shined on a cause of greater worth". Regrettably, more than seven decades after independence, we face a legitimate interrogation about our faltering record in the advancement of a defining national aspiration. India stands...
The Industrial Relations Code, 2020: Implications For Workers' Rights
The Industrial Relations Code, 2020 that was notified by the central government on 29 September 2020 consolidates the provisions of the three major central laws in the country relating to industrial relations, namely, the Trade Unions Act, 1926; the Industrial Disputes Act 1947 and the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act 1946. Many of the features of these laws continue to...
Paralysis In Hearing Of RTI Appeals Without Chiefs & With Increasing Vacancies
The Right to Information Act has completed its 15 years of truncated existence on 12th October 2020, with several empty Commissions, especially Commissions without 'heads', resulting in high increase in pending appeals and extending period of delay in delivery of decisions. It is not Coronavirus but a virus of reluctance and anti-transparency attitude that is keeping the Central...