Articles
Chief Justice Govind Mathur, Who Quashed Kafeel Khan's Detention, Has A Consistent Record Of Upholding Fundamental Rights
With the resounding verdict against the preventive detention of Dr. Kafeel Khan, which was greeted with jubilation by all those who stand for civil liberties and rule of law, Chief Justice Govind Mathur of the Allahabad High Court marked himself as an unfailing defender of the citizens' fundamental rights.In fact, Kafeel Khan's judgment is the last in the latest in the series of several recent judicial interventions made by Chief Justice Mathur whereby executive actions were questioned on the...
Remediless, Should A Judicial Order Violate Your Fundamental Rights?
The Supreme Court found a police officer, M.S. Ahlawat, guilty of forgery and of making false statements at different stages in a matter.[1] The Court proceeded to convict and sentence Ahlawat by its order of 17 January 1996 to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a term of one year for the offence under Section 193 IPC and for a term of six months under Article 129 of the Constitution for contempt of court. The sentences were directed to run concurrently. Ahlawat underwent the sentence...
The Maharaja Who Cheerfully Took A Palinquin Ride To His Hanging- The Trial And Judicial Murder Of Maharaja Nanda Kumar
Raja Nanda Kumar or Nuncomar missed Governor General Robert Clive dearly. The Governor General had so readily accepted his loyalty when Nuncomar shifted his allegiance from Nawab Siraj-Ud-Dullah who Clive had vanquished in Plassey. With Clive's blessing, the Governor of Hugli under the deposed "Nabob", had effortlessly transitioned to the epithet "Black Colonel" under the Company Bahadur. However, all that had changed and Clive's replacement Warren Hastings viewed him as part of ...
A Committed Judge In A Constitutional Democracy!
What should be the role of a judge in a constitutional democracy? Aharon Barak, former Chief Justice of Israel visualised that a judge besides dispute resolution must aim to accomplish two objectives: 'bridging the gap between law and society' and 'protecting the constitution and democracy.' Thus when interpreting a constitution or a statute, the judge must give the text a dynamic meaning, one that endeavours to bridge the gap between law and life's changing reality without changing the...
Can The EIA Law In India Broaden Its Horizon?
DRAFT EIA NOTIFICATION 2020 There is little doubt that the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) process, practice and law is core for the environmental legal regulation in India. EIA is a tool designed to identify and predict the impact of a project on the bio-geophysical environment and on man's well-being, to interpret and communicate information about the impact of a project, to analyse site and process alternatives and provide solutions to sift out, or abate the negative...
After NLS Bangalore, Is NLU Delhi Headed For A Leadership Crisis?
After 12 years as the founding Vice-Chancellor at National Law University Delhi, Professor (Dr.) Ranbir Singh will demit office on 23rd September 2020. However, after a meteoric rise under Professor Singh's leadership, it looks like NLU Delhi is headed for a leadership vacuum later this month. With just 3 weeks to appoint a new Vice-Chancellor, the selection process that started in October 2019 seems to have stalled after almost a year. The University's Governing Council needs to meet to...
The Constitution Bench Judgment In Mukesh Singh - A Sensible Retreat from Automatic Bias
On 31.08.2020, a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court delivered its unanimous verdict in Mukesh Singh v. State (Narcotic Branch of Delhi) [SLP (Crl.) Diary No. 39528/2018 decided on 31.08.2020, along with other batch matters]. The Constitution Bench had been assembled to decide on the correctness of a Three Justices' Bench decision of 2018, Mohan Lal [AIR 2018 SC 3853].Mohan Lal had taken up a very specific issue upon which conflicting decisions had been rendered by the different benches of...
Allahabad High Court's Judgment In Dr Kafeel Khan's Habeas Corpus Case Is A Great Ray Of Hope
Dr. Kafeel Khan is released from Mathura jail last night after the order of the Allahabad HighCourt which quashed his detention under the National Security Act. He was booked under the National Security Act for delivering a provocative speech at the Aligarh Muslim University. The High Court did not find his speech objectionable and ordered his immediate release from the jail. This judgment is a great ray of hope for all those who believe in a controlled constitutional government and work...
Importance Of Case Management And Practice Directions Before Commercial Courts
Case Management is a judicial process which provides effective, efficient and purposeful judicial management of a case so as to achieve a timely and qualitative resolution of a dispute. It assists in the early identification of disputed issues of fact and law, the establishment of a procedural calendar for the life of the case and the exploration of a possibility of resolution of the dispute through methods other than the Court trial. Practice directions are issued by the Court to...
Nothing "Bindass" About Hate
Countless renditions of Spiderman have meant that even those who have not read the comic / watched the movie know that "with great power comes great responsibility". This piece is about the existence of great powers and the complete abdication of responsibility that has been on show thus far in a very specific context: The regulation of hate speech and objectionable content over television broadcasts in India. I will essentially argue that the existing statutory framework confers...
The Conundrum Of Preferential Treatment Within Scheduled Castes
On 27 August 2020, in the case of State of Punjab v. Davinder Singh, a Constitution bench of five judges of the Supreme Court of India referred the question of preferential treatment by the States, among Scheduled Castes (SC) of few castes within Scheduled Caste for the purposes of reservation, to a larger bench of seven or more judges for deciding the constitutionality of the issue. The bench unanimously was of this view that giving preference to most backward castes among SCs is a...