21st Law Commission Releases Its First Report On International Parental Child Abduction [Read Report]

The twenty first Law Commission has released its first report titled, “The Protection of Children (Inter-Country Removal and Retention) Bill, 2016.”The report addresses the issue of ‘International Parental Child Abduction,’ examining in depth the provisions of the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction Bill, 2016. It has prepared a comparative statement showing the provisions...

Don’t Bring The Judiciary To A Grinding Halt: SC Slams Centre Over Delay In Judges Appointments

CJI Thakur’s scathing observations“Who are the officials concerned? Secretaries in PMO,  Department of Justice ? We are issuing notice. We will call them here.” "In Allahabad HC, out of a sanctioned strength of 165 there are only 77 judges. In Karnataka High Court, an entire floor of courts is locked because there are no judges. Once we had a situation where we had judges but no...

V.R. Krishna Iyer – The Super Judge [First VRK Memorial Lecture by Fali Nariman]

Inaugural Lecture of V.R. Krishna Iyer Memorial Lecture Series – Organised by the Sarada-Krishna-Satgamaya Foundation for Law and Justice, Delhi Chapter on Wednesday, 26th October, 2016, at the Main Auditorium, Indian Society of International Law, Bhagwan Dass Road, New DelhiThe title to this Lecture – is an adaptation of the title of Bernard Schwartz’s biography of US Chief Justice...

Don’t Have Anything To Do With CLAT: MHRD In Response To Prof. Basheer’s CLAT Petition [Read Affidavit]

In the Counter-Affidavit filed in response to Prof. Shamnad Basheer’s CLAT petition, the Ministry of Human Resource Development has submitted that it was never involved in the examination and is not concerned with it.“Conducting entrance examination for admission into programmes of study is an internal matter of the university which is autonomous to devise any such mechanism with the...

“Simultaneous Elections To Lok Sabha And State Assemblies Would Destroy Federalism”, Say Experts

At a panel discussion on the proposal to hold simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and State Assemblies, speakers have expressed serious concern about its consequences for India’s federalism.The discussion, organised on October 26, at the India International Centre, New Delhi, saw several speakers questioning the proposal 0f holding simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and state...

Breaking: SC Stays Execution Of Convicts In Jharkhand Massacre [Read Order]

Granting permission to amend grounds of review petition, the Supreme Court has stayed the execution of the death sentence ‘pending further orders’ awarded to Mofil Khan and Mobarak Khan for murdering Haneef Khan and family consisting of his wife and four sons.His review petition is now being heard by a bench headed by Chief Justice of India TS Thakur. The bench granted permission to...

'Equal Pay For Equal Work' For Temporary Employees As Well: SC [Read Judgment]

The Supreme Court, in State of Punjab vs. Jagjit Singh has held that temporary employees would be entitled to draw wages at the minimum of the pay-scale (- at the lowest grade, in the regular pay-scale), extended to regular employees, holding the same post.Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar and Justice S.A. Bobde held that the principle of ‘equal pay for equal work’ would be applicable to all...

Constitutional Dilemma Of Delhi

The age of elected representative government has passed. Its legitimacy is being seriously challenged. This proposition owes much to Delhi High Court’s 194-page judgment that reduced an elected government merely to a ‘parasitically dependent’ department of Central Government that lacks control over political decision-making. Surprisingly, legal and constitutional provisions are invoked...

Not Relooking 1995 ‘Hindutva Is A way Of Life’ Verdict: SC

“We will not go into the larger debate as to what is Hindutva or what is its meaning. We will not re-consider the 1995 judgement and also not examine Hindutva or religion at this stage.At this stage, we will confine ourselves to the issue raised before us in the reference. In the reference, there is no mention of the word ‘Hindutva’. If anybody will show that there is a reference to...

Eventful Sixty Years: The Kerala High Court Celebrates 60 Years Of Its Existence

The Kerala High Court celebrates 60 years of its glorious existence. It was on November 1, 1956 that the High Court formally came into being as the immediate successor of the Travancore-Cochin High Court. Within this time span of six decades, our High Court has earned a reputation for its superior judicial standards and lofty ideals. Landmark judgments passed by the Court, no doubt,...

After SC Nudge, Haji Ali Dargah Agrees To Allow Entry To Women

In a major victory for female worshippers, Mumbai’s Haji Ali Dargah Trust today told the Supreme Court that in a month’s time women will be allowed till its inner sanctum sanctorum.“We have already passed a resolution on October 11 to this effect and need two weeks time to implement..Some flooring has to be done and we also need to remove some obstructions like wooden windows and...

Stalemate Over NJAC: Is Presidential Reference A Way Out?

On October 16, the first anniversary of the Supreme Court’s landmark judgment in the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) case, went completely unnoticed in the legal circles and in the media.The reasons are not far to seek. The judgment, although a landmark in India’s jurisprudence on separation of powers, has still left many questions unresolved. One of these is how to...