The state of commercial law in India is in doldrums. This is exemplified by a recent decision of the Supreme Court in Gangotri Enterprises v. Union of India (Civil Appeal No. 4814/2016 dt. 05.05.2016) which not only erroneous but against the settled principles regarding restraint of bank guarantees....
Blogs
In common law, a judgment that is per incuriam has no legal force or validity, and does not count as precedent. Classically, per incuriam is a very narrow concept, applicable only in two circumstances: to a judgment that is passed in ignorance of a relevant statutory provision, or without considerin...
The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 In 1999, the Justice Eradi Committee, in its report, had identified 473 winding-up cases that were pending for more than 25 years. The analysis of companies under liquidation as on October 31, 2015, furnished by the Department of Financial Services indicates ...
(In this Guest Post, Udit Bhatia, a doctoral candidate at the University of Oxford, examines the question of anti-defection laws, in light of the recent political and legal tussle in Uttarakhand) — The anti-defection law, introduced by the 52nd amendment to the Indian Constitution, prohibits legisla...
by Suniti Sampat and Anushka Sachdev With Cheeni Kum, it was ageism. With Paa, sensitization about degenerative diseases. With Ki and Ka, R Balki attempts to take on gender stereotypes. However, along the way, he seems to forget how multi-faceted the problem really is. While attempting to highlight ...
In a judgment delivered today, a two judge bench of the Supreme Court rejected the constitutional challenge to criminal defamation, and upheld the validity of Sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code. The opinion was written by Justice Dipak Misra. In this post, I shall discuss the judgment whi...
Budget Session 2016 closed today, with Rajya Sabha adjourning sine die. Lok Sabha adjourned sine die previously on 11 May, 2016. Productivity for Lok Sabha stands at 121% while Rajya Sabha’s productivity stands at 91%. Productivity in this session has been the second highest for Lok Sabha. Rajya Sab...
Today, a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court found criminal defamation as constitutionally valid. Recall that the Supreme Court had reserved judgment in this matter in August last year after extensive hearings . Leaders from across the political divide, including Subramanian Swamy, Arvind Kejriwal,...
A Supreme Court bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Prafulla Pant is hearing a set of at least thirty petitions challenging the constitutional validity of criminal defamation (Sections 499 and 500 of IPC and section 199 of CrPC). The summary of hearings from the first six days can be found here . Firs...
In a judgment handed down today, the Supreme Court held that the de-boarding of a disabled passenger from a Spice Jet airplane was illegal and violated her rights. It also issued some guidelines with respect to the treatment of disabled persons at airports under existing laws and regulations. In add...
Symposium Announcement from NLSIU is quoted as was sent (with a few formatting changes): The National Law School of India Review (NLSIR), the flagship journal of the National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bangalore is pleased to announce the 9th Annual NLSIR Symposium on Goods and Services...
Executive Summary “The Code seeks to achieve certainty for recovery and enforcement proceedings and to this extent, it will specifically be a useful tool for creditors and investors. It would be of specific interest to international creditors and investors, who are generally looking at Indian opport...
by sflc_admin | May 12, 2016 Panel Discussion on Privacy Law SFLC.in, along with the Mr. Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Member of Parliament is organizing a panel discussion on ‘The Need For a Dedicated Privacy Legislation In India: Next Steps’ on 12th May 2016 from 4pm to 7pm at Constitution Club of India, ...
Day 10, 6 May 2016 Private Member Business was taken up in both houses. Members in Lok Sabha called the attention of the Minister of Defence regarding the recent disclosure by the Court of Appeals, Milan, Italy on alleged irregularities in Augusta Westland Helicopter deal, 2013. Rajya Sabha conclude...
The Government of India has on May 10, 2016 issued a press release announcing the Protocol for amendment of the Convention for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income and capital gains between India and Mauritius (“Tax Treaty”). The Tax T...
At noon today, the Finance Minister introduced a Bill in Parliament to address the issue of delayed debt recovery. The Bill amends four laws including the SARFAESI Act and the DRT Act, which are primarily used for recovery of outstanding loans. In this context, we examine the rise in NPAs in India a...
A Supreme Court bench of the Chief Justice and Justices R. Banumathi and UU Lalit took up a petition by Mr. Jairam Ramesh, Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) challenging the certification of the Aadhaar Act as a money bill by the Lok Sabha Speaker today. Senior Advocates Mr. P. Chidambaram, Mr. Kapi...
The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 is listed for passage in Rajya Sabha today. Last week, Lok Sabha passed the Code with changes recommended by the Joint Parliamentary Committee that examined the Code. [1] , [2] We present answers to some of the frequently asked questions in relation to the In...
(In this guest post, criminal law specialist Abhinav Sekhri examines the concurring opinion of Gupte J., which struck down Section 9B of the Maharashtra Animal Preservation Act (the reverse burden clause) — In a post yesterday, the Resident Author of this Blog engaged in a thorough analysis of vario...
Earlier this week, a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court handed down a unanimous judgment (with a majority and concurring opinion) in the case of Modern Dental College vs State of Madhya Pradesh . The Petitioner’s had challenged the constitutional validity of the ‘Niji Vyavasayik Shikshan Sansth...
The Bar Council of India (“ BCI ”), in a press release on Saturday, has said that it will file an application in the Supreme Court seeking modification of the order which allowed fresh law graduates to become judicial officers. It said that the BCI and the State Bar Councils are “strongly in favour”...
Thirty years ago, nobody could have accurately predicted the job market of today. The intervening technological progress must be blamed or credited for it. However, we seem to be able today to satisfactorily predict the job market we will have thirty years hence – plenty of machines and Artificial I...
Writing a great legal article is truly amazing. Not only it will be published in a good, well-known website or blog, thereby increasing your brand value and visibility, but also be read by many people who are in need of that information. It may help litigants, researchers, other lawyers or a reporte...
The distinguished Prof. Shamnad Basheer recently launched an online petition in the form of a poem to make a fervent appeal to the invisible CLAT powers to make the critical shift to a permanent, centralized CLAT body that will conduct the CLAT examination every year. However, every effort till now ...
CLAT 2015 will go down in the history of national competitive exams in India as the most ludicrous and incompetent examination that openly insulted the intelligence of thousands of candidates and played with their careers with an unbelievably sick mentality. The entire CLAT 2015 affair reflected an ...
Law and journalism are two fields which demand up-to-date knowledge in this proliferating world. Neither of them is stagnant and obsolete. As a first year law student,I used to think that legal profession only meant to argue in courts. It was later that it dawned upon me that legal field has no peri...
Why This Ko-Law-Very ?? The moment you enter an elite Law school campus,you will be tired of answering this question to everyone, from your Orientation day to Farewell.One simple question -“Why law?” Few oversmart kids would try to impress the first class by saying “Because I couldn’t make it to IIT...
Introduction Law has been the most variegated stream ever since it was incorporated in the human society. When one thinks of a vocation in law the first image that strike its mind is a dexterous person, dressed in black and white, going through some gigantic books, running in and out the court, figh...
Photo by Gulshan Sachdeva, via here.
LIFE IS NOT SO FAIR AND LOVELY At the outskirts of the Metropolitan court, I begin my day with the sight of all street smart lawyers who are out for today’s hunt. The hunters instinct is still seen in them when their roving eyes are targeting their next catch cum client. Sipping the cutting chai and...
What happens when you spend 5 years of your law school having the time of your life. Like literally, time-of-your-life!!! [Time of your life- excludes any such activity that requires paying attention in classes, taking internships seriously, taking moots seriously and/or taking anyone/anything serio...
A lady (not a lawyer) Retired Justice Markandey Katju published a blog post today entitled “Lady Lawyers” . In typical Katju blogging fashion (whenever not causing a media storm about judicial corruption), it’s a trip down memory lane starting with his time as a lawyer in 1970 Allahabad. Katju is tr...
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Last year, European Union has ratified the ‘Right to Repair’ regulation. According to these regulations, the manufacturers of the household electronic appliances i.e. lighting, washing machines, dish washers, and refrigerators, will have to make it easier for the consumers to get them repaired. Thou...
by sflc_admin | October 9, 2017 According to the Cyber Laws and E-Security Group under Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology Group (MeitY), as many as 23,030 websites /URLs are currently blocked in India. This information was received as a reply to a Right to Information application fil...
by sflc_admin | October 4, 2017 We live in an era where human activity is producing unprecedented amounts of digital data. The popular saying these days is ‘data is the new oil’. The high value of this data along with the lack of awareness among people about rights has prompted corporations and gove...
by sflc_admin | September 27, 2017 The second Digital Citizen Summit was organised on September 21-22, 2017 by Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF) and Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom at India Habitat Centre, New Delhi. SFLC.in was an associate partner of the summit. The summit aimed at fin...
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by sflc_admin | September 22, 2017 SFLC.in is organising a workshop on “Secure Communication ” in association with Sukhbir Singh, TOR Developer, on Saturday, September 23, 2017, from 11:00AM-:1:30 PM at the SFLC.in premises at K-9, Second Floor, Birbal Road, Jangpura Extension, New Delhi -110014 nea...
by sflc_admin | September 18, 2017 The ongoing Internet shutdown in Darjeeling, West Bengal completes 3 months today. This day, three months earlier, mobile Internet was shutdown in the city due to the ongoing agitation for a separate Gorkhaland. Two days later, on 20th June, the orders were extende...
Written by the Civil Liberties team at CCG A 9 judge bench of the Supreme Court of India passed a landmark judgment last week, which unanimously recognized the right to privacy as a fundamental right under the Constitution of India. The Court found the right to privacy to be a part of the freedoms g...
Today, the Supreme Court heard the ongoing matter of Sabu Mathew George vs. Union of India . In 2008, a petition was filed to ban advertisements endorsing sex-selective abortions from search engine results. Advertisements endorsing sex selective abortions are illegal under Section 22 of the PNDT Act...
by sflc_admin | September 4, 2017 On Sep 2, 2017, SFLC.in organized a discussion titled “Celebrating the Right To Be Let Alone” to commemorate the recent recognition of right to privacy as a fundamental right, discuss the privacy judgment, its key takeaways, the impact it will have on pending Aadhaa...
The sub-committee of Insolvency Law Committee (ILC) of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India (MCA) in its report dated October 31, 2020 has proposed the framework for the pre-pack and prearranged insolvency resolution process which the Government may adopt with / without modificatio...
Analysis of the Condonation of Delay Scheme, 2018 of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs The Scheme is by way of a General Circular No.16/2017 dated 29 December 2017. It is in exercises of powers u/Ss. 403, 459 and 460 of the Companies Act, 2013. Who can avail the scheme? A company registered under th...
Diwali is one of the most anticipated and celebrated festivals in India. It is also a festival of giving gifts, which is often a challenge for compliance professionals who struggle with policies and nuances of law around this time, on giving gifts that might seem like bribes. Under the Prevention of...
The RBI has amended the Master Directions on Financial Services provided by Banks. This is a significant move permitting Banks to invest in Category II Alternative Investment Funds. As of June 30, 2017, Alternative Investment Funds ( AIFs ) had raised the cumulative figure of Rs. 48, 129 crores, aga...
Image credit: Scroll.in, September 26, 2017 Sociologists know that the formation and survival of civilization is conditional upon the universal adherence to a framework of acceptable norms and guidelines of human conduct and interaction. Moses therefore set out as God’s message, the directive to lov...
Financial investors in India are scared of regulatory uncertainties. Not that uncertainties are exclusive to our country but it’s a critical risk factor that is assessed by those making substantial investments. Historically, one of the most important regulatory concerns for such investors is related...
India has long recognised the right of foreign creditors to participate in the winding up of Indian companies. As early as 1961, the Supreme Court of India, in Rajah of Vizianagaram (AIR 1962 SC 500) , clarified that foreign creditors have the same right as Indian creditors in winding up proceedings...
Photo credit: Indian Express, August 23, 2017 Through its historic ruling delivered by a five-judge bench in the case of Shayara Bano and Ors v. Union of India on August 22nd 2017, the Supreme Court of India ( SC ) liberated Muslim women from the perpetual fear of arbitrary and whimsical divorce. Th...
The ability to attract large scale Foreign Direct Investment ( FDI ) into India has been a key driver for policy making by the Government. Prime Minister Modi seems to be going along the right track, with India receiving FDI inflows worth USD 60.1 billion in 2016-17, which was an all-time high. Henc...
On August 31st 2017, the Supreme Court of India in the case of Innoventive Industries Limited v. ICICI Bank Limited* delivered its first extensive ruling on the operation and functioning of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 ( Insolvency Code ). The Court said that it is pronouncing its detail...