In the previous essay, we outlined the key questions that arise out of a textual reading of Article 15(1) of the Constitution, which prohibits discrimination “on grounds only of… sex.” In some of earliest cases after the commencement of the Constitution, these battle-lines were drawn sharply by the ...
Blogs by Gautam Bhatia
In this series of essays, we shall discuss sex discrimination under the Indian Constitution. This is an area where there is a significant amount of case law (for an introductory discussion, see Kalpana Kannabiran’s Tools of Justice). But like other other aspects of our fundamental rights jurispruden...
(Back in December, the Rajasthan government had introduced an ordinance imposing educational qualifications as pre-requisites for standing for elected office in local government, days before those elections. The ordinance was challenged before the Supreme Court and the Rajasthan High Court, who fail...
The Indian Journal of Law & Technology of the National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bangalore, in association with the Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore is now inviting submissions for its special issue on Net neutrality. Given the contemporary relevance of the theme, this s...
(In this guest post, Dheeraj K. explores a constitutional controversy around local government elections in Bengaluru) — Recently the Karnataka High Court while dealing with petitions against the inaction of the State government to hold elections to Bengaluru’s urban local body, the Bruhat Bengaluru ...
Over the last two weeks, on this blog, we have had an extensive debate about the various aspects of the National Judicial Appointments Case, where the validity of the 99th Amendment and the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act have been challenged. Recall, once again, that the 99th Amendmen...
(In the final substantive essay of our two-week long debate on the NJAC, Professor Sanjay Jain examines the issue of revival from a jurisprudential perspective. A round-up post will follow tomorrow) — The question as to whether the doctrine of revival can be applied to deal with unconstitutional con...
(What is the Supreme Court finds that the 99th Amendment and the National Judicial Appointments Commission, in their present form, are constitutionally unsatisfactory, but also does not wish to strike them down? In the first part of this guest post, Chintan Chandrachud explores what the Court might ...
(Rounding off our debate about Article 124C of the Constitution, in this second part of their two-part essay, Ritwika Sharma and Faiza Rahman defend its constitutionality.) — In the first part of our defence of Article 124C, we argued that the said provision is neither violative of the principle of ...
(In a two-part series, Ritwika Sharma and Faiza Rahman respond to my essay on Article 124C, arguing that the provision is entirely constitutional) — Among the many contentious issues that engaged the attention of the Supreme Court in the NJAC case was Article 124C which has been alleged to be violat...
(In the previous essay, I had argued that Article 124C should be struck down, because it violates the separation of powers and the independence of the judiciary, both of which are part of the basic structure. In this essay, Vishwajith Sadananda and Malavika Prasad respond to that claim, arguing that...
Over the last one week, we have debated the constitutionality of Article 124A of the 99th Amendment, which constitutes the National Judicial Appointments Commission. Let us now consider an equally important provision that the 99th Amendment seeks to insert into the Constitution – Article 124C. Artic...
(In this guest post, Ritwika Sharma examines one of the more contentious issues of the NJAC challenge – the “eminent persons” who will form part of the proposed judicial appointments commission) As part of the new Article 124A, which details the composition of the National Judicial Appointments Comm...
(Continuing our discussion about the constitutionality of the 99th Amendment and the National Judicial Appointments Commission, Suhrith Parthasarathy argues that a close reading of the Second Judges Case leads to the conclusion that judicial primacy in appointments is not part of the basic structure...
(In his last essay, Vishwajith Sadanada argued that The Second Judges case did not hold judicial primacy in appointments to be part of the basic structure; and even if it did, following Nagaraj’s Case, a constitutional amendment can be struck down for violating the basic structure only if, in some w...
(In a two-part essay, Vishwajith Sadananda responds to the previous essay on this blog, arguing that Article 124A and the National Judicial Appointments Commission are constitutional, and should be upheld.) — There is no doubt that the independence of the judiciary and appointment of judges is very ...
In the last essay , I argued that a plain reading of the Second Judges Case makes it clear that the collegium arose not merely out of the textual reading of Article 124 (“consultation” as “concurrence”), but as a necessary guarantor of the basic feature of judicial independence, via the requirement ...
(Today, a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court reserved judgment in the constitutional challenge to the 99th Amendment and the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act , bringing to an end protracted litigation lasting many months [“the NJAC case”]. The 99th Amendment and the NJAC Act seek t...
(In this guest post, Mansi Binjrajka and Avani Choksi examine a Bombay High Court decision on the “right to water” under Article 21, and its discontents.) — Last year, the Bombay High Court passed an order , which was much applauded for declaring the right to water (RTW) to be implicit in Article 21...
(With the NJAC hearings winding down, we will be covering the issues extensively on this blog. To kick things off, Vasujith Ram responds to Sarangan Rajeshkumar’s essay on the question of the revival of the collegium, should the Supreme Court strike down the 99th Amendment) — In a post published a c...