Mr. Sourav Paul has spurred a debate around the need to maintain checks and balances upon the exercise of power by the executive and legislature. Through a critical analysis of landmark judgements and provisions from our constitution, the author brings to you an informative piece on the new IT rules to allow discussion through introspection of the powers exercised by our authorities over acts that concern the lives of the people of India.
A Comparative Analysis of Gandhian v. Nehruvian Philosophies in Directive Principles of State Policy
Anadi Tewari analyzes the Nehruvian and Gandhian philosophies directly impacting and leading to the development of Directive Principles of State Policy.
WhatsApp Privacy Case: Does WhatsApp Perform A ‘Public Function’ Under Article 226 Of The Constitution?
Abhijeet Shrivastava & Anujay Shrivastava discuss the recent developments surrounding the change in WhatsApp’s privacy policy and explore the idea, whether the functions of the mega-giant qualify as ‘public function’ under the scheme of the Constitution. The authors further suggest a way forward to effectively address the concerns posed by the shift in the company’s privacy policy.
Does Article 3 of India’s Constitution Reflect ‘Co-operative’ Federalism?
Abhijeet Shrivastava evaluates the scope of Article 3 of the Constitution of India, which relates, inter alia, to the power of the Parliament to re-organize State territories. He analyses the purview of Article 3 when viewed from the archetype model of ‘co-operative federalism’.
Internal and Judicial Review of Judicial Appointments
A gradual, but undeniable, progression has transitioned Indian judiciary from its positivist rigidity, to an era of fluid, pervasive involvement in governance and law-making. Through the course of this article, Sarthak Sethi establishes the same through an analysis of the facet of Judicial appointments.
Seniority as the Basis for Judicial Appointments – A Dubious and an Unjust Norm?
Praneeta Tiwari writes on the current system of judicial appointments and critically analyses it and poses an alternative of merit as the basis for judicial appointments.
The Idea of State and Secularism in the Contemporary World: Through the Prism of Indian and Malaysian Constitution
Manudeep Kaur compares the constitutional framework accommodating multiculturalism in the respective constitutions of India and Malaysia.
Identification of Women via Husbands: A Mockery of Article 15
Debby Jain writes about the customary practice of a woman changing her surname upon marriage and how it consequently contravenes the basic principles enshrined under Article 15.
Enigma Of Virtual Courts In India: A Conundrum
Deveshi Madan and Shubhangi Agarwal critically analyse the legality, accessibility and feasibility of E-courts. They also discuss the challenges faced by virtual hearings.
Regulation v. Rights: The Tipping of the Scales qua the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897
Preetham Jude Correa from Symbiosis Law School, Pune delineates the myriad of legal complexities that have arisen in India's approach in dealing with the pandemic.
Fundamental Right to Religion in the Indian Context: Not So Fundamental?
Neha Tripathi and Soumya Rajsingh, Assistant Professors of Law, MNLU Aurangabad discuss the test of Essential Religious Practices and the fundamental nature of the right to religious freedom in light of challenges which have to arise due to COVID-19.
The Pillarless Financial Ordinance in Madhya Pradesh: A Constitutional Anathema
Nikunj Maheshwari and Kapil Shrivastava Background In what may be diligently called as a political coup de tat, the Kamal Nath government in the State of Madhya Pradesh was toppled in the early weeks of March, even before his government could present the financial budget for the State. As a result of this political fiasco,... Continue Reading →
The Excesses in the Application of Article 142
Dhanishta Mittal The Supreme Court, by exercising this power to grant relief to the disputing parties on multiple occasions, established a precedent, thereby diluting and undermining the authority of the statute which is silent on the matter concerned.[1] Objection to the exercise of such plenary power is primarily because it leads to the framing... Continue Reading →
Balancing the Contours of Federalism with Terrorism
Shubhangi Agarwal and Harsh Singh The Parliament passed the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Act, 2019 (“UAPA”) and the National Investigation Agency (Amendment) Act, 2019 (“NIA”) amidst a lot of controversies last year in July. The amendment acts raised serious questions of human rights violation and erosion of federal character. In lieu of the same, the... Continue Reading →
The Constitutional Question of Privacy in the Pandemic
Anchal Bhateja Rights like the right to life under Article 21 are so cardinal that they cannot be subjected to derogations even during exigencies. The right to life has a wide amplitude and has been interpreted to include a plethora of rights within its ambit. The right to privacy which was read into Article 21... Continue Reading →
Measures Combating COVID-19 Complicates Privacy Concerns
Khushi Sharma and Aarushi Kapoor The Coronavirus outbreak has been devastating to the extent of raising the fears of superpowers like the US which, despite being the claimant of an extremely developed health infrastructure in the world, is experimenting novel methods to put up a tough fight against COVID-19. Belonging to the genus of severe... Continue Reading →
A Life for a Life: A Discordant Anachronism in Indian Jurisprudence
Rahul Nair For the first time in the history of independent India, capital punishment was meted out to four convicts simultaneously, in a seven-year-old case[1] of gangrape and murder of a young medical student of Delhi. This has sparked several debates regarding the constitutional validity and application of death penalty in India. In this post,... Continue Reading →
A Constitutional Critique of The Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019
Randeep Dahiya Since 1991, India has seen a meteoric rise in the field of digital technology including modalities of surveillance. Such modalities include technological advancements in the form of genetic, biometric, financial and physical monitoring. Augmented by the advent of social media, an urgent need for the establishment of a data protection mechanism in order... Continue Reading →
The Prorogation Enigma: A Comparative Perspective of Prorogation in the United Kingdom and India
Akshat Trivedi The recent decision of the UK Supreme Court in R v. The Prime Minister[i] was a landmark judgement in terms of common law jurisprudence on Parliamentary prorogation and its judicial review. Herein, the Supreme Court was called on to examine the constitutionality of the advice tendered by Prime Minister Boris Johnson to Her... Continue Reading →
Protection or Humiliation? An Analysis of the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2019
Utkarsh Krishna After gathering ubiquitous criticism for its previous bills pertaining to transgender rights, the Government has yet again come up with a new Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2019 (the Bill from herein).[i] One of the many commonalities between the Bill and its predecessors is that all of them in the name of... Continue Reading →
Rationalizing the Curb on Subversive Speech in a Modern Democracy
Meghna Bhaskar Introduction Dissent has been iterated by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud in the Bhima Koregaon case as the safety valve of a democracy. It is asserted by left-leaning civil liberty activists that the curb on freedom of speech and expression has become an institutional mechanism to police the opinions and curb lively debate and a... Continue Reading →
RTI Amendment Bill: An Attempt to Curtail the Right
Juned Akhter This is for the second time in a span of two years when the Government has endeavoured to pass legislation pertaining to Right to Information Act, 2005 which also comes under the scope of Freedom of Speech and Expression.[i] In 1986, the Supreme Court in the famous case of Mr. Kunwar v.... Continue Reading →
Drops of Federalism
Anmol Mittal A spate of floods in a self-declared water-stressed country has shed light on the governance of water ‘resources’ in India. The assumption of control over Water by the Union is an encouraging sign. India, already a self-declared water-stressed country, faces an immense challenge.[1] Behaviorally, there is not too much evidence to suggest that... Continue Reading →
Can Reasonable Expectation of Privacy be a ‘Buffer’ Legislation for India
Anjani Kumar Srivastava and Ashit Kumar Srivastava On 24th August 2017, the Indian Supreme Court shredded away the lethargic cloak of original(ism) and embraced privacy with both its hand. However, the functionality of privacy demands more than just an acceptance; there has to be an intricate surgery to imbibe criteria of applications; one such application... Continue Reading →
Analyzing the Constitutionality of S 33 (7), Representation of People Act, 1951: Proposing Remedies
Deeksha Sharma Recent trends in Indian electoral politics have seen the emergence of an increasing number of candidates contesting from more than one constituency. This article highlights how the apex court of India, had already erroneously upheld the Constitutionality of this provision and also suggests some solutions for the same. This system of parliamentary elections... Continue Reading →
Continuing Choices: Can Simultaneous Elections be A Credible Solution?
Priyanka Rai In a parliamentary democracy like India, Good Governance is the prime responsibility but is this actually a possibility given the continued election mode our country is always in, is a question which needs assessment. The citizens, the political parties and the Election Commission are the key stakeholders in the process of decision-making and... Continue Reading →
Reduced to Puppets? The Enchantment of Anti-Defection
Tanmay Batham Tenth Schedule: Brief Overview Webster defines Defection as a conscious abandonment of allegiance or duty (i) while MacMillan defines it simply as an act of leaving one’s country or political party to go to another one. (ii) This understanding of the word indicates that there is a connotation of hostility attached to the... Continue Reading →
The Mavalankar Rule: The Selection of the Leader of Opposition
Sarvotham M Naik In the light of recent election results where the country has witnessed the formation of the government by a single political party with a sweeping majority, a debate has arisen as in who shall become the leader of opposition. The requirement of a minimum number of members for the recognition of a... Continue Reading →
Back Up Plans at The Cost of Electorate
Vrinda Aggarwal On 7th February, 2018, Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court of India against the Election Commission (EC) and the State, challenging the validity of S. 33(7)(a) of the Representation of People’s Act, 1951 (Act), according to which “person shall not be nominated as a candidate for election— in... Continue Reading →
Need to Revisit the Right to Vote of Migrant Labourers
Advik Rijul Jha According to recent reports, approximately 60 million men and women, crisscrossing the country as migrant workers, were unable to cast their vote because their voting rights are restricted to their villages, where they have to be present to be able to vote.[i] This gives rise to a concern about the political voice-lessness of... Continue Reading →
BJP’s Resounding Victory: What It Means
Dr. Manisha Madhava Introduction The electoral verdict of 2019 confirmed the dominance of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). BJP’s victory is the most resounding verdict of any political party in recent times. The NDA won 353 out of 543 seats in the Lok Sabha and BJP alone won 293 seats, of the 437 seats, 11 more... Continue Reading →
NOTA in India: A Real Choice?
Paras Ahuja Introduction NOTA or “None of the Above” option is a window provided for those voters, who would prefer to not vote for any of the candidates contesting election in their constituencies, expressing their dissent and disapproval. The use of this democratic tool of protest by the Indian citizenry has been on the rise,... Continue Reading →
Transformative Constitutionalism and Role of Judiciary in India: Balancing the Interest of People with Societal Reforms
Shweta and Tauseef Ahmad Introduction The constitution is a sovereign legal document. It is a supreme document of society and it lays down the fundamental principles as well as rules of governance for the Indian society and it lays down the goals and aspiration of the people of India. It can be compared to ‘grundnorm’... Continue Reading →