Indian Judiciary

Within a month of retiring from the Supreme Court of India, Justice S. Abdul Nazeer has been appointed Governor of Andhra Pradesh. Like many others, I believe it is no coincidence that he was a part of the Constitution Bench that decided the Ayodhya Ram Mandir land issue. In the …

The normally peaceful residents of Ladakh are in agitation mode. They are set to gather in Delhi today to pursue their demand for special constitutional status, which would allow them to decide on a development path that safeguards the region’s fragile ecological and cultural heritage. On January 26, one of …

Sporadically, but surely, palaeontologists report intriguing discoveries from India. In January, a team discovered 92 dinosaur nesting sites with 256 fossilised eggs of the titanosaurus — among the largest of its kind, from 100-66 million years ago, when ‘India’ was a continent and yet to merge into the Eurasian land …

A draft Bill, aimed at protecting India’s geological heritage that includes fossils, sedimentary rocks, natural structures, has raised alarm in India’s geo-sciences and palaeontology community. The Draft Geo-heritage Sites and Geo-relics (Preservation and Maintenance) Bill, 2022, while deemed necessary by several researchers, vests powers entirely in the Geological Survey of …

The questionable elevation of advocate L. Victoria Gowri as a judge of the Madras High Court epitomises the problematic nature of the system of judicial appointment. It also portends a government-driven project to take over the Bench through its favourites Earlier, the Union Law Ministry had processed the recommendation concerning …

The freedom of speech is one of the most cherished freedoms. The Constitution of India, too, declares that Indians possess this freedom, but makes it subject to the interest of public order, or the sovereignty and integrity of India. We believe that the framers of the Constitution accepted this watering …

A Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court has removed “insurmountable obstacles” for the implementation of advance medical directives given by terminally ill patients, who are beyond cure or hope, to withdraw medical treatment and die with dignity. The five-member Bench led by Justice K.M. Joseph had broadly outlined the order …

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman allocated ₹7,000 crore for the introduction of Phase III of the eCourts Project that aims at efficient administration of justice. Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju, in a series of tweets, thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Finance Minister as well as Chief Justice of India D.Y. …

First, instead of incentivising online platforms to proactively build safer and better services for minors, the Bill relies on parents to grant consent on behalf of the child in all cases. In a country with low digital literacy, where parents in fact often rely on their children (who are digital …

The Election Commission of India (ECI) is hosting the 2nd International Conference on the theme ‘Use of Technology and Elections Integrity’ at New Delhi on 23-24 January, 2023. ECI is leading the Cohort on Elections Integrity which was established as a follow up to the ‘Summit for Democracy’ held virtually in December, 2021. …

The Supreme Court collegium has done well to push back against the Union government’s attempts to block the appointment of some advocates as High Court judges. The three-member collegium, which makes recommendations for High Court appointments, has reiterated its decision to elevate lawyers Saurabh Kirpal to the Delhi High Court, …

The public criticism aired by Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar on the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) judgment may be seen as comments by a high constitutional authority against “the law of the land”. The Supreme Court has held that its judicial pronouncements lay down the law. Article 141 of the Constitution …

More than eight years after the bifurcation of the erstwhile united Andhra Pradesh, division of assets and liabilities between the two States remain elusive as the States make their own interpretation of the provisions under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act 2014. Several bilateral meetings between the two States as well …

The All India Rubber Industries Association (AIRIA) has urged the government to not impose further restrictions on the import of rubber compounds. The industry imported 1,12,500 tonnes in 2021 under the ‘4005 Compounded rubber, unvulcanised, in primary forms or in plates, sheets or strip’ category to make products such as …

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has announced draft norms for facilitating foreign universities and educational institutions to set up campuses in India which allow them autonomy in determining fees, as well as a 90-day approval process. The final norms will be notified by the end of the month after feedback …

The thrust of India’s National Green Hydrogen (NGH) Mission is to promote India as global hub for producing green hydrogen, R.K. Singh, Minister for New and Renewable Energy said at press briefing on Thursday. Green hydrogen is when hydrogen is from a renewable energy source, such as solar or wind. …

The Kerala High Court has reiterated that no State government employee, worker, or association has the legal right to call for a general strike or instigate the employees to strike, in the guise of the fundamental right of freedom of speech and expression guaranteed by the Constitution. A Division Bench …

With the Supreme Court recommencing its work after the winter vacation, all eyes in Tamil Nadu are on the verdict of a five-member Constitution Bench of the Court on a batch of petitions seeking to strike down a 2017 Tamil Nadu law that protects jallikattu, a traditional event involving bulls. …

A Prime Minister or a Chief Minister in a country where there is a multi-party system cannot afford to crack the whip every time a Minister makes a statement which may either be in bad taste or disparaging, the Supreme Court said in a Constitution Bench judgment on Tuesday. “The …

The Supreme Court on Monday observed that all religious conversions cannot be presumed by a State to be illegal while agreeing to hear a Madhya Pradesh government appeal against a High Court decision freezing a mandatory provision requiring a person who desires to convert to another faith to give 60 …