V care Varsity

the Roman amphitheatre, where the mob decided if the defeated gladiator should die. Apart from turning the judiciary into a khap panchayat, how does this august fraternity commune with the community, or divine that its conscience wants blood? In the 21st century, flooded as it is with 24-hour television and social media on tap, outrage can be manufactured, reality distorted. Even when, as after the Delhi crime, the revulsion was real and widespread, how does the judiciary determine that thos...

The acquittal of Congress leader Sajjan Kumar in a 1984 riot case extinguishes every glimmer of hope for substantial justice to the Sikh victims of the bloody pogrom that took place in the nation’s capital in the aftermath of Indira Gandhi’s assassination. The judge found three men guilty of murder and two of rioting, but was not convinced that Mr. Kumar had instigated the riots. The verdict is bound to reinforce the view that politically well-connected persons will continue to ev...

What do we seek in a Supreme Court judge? One who must exercise among the widest constitutional jurisdictions of any Supreme Court in the world: to pass any order that does “complete justice,” hear, however briefly, petitions against any order from any court and to decide direct cases on violations of fundamental rights?

The role requires complete probity, and spine; the courage and the wisdom to interpret rights in ways that adhere to the law, yet evolve in new...

When the Supreme Court has recognised the right to go on hunger strike, why is Irom Sharmila’s protest against impunity of the armed forces a criminal act?

Over the past 12 years, Irom Sharmila Chanu has carried on an inconceivable hunger strike, which has seen her body wither and her skin turn pale. During this period, she has emerged as the face of the civilian resistance to the immunity, and impunity, granted by the Armed Force...

“Our tradition teaches tolerance; our philosophy preaches tolerance; our Constitution practises tolerance; let us not dilute it.” These stirring sentiments were expressed by Justice Chinnappa Reddy in a Supreme Court judgment pronounced in August 1986 which invalidated expulsion from school of students belonging to Jehova’s Witness faith. Regrettably, over the years, tolerance has been replaced by the rising menace of intolerance which strikes at various fields of human ende...

This is the story of how and why the framers of the Constitution of India deliberately designed a procedural error in the adoption of the new Constitution with a view to severing the seamless transition of legal authority from the British Crown-in-Parliament to the new Republic of India. The deliberate procedural error consisted in a deviation from the Constitution making procedure prescribed by the Indian Independence Act, 1947 — the law enacted by the British Parliament granting India...

A micro finance institution (MFI) is defined as an organisation, other than a bank, providing micro finance services. These services are defined as micro credit facilities not exceeding Rs 5 lakh in aggregate, or with the Reserve Bank’s (RBI) specification Rs 10 lakh, to each individual. Other services like collection of thrift, pension or insurance services and remittance of funds to individuals within India also come under micro finance services.

a) The Bill allows...

The Union Cabinet has approved the proposal for introduction of the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2012 in the Parliament.

The Law Commission of India in its 172nd Report on `Review of Rape Laws` as well the National Commission for Women have recommended for stringent punishment for the offence of rape. The High Powered Committee (HPC) constituted under the Chairmanship of Union Home Secretary examined the recommendations of Law Commission, NCW and suggestions various quart...

The Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill 2011 was introduced in order to amend the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1970/1980. The said Bill has been passed by both the Houses of Parliament.

This Bill would strengthen the regulatory powers of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and to further develop the banking sector in India. It will also enable the nationalized banks to raise capital by issue of preference shares or ri...

Please Note:- as on jan 2013

Following bill has been passed-118,113,111,109

Passed in Rajya Sabha- 117,108

Rest Pending.

Women's Reservation Bill [The Constitution (108th Amendment) Bill, 2008]

Commonly known as the Women's Res...

"People are beginning to believe that democracy, in which they had faith all these years, is part of the problem and, therefore, cannot be part of the solution"

The torrent of anger that erupted all over the country after the 23-year-old physiotherapy student in Delhi — whom the media named ‘Nirbhaya’ — was raped and thrown out of a moving bus has obscured a profoundly disturbing anomaly: the rape was a criminal act committed by individuals. But most of the anger...

The Supreme Court ruling on the eligibility criteria for Information Commissioners is based on absurd reasoning and subverts the will of Parliament The judgment delivered on September 13, 2012 by Justice Swatanter Kumar, on behalf of himself and Justice A.K. Patnaik, belongs to an impressive lineage of Supreme Court rulings which create havoc and confusion in institutions — and even in the conduct of examinations — of which its judges were blissfully unaware. That this one called ...

Supreme Court ruling on appointments to the Central and State Information Commissions has shaken the world of Right to Information with activists and Information Commissioners wondering if the order will effectively halt the functioning of the Commissions.

Asked Chief Information Commissioner Satyananda Mishra: “Does the ruling mean that the RTI Act stands amended suo motu ?” He has convened an emergency meeting to understand the import of the ruling, which seeks a complete ...

vikas

The last two decades have marked the extraordinary rise of India. This has however been tinged with cynicism about our major democratic institutions and a pessimism about their future. The judiciary, which till now has been looked upon as the strongest pillar of Indian democracy, has been beset with unprecedented problems. In recent times, the working of the judges of superior courts (High Courts and the Supreme Court) has come in for intense scrutiny and grave doubts have been ca...

vikas

An inordinate delay of 11 years occurred in considering the mercy pleas of the three death-convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan, with their pleas being ultimately rejected on August 11, 2011 by the President of India. This is only one instance of the inhuman, unconscionable and arbitrary manner in which mercy pleas of convicts condemned to death are kept pending by the government for years on end.

Simultaneous with th...