Adjudication and Judicial Process

Revisiting V Surendra Mohan: An Opportunity Seized in Vikash Kumar v. UPSC – Part II

By |2021-03-18T14:06:22+05:30March 18th, 2021|Access to Justice, Adjudication and Judicial Process, Diversity, Supreme Court of India|

Editor’s Note: The following is Part II of a two-part post on the judiciary and inclusion of differently-abled persons as judges. In Part I, authors Eeshan Sonak and Yash Dodhani criticised the Supreme Court decision in V. Surendra Mohan v. State of Tamil Nadu, which held that a visual impairment or hearing disability above 50% [...]

Revisiting V Surendra Mohan: A Black Spot on the Progressive Growth of Equality for the Differently-Abled – Part I

By |2021-03-18T14:09:49+05:30March 18th, 2021|Access to Justice, Adjudication and Judicial Process, Diversity, Supreme Court of India|

Editor’s Note: The following is Part I of a two-part post on the judiciary and inclusion of differently-abled persons as judges. In this part, authors Eeshan Sonak and Yash Dodani point out the problems with Supreme Court’s judgment in V. Surendra Mohan v. State of Tamil Nadu, which held that a visual impairment or hearing [...]

An Exigency to Revise the Offence of Criminal Contempt

By |2020-09-07T13:52:48+05:30September 7th, 2020|Adjudication and Judicial Process, Criminal Law, Supreme Court of India|

Editor’s Note: In this post, Sahiba Vyas and Varun Litoriya* critically evaluate India’s criminal contempt law against the backdrop of the recent Prashant Bhushan case. They point out that the criminal contempt law is vague, its “scandalising the court” standard needs a relook, and there is danger of criticism of individual judges also being adjudged [...]

Relooking at Section 65B of the Indian Evidence Act

By |2020-08-31T10:29:35+05:30August 31st, 2020|Adjudication and Judicial Process, Civil Procedure, Evidence Law, Proving Cases|

Editor’s Note: In this post, Padmini Subhashree* points out several discrepancies in Section 65B of the Indian Evidence Act dealing with electronic evidence, and highlights the need to have a re-look at this Section in today’s technology age. The entire system of justice delivery runs point on the presumption of making decisions where the ‘proof’ [...]

Legally Unanswered: A Few Grey Areas in the Civil Procedure Code

By |2020-08-15T16:57:27+05:30August 15th, 2020|Adjudication and Judicial Process, Civil Procedure, Litigation Practice|

Editor’s Note: In this post, Ananth Kini* writes about two grey areas in the Civil Procedure Code – first, whether an admitted statement can be put forth before a court during final arguments and second, whether averments in the written statement acknowledging a debt have to looked into while determining whether a suit is time-barred. [...]

COVID-19 and Indian Courts: The “New Normal” for the Advocates

By |2020-07-26T10:51:45+05:30July 26th, 2020|Access to Justice, Adjudication and Judicial Process, Judicial Administration, Litigation Practice, NALSAR Alumni|

Editor’s Note: In this post, Roshan Santhalia* writes about the negative and positive implications of the Covid-19 pandemic on advocates in India. The unprecedented pandemic has affected almost everyone across the World. It would be difficult to find a particular set of people or an industry which has not been severely affected by the pandemic. [...]

Justice N. Anand Venkatesh on the Structuring of Pleadings – Part II

By |2020-07-18T22:57:20+05:30July 18th, 2020|Adjudication and Judicial Process, Civil Procedure, Guest Speaker Series, Litigation Practice, Tricks of the Trade, Young Lawyers|

Editor’s Note: This post (the second part of a two-part series) is a transcript of a webinar conducted by Justice N. Anand Venkatesh of the Madras High Court on the Structuring of Pleadings under the Civil Procedure Code. The webinar is a part of the Nyaya Forum for Courtroom Lawyering’s Webinar Series on Practical Skills [...]

Justice N. Anand Venkatesh on the Structuring of Pleadings – Part I

By |2020-07-18T15:28:04+05:30July 18th, 2020|Adjudication and Judicial Process, Civil Procedure, Guest Speaker Series, Litigation Practice, Tricks of the Trade, Young Lawyers|

Editor’s Note: This post (the first part of a two-part series) is a transcript of a webinar conducted by Justice N. Anand Venkatesh of the Madras High Court on the Structuring of Pleadings under the Civil Procedure Code. The webinar is a part of the Nyaya Forum for Courtroom Lawyering’s Webinar Series on Practical Skills [...]

The Indian Legal Fraternity is Failing at the Premise of its Own Existence

By |2020-07-12T12:11:25+05:30July 12th, 2020|Access to Justice, Adjudication and Judicial Process, Bar Associations, Constitution of India, Diversity, Judicial Administration, Judicial Ethics, Litigation Practice, Senior Designation, Young Lawyers|

Editor’s Note: In this blog post, Sanchit Khandelwal highlights the nepotism and favouritism prevalent in appointment procedures of the judiciary, selection of senior counsels, and at the bar. Due to such nepotism and favouritism, young lawyers and subordinate judiciary judges from marginalised communities suffer unduly. This necessitates the need for reform. Introduction Recent findings and [...]

The Supreme Court Registry: A Puppet of the Powerful?

By |2020-07-09T23:58:21+05:30July 9th, 2020|Access to Justice, Adjudication and Judicial Process, Constitution of India, Diversity, Supreme Court of India|

Editor's Note: In this blog post, against the backdrop of limited hearings being taken up by the Supreme Court owing to the pandemic, Abhinand Lagisetti critiques the manner of prioritisation adopted by the Registry of the Supreme Court. The author analyses the present norms being adopted and critiques the Registry's prioritisation of matters that concern [...]

Vacations for the Judiciary : A Necessity or a Luxury?

By |2020-07-01T14:04:41+05:30July 1st, 2020|Access to Justice, Adjudication and Judicial Process, Judicial Administration|

Editor's Note: In this Article, against the backdrop of recent cancellations of vacations by the judiciary during the Covid-19 crisis, Tanvi Apte highlights the pros and cons of vacations for the judiciary in general, initiating discussions on whether there is a need to modify or do away with the judicial vacation calendar as it stands [...]

Not ‘Distinguished’ enough? The Tale of Article 124(3)(c) of the Constitution

By |2020-05-29T11:04:19+05:30May 29th, 2020|Adjudication and Judicial Process, Constitution of India, Judicial Administration, Supreme Court of India|

Editor's Note: In this Article, Swapnil Tripathi discusses the appointment of "distinguished jurists" as Judges of the Supreme Court of India under Art 124 of the Constitution. Next month, Professor Andrew Burrows (University of Oxford) shall be sworn in as a Justice/Judge of the United Kingdom Supreme Court. Prof. Burrows is following the footsteps of [...]

The End of Banter

By |2020-05-29T07:27:36+05:30May 26th, 2020|Adjudication and Judicial Process, Litigation Practice, Success in Litigation, Tricks of the Trade|

Editor's Note: In this article, Swathi Sukumar analyses how the profession of litigation is likely to undergo massive changes as we move into the world of remote adjudication. In my first month of practice, after a hotly contested matter, I was told that I should be less fidgety, because the court can sense anxiety and [...]

Post-Retirement Appointment of Judges in India

By |2019-05-06T11:58:41+05:30May 5th, 2019|Adjudication and Judicial Process, Judicial Administration, Judicial Ethics, Supreme Court of India|

Editor’s Note: In this article, Namratha Murugeshan critically assesses the executive government’s power to appoint retired judges to tribunals and commissions (post-retirement appointments). She first underscores the impact that these post-retirement offers have on judicial independence and second, appraises the suitability of judges as members of tribunals. Recently Supreme Court Justice A.K. Sikri was caught [...]

Towards Truth as the Only Goal (III of III)

By |2019-04-28T16:00:21+05:30April 28th, 2019|Access to Justice, Adjudication and Judicial Process, Article 20, Bar Council of India Rules, Evidence Law, Professional Ethics|

Editor’s Note: In the final part of his series on truth as the normative goal of the judiciary, Justice K. Kannan analyses three systemic hurdles in securing truth – the Fundamental Right against self-incrimination, privileged communications and professional ethics. He ends his three-part series with a noteworthy message to all members of the legal community, [...]

Towards Truth as the Only Goal (II of III)

By |2019-04-14T10:41:57+05:30April 13th, 2019|Adjudication and Judicial Process, Criminal Law, Evidence Law, Success in Litigation, Tricks of the Trade|

In the second part of his three-part series on truth as the normative goal of judicial process, Justice K. Kannan looks at two tools used in a trial to arrive at the truth – the casting of the burden of proof and cross-examination. He comments on the efficacy of raising certain presumptions in the trial [...]

When legislators get to ‘party’ at the Bar

By |2019-04-06T19:25:40+05:30April 6th, 2019|Adjudication and Judicial Process, Bar Council of India Rules, Constitution of India, Legislators, Professional Ethics, Supreme Court of India|

“Legal profession requires full-time attention and would not countenance an advocate riding two horses or more at a time". Justice Majumdar in Haniraj L. Chulani v. Bar Council In September 2018, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court (SC) refused to prevent legislators from practising law during the incumbency of their office. Relying on the lack [...]

Towards Truth as the Only Goal (I of III)

By |2018-09-26T01:14:02+05:30September 26th, 2018|Adjudication and Judicial Process, Criminal Law, Evidence Law, Judicial Ethics, Philosophising Litigation, Professional Ethics, Proving Cases, Tricks of the Trade|

This is the first part of Justice K. Kannan's three-part series 'Towards Truth as the Only Goal'. In a set of three articles, he shall analyse the function of the judicial process of arriving at the normative goal of truth. In this first article, he argues that while essentially all litigations are always exercises to [...]