Supreme Court of India

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 [...]

Admissibility of Electronic Evidence: A Pandora’s Box

By |2020-11-21T16:34:23+05:30November 21st, 2020|Access to Justice, Criminal Law, Evidence Law, Supreme Court of India|

Editor's Note: In this post, the authors analyze the discordant views put forward by the Supreme Court concerning the admissibility of electronic evidence. The authors argue that the position finally adopted is neither tenable nor consistent and there is a need to reconsider the same. The digital revolution and the development in the information technology [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 Queer Case of Judicial Appointments: The Collegium vs. a Gay Lawyer

By |2020-05-02T11:10:16+05:30October 2nd, 2019|Diversity, LGBTQ Rights, Supreme Court of India|

Editor's Note: In this post, Priyamvadha Shivaji, writes about the Supreme Court's reluctance in diversifying its composition and how the delay in the appointment of a queer lawyer to the bench affects the Court's legitimacy regarding claims of upholding representative values and accepting diversity. In its historic verdict in Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of [...]

Fifth Judges’ Case: Parliamentary Prerogative Over Removal Proceedings

By |2019-08-17T22:14:02+05:30August 17th, 2019|Constitution of India, Judicial Administration, Judicial Ethics, NALSAR Alumni, Professional Ethics, Supreme Court of India|

Editor's note - In this piece Shreenath Khemka writes about the imminence of a fifth Judges' case. With the CJI recommending the initiation of removal proceedings against Justice S.N. Shukla, the Judiciary's control over its composition can be seen to be extending to the removal of its officers too. While the four Judges' case gave [...]

Black Swans Galore: Disciplining Mechanisms in the Judiciary

By |2019-08-09T20:54:37+05:30August 9th, 2019|Constitution of India, Judicial Administration, Judicial Ethics, Professional Ethics, Supreme Court of India|

Editor's Note: In this post, Shreenath Khemka points out the shortcomings of the currently available disciplining mechanisms to regulate the judiciary. As proposals, he suggests using contempt proceedings, the use of the General Clauses Act for penalties and the writ of 'Scire Facias' instead of the arduous removal proceedings under 124(4) of the Constitution.   The [...]

“Wherefore we shall pray ad infinitum” – Where the Translation Fails?

By |2019-07-22T15:02:51+05:30July 22nd, 2019|Access to Justice, High Court of Himachal Pradesh, Judgment Writing, Judicial Administration, Philosophising Litigation, Supreme Court of India|

Editor's note - In this post, Kanu Garg, writes about the Supreme Court of India's recent initiative to make its judgments available in 7 regional languages. While recognizing the need for such a move, Kanu writes about why we must not pat ourselves on the back yet. As she points out, verbose and lengthy judgments, [...]

The All-India Judicial Services – A Compelling Need (?)

By |2019-06-07T21:11:00+05:30June 7th, 2019|Access to Justice, Constitution of India, Judicial Administration, Supreme Court of India|

In this article, Mustafa Rajkotwala makes a case against the proposal to create an All-India Judicial Services (AIJS). While tracking the current debate on the matter, he adds to the criticism that has been leveled against the AIJS. He identifies that not all is bad with all of subordinate judiciary: it is only in some States [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Expectations of the Bench from Young Advocates

By |2018-09-21T22:34:35+05:30September 18th, 2018|Judicial Ethics, Professional Ethics, Success in Litigation, Supreme Court of India, Tricks of the Trade, Young Lawyers|

In this interesting article, Justice Ruma Pal, a former judge of the Supreme Court of India, offers an insider's perspective on tricks of courtroom lawyering. She takes the readers through the necessary ingredients which make up a ‘legally successful lawyer’ as distinguishable from a ‘successful lawyer’. The didactic article is addressed to young lawyers in a [...]

A semblance of objectivity, but a long way to go!

By |2018-09-26T00:32:51+05:30September 3rd, 2018|Senior Designation, Supreme Court of India|

On August 6, 2018, the Supreme Court's guidelines for the designation of Senior Advocates were released without much ado about anything. A shocking predicament for a set of guidelines meant to revolutionise the process of designation is revealed by Sughosh Joshi, who takes a closer look at them to determine how far do they take [...]

Both Hands Tied at the Back

By |2018-08-11T18:58:31+05:30August 11th, 2018|Supreme Court of India|

Editor's Note: In this article, the author discusses the recent decision of the Supreme Court over the question of unrestrained power of the Chief Justice of India in terms of roster allocation. The author suggests extending the reading of 'consultation' and CJI in Article 124(2) done by the Judges Cases to Article 145, so as [...]

Play as part of the Team

By |2018-02-28T23:47:55+05:30February 2nd, 2018|Judicial Administration, Supreme Court of India|

Editor's Note: Continuing from his previous analysis on the power of the CJI to act as the master of the roster, Shreenath Khemka comes to the crease, making a critical cross-jurisdictional analysis of the process of allocation of cases in the highest Constitutional courts. Finally, a solution is offered to ensure that a balance between [...]

First among ‘Un’equals?

By |2018-01-20T02:53:23+05:30January 20th, 2018|Judicial Administration, Judicial Ethics, Supreme Court of India|

Editor’s Note: In this article, the author critically reviews the lack of checks to prevent arbitrary exercise of CJI’s power to act as the master of the roster. He draws attention to the sui generis character of judicial administration, and why it is an important ingredient for independence of the judiciary from both external and [...]

Two Conventions and the Indian Supreme Court

By |2018-01-20T02:17:33+05:30January 15th, 2018|Judicial Ethics, Supreme Court of India|

Editor’s Note: The article comments on the press conference delivered by the four senior-most puisne judges of the Supreme Court of India on the 12th January, 2018. It focuses on two conventional practices ordinarily governing judicial administration. The first being that of judiciary refraining from making public engagement through the media and the press, while [...]

Guiding the hitherto Unguided: Senior Counsel Designations

By |2018-09-26T00:33:56+05:30December 7th, 2017|Professional Ethics, Senior Designation, Supreme Court of India|

The October of 2017 will be remembered as the one when the ‘sentinel qui vie’ of the Constitution of India delivered considerably on the front of reforming the legal profession: both bar and bench alike. The Supreme Court rose to the occasion and upheld the rule of law within the profession by giving effect to [...]