Class Notes 4 You

Supreme Court sought a reply from the Centre on a PIL (Public Interest Litigation) seeking gender and religion-neutral uniform grounds of succession and inheritance for citizens in the country. Uniform Civil Code (UCC) refers to a single law, applicable to all citizens of India in their personal matters such as marriage, divorce, custody, adoption and inheritance. intended to replace the system of fragmented personal laws Article 44 ‘State shall endeavor to secure a Uniform Civil Code for the citizens throughout the territory of India’ DPSPS Way ahead Evolution of consensus : Effective Information, Education and Communication about the significance of an UCC and Article 44 Reform of personal laws: preserve the diversity of personal laws while ensuring that they do not contradict the fundamental rights. 2018 the Law Commission of India noted that ‘a UCC is neither necessary nor desirable at this stage’ in the country. However, the Commission suggests certain measures in marriage and d...

Supreme Court rejected a plea urging it to re-examine the constitutional validity of Section 124A of IPC, which deals with sedition. Arguments in favour of Sedition It has its utility in combating anti-national, secessionist and terrorist elements: Maoist insurgency and rebel groups who virtually run a parallel administration. It protects the elected government from attempts to overthrow it with violence and illegal means. Continued existence of the government is essential for political stability. If contempt of court invites penal action, the same logic dictates that contempt of government should also attract punishment. Arguments against Sedition Colonial Era law Right to Freedom of expression: Use of Section 124A by the government might go beyond the reasonable restrictions Democratic foundation: Dissent and criticism of the government are essential ingredients of robust public debate in a vibrant democracy and therefore, should not be constructed as sedition. Lower Conviction Rat...

DATA GOVERNANCE QUALITY INDEX DGQI survey assesses different Ministries /Departments' performance on the implementation of Central Sector Schemes (CS) and Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS ). Its objective is to assess data preparedness of Ministries / Departments on a standardized framework to drive healthy competition among them and promote cooperative peer learning from best practices. It will immensely help improve the implementation framework of government policies, schemes and programmes to achieve the desired goals. Major themes of DGQI include Data Generation; Data Quality; Use of Technology; Data Analysis, Use and Dissemination; Data Security and HR Capacity & Case Studies. PUBLIC INTENT DATA World Bank’s World Development Report , titled ‘World Development Report 2021: Data for Better lives’, has highlighted the concept of Public Intent Data. data collected with the intent of serving the public good by informing the design, execution, monitoring, and evaluation of pu...

Parliamentary Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice has decided to review working of the Central Information Commission (CIC) and the State Information Commissions (SICs). Central/State (C/S) Information Commissions are statutory bodies constituted under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005.  They are the final appellate authority for RTI Act , with wide power to impose penalty on erring Public Information Officers (PIOs), initiate an inquiry against them etc. CIC is required to submit annual reports to the Parliament and the SICs to state legislatures . However, these annual reports are rarely discussed in Parliament or state legislatures raising questions over the efficacy of the information law (RTI). Why is there a need to scrutinize the functioning of the C/S Information Commission?   To prevent the misuse of power by the C/S Information Commission Ensuring diligent discharge of the mandates Keeping public trust intact in the C/S Information...

Tribunals Reform Act 2021 abolished several appellate tribunals and authorities and transferred their jurisdiction to existing judicial bodies. Establishes a Search cum selection committee under Finance Act 2017 Chairperson and members appointed on its recommendation Headed by CJI orJudge of SC or retired Chief Justice of HC Term of office of chairperson 4 yrs of till 70 years and members till 67 years person less than 50 years of age not eligible Issues 4 year term of office with upper age limit 70 and 67 years . Minimum age 50 years - Madras Bar Association v/s Union Of India case held fixing minimum age and a short tenure of members act as deterrent for competent persons to seek appointment Search cum selection committee - Madras Bar association vs UoIndia- executive influence may be expanded to judicial appointments in tribunals Need for tribunals Reducing pendency of cases Faster delivery of justice Cost efficient and more effective in certain cases- eg environment etc Issues w...

Recently, NITI Aayog planned to launch Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) handbook . ODR is resolution of disputes outside courts, particularly of small and medium- value cases, using digital technology and techniques of alternate dispute resolution (ADR) , such as negotiation, mediation, and arbitration. Present status of ODR in India e-Courts Mission Mode Project Conducting e-Lok Adalats: COVID-19 pandemic first e-Lok Adalat organised by the Chhattisgarh. Virtual Courts RBI’s ODR Policy on Digital Payments : 2019, Nandan Nilekani led High level Committee on Deepening Digital Payments, recommended ODR to handle complaints out of digital payments. Draft National E-Commerce Policy : use of an electronic grievance redressal system Benefits of ODR Cost effective: potential to reduce legal costs by reducing time for resolution and doing away with the need for legal advice. Convenient and quick dispute resolution: eliminates the need for travel and synchronization of schedules. Increased a...

The recent protests over Agricultural Reform laws by farmers has reignited the debate on ‘ineffectiveness of Parliamentary scrutiny over the executive’. Parliament in addition to its legislative role, it is also mandated to scrutinize the functioning of the Government. The Parliament is equipped with various instruments for close and continuous scrutiny of the functioning of the government . They are as follows Discussion/debate Question Hour Parliamentary committees Challenges to Parliamentary Scrutiny Deciding the duration and timing of the session of the Parliament is government’s prerogative For example winter session of the Parliament was truncated owing to the COVID-19 Pandemic. no fixed calendar for the sessions Disruptions during Question Hour: 16th Lok Sabha, question hour functioned in Lok Sabha for 77% of scheduled time, while in Rajya Sabha functioned for 47% . indicates a lost opportunity to hold the government accountable . Also, over the years, decline in the sittings d...

Recently, in first for Supreme Court, 9 judges including three women took oath in one go. Madhya Pradesh High Court has granted bail to a man accused of sexual harassment on the condition that he will request the complainant to tie a 'rakhi' on him. However, such trivialisation of sexual offences, through a judicial order to tie Rakhi, or in rape cases, to compromise by marrying the accused, indicate that patriarchy and misogyny, with regressive notions of honour continue to obstruct women’s access to justice. Attorney General of India said that there is need to gender-sensitize judges and improve women participation in judiciary. parliamentary standing committee on law and justice in 2015 had proposed reservation for women in the higher judiciary.  Existing women participation in judiciary In Supreme Court (SC) Supreme Court has only 2 women judges , as against a total sanctioned strength of 34 judges and there has never been a female Chief Justice of India Since its incept...

Recently, Parliament passed the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Bill, 2021. Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 was enacted to consolidate and amend the law relating to domestic arbitration, international commercial arbitration, enforcement of foreign arbitral awards and the law relating to conciliation. Further, the act was amended in 2015, to make arbitration process user friendly, cost effective and ensure speedy disposal and neutrality of arbitrators. amended in 2019 to promote institutional arbitration in the country. Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Bill, 2021 Objective Grant unconditional stay of enforcement of arbitration award Omit 8th schedule which provides qualification for arbitatrators Specify qualifications, experience and norms for arbitrators Key features of the bill: Automatic stay on awards: granted by the Court, even during the pendency of the setting aside application, if satisfied that  relevant arbitration agreement was induced by fraud ...

In the general parlance, liberty and law are seen as opposite forces where law restricts the extent of liberty and liberty continuously pushing the boundaries of the law. Law is the set of rules and regulations which enables effective functioning of society by upholding its collective value system, codification of collective ethics of society. For example, a society which values gender equality will translate this idea into a law that prescribes penalization of gender discrimination. Liberty- idea or state of being free and being able to act in accordance with one’s wishes. For example, an Indian citizen has the liberty to reside in any part of the country. Influence of liberty on law in following ways- Influence through the constitutional pathway: Liberty as a part of basic structure , so laws antithetical to individual liberty are unconstitutional. Civil society vigilance on restriction to liberties: For example, the law barring widow remarriage in India faced opposition from sev...

criminals are entering the election fray and contesting elections and even getting elected to the Parliament and state legislature. Post 2019 elections, 43% of Lok Sabha members face criminal charges with 29% of them are facing serious criminal charges such as murder, rape and kidnapping, while 84% have self-declared assets worth more than Rs. 1 crore. Reasons for Criminalization nexus between the criminals and politicians use of money and muscle power in elections delays in criminal justice system lack of value-based politics tolerance to criminal candidates First Past the Post (FPTP) electoral system doesn’t discourage criminals from contesting elections etc. Impacts law-breakers get elected as law-makers legislatures lose their credibility and legitimacy increased circulation of unaccounted money or black money during and after election dilution in the probity in public life increased levels of corruption introduces a culture of violence in the society and sets a bad precedence ...

Constitutional provisions related to simultaneous Elections Article 83- Lok Sabha shall have term of 5 years from the date for its first meeting and no longer. Article 85 President has power to dissolve Lok Sabha on advice of Union Cabinet. Article 172 term for the Legislative Assemblies as five years. Article 174 Governor has power to dissolve state assembly on advice of state Cabinet. Prime Minister raised the pitch for Simultaneous Elections to the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies. Simultaneous Elections means structuring the Indian election cycle in a manner that elections to Lok Sabha and State Assemblies are synchronized together under which voters in a particular constituency vote for both on the same day. SE were the norm until 1967. But following dissolution of some Legislative Assemblies in 1968 and 1969 and that of Lok Sabha in 1970, elections to State Assemblies and Parliament have been held separately. proposed by Election Commission in 1983 . Also by Law Commission a...

Union government has brought Over the Top (OTT) platforms, such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and others, under the ambit of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B ministry) February, 2020, IAMAI released a ‘ Code for Self-Regulation of Online Curated Content Providers’ signed by 15 digital platforms The code had guidelines regarding Classification of Content, Parental and/or Access Control, Age Classification/Maturity Ratings etc. and set up a two-tier Complaint Redressal mechanism- Need of regulating OTT platforms Rapid growth in OTT industry : India is world’s fastest growing OTT market , and is set to world’s sixth-largest by 2024. The Indian OTT market is set to reach Rs 237.86 billion by FY25, from Rs 42.50 billion in FY19 Lack of oversight : at present no law or autonomous body governing digital content or OTT platforms. Receipt of several complaints from the public: Several PILs have been filed in courts across the country underlining the concern and need to regulate ...

Postal Ballot type of voting whereby Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot Papers (ETPB) are distributed to electors and returned by post Under ETPBS, the postal ballot is dispatched electronically and returned via ordinary mail and it is currently only available to service voters like member of the armed Forces, person employed by govt outside India etc . Service voters have the option of either voting through postal ballot or through a proxy voter. It includes members of Armed Forces of the Union  members of forces to which provisions of Army Act, 1950 applies.  members of armed police force of a State and serving outside that state  persons who are employed by Government of India in a post outside India. Election Commission (EC) approached the Ministry of Law to permit Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) to cast their votes from overseas through postal ballots.  EC informed the government that it is ready to extend the Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System (E...

Several countries, including India, have successfully conducted polls during COVID-19 with safety measures in place. Elections during COVID-19 presents certain challenges . However, postponing elections may not be the appropriate option as it has following risks : Political risks : disturbing the level playing field and undermining the incumbent or opposition; Reputational risks , for an organization that makes decisions, for trust in democratic processes and institutions Financial risks : budgetary implications, e.g. money invested that cannot be recovered; Operational risks : alternative dates are not feasible because of other risks, e.g. extension of term, other events; Legal risks : the decision can be legally challenged Challenges faced in elections during COVID-19: Campaigning : large rallies can spread the virus. Virtual campaigning through social and print media and radio will have to suffice. This will raise the cost of campaigning, exclude the poor and indigent, further fav...