The outcome of the Delhi Assembly elections has taken even the most discerning of psephologists and the most ardent of supporters of the Aam Aadmi Party by surprise. The speed and amplitude of the turn-around in the Party's political fortunes hardly have any parallel in the electoral history of India. Who would have thought it possible a couple of months ago that the all conquering BJP juggernaut will come to a grinding halt in the National Capital and will refuse to budge despite all the fr... Read More

The outcome of the Delhi Assembly elections has taken even the most discerning of psephologists and the most ardent of supporters of the Aam Aadmi Party by surprise. The speed and amplitude of the turn-around in the Party's political fortunes hardly have any parallel in the electoral history of India. Who would have thought it possible a couple of months ago that the all conquering BJP juggernaut will come to a grinding halt in the National Capital and will refuse to budge despite all the fr... Read More

VOICE OF "COMMON CAUSE" CAGED PARROT IN THE DOCK Much has been written about the Supreme Court's decisions in the PILs on 2G licences and Coal allocations that have dealt a body blow to crony capitalism by mandating the wholesale cancellation of telecom licences and coal block allocations granted by the central government in violation of the Constitutional principles of equity and custodianship of national resources. These decisions have also forced the government to adopt ... Read More

The Apex Court pronounced its much awaited verdict on a bunch of public interest petitions on the patent illegalities in the allocation of coal blocks for captive mining, popularly referred to as Coalgate, on August 25, 2014. The machinations leading to this scam of epic proportions were exposed in a writ petition filed by Common Cause and six distinguished former public servants in October 2012. Our petition, extracted in the January-March 2013 issue of this journal, highlighted the brazenne... Read More

The Apex Court pronounced its much awaited verdict on a bunch of public interest petitions on the patent illegalities in the allocation of coal blocks for captive mining, popularly referred to as Coalgate, on August 25, 2014. The machinations leading to this scam of epic proportions were exposed in a writ petition filed by Common Cause and six distinguished former public servants in October 2012. Our petition, extracted in the January-March 2013 issue of this journal, highlighted the brazenne... Read More

In the context of a public outcry over massive mining scandals in various parts of the country, the Government of India had set up the Justice M. B. Shah Commission of Inquiry for Illegal Mining of Iron Ore and Manganese in November 2010. The Commission was asked to inquire into the illegal mining, trade and transportation of iron ore and manganese ore, identify the deficiencies in the systems of management and regulation, and assess their overall impact in terms of environmental damage, prejudi... Read More

The outcome of the 16th Lok Sabha elections surprised the lay voter and seasoned psephologists alike. The margin of the BJP victory bettered the most optimistic projections of even diehard Modi supporters. It would be churlish to attribute this result to the quirks of the First Past the Post system, or the lavish and superbly executed `no-holds-barred' electoral campaign capitalising on the persona of the Party's Prime Ministerial candidate. The Modi government was elected on a carefu... Read More

The outcome of the 16th Lok Sabha elections surprised the lay voter and seasoned psephologists alike. The margin of the BJP victory bettered the most optimistic projections of even diehard Modi supporters. It would be churlish to attribute this result to the quirks of the First Past the Post system, or the lavish and superbly executed `no-holds-barred' electoral campaign capitalising on the persona of the Party's Prime Ministerial candidate. The Modi government was elected on a carefu... Read More

In a few weeks from now, the nation will go to the polls to elect the 16th Lok Sabha. Elections to the legislative assemblies of Sikkim, Odisha and the soon-to- be-bifurcated state of Andhra Pradesh will also be held simultaneously. There is little doubt that the 2014 elections will qualitatively be different from the preceding elections. The electoral landscape has undergone far-reaching changes over the last few years, and the pace of change appears to be accelerating. In the first pla... Read More

‘Landmark judgment’ is a clichéd expression that is often employed to qualify the orders of the apex court in matters of varying import. However, its verdict in the 2 G Spectrum PILs undoubtedly merits this qualification, not only because of the significance and impact of the issues resolved by it, but also due to the amplitude of the unresolved issues arising from some of its postulates. The judgment pronounced by G. S. Singhvi and A. K Ganguli, JJ, in the PILs filed by Ce... Read More