Law and Other Things

The last few weeks have been exciting ones for those of us who follow the constitutional politics which result whenever there are changes in personnel in Supreme Courts. The announced retirement of Justice O’Connor, the sudden death of Chief Justice Rehnquist, and the ongoing confirmation hearings of Judge John Roberts – all these have led…

In this recent convocation address delivered at the National Law School’s 13th Convocation, Montek Singh Ahluwalia notes that “Regulatory law is a relatively new development in India, and is likely to expand very considerably in the years ahead.”It is indeed surprising that relatively little scholarship has been devoted to regulation in legal circles in India,…

This is an amazing story. The Airports Authority, a central government entity, is actually going to court to enjoin the local governments from licensing hoardings near Chennai airport. It is amazing that these hoardings were permitted in the first place. It is outrageous that the local governments pay no heed to the Airports Authority’s caution…

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is in Kabul today. This story has been largely ignored in the Western press, but it has received considerable attention in India as well as in Afghanistan. I thought I’d share this interesting editorial on an Afghan portal on the significance of teh Prime Minister’s visit.I don’t intend to analyze the…

This is a brief, but poignant piece on the slaying of Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister, which only appears online in the New Yorker. Like other Sri Lankans, I’m outraged at this killing. Kadirgamar was a distinguished lawyer. I stayed with the Kadirgamar family when I worked in Sri Lanka in 1996. Like his brother, Sam,…

There has been great hysteria over this anti-reservation judgment. Someone ought to do a calm, dispassionate analysis of this judgment to determine what exactly the Supreme Court ruled. The Supreme Court’s jurisprudence on educational law is a like a never-ending jigzaw puzzle game. It gets more complicated by the day because extra pieces are added…

I’ve finally given up on Frontpage to do my Blog. I just can’t get why they don’t put out a blogging element to their program. Anyways. Their loss. So, Blogger, here I come.