13 out of 17 judges of the Supreme Court of Pakistan held that the Supreme Court has intrinsic powers to review the constitutionality of a constitutional amendment. While the “basic structure” doctrine had been argued …
Continue readingTag: Judicial Activism
How Green is my Supreme Court?
What has been the record of the Supreme Court in protecting the environment? Geetanjoy Sahu in a recent article in the Economic and Political Weekly examines every Supreme Court case dealing with enviromental issues from …
Continue readingS Ct Judgment on Bureaucratic Independence
Last week saw the Supreme Court decide T.S.R. Subramanian vs. Union of India. The judgment, involving the independence of the bureaucracy, is arguably the latest in a fascinating line of jurisprudence from the Court over …
Continue readingFormer Chief Justice Kabir’s legacy and some recent instances of judicial activism
Former Chief Justice Altamas Kabir has delivered a few judgments towards the end of his tenure, which are noteworthy. Among these is Subhas Popatlal Dave v. UOI in which, contrary to the decade-long tradition of …
Continue readingThe Jurisprudence of Constitutional Structures
Chief Justice of India, Justice S.H.Kapadia gave an interesting lecture on the subject at IIC recently. The webcast of the lecture is available here. In his speech, the CJI alluded to the Supreme Court’s judgment …
Continue readingOn Judicial Activism
I have recently had the chance to collect some thoughts on activism by the Supreme Court in this recent article in the Times of India. In this article, I argue that there are three key …
Continue readingJudicial Activism and the Bar
Asma Jahangir’s election as the first woman President of the the Supreme Court Bar Association of Pakistan today continues to complicate the changing frontiers of judiciary/executive confrontation in Pakistan. The election was hotly contested with …
Continue readingSupreme Court: Case updates
*PUCL v. UOI. W.P.(C) 196/2001. (Food security case) Order dated July 27. Next date of hearing: August 12, 2010. *HT report on the hearing by Justice Katju Bench (M/s Nouveau Capitaland Fin.Ltd. v. State of …
Continue readingCourage Craft and Contention: Human Rights and the Judicial Imagination (Transcript of public lectures by Justice A P Shah and Prof. Baxi
On the 12th of June, the Alternative Law Forum (ALF) celebrated its tenth anniversary with a public lecture by Justice A P Shah and Prof. Upendra Baxi on the topic Courage Craft and Contention: Human …
Continue readingLegislating Rights: Parliament, Courts and Separation of Powers
In an interesting column in the Indian Express, Mihir Sharma ponders over ‘The Four Rights that millennial India has promised its people — to information, to food, to education, and to (rural) employment’ and notes …
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