26 February

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Denial of bail to Fr. Stan Swamy-a dark event in India’s history

The denial of bail to Father Stan Swamy which has led to his incarceration and eventual death in a private hospital in Bombay still under judicial custody is one of the darkest incidents of denial of the fundamental freedom of life and liberty enshrined in our constitution. Even during the medieval days, the custody of a person accused was permissible only if the offences committed were so grave and such that if the person was at large he would not be available for trial and to undergo the punishment. Blackstone in his Commentaries of Laws of England has stated this...

26 February

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Letter to the CJ of Bombay High Court- My Lords hear the slumdwellers before your Lordships order their eviction

Posted by Mathews J Nedumpara

in Blogs/Articles

7.7.2021 Hon'ble Mr. Justice Dipankar Datta,Chief Justice of the High Court of Judicature at Bombay May it please your Lordship Sub: Hearing of suo motu PIL- demolition of the shanties of slumdwellers- without there being a single slumdweller on the party array or any kind of representation on their behalf. What I came to notice from picking up today's newspaper is a report titled is "Is Government land executive's paternal property: CJ". The report by Times of India correspondent Rosy Sequeira goes on to say that the Hon'ble the Chief Justice criticized the policy of the successive governments in granting protection to the slumdwellers....

26 February

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Press Release issued in furtherance of the Press Conference held at the Chandigarh Press Club today at 12pm

Posted by Mathews J Nedumpara

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Demolition at Aravali In the PIL (Writ Petition no. 562 of 2021) instituted by 5 slumdwellers the Supreme Court ordered demolition of the shanties of the thousands of slumdwellers and to report compliance thereof within 6 weeks, and posted the case for reporting compliance on 27.7.2021. The order of the Supreme Court was one rendered void ab initio for the following reasons: a) in a Petition filed by merely 5 slumdwellers, at the best the court could have rejected the same, even with costs, but the Court had no jurisdiction to order demolition of the shanties of thousands of poor who were...

26 February

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There is no way to salvage our legal system unless and until we abandon the current practice of treating res judicata as precedent

Posted by Mathews J Nedumpara

in Blogs/Articles

15.7.2021 There is no way to salvage our legal system unless and until we abandon the current practice of treating res judicata as precedent In this country, the distinction between the concept of res judicata and precedent is largely forgotten. As a result, a judgment of a superior court in a case between A and B, which may be erroneous but binding on the said parties, becomes binding on C and D, nay, on posterity as the law of the land. Often it is misconceived that every word of a judgment of a superior court is binding, the law of the land....

26 February

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“If the King was not above law, but under God and the law, the Master of the roster, the Chief Justice too is not above the law”

Posted by Mathews J Nedumpara

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A Division Bench of the Allahabad High Court dismissed with a cost of Rs. 20,000/- a petition by one Arun Misra as a 'party – in – person’ seeking a direction that certain Writ Petitions instituted by him shall not be listed before a particular judge. The order of the court is cryptic and it does not state what exactly is the factual matrix. All that is discernible from the order is that the petitioner had sought a direction to the Registry of the Court not to list cases filed by him before a “Particular Judge”. The order merely says that...

26 February

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Demolition of Maradu homes, who will tell the court that it went wrong?

Posted by Mathews J Nedumpara

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I pen these few lines with great amount of pain and anguish. The Government of Kerala, in furtherance of an all party meeting convened by Shri Pinarayi Vijayan, Chief Minister of Kerala, engaged Shri Harish Salve, probably the highest paid lawyer in the country, to save 450 odd families of their homes, which were ordered to be demolished by a Bench of the Supreme Court headed by Hon'ble Shri Justice Arun Misra. The background of the case is fairly known to all. Stated in brief, the Supreme Court, in complete violation of the procedure contemplated under the...

26 February

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Is it true that our legal system is founded on the premise that no court can do justice? (Read the arguments notes by Shri Nedumpara in challenge of Section 14 of the SARFAESI Act)

Posted by Mathews J Nedumpara

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Brevity is the soul of wit, said Shakespeare. I would therefore like to keep the instant argument note as brief as possible. I do so for more than one reason.It is a travesty of justice that today in the 21st century when even jurisdictions other than civil law and common law countries have accepted the observance of the principles of natural justice fundamental, we in India increasingly trample the very first principles.The Petitioners, MSMEs were constrained to seek a declaration at the hands of this court that Section 14 of the SARFAESI Act which empower the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate/ District...

26 February

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Are not collegium a synonym for nepotism?

Posted by Mathews J Nedumpara

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AN OPEN LETTER TO THE COLLEGIUMMay it please Your Lordships, I have come to know from the social media that the collegium of the Supreme Court of India has recommended Chief Justice Maheswari of the Karnataka High Court and Justice Sanjeev Khanna of the Delhi High court as judges of the Supreme Court. It was further reported that justice Sanjeev Khanna is the son of Justice Khanna and nephew of the legendary Justice HR Khanna who had the courage to hold that the right to life does not stand suspended on a declaration of emergency. Justice Khanna had to pay a...

26 February

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Are not the eminent lawyers who lament at the misery of migrant labourers ‘ravenous wolves in the clothing of a sheep’?

Posted by Mathews J Nedumpara

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28.5.2020 The miseries which the millions of migrant labourers had to face with the imposition of the lockdown, so too its easing no words can adequately describe. It would wrench the hearts of even the most hardened ones. But the question is: could the governments be entirely blamed for the same even while fully accepting that there has been great shortcomings even in Kerala which has managed the Covid pandemic exceedingly well? But the question is: are not these functions falling under the exclusive province of the executive as has been rightly pointed out by Arghya Sen Gupta in his article...

26 February

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Who is responsible for demolition of Maradu homes – an injustice which has no parallel in history

Posted by Mathews J Nedumpara

in Blogs/Articles

Mathews J. Nedumpara Keralites across the breadth and width of the globe, nay, millions of people, with bated breath, watched five apartment buildings in Maradu, a prime location of Cochin surrounded by lakes and lush green, crumble down with a mushroom of dust being formed, as if an atom bomb has been dropped. While a few sadists, insane minds, knowing not what the ramifications are, celebrated, clapping their hands and beating drums, millions all...

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