Research Papers

Technology & LawVolume 3Issue 3Pages 1–19

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Blockchain Immutability And The Right To Be Forgotten: Constitutional Challenges Of Blockchain In India

Mr. Prateek. V. HiremathSep 15, 202610.5281/zenodo.22773373

The rapid spread of blockchain technology across sectors such as finance, healthcare, land records, and public administration has created a constitutional challenge that Indian law is not yet fully equipped to address. Blockchain is a digital ledger shared among multiple individuals and is immutable in nature, enabling the recording of transactions and tracking of assets within a network, thereby providing a single source of truth. It operates as a decentralised database, where data is stored across multiple computers, making it resistant to tampering. A consensus mechanism is used to validate transactions in a blockchain, which ensures that there is agreement across the network. Blockchain derives its core value from immutability, meaning that once data is recorded on a distributed ledger, it cannot be altered or erased without affecting the integrity of the system. At the same time, Article 21 of the Constitution recognises the right to privacy as a fundamental right, which includes the ability of individuals to control their personal information, including seeking its erasure when it is no longer necessary or consented to. While the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, acknowledges this right, its framework struggles to operate effectively in decentralised blockchain systems. This paper examines this conflict. The paper addresses three key questions. First, whether the right to erasure, as part of the right to privacy, can realistically be implemented within blockchain environments. Second, whether the current legal framework in India, including the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 and constitutional principles, provides workable mechanisms to enforce this right. Third, whether it is possible to reconcile the technological features of blockchain with constitutional protections through legal or technical solutions. The study adopts a doctrinal approach, relying on constitutional provisions, judicial decisions, statutory law, and relevant academic and policy literature. The paper finds that the conflict is not merely technical but structural. In decentralised blockchain systems, identifying a responsible entity or data fiduciary, which is essential under the current data protection regime, becomes extremely difficult. Further, the proportionality standard laid down in Justice K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India (2017) requires that any restriction on privacy be narrowly tailored, whereas blockchain’s immutability operates in a blanket manner. The paper argues that there is a need for the State to develop clearer regulatory and technical standards to ensure that emerging technologies like blockchain function in a manner consistent with constitutional rights.

#Blockchain Immutability#Right To Be Forgotten#Right To Privacy

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PolicyVolume 3Issue 3Pages 1–13

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Communication System In Colonial Bengal

Dr. Tanmoy NayekSep 15, 202610.5281/zenodo.22773466

The communication system refers to the organized means and networks used for the regular exchange of people, goods, news, and information from one place to another. The overall development, economic prosperity, and social infrastructure of any region depend to a considerable extent on an efficient and well-organized communication system.

#Communication System#Transportation#Road Communication

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Human RightsVolume 3Issue 3Pages 1–11

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Female Genital Mutilation As Violation Of Human Rights: A Critical Legal Analysis

Ms. Ananya SharmaSep 15, 202610.5281/zenodo.22764531

Female Genital Mutilation is a procedure that involves total or partial removal of the female external genital parts. FGM is a serious violation of human rights particularly targeting the bodily autonomy, dignity and health of women. FGM is being practiced by the Dawoodi Bohra Muslim Community in the India. This practice is also known as the Khafz. The present research paper shows how well both international and national legal framework help to protect the women’s right. This study aims to examine and review the legal mechanisms at both national and global levels that aim to safeguard women's rights and eradicate Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). It focuses on the major international human rights treaties, such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), and relevant provisions of the Indian Constitution, national laws, and judicial interpretations. Analysing the judiciary's role more especially, how courts have interpreted and used the legislation to combat FGM and defend the fundamental human rights of women and girls is a crucial part of the research. The study demonstrates the judiciary's evolving stance on FGM and its contribution to the development of gender-sensitive jurisprudence by analysing landmark rulings and legal trends.

#Fgm#Violation#Rights

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Constitutional LawVolume 3Issue 3Pages 1–34

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Impact Of Structured Dietary Education On Knowledge Regarding Sars-Cov-2 Prevention And Management Among Undergraduate Nursing Students In Bengaluru.

Mr. Basavaraj I G, Ms. Sarika P, Mr. Shivu K CSep 15, 202610.5281/zenodo.22764423

AN EVALUATIVE STUDY TO ASSESS THE EFFECTIVENESS OF A STRUCTURED EDUCATIONAL INTERVENTION ON KNOWLEDGE PERTAINING TO THE SIGNIFICANCE OF DIETARY PRACTICES IN THE PREVENTION AND MANAGEMENT OF SARS-COV-2 INFECTION AMONG UNDERGRADUATE NURSING STUDENTS IN SELECTED NURSING COLLEGES OF BENGALURU.

#Among Undergraduate#Undergraduate Nursing#Nursing Students

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Human RightsVolume 3Issue 3Pages 1–6

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Religion, Dignity And Faith: The Nexus Of Three With Regards To Indian Constitution

Mayuri Rakesh Jain, Abha SharmaSep 15, 202610.5281/zenodo.22762163

Our Indian Constitutions guarantees various rights – Right to freedom of profession, practice or trade, Right to freedom of Speech and Expression, Right to live life with dignity, Right to assemble peacefully, Right to reside in any part of India, Right to religion. Freedom of religion is a fundamental right recognized in the Indian Constitution in Article 25. It ensures that each individual has the freedom of conscience and the right to profess, practice and propagate their religion. This protection as a fundamental human right has been borrowed by various international instruments such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Thus, religious faith is not merely a matter of belief but is closely connected with an individual’s freedom, identity and dignity. The right to religion provided for in Article 25 is by no means absolute; it may be subject to certain qualifications and limitations concerning public order, morality, and health. In this regard, different Indian states have passed laws prohibiting conversions which are carried out by force, fraud, coercion, inducement, allurement or misrepresentation. The Supreme Court's ruling in Rev. Stainislaus v. State of Madhya Pradesh is especially important for determining the extent of the right to propagate a religion; the judgment propounded that the right to religion does not entail a right to convert another person as a result of such propagation. It distinguished propagation from conversion. This article talks about the recently introduced enactment - Maharashtra Freedom of Religion Act of 2026 for banning the involuntary and forced religious conversions. This article goes on to talk about the relationship between religious freedom and state regulation. This article therefore poses important questions concerning the balance between individual choice, religious freedom, dignity and legitimate state interference, especially as it applies to minority communities.

#Indian Constitution#Right#Religion

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Constitutional LawVolume 3Issue 3Pages 1–25

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WHEN JUDGES CHOOSE JUDGES: THE COLLEGIUM, THE NJAC, AND THE UNFINISHED SEARCH FOR A CONSTITUTIONAL SETTLEMENT A comparative and interdisciplinary enquiry into the appointment of judges to the superior judiciary of India

Bhumi Nitesh Parihar, Raman Sunil DaymaSep 13, 202610.5281/zenodo.22734968

The appointment of judges to the superior judiciary has remained the most contested question in Indian constitutional law since the supersession crisis of 1973. The Constitution provides for appointment by the President “after consultation” with certain judicial functionaries, but says nothing about who holds primacy when disagreement arises. That silence has produced four landmark decisions, a constitutional amendment struck down on basic-structure grounds, and a Memorandum of Procedure that remains unsigned after nearly a decade. This paper examines the Collegium system and the National Judicial Appointments Commission, subjecting both to the same critical scrutiny rather than treating either as a self-evident good. Its central submission is that the NJAC failed because of identifiable design features specifically, the two-member veto, the reduction of judicial membership, the shift of initiation, and the removal of the Governor’s consultative role not because a judicial appointments commission is inherently incompatible with the basic structure. The paper deploys interpretive doctrine, the proportionality standard, and a structured comparison of four jurisdictions (the United Kingdom, the United States, France, and South Africa) to test this thesis. It then draws on principal–agent theory, institutional economics, and the sociology of judicial recruitment to explain why the Collegium’s structural deficits persist.

#Collegium System#Njac#Judicial Appointments

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PolicyVolume 3Issue 3Pages 1–16

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Counted But Not Measured: Lok Adalat Disposal Statistics And The Access To Justice Mandate

Pranab Kumar SonaSep 13, 202610.5281/zenodo.22736079

The performance of India’s Lok Adalats is reported almost entirely in two figures: the number of cases disposed of and the aggregate value of settlements. This article argues that these are measures of institutional throughput, and that throughput cannot report on the mandate the Lok Adalat exists to serve. Article 39A of the Constitution directs the State to secure justice on a basis of equal opportunity and to prevent the denial of justice by reason of economic disability, a distributive standard concerned with who is reached. Drawing on three competing paradigms of justice measurement- output, institutional capacity, and population experience the article shows that India already subscribes to an internationally agreed indicator, Sustainable Development Goal indicator 16.3.3, which would measure Lok Adalats in the terms that matter, and that the present reporting architecture is structurally incapable of speaking to it. Using the official record of e-Lok Adalat proceedings, the article demonstrates that aggregate reporting conceals variation of a magnitude that ought to inform policy. It concludes with four proposals, none requiring legislative amendment.

#Lok Adalat#Access To Justice#Article 39a

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PolicyVolume 3Issue 3Pages 1–19

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Analysing The Cascading Effect Of The Hindenburg Report On Adani Group Of Companies

Kayalvizhi JSep 13, 202610.5281/zenodo.22736446

One of the largest and most influential corporations in India, the Adani Group of Companies, was significantly impacted by the Hindenburg report, which was published by the Hindenburg Research corp. in January 2023. The group was charged in the study with financial irregularities, stock manipulation, and inflating the worth of its listed companies. The group was also accused of engaging in offshore tax havens and other immoral activities. The publicly traded companies of the Adani Group saw a precipitous drop in stock prices as a result, losing billions of dollars in market value in a matter of days. Additionally, the dispute attracted regulatory notice, with requests for inquiries into the claims. Rating agencies questioned the group's creditworthiness, and a number of foreign investors re-examined their investments in Adani Group enterprises. The study threw doubt on future investments by harming the group's brand as well as investor trust in India's corporate governance. In the end, the Hindenburg report had a significant impact on India's business environment and stock market dynamics. This paper tries to throw light on the greater impact, the report had on various strata of the economy such as on Adani Group and its listed companies, its shareholders and the Indian economic market structure. Adding to that this paper also moderately devolves into the legal and practical implications incurred aftermath of the Hindenburg report.

#Hindenburg Report#Adani Stocks#Tax Loss Harvesting

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PolicyVolume 3Issue 3Pages 1–19

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Challenges Faced By Persons With Disabilities In India: A Critical Analysis Of Legislation And Everyday Barriers

Deesha Nahar PSep 13, 202610.5281/zenodo.22736639

Disability is not purely a medical fact about a person’s body or mind. It is produced just as much by the gap between what an environment demands and what that environment is actually built to accommodate — a staircase with no ramp, a form with no large-print version, an employer who never learns what “reasonable accommodation” is supposed to mean in practice. India has moved, at least on paper, from treating disability as a matter of charity toward treating it as a matter of rights, most concretely through the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 (“RPwD Act”), enacted to give domestic effect to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (“UNCRPD”). The scale of the population this affects is large by any measure: the 2011 Census recorded 26.8 million persons with disabilities, 2.21% of the population, and the National Statistical Office’s 76th Round survey (2018) put current prevalence at 2.2% nationally — 2.3% in rural India against 2.0% in urban India — with nearly seven in ten of those affected living in rural areas where services are thinnest. [1] Legal recognition of that scale has not translated cleanly into inclusion in education, employment, healthcare, transport, housing, information access, or public life more broadly. This paper works through the constitutional, statutory, policy and judicial architecture of disability rights in India using a doctrinal and secondary-data method. Its central claim is that India’s problem is no longer really a shortage of law — the RPwD Act is a genuinely comprehensive statute — but a persistent gap between what that law promises and what gets delivered on the ground: inaccessible infrastructure, social stigma, thin reasonable-accommodation practice, unreliable data, slow certification processes, low public awareness, and sharply uneven implementation across states. Drawing on national accessibility-audit data, the paper argues for enforceable accessibility timelines, participatory governance built around disabled people’s own organisations, stronger grievance mechanisms, disability-responsive budgeting, and independent compliance audits with real consequences attached. [1] Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India, Census of India 2011: C-20 Table, Disabled Population by Sex and Residence; Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, National Statistical Office, Persons with Disabilities in India: NSS 76th Round (July–December 2018), Report No. 583 (2019).

#Disability Rights#Rpwd Act#2016

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Constitutional LawVolume 3Issue 3Pages 1–13

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Media, Parliamentary Privileges, Contempt Of Court, And The Right To Advertisement: A Critical Analysis

Adv. Aditi SharmaSep 13, 202610.5281/zenodo.22735978

The interplay between the media and the State in India is controlled by intricate maze of constitutional rights, legislative provisions and judge-made doctrine. This relationship is characterized by two analytically distinct, but practically interconnected issues: the restraints that parliamentary privileges place on media coverage of legislative affairs, and the restraints that the judiciary wields by the law of contempt to ensure that the administration of justice is not prejudiced by the publicity it receives. These restrictions coincide with what has been termed the judicially recognised right to commercial speech that has made Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution apply to the freedom to advertise. [1] The gravity of these concerns is underscored by India's continuing decline in global press freedom assessments. According to Reporters Without Borders, India ranked 151st out of 180 countries in the 2025 World Press Freedom Index and fell further to 157th in the 2026 Index, placing the country firmly in the category classified as representing a very serious situation for media freedom. [2] Reporters Without Borders attributed this trajectory to rising violence against journalists, highly concentrated media ownership, and increasing alignment of outlets with political interests. This empirical picture provides an important backdrop to the doctrinal analysis that follows, situating the legal framework within the broader context of press freedom in practice. This essay takes a critical look at these three overlapping doctrines the interface between parliamentary privileges and press freedom, the law of contempt of court in the context of the media, and the right to advertise which is protected by the constitution to determine the legal framework of the rights and duties of the media. [1] The Constitution of India art. 19(1)(a) (1950). [2] Reporters Without Borders, 'World Press Freedom Index 2025' (RSF, 2 May 2025) <https://rsf.org/en/index> accessed 4 September 2026; 'India is 157th Out of 180 Countries on RSF's 2026 World Press Freedom Index' ( The Wire , 30 April 2026) <https://m.thewire.in/article/media/india-is-157th-out-of-180-countries-on-rsfs-2026-world-press-freedom-index> accessed 4 September 2026.

#Parliamentary Privileges#Press Freedom#World Press

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Constitutional LawVolume 3Issue 3Pages 1–11

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A Critical Analysis Of India's Four Labour Codes: The Challenge Of Protecting The Informal And Gig Workforce

Logasri SSep 13, 202610.5281/zenodo.22736568

The four Labour Codes were meant to bring all the old rules into a single clear set. I see that the old laws were confusing and hard to follow. For than seventy years industrial relations in India were controlled by a broken set of almost thirty central labour laws many of which came from the colonial era. These laws overlapped, had rules and made it hard for both employers and workers to keep track of what they must do. In September 2020 Parliament passed the Industrial Relations Code, the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code and the Code on Social Security. A year earlier it had passed the Code on Wages. After a delay of than five years the Government of India made all four Codes effective on 21 November 2025. This paper carefully studies the four Codes. Compares them with the old laws. It looks at how the Industrial Relations Code brings together trade union recognition, standing orders and dispute resolution. It examines how the Code on Wages simplifies wage and bonus rules. It reviews how the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code changes safety rules and limits of application.. It explores how the Code on Social Security for the first time creates a legal safety net for gig and platform workers. Using academic articles, labour‑economics studies and official government notices the paper argues that although the Labour Codes bring useful order some parts of them – such as higher thresholds for who must follow the rules loose wording about gig‑worker benefits and the fact that workers on many platforms are still not seen by the law – may push power toward employers. I think the new codes bring clarity but still leave gaps. This could happen without giving the informal workforce the safety it needs. The paper ends with suggestions, for rules that could close this gap.

#Labour Codes#2020#Industrial Relations Code

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Technology & LawVolume 3Issue 3Pages 1–17

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Cartels Without Conspiracy: Regulating Ai-Driven Algorithmic Collusion Under The Competition Act, 2002

Jenitha Dharshini, Anushka AcharyaSep 9, 202610.5281/zenodo.22676441

Competition law has always presumed that cartels require a meeting of minds. Section 2(b) and Section 3(3) of the Competition Act, 2002 define an anti-competitive ‘agreement’ in terms broad enough to capture tacit understandings, but they still anchor liability to human coordination. Pricing algorithms deployed across e-commerce, travel, ride-hailing, and fuel retail in India now routinely converge on supra-competitive prices without any exchange of intent between rival firms. This paper maps four archetypes of algorithmic coordination messenger, hub-and-spoke, predictable-agent, and autonomous ‘digital eye’ collusion against the doctrinal architecture of the Competition Act, 2002, and asks whether the 2023 amendment’s codification of hub-and-spoke liability closes the gap or merely narrows it. Drawing on the Competition Commission of India’s treatment of the domestic airlines pricing-software matter, the Uber hub-and-spoke proceedings, comparative developments including Lithuania’s Eturas ruling, French and European regulatory proposals for algorithmic audits, and the empirical economics literature on reinforcement-learning collusion, the paper argues that the agreement paradigm cannot, without reform, reach autonomous algorithmic coordination. It proposes a structural-plus-effects framework for a new Section 3A, calibrated disclosure and audit obligations for high-risk pricing algorithms, a rebuttable presumption keyed to market structure and outcome, and safe harbours for verified compliance-by-design, alongside institutional coordination between the CCI and sectoral regulators.

#Algorithmic Collusion#Competition Act#2002

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Human RightsVolume 3Issue 3Pages 1–18

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The Exposure And Cumulative Margination Of Roma In Europe: A Comprehensive Study

Abhishek SunarSep 7, 202610.5281/zenodo.22646796

The Roma, one of the Europe’s oldest minorities, has endured a long history of discrimination and disadvantage throughout Europe, which has only recently begun to be acknowledged and addressed. The Romani population occupies a peculiar stance and despite its distinct visible ethnicity, it has no political entity of its own. Moreover, being widely dispersed throughout Europe and beyond, the Roma have no territorial identity of their own. In today's world of interconnectedness and communication networks, new possibilities are arising that pose a challenge to identity construction processes as well as new risks and vulnerabilities. The transitional political efforts in the European Union for ensuring relief and inclusion of Roma population have been insignificant due to the lack of determination at the grassroots levels or because of the resistance of the majority population. The major challenges faced by these marginalized communities are the exclusion from basic environmental services, such as the supply of drinking water, sanitation, education, employment, healthcare, and infrastructure. Moreover, these communities are disproportionately affected by ecological hazards, such as pollution and environmental degradation stemming from waste dumps and landfills, contaminated sites, or dirty industries. The repercussions are devastating health impacts ranging from infectious diseases to mental health problems. Unequal exposure to environmental and segregated ghettos is one of many dimensions of anti-gypsyism, that is, the racially motivated discrimination and exclusion of persons stigmatized as ‘gypsies’ in public perceptions. Thereby, this research expounds upon the probable aspects to tackle the problems faced by Roma communities in and across Europe.

#Roma#Racism#Social Integration

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Human RightsVolume 3Issue 3Pages 1–22

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Echoes Of Women's Liberation In Sanskrit Literary Works: Unravelling The Origins Of Feminist Jurisprudence In India

Susmita VadhavkarSep 5, 202610.5281/zenodo.22365902

‘Bharat’, the ancient land has always attached great importance to knowledge. It’s a land which has a limitless array of texts, manuscripts and schools of knowledge. India's eternal wisdom resonates like a cosmic symphony. The reasoned, metaphysical and idealistic investigation of the system of knowledge stems from the Vedas traversing through the Upanishads, the Dharmashastras, Darsana and Nyaya. In the arena of scientific research where it is mainly curiosity that drives the search for knowledge, old academics of Bharat such as Aryabhata and Brahmagupta made important discoveries in mathematics and astronomy, while the Upanishads perceived & gathered a holistic vision of the cosmos. The vast tapestry of Sanskrit literary works, which span millennia, carries traces of a culture concerned with societal standards, fairness, and equality. Among these echoes from the past, one may hear soft but distinct voices of women's freedom. In this research, an attempt has been made to unravel through the chronicles of Sanskrit literature to decipher the origins of Feminist Jurisprudence in India. Feminist Jurisprudence is the study of many strands of feminist theory as well as the application of theory to situations that are of interest to members of the class. [1] The common notion is that, in India, feminist thought was cultivated from the 1850s and it was the colonials and only men who were the motivators & harbingers of the thought. This research seeks to disintegrate this fallacy. The research will investigate the history and long-term significance of the thought through ancient Sanskrit writings which encompass an extensive range of texts, from the Vedas, the epics (Ramayana and Mahabharata), the Puranas, and Dharmashastras to the extensive corpus of classical Sanskrit literature. The research provides an articulation of feminist thought beginning from the Metaphysical concepts of ‘Prakriti’ and ‘Shakti’ to the Epics and navigates through the works of Kautilya to Kalidasa. The research aims to demonstrate the tremendous effects of the Sanskrit texts on modern debates over women's rights and legal standing. As modern India grapples with the issues of gender equality and justice, this wide array of literature carrying ancient wisdom could prove to be instrumental in shaping the legal landscape in modern India. [1] Pranav Raina, “Feminist Jurisprudence: An Evolution from Fixed Mindset to A Growing Mindset” (2019) 5 AIJJS 32

#Women Empowerment#Feminist Jurisprudence#Sanskrit Literature

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Human RightsVolume 3Issue 3Pages 1–17

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Mob Lynching In India: A Critical Analysis Of Constitutional Rights And The Rule Of Law

K. Rajeshkumar, Bharathikannan. SSep 5, 202610.5281/zenodo.22367475

Mob lynching has become a serious threat to India's democratic order, human rights commitments, and constitutional governance. Though equipped with a strong legal system, India has experienced a concerning escalation of mob justice crimes, especially against marginalised groups, most notably in the post-2015 era. This paper critically explores the root causes, socio-political consequences, and legal and enforcement failures driving mob lynching in modern India. Taking a doctrinal and case-law approach, this study attempts to fill a very important lacuna in the existing law literature. The paper examines whether India's existing legal provisions is covered by Section 103(2) of Bharathiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023(it specifically covers murder committed by a group of five or more persons acting in concert on specified grounds) and the Constitution are sufficient to dissuade and punish such actions effectively and the need for legal reforms to address the increasing digital incitement, hate-based violence, lynching cases, incorporating the use of digital platforms in instigating violence as a legally responsible element. It contends that mob lynching should be classified as a distinct offence, with tighter enforcement mechanisms, technological monitoring, and nationwide awareness campaigns to curb this crisis.

#Mob Lynching#Rule Of Law#Article 21

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PolicyVolume 3Issue 3Pages 1–17

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Systemic Corruption In India's Examination System: Paper Leaks, Institutional Accountability, And Technological Reforms

Nandini AgarwalSep 3, 202610.5281/zenodo.22284782

This research paper deals with the reasons behind examination paper leaks in Indian education. Over the past 23 years, India has witnessed 45 paper leaks and related scams, with only 2 convictions, a process that took 14 years of trials. Of the cases: 1658 arrested, 925 accused appeared in chargesheet, 18 cases are still pending, 32 resulted in acquittal, and 43 accused remain in judicial custody. Many leaks were never registered and their accused never arrested, some evidences destroyed, some files were forgotten by the authorities. This paper examines how technology has contributed to the rise in paper leaks, why corruption occurs in higher education, and proposes various taxonomies of academic corruption: 1) Institutional vs Individual, 2) Corrupted functions, 3) Actors and beneficiaries, 4) Comprehensive taxonomy, 5) Pecuniary vs non-pecuniary. The findings include a comparative analysis of examination conducting method across China, Singapore, South Korea, Japan, along with policy recommendations. The paper also discusses hunger strikes in India, the resignation of leaders both in India and internationally, questions of government accountability, the exam/re-exam controversy, appropriate use of technology, trends in the Indian government education budget, relevant case law, and the Jharkhand paper leak controversy.

#Paper Leak#Taxonomies#Comparative Analysis

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Constitutional LawVolume 3Issue 3Pages 1–39

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When Procedure Becomes Punishment - The Constitution (One Hundred And Twenty-Ninth Amendment) Bill, 2024 And The Penalisation Of The Federal Principle

Gaurav Gopal Sharma, Mohammad Juned SunasarSep 3, 202610.5281/zenodo.22284610

Elections in India are on the verge of becoming a legal formality rather than a democratic exercise. That is the claim this paper defends. The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth Amendment) Bill, 2024, introduced in the Lok Sabha on 17th December, 2024 and presently before a Joint Parliamentary Committee, is ordinarily discussed as a scheduling reform. It is nothing of the kind. It is a reordering of the temporal architecture of Indian democracy, and the cost of that reordering falls almost entirely on the States. My central submission is that the Bill converts procedure into penalty. A State Legislative Assembly that has committed no wrong may nevertheless have its life cut short because the House of the People happens to be on a particular cycle. The instrument of that curtailment is an "Appointed Date" notified by the President under proposed Article 82A(1), an officer who, under Article 74(1) read with Shamsher Singh v. State of Punjab, acts on ministerial advice and exercises no independent judgment. The critique is deliberately interdisciplinary. The Bill's defects are not confined to the constitutional plane on which the debate has largely been conducted. They are equally, and in some places more damagingly, defects of administrative law excessive delegation without the intelligible principle that In re Delhi Laws Act requires; the conferment of standardless discretion on the Election Commission to recommend deferral, contrary to K.T. Moopil Nair and State of Punjab v. Khan Chand; Wednesbury unreasonableness and disproportionality in the residual-term device, tested by Om Kumar v. Union of India and Modern Dental College; the violation of the electorate's legitimate expectation of a five-year mandate under Hindustan Development Corp.; the Colourable Exercise of Legislative Power tested by K.C. Gajapati Narayan Deo; and the denial of natural justice, in the extended sense in which A.K. Kraipak and Maneka Gandhi have long applied it to institutional actors adversely affected. Presenting these two lines of critique together constitutional design and administrative discipline of power is the ambition of this paper. Six arguments follow. The first concerns the source of the power to truncate an Assembly, and whether it survives once the ratification question under the proviso to Article 368(2) is answered. The second contends that the Election Commission's authority under Article 324 has always been derivative rather than plenary, and that the Bill compresses the constitutional space within which it works while simultaneously offloading onto it an administratively unstructured discretion. The third argues that the deferral provision fails both the Article 14 classification test and the Wednesbury/proportionality standard as absorbed into Indian administrative law. The fourth sets the "Unexpired Term" device against the Doctrine of Public Trust in M.C. Mehta v. Kamal Nath and against the doctrine of legitimate expectation. The fifth revisits the delegation and colourable-legislation problems that the Bill's architecture creates. The sixth tests the Government's fiscal and Model Code justifications against the record. Each is then tested against the Government's own record: the Kovind Report, the Seventy-Ninth Report, the Law Commission's 2018 Draft Report, and the Election Commission's cost disclosures. That record does not sustain the case the Statement of Objects and Reasons makes for it.

#Simultaneous Elections#Appointed Date#Article 82a

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Technology & LawVolume 3Issue 3Pages 1–16

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Certification Without Accountability - A Critical Re-Examination Of Film And OTT Censorship In India, 2021-2026

Nandan RathiSep 2, 202610.5281/zenodo.22258447

Between 2021 and 2026, the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) has moved with increasing frequency from classifying films by age-appropriateness, its actual statutory function under the Cinematograph Act 1952, toward editorially reshaping or indefinitely delaying films on grounds of historical accuracy, religious sentiment, caste, and political content. This paper examines multiple such cases between 2021 and 2026, distinguishes CBFC action from state-government bans and court-ordered stays that are often conflated with it, and identifies the specific constitutional provisions, Articles 19(1)(a), 19(1)(g), 21, and the manifest-arbitrariness strand of Article 14, that this pattern implicates. It tests the Board's own stated justifications against the case record, compares India's certification architecture with the voluntary United States model and the independent United Kingdom model, and argues that the deficiency is procedural rather than doctrinal: India's substantive certification standards are not obviously more restrictive than its comparators, but the 2021 abolition of the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal removed the one low-cost check on their arbitrary application, and nothing has replaced it.

#Film Censorship#Freedom Of Expression#Moral Rights

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Human RightsVolume 3Issue 3Pages 1–20

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The Transgender Persons (Protection Of Rights) Act, 2019

Surya R C, Abdul Rahman M, Dhayanandhan SSep 2, 202610.5281/zenodo.22258713

In the context of Indian society, the Transgender community has long been an integral part despite facing persistent exclusion from society. The societal stigma and systemic discrimination tends to continue their marginalization which restricts their access to essential services and opportunities like education, healthcare, employment, etc. Following the Supreme Court judgment in National Legal Services Authority V Union of India (2014), parliament has enacted The Transgender Persons (protection of Rights) Act, 2019 with an objective to protect the transgender community and to ensure the effective realization of their fundamental rights. But, despite this enactment the significant challenges relating to their socio- legal empowerment continued to persist. Thus this paper critically examines the 2019 act with reference to the key provisions relating to legal recognition, protection of the transgender community and further explores the challenges involved in institutionalizing their rights. The paper concludes that legislative measure alone is insufficient to secure their rights as it requires effective implementation, strong enforcement mechanism, greater institutional support and societal acceptance to achieve substantial equality.

#Transgender Community#Social Empowerment#Act

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Social JusticeVolume 3Issue 3Pages 1–30

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Reservation And The Right To Education In India: A Critical Analysis Of Constitutional Mandates, Judicial Interpretation, And The Quest For Educational Equity

Shreedevi S, Dr. Saji Sivan SSep 2, 202610.5281/zenodo.22258511

Reservation in the Indian educational system has been regarded as a crucial tool under the umbrella of affirmative action measures mostly in making equality of opportunity real and ensuring educational inclusion of marginalized sections of society. This paper analyzes how reservation is interlinked with the Right to Education by focusing on the question of whether such a policy helps the achievement of educational equity on one side or at the same time, under certain situations, may even prevent the comprehensive constitutional goal of education on the other. Apart from constitutional provisions, the study throws light on judicial perspectives on reservation, mainly from Articles 15(4), 15(5), 15(6) as they stand now. Several landmark judgments have been discussed to clarify the role of equality and reservation, and the interdependency of both for enabling the realization of the educational rights. The paper explores the aspects of social justice, equal educational opportunities and the dimensions of empowerment plus representation that reservation policy can offer through its implementation. It still cannot be ignored, the authors say, to take into account the issues of institutional autonomy, quality education, the occurrence of political expansion, unequal distribution of benefits, the concept of cream layer as a justification for removal from such benefits due to economic advancement and the principle of merit. The paper makes the claim that reservations, though effective instruments of affirmative action, were never the same as Right to Education. The latter is just one of a series of constitutional instruments that could bring the creation of such access to education in substance. It ends by stating that the government should take more measures to supplement the education provided through reservation by offering quality education, academic help, structural reforms, policy reviews etc. to realize educational equity at its true level. [1] [1] Joshua E. Weishart, Reconstituting the Right to Education, 67 Ala. L. Rev. 915, 965–68 (2016).

#Educational Equity#Constitutional Mandates#Judicial Interpretation

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