LyrArc Article Gist
DY Chandrachud and his father CY Chandrachud will soon be the first father son combination of Supreme Court Chief Justices in Indian history. This has not happened in Britain or US. CY Chandrachud was Chief Justice of the SupremeCourt of India from 1978 to 1985. DY Chandrachud was part of a three member bench of the Indian Supreme Court that looked at The Modi government vaccination policy in April 2021 and gave a ruling that formed the basis of Mr. Modi's action for a new and broader vaccination policy that ensured access to the entire Indian population of 1.2 billion people.

This report in The Times of India describes the son's record following in the footsteps of his father. DY Chandrachud studied at St Stephens College Delhi, Delhi University Law, and Harvard for his Masters degree in Law. His experience includes heading the Uttar Pradesh High Court in Allahabad and holding legal positions in Mumbai.

LyrArc Article Gist
In dealing with a case judges of the Supreme Court look at the law, precedents and facts of a case. They also look at the human aspect says Chief Justice Ramana of the Indian Supreme Court. He says a judge has to keep sight of the human suffering and toll in understanding a case. Judges have to see the repercussions and what happens as it echoes over time, as the new decision becomes the law of the land.

LyrArc Article Gist
Judicial interpretation of India's Constitution enables upward mobility, building the infrastructure that supports upward mobility without leakage of funds, and world social justice, says Chief Justice of India's Supreme Court D.Y. Chandrachud. He was giving the Nani Palkhivala Memorial Lecture in Mumbai.  Prime minister Modi could not pursue India's rapid development program to benefit all parts of society without the help of the Supreme Court in interpreting the Constitution in a way that supports India's development. "The identity of the Indian Constitution has evolved through the interaction of Indian citizens with the Constitution and has been accompanied by judicial interpretation... If you look at the Constitution, it does not favor unbounded economic liberalism. Rather, our Constitution seeks to find the right balance. When individuals can exercize their liberties and to be fairly rewarded for their efforts, then economic justice becomes one of the many inter-related dimensions of life. Ultimately, we share common faiths and destinies to the point that development of each individual fosters social justice in the entire world." "The basic structure doctrine of India's Constitution is that it guides and gives certain direction to its interpreters and implementers, when the path is convoluted. The craftsmanship of a judge lies in interpreting the text of the Constitution with the changing times while keeping its soul intact." This happened when Nani Palkhivala presented the idea before the Supreme Court in 1973 against prime minister Indira Gandhi's Emergency rule that parliament had limits to its powers when it came to amending the Constitution if by amending it the amendment would destroy the spirit of the Constitution or its basic idea. This includes freedom of expression, rule of law, separation of powers, freedoms guaranteed to all citizens. The amending power is limited and cannot be turned into an absolute power. Another way of looking at it is that parliament itself is organized by statutory authority. And it cannot destroy or dismantle the very basic features of the law (the Constitution) that created it in the first place.     ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Justice Khanwilkar of the Indian Supreme Court (2016-2022) is appointed the second Lokpal of India. He wrote some of the key decisions of the court in recent years. As Lokpal he is head of the Anti-Corruption Authority of India, that was established in 2013 after the protests against widespread corruption and leakage of funds led by Anna Hazare of Maharashtra that led to loss of confidence in the government of that year. Justice Khanwilkar supported the strict provisions of the Prevention of Money Laudering Act (PMLA) that provide the essentials for a developing country to ensure good governance and prevent the leakage of funds that are destructive for improving the ease of living, and for the confidence of the people in the government. He also decriminalised homosexuality, and upheld the Gujarat government for handling of events in 2002. He was alsopart of the 5 Judge SC bench that upheld Aadhar documentation of every citizen of India that made it possible under Digital India to deposit money directly to bank accounts preventing leakage of funds going to hundreds of millions of needy Indians. This was key to supporting families across India during the pandemic. In 2020 he passed a ruling on regulating the NGO's in India and use of foreign funding, the Foreign Contribution Regulation Amendment Act (FCRA), which ensures the government of a developing country of over 1 billion people can be run by the will of the people for the people, free from interference by foreign ideologies and interests. He tackled a key environmental case in 1996 when surrounding tanneries were polluting the river Ganges. The range of Khanwilkar's decisions is as prolific as it is critical for shaping a modern nation of 1.4 billion people. He served as the Standing Counsel of the Election Commission of India aiding in the operation of EC that is crucial for Indian election process.. He wrote 226 judgements and sat on 817 benches, a hardworking and disciplined judge that is a reflection of the best of India from the period of Indian renewal under Vivekananda and Gandhi to this day. Khanwilkar started his career in 1982, representing the state of Maharashtra as Standing Counsel at the Supreme Court, and was later Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh, Chief Justice of Madhya Pradesh. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
India's Supreme Court dismissed petitions challenging the validity of the Army's Agnipath recruitment scheme for recruiting soldiers for a period of 4 years. A bench led by Chief Justice Chandrachud said "there was nothing for us to do in the Delhi High Court judgement." That Delhi High Court judgement called the Agnipath scheme "a well thought out one." In its February 27 judgement the Delhi High Court said: "A perusal of material on record shows that the scheme is a well thought out policy decision of the Government of India. The candidates selected under the impugned scheme would be enrolled as Agniveers, a distinct rank in the Indian Armed Forces.

LyrArc Article Gist
The Indian Supreme Court Bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and JB Pardiwala rejected a petition of 14 political parties in India for guidelines to prevent avoidable arrest of political opponents, saying it is asking for special immunity for politicians.

"Ultimately a political leader is also a citizen, and as a citizen he or she is amenable to the same law."

"Once we accept that political leaders stand absolutely on the same footing as citizens of the country, they will face the same due process of law and are not entitled to a higher immunity than what is available under law."

"You (political parties) say there is selective targeting of opposition leaders. But at the same time you say you do not want any special treatment of politicians as they are only citizens of the country, they will face the same due process of law and are not entitled to higher immunity than what is available under law."

LyrArc Article Gist
India's new Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Dipak Misra, comes from the state of Orissa in eastern India. He was on the bench on several important cases included a Dec 16, 2016 gang rape case in New Delhi, and reflected popular sentiment in that case about the dangers to civilized society in the decision.

LyrArc Article Gist
Supreme Court Justice, Elena Kagan, after her first year at the U.S. Supreme Court. Kagan was appointed by President Obama in 2010. Kagan talked about her experience at the Supreme Court at an Aspen Institute event. Kagan replaced Justice John Paul Stevens. Stevens says Kagan has voted very similiar to how he would have voted on most of the cases. And Justice Ginsberg says about Kagan: "she has already shown her talent as an incisive questioner at oral argument and a writer of eminently readable opinions." Kagan takes writing opinions for the Court very seriously. She described her style at the Aspen Institute event as figuring out how to communicate difficult ideas to people who know little about the subject. An additional aspect of Kagan's writing is that she strives to put things using vivid and colorful language that sticks with people. She has used expressions such as "loosey-goosey," for instance. In her dissent on the campaign finance case she described the supposedly smoking gun found by her colleagues, as: "the only smoking gun here is the majority's, and it is the kind that goes with mirrors." The media tends to compare Roberts with Kagan, the two youngest chief justices on the court, both articulate and vigorous in their opinions, with similiar intellectual backgrounds but taking different positions. Kagan says the most valuable experience to prepare for her new position, was the year she spent as Solicitor General, where she was trying to persuade nine chief justices of the court why they should take a particular position. The difference now being that she must persuade eight justices. The most striking aspect of the two appointments by George W. Bush and Obama, with the absence of a retirement age for the U.S. Supreme Court- as in other democracies such as India- is that both Roberts and Kagan may well be on the Court for 25 years or longer. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
India's Supreme Court urges the Modi government to ensure protections are in place to preserve privacy rights of Indians. It said the dangers can originate from private parties or non-state actors as well as the government. A nine judge bench led by Chief Justice J.S. Khehar stated- "we commend to the Union Government the need to examine and put in place a a robust regime for data protection." The Court called for a sensitive balance between individual rights to privacy and the legitimate aims of the state which it said would include "protecting national security, preventing and investigating crime, encouraging innovation and the spread of knowledge and preventing the dissipation of social welfare benefits." The biometric identification program Aadhar was designed under the previous Congress government as an effort to control the leakage of social welfare benefits through corruption, a significant problem that hurt the poorer sections of society in rural areas. The Modi administration has pushed forward with the program and expanded it to turn it into a national identification program. As part of the plan to ensure data security the Modi government has setup a committee of experts led by former Supreme Court judge, Justice B. N. Srikrishna to identify key issues for data protection, and to propose a draft Data Protection Bill. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology will work with this committee over the next 2 months, as the committee prepares its report. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Friedman compares the anti-corruption movements in India and the U.S., the world's two largest democracies. The Occupy Wall Street anti-corruption movement in the U.S. focusses on the excessive influence of banks on lawmakers, regulators, and the government, through the use of campaign money, revolving door for government officials and regulators to join banks, and intense lobbying. The anti-corruption movement focusses on corruption in government at higher levels, such as the handling of government licenses, and at the basic levels of needing to bribe officials for something as simple as getting a birth certificate or other government document. Both have pernicious effects, in the U.S. excesssive bank influence leads to taking excessive risk for higher bonuses, putting the entire financial system at risk and creating a crisis in housing that delays the economic recovery. And in India the corruption leads to retarded progress, as funds to invest in infrastructure and development are siphoned off, business and entrepreneurs are required to pay bribes at each step, and ordinary people face the need to pay bribes for the most routine interactions with government officials. In the process this creates more unequal societies by skewing the distribution of benefits from wealth created to groups that are better equipped to game the system. The economic system once distorted in these ways has tendencies to take talent away from productive activity and innovation which create wealth, and direct it towards speculative activities....