Author: Anvita Dwivedi
A fresh constitutional controversy has emerged in Tamil Nadu after a petition was moved before the Madras High Court challenging the appointment of astrologer Rickey Radhan Pandit Vettrivel as Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay. The litigation, filed within days of the newly formed Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) government assuming office, has rapidly transformed from a political controversy into a larger constitutional debate concerning public appointments, administrative legality, and the place of personal belief systems within democratic governance. The matter was urgently mentioned before a Vacation Bench comprising Justices Victoria Gowri and N. Senthilkumar of…
In a constitutionally significant ruling with far-reaching implications for India’s educational and linguistic policy framework, the Supreme Court has held that a child possesses a fundamental right under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution to receive primary education in a language of their choice. The judgment, delivered by a Bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta, elevates the question of medium of instruction beyond educational policy and places it squarely within the domain of constitutional freedoms. The Court made these observations while directing the State of Rajasthan to introduce and facilitate the teaching of Rajasthani as a subject in schools…
The ongoing nine-judge Constitution Bench hearings in the Sabarimala reference have evolved into one of the most consequential constitutional debates in modern India, with lawyers before the Supreme Court arguing that social reform may necessarily require judicial scrutiny of religious practices and that constitutional adjudication in such matters could legitimately employ the proportionality test. The proceedings have now moved far beyond the original controversy over women’s entry into the Sabarimala temple, transforming into a larger constitutional inquiry into the relationship between faith, reform, equality, and State power. On the fourteenth day of hearings, Senior Advocate Jaideep Gupta, appearing for the…
In a significant ruling underscoring the growing judicial scrutiny of sports administration in India, the Delhi High Court has set aside the Table Tennis Federation of India’s (TTFI) decision suspending Olympian Kamlesh Mehta from the post of Secretary-General without granting him an opportunity of hearing. The judgment not only revives Mehta’s position within the federation but also reaffirms an essential constitutional principle increasingly relevant in sports governance that even autonomous sporting bodies exercising public functions must comply with standards of procedural fairness and natural justice. The order was passed by Justice Sachin Datta while hearing a petition filed by Kamlesh…
In a significant ruling reinforcing the welfare-oriented character of maintenance jurisprudence in India, the Allahabad High Court has held that a wife’s educational qualification or mere capacity to earn cannot by itself disentitle her from seeking maintenance under Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The judgment underscores an increasingly important judicial principle that maintenance law is not designed to punish women for being educated or professionally capable, but to prevent economic abandonment and ensure dignified subsistence within marriage-related disputes. The ruling was delivered by Justice Arun Kumar Singh Deshwal while hearing a criminal revision petition filed by a…
In a move that could significantly reshape the future of India’s justice delivery architecture, Chief Justice of India Justice Surya Kant has constituted a high-level “Judicial Infrastructure Advisory Committee” tasked with preparing a comprehensive national roadmap for court modernisation and judicial infrastructure development. The initiative signals growing institutional recognition within the judiciary that pendency, access to justice, and judicial efficiency are inseparable from the quality of physical and technological infrastructure supporting the court system. According to the official communication issued by Supreme Court Secretary General Bharat Parashar on May 8, 2026, the committee has been specifically mandated to formulate a…
A dramatic constitutional confrontation has unfolded in Tamil Nadu after Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) MLA R. Seenivasa Sethupathi approached the Supreme Court challenging a Madras High Court order restraining him from participating in a crucial Assembly floor test. The case, emerging from a fiercely contested electoral battle decided by a single vote, now places before the apex court difficult questions concerning judicial intervention in legislative functioning, electoral legitimacy, and the constitutional sanctity of floor tests. The matter was urgently mentioned before Chief Justice of India Justice Surya Kant by Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who sought immediate listing on account…
The long-pending Sabarimala reference proceedings before the Supreme Court witnessed a significant constitutional intervention this week as Senior Advocate Raju Ramachandran argued that interpreting “morality” under Articles 25 and 26 of the Constitution as “public morality” would dangerously subordinate fundamental rights to majoritarian social beliefs. His submissions before the nine-judge Bench have reopened one of the most profound constitutional debates in modern Indian jurisprudence: whether constitutional rights are to be governed by evolving constitutional principles or by prevailing societal morality. Appearing in the expansive reference concerning the scope of religious freedom and judicial review of religious practices, Ramachandran contended that…
The arrest of Punjab Cabinet Minister Sanjeev Arora by the Enforcement Directorate has triggered yet another high-profile confrontation between opposition parties and central investigative agencies, with the matter now reaching the Punjab and Haryana High Court. In a strongly worded petition challenging his arrest under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the Aam Aadmi Party leader has alleged that the action against him is not a neutral exercise of criminal investigation but part of a larger pattern of “political victimisation” directed against opposition governments. The petition was mentioned before a Division Bench headed by Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and…
In a ruling that sharpens the conceptual fence separating insolvency law from debt recovery, the Supreme Court of India has, on May 7, 2026, dismissed an appeal by Dhanlaxmi Bank Limited against an order of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), thereby refusing to permit initiation of Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) against a corporate debtor whose loan had been disbursed not into its hands, but directly to a builder under a construction-linked quadripartite arrangement. The judgment delivered by a Bench of Justice Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha and Justice Alok Aradhe is terse in length but significant in import. It…