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The Intersection of Privacy Rights and Bail: Implications for the Criminal Justice System

 The question of privacy as a fundamental component of the right to life and personal liberty under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution has long been a matter of legal contention, with various judgments reflecting a spectrum of judicial opinions. This debate reached a watershed moment in 2017 with the landmark Puttaswamy [1] judgment, in which the Supreme Court unequivocally established the right to privacy as a fundamental right, underscoring its vital importance in protecting individual dignity and autonomy. Recently however, the issue has resurfaced as the Supreme Court examined complexities of privacy in the digital era, bringing to light the ongoing challenges and significance of the said right, amid rapid technological developments and increasing state surveillance under criminal jurisprudence. Background A Nigerian national faced charges under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 and was subsequently arrested in the year 2014. However, in the year 2022,...

Contract Labour Deployment in India – Demystifying the Future Conceived by the Code on Occupational Safety, Health & Working Conditions, 2020

  The business of human resource deployment by contractors for their clients has grown and evolved globally. In India, the contractor-sourced industrial workforce grew by about 293% between 2002-03 and 2021-22.[1] Recently, India has unfurled four labour codes that revamp its existing labour laws to meet the needs of the Indian workforce such as contract labour deployment. The Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970 (“ CLRA ”) predominantly constitutes the applicable law on contract labour in India. It will be replaced by the Code on Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions, 2020 (“ OSH-Code ”) from a date, pending to be notified (“ Effective Date ”). This article seeks to evaluate the material reforms introduced by the OSH-Code regarding contract labour deployment: a. Revised Applicability Threshold : The OSH-Code has increased the applicability threshold of contract labour related compliance to engagement of at least 50 contract labour personnel, as opposed...

Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021

 Introduction: What is an Intermediary The term ‘Intermediary’ has been defined in clause (w) of sub-section 1 of section 2 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 (“ IT Act”) as “any person who on behalf of another person receives, stores or transmits an electronic record or provides any service with respect to that record and includes telecom service providers, network service providers, internet service providers, web-hosting service providers, search engines, online payment sites, online-auction sites, online-market places and cyber cafes”. This is a very broad definition. This not only covers social media companies (e.g., Facebook, Twitter) but also a wide range of players in the internet ecosystem including search engines (Google Inc., Yahoo Inc.), online payment sites (Paypal, Phonepe), online-market place (Amazon, Flipkart), telecom service providers (Jio, Vi), and cyber-cafes. The definition applies to any company where the user has an identity in the intermediary in fo...

Dispensation of shareholders’ and creditors’ meetings for listed entities in amalgamation proceedings

 With many wholly owned subsidiary companies merging with their listed holding companies, there were differing views on whether the meetings of the shareholders and the creditors of such listed entities are necessarily required to be conducted or they can be dispensed with. The rationale for this was also in question since the merger was only between wholly owned subsidiaries with their holding companies where there was no dilution in the shareholding of the listed entity nor was there a compromise with the creditors of the holding company. Read More: https://tlegal.com/blog-details/dispensation-of-shareholders-and-creditors-meetings-for-listed-entities-in-amalgamation-proceedings Relevant Provisions Before proceeding to discuss the recent judicial precedents, it is helpful to take a glance at the relevant provisions of the Companies Act, 2013 (“ Act ”). In terms of the Section 230(1) of the Act, for a compromise or arrangement to be fructified, a meeting of creditors or cla...

Explainer | Vijay Madanlal Choudhary and Others v. Union of India and Others

 In July 2022, the Indian Supreme Court (“SC”) pronounced its judgment[1] (“Judgment”) in a batch of writ petitions challenging the various provisions of the statute, namely, the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (“PMLA”). This article aims to summarise the history of PMLA, reasons for challenging the said statute, the decision of the SC, and its implications. Read More: https://tlegal.com/blog-details/explainer-or-vijay-madanlal-choudhary-and-others-v-union-of-india-and-others Historical Context The history of the PMLA can be traced back to the later part of the 1980s, when an urgent need was felt among various nations to protect their financial systems from money-laundering. In 1990, the United Nations General Assembly[2] called upon its member nations to develop mechanisms to prevent financial institutions from crumbling due to money-laundering, and to achieve the same by enacting laws in the respective countries. Eventually, in 1998, the United Nations in the ‘Speci...

Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021: Adequate Regulation of Intermediaries?

 The term ‘Intermediary’ has been defined in clause (w) of sub-section 1 of section 2 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 (“  IT Act ”) as “ any person who on behalf of another person receives, stores or transmits an electronic record or provides any service with respect to that record and includes telecom service providers, network service providers, internet service providers, web-hosting service providers, search engines, online payment sites, online-auction sites, online-market places and cyber cafes ”. This is a very broad definition. This not only covers social media companies (e.g., Facebook, Twitter) but also a wide range of players in the internet ecosystem including search engines (Google Inc., Yahoo Inc.), online payment sites (Paypal, Phonepe), online-market place (Amazon, Flipkart), telecom service providers (Jio, Vi), and cyber-cafes. The definition applies to any company where the user has an identity in the intermediary in form of a unique account/number ...

The Doctrine of Group of Companies: A Modern Approach to Consent in Arbitration Proceedings?

 Party autonomy is a foundational pillar in arbitration proceedings. An arbitration agreement reflects the parties’ willingness to be legally bound within the contours of that agreement. That is to say that parties to an arbitration agreement mutually consent to bestow jurisdiction upon a court and/or tribunal to decide certain disputes by their choice of law. However, in recent demanding times, in order to meet the ends of justice, courts and tribunals, under certain exceptional circumstances, have allowed extension of arbitration agreements to bind non-signatories. This article seeks to briefly review such exceptional circumstances under which courts and tribunals have approved joinder of non-signatories as party to the arbitration agreement by invoking the Group of Companies doctrine and the implications drawn by such joinder in absence of consent to be bound by the arbitration agreement. APPLICATION OF THE DOCTRINE IN ARBITRATION PROCEEDINGS In broad terms, the doctrine i...