appointment of judges

Justice Verma and the Appointment of Justice Punchhi

Madhav Khosla
June 29, 2011 14:50

A recent interview of Justice J.S.Verma's on CNN-IBN, with Karan Thapar, seems to suggest that, as the Chief Justice of India, he was against Justice Punchhi's elevation to the Supreme Court, and even wrote a letter recommending an inquiry into the charges against Justice Punchhi. But former Prime...

Constitutional Fidelity or Turf War? The Promise and Pitfalls of Judicial Activism in Pakistan

April 09, 2011 01:54

The South Asia Initiative at Harvard recently hosted a panel discussion on constitutionalism in Pakistan. Speakers included, Justice Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramday, Supreme Court of Pakistan, Osama Siddique, SJD Candidate, Harvard Law SchoolBeena Sarwar, Senior Journalist, Jang Group Pakistan & Fellow,...

Countermajoritarianism, the Court and the Capital

February 12, 2011 18:05

Unelected courts in constitutional democracies are described as “countermajoritarian” fundamentally because they carry the power to invalidate law enacted by the directly elected representatives of the people. However, in a purely formal sense, is the Indian Supreme Court countermajoritarian? In...

Supreme Court Composition (1985-2010)

January 03, 2011 16:59

In a study which has been published in this week’s edition of the EPW (available here), I examined the composition of the Supreme Court of India between 1985 and 2010 (i.e. between the terms of Chief Justices P.N. Bhagwati and S.H. Kapadia). My study broadly yielded the following observations: (1)...

From the Cradle to...62

October 08, 2010 12:53

In this edit piece in the Times of India (September 29, 2010) I argued that the Constitution (One Hundred and Fourteenth Amendment) Bill, 2010 (available here) deserves praise and criticism. It deserves praise because it seeks to do away with unnecessary hierarchy – the 3 year difference in the age...