CAPF Stagnation And Problem Of Legislative Override

Recently, the Central Government has brought the Central Armed Police Forces (General Administration) Bill, 2026, or the CAPF Bill, 2026, which was passed by the Lok Sabha. The Bill seeks to codify the deputation of IPS officers to the ranks of Inspector General(IG) and above, while also reserving the power under section 4 to lay down or modify the rules governing the administration and functioning of the Central Armed Police Forces, namely the BSF, SSB, ITBP, CRPF and CISF, as listed in the...

IBC Overrides Securities Law? NCLAT's Expanding Jurisdiction Over Frozen Demat Accounts

Can a stock exchange continue to freeze the assets of a corporate debtor even after the commencement of insolvency proceedings? More importantly, does such regulatory action survive the overarching framework of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (“IBC”), which seeks to preserve and maximize the value of the debtor's assets?These questions recently came into sharp focus before the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (“NCLAT”) in two appeals involving BSE Limited, wherein the Tribunal...

Section 32A's Clean Slate: A Promise That Rarely Materializes

Section 32A of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, was introduced through the IBC (Amendment) Act, 2019, to assure resolution applicants that, once a compliant plan is approved and control shifts to a new management, the corporate debtor and its property would begin on a clean slate, being free from liability for offences committed before the commencement of CIRP. The constitutional validity of this provision was upheld by the Supreme Court in Manish Kumar v. Union of India, which...

Identity On Trial: Constitutional Debate On Transgender Rights In India

In recent weeks, a familiar yet unsettled question has returned to discussion: who has the authority to define identity? For transgender people, it is not merely a discussion, but one that shapes their access to education, employment, and ultimately, dignity. The marginalisation of transgender persons has been consistent, as society confines them to roles of entertainment and cultural bridges. Moreover, the recent amendments to the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 have raised...

Constitutional Morality Vs Public Health: Blood Safety, Scientific Evidence And Exclusion Of Queer Donors

Indian constitutionalism today is characterized by a sharp divide between the forward-looking and right interpretation of the Constitution by the Supreme Court on the one hand, and the on-going sluggishness of the executive on the other. The Supreme Court of India continues to be the venue of an intense debate over the Guidelines for Blood Donor Selection and Blood Donor Referral, 2017. While the judiciary has spent the last decade in progressive interpretation of legislation and coming out in...

Myth Of Formalisation: Economic Survey Projections And Governance Challenges In India's Labour Codes

India's new labour codes have been promoted as reforms with the potential to bring major change whose draft rule was issued in December 2025. The Economic Survey 2025–26 presents an optimistic outlook: the codes are expected to raise formalisation from 60.4% to 75.5%, create 77 lakh jobs, lower unemployment, increase female labour force participation, and add 1.25% to GDP by 2029–30. These projections are based on the assumption that simplifying compliance for firms will encourage formalisation...

Illusion Of Protection: How Transgender Amendment Bill, 2026 Risks Failing Those It Claims To Protect

Transgender basically refers to a person whose gender identity differs from that of the gender which is assigned to them at birth, and it also includes the identities based on self-perception rather than only biological traits. It basically recognises the important aspect that gender is a deeply personal and self-determined aspect of a person's identity, unlike a narrower biological term such as “transsexual”. The same understanding has been constituted and affirmed in the case of National Legal...

Diluting Identity: The New Transgender Amendment

The amendment to the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 [the 2019 Act], introduced on March 13, 2026 by the ministry of social justice and empowerment, and passed by Parliament on March 25, marks a troubling shift in India's legal approach to gender identity. The bill is presented as addressing implementation challenges, but in substance undermines transgender rights. The new transgender bill risks undoing years of constitutional progress. The move raises the question that is...

Myth Of Formalisation: Economic Survey Projections And Governance Challenges In India's Labour Codes

India's new labour codes have been promoted as reforms with the potential to bring major change whose draft rule was issued in December 2025. The Economic Survey 2025–26 presents an optimistic outlook: the codes are expected to raise formalisation from 60.4% to 75.5%, create 77 lakh jobs, lower unemployment, increase female labour force participation, and add 1.25% to GDP by 2029–30. These projections are based on the assumption that simplifying compliance for firms will encourage formalisation...

Beyond Words - Why Chhattisgarh High Court's Approach To Victim Testimony Matters

The history of criminal law in India has had a long history of being plagued by an extremely tedious criminal process, right from filing a complaint or FIR to the passing of the final order. The intermediate stages are long and exhausting1, and given the adversarial functioning of the Indian judicial machinery, a lot depends on the judge's interpretation and how evidence presented is perceived. The role of the court becomes particularly important in sensitive cases, like those involving sexual...

End The Linguistic Apartheid

Justice is frequently conceptualized as a procedural outcome, yet its true essence is communicative. In the Indian Republic, a profound ontological chasm exists between the "Law of the State" and the "Life of the Citizen." This divide is primarily linguistic. When English remains the language of legal education and the highest courts, it is a 'structural injustice' that enables what theorist Miranda Fricker calls "Epistemic Injustice", the silencing of a subject's ability to convey lived...

A Constitutional Critique Of Rajasthan's Disturbed Areas Bill, 2026

Imagine you own a house and want to sell it. You have a willing buyer. You have agreed on a price. Both of you are acting freely, with full knowledge of what you are doing. And yet, a government officer can step in and say no — not because there is anything fraudulent about your transaction, not because either of you is being coerced, but because the officer has formed an opinion that your sale might affect the demographic composition of the neighbourhood. If you proceed with the transaction...