WHAT IS SUFFICIENT CAUSE ?

Justice A. Ananda of Karnataka High Court in the case of Smt K M Sharmila Umesh vs Smt Maryamma observed as follows:- “In the decision of (Parimal vs Veena @ Bharti) reported in (2011) 3 SCC 545, at paragraph 13, the Supreme Court has held as under: "Sufficient cause" is an expression which has been used in a large number of statutes. The meaning of the word "sufficient" is "adequate" or "enough", inasmuch as may be necessary to answer the purpose intended. Therefore, word "sufficient" embraces no more than that which provides a platitutde which when the act done suffices to accomplish the purpose intended in the facts and circumstances existing in a case and duly examined from the viewpoint of a reasonable standard of a cautious man. In this context, "sufficient cause" means that the party had not acted in a negligent manner or there was a want of bona fide on its part in view of the facts and circumstances of a case or the party cannot be alleged to have been "not acting diligently" or "remaining inactive". However, the facts and circumstances of each case must afford sufficient ground to enable the court concerned to exercise discretion for the reason that whenever the court exercises discretion, it has to be exercised judiciously. (Vide Ramlal v. Rewa Coalfields Ltd. AIR 1962 SC 361; , Lonand Grampanchayat v. Ramgiri Gosavi AIR 1968 SC 222; Surinder Singh Sibia v. Vijay Kumar Sood AIR 1992 SC 1540; and Oriental Aroma Chemical Industries Ltd., v. Gujarat Industrial Development Corpn. (2010) 5 SCC 459). In the aforestated judgment, the Supreme Court has held the facts and circumstances of each case must afford sufficient ground to enable the Court concerned to exercise discretion for the reason that whenever the Court exercises discretion, it has to be exercised judiciously.

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Haider Ajaz

(Advocate)

20th Law Commission

Justice D. K. Jain, Judge, Supreme Court of India, will be the Chairman of the Twentieth Law Commission of India. According to the Notification issued here today, the appointment of Justice Jain will be effective from any day after 24th January 2013 on his retirement from the Supreme Court.      

The Twentieth Law Commission was constituted through a Government Order with effect from 1st September, 2012. It has a three-year term ending on 31st August, 2015.  The Terms of Reference of the Twentieth Law Commission include the following:

A.  Review/Repeal of obsolete laws: i).    Identify laws which are no longer needed or relevant and can be immediately repealed; Ii) Identify laws which are not in harmony with the existing climate of economic liberalization and need change; iii) Identify laws which otherwise require changes or amendments and to make suggestions for their amendment; iv) Consider in a wider perspective the suggestions for revision/ amendment given by Expert Groups in various Ministries/Departments with a view to coordinating and harmonizing them; v) Consider references made to it by Ministries/ Departments in respect of legislation having bearing on the working of more than one Ministry/Department; vi) Suggest suitable measures for quick redressal of citizens grievances, in the field of law.

B. Law and Poverty: i)   Examine the Laws which affect the poor and carry out post-audit for socio-economic legislations; ii)  Take all such measures as may be necessary to harness law and the legal process in the service of the poor.

C. Keep under review the system of judicial administration to ensure that it is responsive to the reasonable demands of the times and in particular to secure: i) Elimination of delays, speedy clearance of arrears and reduction in costs so as to secure quick and economical disposal of cases without affecting the cardinal principle that decision should be just and fair; ii)  Simplification of procedure to reduce and eliminate technicalities and devices for delay so that it operates not as an end in itself but as a means of achieving justice; iii)  Improvement of standards of all concerned with the administration of justice.

D.  Examine the existing laws in the light of Directive Principles of State Policy and to suggest ways of improvement and reform and also to suggest such legislations as might be necessary to implement the Directive Principles and to attain the objectives set out in the Preamble to the Constitution.

E.  Examine the existing laws with a view for promoting gender equality and suggesting amendments thereto.

F.  Revise the Central Acts of general importance so as to simplify them and to remove anomalies, ambiguities and inequities.

G. Recommend to the Government measure for making the statute book up-to-date by repealing obsolete laws and enactments or parts thereof which have outlived their utility.

H. Consider and to convey to the Government its views on any subject relating to law and judicial administration that may be specifically referred to it by the Government through Ministry of Law and Justice.

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Source: Lawyers Club India

Haider Ajaz 

(Advocate)

PERSON WHO PUBLISHED PORN – DOES NOT ENTITLED TO BE RELEASED ON PROBATION

 In the case of Gita Ram & Anr vs State Of H.P.

JUSTICE P. Sathasivam, and JUSTICE Jagdish Singh Khehar of Supreme Court of India Decided on 1 February, 2013 approved the observations of P & H High court and after considering the nature of the activities and the offence committed by the appellants, refused to show any leniency and to modify the sentence any further. “A similar view was taken by Punjab and Haryana High Court in the case of Bharat Bhushan vs. State of Punjab reported in 1999 (2) RCR (Criminal) 148 refusing to give benefit of probation for exhibiting blue film punishable under Sections 292 and 293 of the IPC. The Court held that: “exhibiting blue film in which man and woman were shown in the act of sexual intercourse to young boys would definitely deprave and corrupt their morals. Their minds are impressionable. On their impressionable minds anything can be imprinted. Things would have been different if that blue film had been exhibited to mature minds. Showing a man and a woman in the act of sexual intercourse tends to appealing to the carnal side of the human nature. Petitioner is the first offender and is a petty shopkeeper, maintaining a family and as such the High Court feel that he should be dealt with leniently in the matter of sentence. He cannot be released on probation of good conduct as the act imputed to him tended to corrupt and deprave the minds of immature and adolescent boys.”

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Haider Ajaz

(Advocate)