I always wanted to have a seat at the big table. Even as a kid I used to want to sit at the adult’s table. There was some fascination I had with the high chairs which were almost within my reach. The exclusivity coupled with the impossible, made me want to explore the world beyond my reach.
This desire manifested professionally, as I grew up. I wanted to be at the big table in the offices. The conference rooms where tough decisions were heatedly debated and agreed upon. I took every opportunity, I had to have my voice and opinion heard. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it did not. I even wrote a screenplay for a short film in day, just because it would be showcased in the Annual Meeting, where I could not go.
I wanted to break the gender roles, so much so that I had once asked my immediate senior in a law firm, to allot tasks to me irrespective of my gender. He reluctantly (or spitefully) agreed. Then I was running around from courtrooms to conferences and offices constantly, apart from doing a lot more work. It was physically strenuous for a while, yet I was happy to have tried denting the glass ceiling, on an individual level.
But, it is not easy to shatter the glass ceiling in real life. Generally, if you want the seat at the big table, you have to cross a lot of hurdles. More so, if you’re a women. It will take you much longer and a lot more effort to get the same result.
No need to believe me. Just, trust the numbers and the statistics.
According to The World Bank report, there has been a decline in the women participation in the labour force from 27.9% in 1990 to 24.5% in 2017. The Global Gender Gap Report 2017 of the World Economic Forum suggests that despite higher education, the labor force participation rate for women in 2017 was 28.5% as compared to 82% for men.
With such skewed numbers, there will be a gap in the pay between men and women. According to the Global Gender Gap Report, women earn 62% of what their male colleagues earn for performing the same work. This is when the gap is closing up!
Both men and women start at the same starting line. In the entry-level jobs, the numbers are usually at par, in both private and public sectors. But something happens by the time they reach middle management levels- there are fewer women than the beginning! Is it because women tend to change jobs more when they get married or have children or that they uproot their lives and move where their significant other lives?
So, it’s a social problem, right?
Then what about the women in the mid-management levels. Why are there so few in the decision making roles? Shouldn’t we ensure that the women who have clearly focused on their competence and ambitions, get the right opportunities? Why are the projects assigned on personal rapports or ‘likability’, instead of competency?
The mindset with respect to work and efficiency is closely associated with the gender roles.
Don’t believe me? Look around.
Where do you see the women in the grand scheme of things?
How many women are there in the decision making positions? Not the token positions. Actual decision making roles which makes a difference in the outcome for any organization.
Don’t take my word. Look at any sector and you’d see that more often than not the men are in charge of the meatier, decision making roles. I was once privy to a hiring manager’s conversation, where he had clearly said that they would rather hire a male employee for a particular position because there is no issue of switching jobs upon marriage or take six months long paid maternity leaves! So, there are organisations which does not want to train and invest time in their female employees because they may choose marriage or children?
How is that fair?
The gender roles are so deeply ingrained that even when we think we have defeated the discrimination, it creeps in.
In several of my interviews, I have been posed certain questions, which I believe will never be posed to a male candidate. I have been asked questions like, when do I intend to get married. A married female friend of mine was asked during an interview, when did she plan on having a baby! The sheer lack of professionalism and sensitivity is appalling.
There is a clear disparity in women participation in the economy. If the same persists, we will be unable to realise the full potential of the labour force. The representation of females in different professional roles is necessary. According to a report, on a global level, 140 women held 12.4% of board seats and just 3.2% of board chairs in 2017. That is an abysmal figure indeed.
But, what can we do to empower women, when even the people who make decisions for a living, the members of the judiciary, have a skewed gender ratio? According to a report of Vidhi Centre For Legal Policy, there is a gender imbalance in the lower courts, with only 27.6% women judges in the lower courts across India!
But is that all we can do? Blame it all on the stereotypes, society and everything else? We cannot expect the mindset of the people and society to change overnight or anytime soon. Then what can women do in order to make themselves indispensable to the organisations?
Women can start building domain knowledge, develop skill sets in the upcoming fields to stand out from the crowd. They can acquire skill sets that make them essential for any organisation.
Being from the legal industry, I am keenly aware that there is an urgent need of qualified lawyers in the evolving industries of technology laws, cyber laws, media laws, etc. If women build their domain knowledge and develop specialised skill sets for these industries, they could shatter the glass ceilings in no time.
There are online courses available for developing practical and theoretical knowledge of such specialised fields of law.
Women have also entered the startup space with brands like Nykaa, Zivame, MobiKwik, Sheroes, Yatra, etc. They have carved their niche in various industries. A study by McKinsey Global Institute stated that India’s GDP could increase anywhere between 16% to 60% by 2025 if more women participated in the workforce.
With at par skill sets, equal opportunities and remuneration in different industries, we can hope to have more women break the so-called social norms, and contribute to the labour force and economy.
Persistence is the key to effect change. Let us all push towards gender equality in the true sense of the word. So that when women bring such great value to table and demand the seat at the big table, they cannot be turned away so easily.
This poem is centuries old. I’d first read it as part of my English syllabus as a kid. At the time, I did not understand the underlying complexity of these simple verses. Now, I know that it shows how the causation principle works. How one thing leads to another and how for want of a tiny, simple thing, the whole kingdom could be at stake.
Success and failure have a thin determining line between them. You can work with dedication, determination and do everything by the book. But sometimes, your success or failure is independent of all that. Sometimes, even the most hard-working, result-oriented, loyal and dedicated employees are shunned by the organisation.
Does that make them a success or a failure?
Think of Tesla CEO Elon Musk being ousted as the Chairman of the company, for a moment. The man with the vision of electric luxury cars to flamethrowers and Martian colonies was voted out of the board of the company he set up! The same thing happened to the late Steve Jobs.
If these trendsetting visionaries were cut off from their own products, in order to ensure that the company does not suffer, then what chance does a regular individual have?
The idea remains to date that the ‘kingdom’ should not be lost for want of a horseshoe nail.
So what can prevent that? A little forethought, preparation and diplomacy, maybe. How do I know this to be true? It has been done. Let me give an example.
Do you know about the first Ethiopia-Italy war?
It was not the first African victory over Western colonizers, but it was the first time such an indigenous African army put a definitive stop to a colonizing nation’s efforts.
The war was based on a bilingual treaty which did not say the same thing in Italian and Amharic. The Italian version did not give the Ethiopians the “significant autonomy” written into the Amharic translation. The former text established an Italian protectorate over Ethiopia, but the Amharic version merely stated that Menelik could contact foreign powers and conduct foreign affairs through Italy if he so chose. Hence, the dispute over the treaty arose.
Italians had hoped that a well-planned attack to get the control would be easy as there were differences in the local African factions. But, to their surprise, they found that Ethiopian ruler Menelik II had gathered the support of some of his traditional enemies, which acted as a united front when the war broke out. UK and France had extended their diplomatic support to Ethiopia, while Russia provided it with military advisers, army training, and the sale of weapons for Ethiopian forces during the war.
The Ethiopian king had not let the divide and rule playbook work, simply by gathering support and asking of his traditional enemies to set aside their differences in order to stop the foreigners.
This simple act of diplomacy coupled with forethought led to the victory of the African nation over a colonizing nation!
The point is that the secret to success is in being prepared. Knowing what you want is only half the battle. The rest of the work requires you to prepare and work towards it.
History is filled with such examples. There have been wars won on sheer preparedness. There is a lesser known theory about why the Battle of Plassey was won by the British. It was their first step towards the British empire in India.
The Nawab’s forces were significant and severely outnumbered the British with over 40,000 troops, war elephants and over 50 cannons, even though one of the Nawab’s divisions was still being commanded by Jafar.
After some cannon engagements early in the day, a thunderstorm struck at noon and lasted about half an hour. Once the downpour started, the British quickly covered their artillery and ammunition with tarpaulins, however, the Nawab’s forces failed to do the same.
The Nawab’s ammunitions were rendered useless, but they moved forth, thinking the British had suffered a similar loss. But, the British artillery was working quite well as the Nawab’s army faced a barrage of artillery fire against them. The Nawab’s forces quickly began a retreat which was instigated by Jafar.
In the end, the stronger army with greater ammunition lost, because they were not prepared to protect the weapons from getting drenched in the rain! The other side prevailed because they brought tarpaulins to cover their weapons!
Success and failure are determined by the smallest details we might find irrelevant. We need to keep an eye out for them.
How can you emulate success on an individual level?
In my limited experience, nothing beats being prepared. Let us take job interviews. I have given way too many interviews for jobs. The drill is that if you have an interview, you read up about the organisation, your resume, your field of interest and some more. You go prepared.
For instance, if there are two candidate interviewing for the position of an associate in a general corporate team of a law firm, they might need to gain domain knowledge of company laws, business laws, commercial transactions, business structuring, etc. Now, one candidate prepares by doing say a business law course, or an M&A law course, researching about the company, the industry,etc. He/She knows how to structure a business, what are the different stages of a transaction, how to prepare a term sheet and on. This candidate has an edge over the other candidate, simply based on thorough preparation.
In an interview, not only your knowledge and experience is tested, but also your personality and composure. Recently in an interview, I had to maintain my nerve and confidence while being questioned simultaneously by two panelists. I grew weary mentally, but I tried not showing it on my face, as I knew they were testing me not only for my responses but for my reactions and composure.
So, the next time, you are thinking about shaping your legal career or simply reinventing it, then give it a thorough thought. Ask yourself questions, get to the bottom of your interest, do your research about the domain, do online courses, master the domain. Leave no stone unturned in your quest to success.
For true success is achieved by the ones, who prepare for the unforeseen obstacles, in time.
In this article, Smita Singh discusses how to enforce a claim for liquidated damages.
Introduction
A Party to a contract suffering breach is entitled to recover from the party in breach, compensation for loss or damage resulting from such breach[1]. Compensation is payable only for such loss or damage in either of the two cases.
Naturally arose in the usual course of things from such breach or
Which the parties knew at the time of making the contract to be likely to result from the breach.
Specifying Liquidated damages
Often, the parties while entering into a contract stipulate named sums payable as compensation, in case of breach by any Party, to the Party suffering breach. The amount so named/quantified is known as liquidated damages. A question arises if in case of breach, party suffering breach is by default entitled to claim the named sum as damages even without having to prove having sustained any actual loss.
Section 74 of the Contract Act
Law governing liquidated damages is embodied in Section 74 of the Contract Act. It provides that when a contract has been broken, if a sum is named in the contract as the amount to be paid in case of such breach, or if the contract contains any other stipulation by way of penalty, the party complaining of the breach is entitled, whether or not actual damage or loss is proved to have been caused thereby, to receive from the party who has broken the contract, reasonable compensation not exceeding the amount so named or the penalty stipulated for.
Deciphering “whether or not actual damage or loss is proved”
The expression “whether or not actual damage or loss is proved to have been caused thereby” have been subject matter of debate. Relying on said expression, it is often suggested that irrespective of whether the party complaining of breach proves that it suffered losses, it is entitled to sum named in the contract as liquidated damages, unless the same is shown to be in the nature of penalty. This blog analyses the authorities on point to demonstrate that only in cases where loss in terms of money is difficult or impossible to prove, that the sum named in the contract can be awarded without insisting for proof of loss, provided further that the same is not in the nature of penalty and represents a genuine pre-estimate of damage or loss.
Fatechand v. Balakrishna Dass
A five Judge Bench of Supreme Court in Fatechand v. Balakrishna Dass,[2]one of the earliest decision on point, held that under section 74 of the Contract Act, even though aggrieved Party is entitled to receive compensation from the Party in breach, whether or not actual damage or loss is proved, only the “proof” of “actual loss or damage” is dispensed. Therefore, award of compensation when as a consequence of the breach no legal injury at all had resulted, was not justified. It was stressed that the compensation for breach of contract can be awarded to make good loss or damage which naturally arose in the course of things or which the parties knew when they made the contract, to be likely to result from the breach.
Maula Bux v. Union of India
In a subsequent decision in Maula Bux v. Union of India[3], a three judge bench of the Supreme Court clarified that the expression “whether or not actual damage or loss is proved to have been caused” is intended to cover class of contracts wherein in case of breach it may be impossible for the court to assess compensation arising from breach. In such class of cases where the court is unable to assess the compensation, the sum named by the parties, if it is regarded as genuine pre-estimate, can be awarded. However, in other cases where compensation in terms of money can be calculated, the party claiming compensation must prove the loss sustained on account of breach of contract.
In a later decision in ONGC Ltd., v. Saw Pipes Ltd.[4], a Division Bench of the Supreme considered a case where the parties did not dispute that the stipulation for liquidated damages in the contract was not by way of penalty. In facts of the said case the Bench concluded that it was difficult to prove exact loss or damage which the party suffered on account of breach. The Bench observed that if the terms of contract stipulating liquidated damages in case of breach of the contract are clear, unless it is held that such estimate of damage/compensation is unreasonable or is by way of penalty, party who committed the breach is required to pay the compensation. It further observed that in every case of breach of contract the person aggrieved by breach is not required to prove actual loss or damage and the court is competent to award reasonable compensation even if no actual damage is proved.
Construction and Design Services v. DDA
Another Division Bench of the Supreme Court in Construction and Design Services v. DDA[5], on facts held that evidence of precise amount of loss may not be possible. The bench without adverting to the ratio in Fatehchand and Maula Bux which were cited, by referring to Saw Pipes only held that in absence of any evidence by the Party in breach that no loss was suffered by the Party complaining of breach, the court has to proceed on guess work as to the quantum of compensation to be allowed in given circumstances. In spite of noticing that the Party suffering breach could have led evidence to show the extent of higher amount paid for getting the work done, proceeded to award half of the amount claimed as reasonable compensation. In said case the Division Bench presumed that delay in execution of work resulted in loss for which, the Party complaining of breach was entitled to reasonable compensation.
Kailashnath Associates v. DDA
In Kailashnath Associates v. DDA[6], on a review of precedents, another Division Bench of the Supreme Court summed up the law of compensation to breach of contract under Section-74 of the Contract Act. It held that under Section-74 damage or loss caused is a pre-condition for applicability of the said provision. The Bench reiterated that the expression “whether or not actual damage or loss is proved to have been caused thereby” does not imply that even where it is possible to prove actual damage or loss, such proof is dispensed with. It is only in cases where damage or loss is difficult or impossible to prove, that liquidated amount named in the contract can be awarded, provided the same represents a genuine pre-estimate of damage or loss. The Bench reiterated the most basic principle on award of damages viz. that compensation can only be given for damage or loss suffered; if no damage or loss is suffered, the law does not provide for a windfall.
Law of burden of Proof
In class of cases involving breach of the contract where it is possible to prove the actual damage/loss sustained on account of breach, the fact whether any damage/loss was actually suffered is likely to be within exclusive possession of the party suffering breach. Under the Law of Evidence[7] when any fact is especially within the knowledge of any person, the burden of proving that fact is upon him. Therefore, the burden of proving that the party complaining of breach, where it is possible to prove the actual damage/loss in terms of money, should rest with such party.
Summing up
The decisions in Fatehchand,Maula Bux and Kailashnath Associates make the position of law as to entitlement of party complaining breach to sum named in the contract by way of liquidated damages clear. In cases where loss in terms of money is difficult or impossible to prove alone and the sum named in contract is not in the nature of penalty, the sum so named, can be awarded as compensation without insisting for proof of loss. In all other cases, the party claiming damages is required to prove the actual loss.
In Saw Pipes also Supreme Court had found that the loss resulting from breach was difficult to prove and the compensation specified was not unreasonable or by way of penalty. Saw Pipes does not appear to lay down that even in cases where it is possible to prove the loss sustained in terms of money; but the Party complaining of breach does not put forth such proof, the court can award the sum named. In Construction and Design Services also in the facts of the case the Division Bench concluded that evidence of precise amount of loss was not possible, though it was also observed that the Party complaining of breach could have led evidence to show kind of losses. The observation suggests that even in cases where a party can prove loss but does not do so, the loss can be presumed. This seems to be in conflict with the ratio in Fatehchand,Maula Bux and Kailashnath Associates.
In any event decisions in Saw Pipes and Construction and Design Services, both rendered by Division Bench could not lay down anything contrary to the ratio laid down by larger Benches in Fatechand and Maula Bux.
This article is written by Shayonee Dasgupta. Shayonee is the Marketing Manager at iPleaders and a former transactional lawyer having worked at law firms like Trilegal and CAM.
Being a lawyer is not an easy job. Whether you are a fresher or have been practising law for a while, I am sure you would agree.
There are loads of cases or transactions to be managed on daily basis. It goes without saying that you need to be productive and manage your time smartly.
These days, smart management involves tools that increase your efficiency and ensure that your time is utilized judiciously. As we are moving towards a paperless future, it is important that we make best use of the resources available online – often called cloud based tools! These are mostly SAAS tools – utility software that are offered as service online.
So let us give you a quick introduction to the most popular productivity tools (which are ABSOLUTELY FREE as long as you have a small team) that you should lay your hands on right now.
Productivity tools are very essential irrespective of lawyers working in big law firms, start-up law firm or in chambers. Even if your law firm or company doesn’t give you such productivity tools, use these anyway to make your work more organized and trackable.
All of them may not be relevant for you, so pick the ones that work best for you after trying them all.
The website of Slack describes it as “a collaboration hub, where the right people and the right information come together, helping everyone get work done.” It is rightly so!
Slack offers you the flexibility of condensing all forms of communication online thereby reducing the need to email your colleagues about every single thing. You can use Slack for multiple things – chatting about a case, sending files, making calls and what not. What is also interesting about Slack is that it allows you to have multiple channels – therefore, you can create several channels for the upcoming or ongoing transactions and use the channel to communicate with your fellow team members.
It integrates with all other apps and services that you and your team already use every day. This enables a smooth flow of information into the stream of conversation and everyone can access it on one platform.
Slack also gives you the ability to direct message the people on your group so that you can have a one-on-one conversation with them. It also makes it extremely easy to search for things on the channel, this will save you a ton of time looking for a discussion you had with a colleague about a particular matter.
Slack featured as one of the preferred apps for lawyers at the 2018 Law +Technology Summit which was hosted by the San Diego Bar Association. The best news is that Slack is available as a mobile app and works on both Android and iOS platforms.
Another productivity tool you can consider using is Flock. It is Indian and a cheaper version of Slack. If you need a paid version as you have more than 6-7 people to collaborate with, then only go for Flock instead of Slack. However, if the small difference in fee doesn’t matter to you, Slack seems to trump Flock.
Flock helps you to organize all your conversations, productivity tools and apps in one place which helps you to focus on your work at hand and save time. It has an interesting feature of ‘polls’ which enables you to get instant ideas on a new project that you are planning to work on. This app also enables you to invite external stakeholders such as your clients to take part in the chats using guest accounts. All in all, it helps to save a lot of time. Flock can be installed without any IT set up and works on a variety of platforms such as Windows, Linux, Mac, Chrome, Android and iOS.
Trello
Trello is an extremely powerful productivity tool which enables you to manage your time efficiently. Trello is a Pinterest equivalent in the workplace. The interface is such that you can create boards for your projects which enables a visualization of the project that you are collaborating on. You can provide your inputs on any project by inserting comments or attachments and virtually interacting with your colleagues. As the Trello website quite succinctly puts it, “no matter where you are, Trello stays in sync across all of your devices. Collaborate with your team anywhere, from sitting on the bus to sitting on the beach.”
Boomerang
Managing your calendar is a big challenge faced if you are a lawyer. Boomerang comes to your rescue. Boomerang Calendar lives where your schedule does- inside your email. There are several interesting features of Boomerang.
It schedules your meetings in a single email
Highlights dates and time with your status
Shares your availability with one click
Schedules group meetings and
Automatically updates the availability in real time
All in all – a pretty neat tool to have when you are juggling too many commitments!
The only downside is that it works only on Gmail currently. But given its benefits, it is definitely worth a shot!
TaskCoach
A lawyer without a to-do list would be a fish out of water! Sounds familiar right? This is where TaskCoach can step in and make your life simpler. This app which is an open source software allows you to create to-do lists and lets you add notes linked to the tasks, calculate the cost and also track the amount of time spent on a particular task. If you are using the desktop version, tasks can be created by dragging an e-mail message from a mail user agent such as Outlook, Thunderbird, Claws Mail, Apple Mail onto a task viewer. Tasks, notes and categories can be printed from your desktop or phone. You can also down the iOS app which syncs seamlessly with the desktop version.
The merger between Uber and Grab is one that has been fraught with regulatory difficulties for since its incipient stages and has been met with much scepticism. However, prior to these regulatory roadblocks the CEO of Uber said of the impending merger – “this transaction now puts us in a position to compete with real focus and weight in the core markets where we operate” whilst also stating that mergers would not be the way forward in other parts of the world where Uber actively operates, or indeed the singular manoeuvre for strengthening the company. This article aims to study why this deal called for a regulatory intervention, and why the proposed transaction was viewed as being problematic by the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore.
Why Uber decided to expand its operations to Singapore
Uber first ventured into Singapore in a bid to establish an Asian presence in 2013. Singapore was a most likely choice when it came to strategic expansion- given that it is a stable and dynamic economy, with a very encouraging investment climate. The fact that Singapore has been quite advanced technologically in comparison with other Asian economies has further fortified this decision, seeing as Uber aimed to leverage this market on the strength of its use of technology.
A Smidge About Grab
Grab Taxi Holdings Pvt. Ltd, identified a Grab, is Uber’s main rival in Southeast Asia. It provides ride-hailing services, as well as bike hiring and food delivery.
What does the much talked-about transaction between Uber and Grab look like?
Essentially, Uber’s business in Singapore, would be sold to Grab- in return for which Uber would possess a 27.5% stake in Grab. Additionally, Uber C.E.O. Dara Khosrowshahi would be absorbed into Grab’s Board. Grab would enjoy 80 percent of the market share, after having engulfed Uber’s potentialities.
Why did Uber sell its South Asian operations to Grab?
Uber sold its operations to Grab in order to cut back on and scale down its losses-whilst streamlining its business in core markets. It would be more prudent for Uber to play in markets where it is confident of its success, and work on strengths even if that means pulling out of one or two markets.
As per the Media Publication of 5th July 2018 on the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore, some of the important dates surrounding the transaction are –
26th March 2018 – The transaction was formally announced on this date, and the transfer of assets was set into motion with effect from this date. Grab declared , on its website that it would be “acquiring the South Asian operations” of Uber.
27th March 2018- A probe was launched swiftly on the heels of the announcement of the said transaction by the Competition and Consumer Commission. This investigation of the transaction would consider the transaction as a merger within the scope of Competition laws of the country.
What the law says
Section 54 of Singapore’s Competition Act proscribes any merger that would result in a substantial lessening of competition in any goods or services market in Singapore.
As per the guidelines issued by the Competition Commission of Singapore, there is a Substantial Lessening Competition (SLC) test which is used to determine whether there has been a considerable lessening of competition. All mergers are not deemed as being harmful to competition. Some mergers may boost competition, some others may be competitively neutral. It is a question of degree that decides extent of harm.
The threshold for determination of such lessening is not one that is qualitatively or quantitatively defined, and is decided on a case-to-case basis. However, the fact that there has been an obvious reduction in competition, to the detriment of the potential customer would be a good indicator.
What did the provisional findings of the CCCS prognosticate?
The Competition and Consumer Commission opined that were it not for this transaction, Uber would not have made an exit in the near future. The way forward then, might have been for the company to merge with any other company in Southeast Asia, which are not direct competitors of Uber.
For instance, there would have been scope to work with ComfortDelGro (the largest taxi operator in Singapore) in order to introduce Uberflash, but this was thwarted by the current transaction.
The Uberflash deal was an endeavour to provide quicker service, given that riders would be able to book either an Uber car, or a ComfortDelGro taxi, whichever would be closest to their location.
By consolidating with ComfortDelGro, Uber would be able to service clients better and have more cars to access the users of their services.
Grab had also fostered a similar relationship with five other taxi operating companies, by introducing JustGrab ten months prior to the birth of Uberflash.
By fusing Uber and Grab’s operations, there has been a considerable fettering of competition, giving Grab increased market access, unimpeded by potential competitors.
Grab had already executed exclusivity contracts with rental partners, and some of its drivers – essentially implying that they would not be allowed to be engaged professionally with any of Grab’s competitors. This is a highly restrictive practice, and would obviously have pejorative effects on competition, and be an obvious hindrance to entrants to the market.
These exclusivity constraints would seem insuperable obstructions, given that any new players in the market would have to incur significant costs, and dish out a huge amount of their startup capital in order to get trained drivers to join them.
A lack of competition would also mean that Grab could leverage the situation, and increase fares by a substantial amount. The presence of competition in a market ensures that a price-ceiling, without which ride-hailing fares could be raised beyond a reasonable limit. Customers would be forced to pay any amount in order to avail of the service.
The quality of service would also be more easily compromised, given that there would be no chance of the consumer switching over to an alternative service provider.
As the Competition Commission said, the transaction could not be said to promise any major positive impact, that would outweigh the harm posed to competition.
What were the Interim Measures Directions issued by the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore?
The Interim Measures Directions (IMD) issued to both Uber and Grab, were drawn up in order to keep the market “open and contestable.” These were as follows-
The Competition Commission ensured that the new drivers engaging with Grab are not restrained by an exclusivity agreement. Drivers would not be held back by lock-in periods, or burdened with termination fees if they chose to terminate their contractual relationship with Grab.
Grab would be expected to dissolve all of its exclusivity arrangements with taxi fleets given that there are no exclusivity arrangements between taxi fleets and ride- hailing platforms in Singapore.
Grab would not be allowed to access any of Uber’s operational data- in terms of trip history, to further enhance its position. Access to driver and rider information, however, would not be restricted.
The fares would have to be pegged at the pre-transactional figures. Driver commission rates would also have to remain intact.
The Parties to the transaction would be required to clearly express to the drivers, vide email- that migrating to Grab’s services would be discretionary, at the option of the concerned driver.
An independent trustee would be nominated in order to oversee compliance with the Intermediate. The parties selected Smith and Williamson LLP as trustee, and the Competition Commission subsequently approved of the nomination.
The Court directed that any driver who was to rent a vehicle from Lion City Rental company, should be free to render their services to any ride-hailing service providers.
What was the quantum of fines imposed by the Competition Commission on the concerned parties to the transaction?
Grab has been fined $6.4 million, whereas a sum of $6.58 million has been imposed on Uber.
Is the penalty as harsh a blow as could possibly have been dealt?
Despite the penalty figures seeming arbitrary, one can assume that the fine will not bring Grab to its knees financially, given that it had already raised a whopping 6 Billion from keen investors , among whom are Uber’s investors – Softbank Group, and Didi Chuxing (Uber’s main competitor in China). The undoing of the transaction itself would have cost either party far more dearly.
How Grab responded to the penalty
Grab reacted by saying that the Competition Commission has defined the idea of competition in a very narrow fashion, and that they are not the sole player in the transport market, and therefore could not been seen as monopolizing the market completely merely because they were one of the more visible contenders in the market.
Grab’s Singapore head Lim Kelly Jay said in a statement that they did not transgress competition laws, knowingly nor negligently. Yet, he said that they would abide by the remedies prescribed by the Competition Commission.
This article is written by Rohit Guru of Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, Punjab. The article discusses what to expect and how to crack CLAT 2019.
Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) is the most-sought after law entrance examination for admission into the prestigious National Law Universities (NLUs) and other law colleges. It acts as a gateway to 20 National Law Universities with Dharmashastra National Law University, Jabalpur (MDPNLU) being the latest addition to the list and many other private law colleges. It is an online examination conducted by the NLUs on a rotational basis with their dates of establishment acting as the base for such rotations. CLAT 2019 is being conducted by National Law University Odisha, Cuttack (NLUO).
This culminates the introduction of CLAT as a gateway to the top law schools and how it’s conducted by various NLUs. Now I want to address the elephant in the room which haunts every single CLAT aspirant. How to plan for the upcoming CLAT examination. This is the biggest headache every applicant gets when he decides to appear for this unpredictable monster. And it’s obvious given the unstructured and the unlimited scope of the syllabus regarding majority of the topics added to the uncertainties hovering around this incalculable objective massacre. Before going into the details of the various problems a CLAT expectant faces in his/her journey and how to deal and plan their work, let’s look into major areas which this examination tests.
CLAT is primarily concerned with 5 major sections which are explained below:
1.Legal aptitude and knowledge
This is the most significant section of the entire CLAT examination paper as in cases where two candidates have the same total scores, the marks scored in this section are used as a tie-breaker. They constitute for 50 questions of the entire share of 200. This section essentially tests a candidate’s interest and understanding towards the subject of law, research aptitude, problem analysing and problem solving ability. This includes legal propositions and legal principles followed by a set of facts to which the respective legal principle has to be applied. Some of the legal propositions and facts may not be true in real sense but they have to be assumed or accepted as real statements and answered accordingly. This section also includes legal knowledge and facts which examine the examinee’s current and static legal GK’s hold and how well versed they are with them.
2. General knowledge
This by far is the toughest section of CLAT paper and again comprises of 50 questions. I call this the toughest because of its unlimited scope regarding the questions it can pose. General knowledge includes everything which comes under the sky. It is divided into two sub-headings: static general knowledge and current affairs. Static deals with everything that has happened in the past and current affairs deal with the recent happenings all around the world. This deadly combo makes this section as the most intimidating and daunting compared to all other sections of the paper. However, this subject can also be called the make or break section of the paper as a student with a fairly good hold over GK can score a lot of marks within 10 minutes and improve his performance exponentially.
3. English including comprehension
This section examines the applicant’s expertise in English. This section consists of 40 marks with a good variety of questions ranging from comprehension passages to grammar. In the comprehension part candidates will be questioned on their understanding and interpretation of the passage and its principal theme, facts of the passage, meaning of the words used therein, etc. The grammar can be tested in terms of finding grammatical errors, filling the blanks with appropriate words, etc. There are questions on antonyms, synonyms, and along with that idioms and phrases are also tested. Like General knowledge, grammar too has a very wide scope which can be tested in the CLAT examination.
4. Logical reasoning
The objective of this section is to test the candidate’s rationality and problem solving ability. This, like English comprises of 40 questions. It is divided into two major heads: analytical reasoning and verbal reasoning. Analytical reasoning examines the examinee’s ability to identify patterns, codes, logical links between the terms, finding out the odd one out, blood relations, analogies and many such areas. This is considered by many as their strength and many score well in this section. Now comes the tricky part. Verbal reasoning which is comparatively complicated as it involves a good hold over the English language to crack the various statements given in the questions. This includes statements, assumptions and conclusions, critical reasoning and related topics. This in comparison to analytical reasoning is less in weightage but a candidate who wants to get an excellent rank has to work hard in this area too.
5. Mathematics
Not enough words can be used to explain the misconceptions students generally have regarding this particular section. Many believe that math is something they cannot handle and as a result a majority of the CLAT takers completely ignore this section and hamper their own chances of making into the top law schools. Let me make it clear. CLAT only tests elementary mathematics, the maths we have been practicing till class 10 and nothing more than that. A few topics like probability, permutations and combinations don’t come under the purview of elementary mathematics but with a few hours of hard work even they can be mastered. The major topics covered under this are percentages, profits and losses, speed, time and distance. Let us all keep this is in mind that the applicants who make a cut for the top law schools score marks in this section too and instead of ignoring it completely, equal importance should be given for the preparation of this area. It consists of 20 questions and every single mark you score counts.
6 Major challenges that a Law aspirant faces while preparing for CLAT and the various ways to overcome them.
Now let us turn our attention towards the various problems a CLAT applicant faces. As a former CLAT taker, I can put myself into the shoes of the anxious applicants who are not sure how to go about the planning and preparation for CLAT 2019 and the various dilemmas one faces at this stage. These problems can be narrowed down to 6 major issues and have been discussed below. Let us understand them one by one and then try to overcome each one of those.
1. Never-ending and unceasing syllabus
The first and foremost problem a candidate faces is the proper determination of the CLAT syllabus. Unlike other entrance examinations CLAT doesn’t come with a straightforward and clear cut syllabus. The topics are highly subjective to each person’s understanding due to the limitless scope of various topics like the entire section of general knowledge, the grammar area of English, the legal knowledge and legal facts questioned and also the various topics tested under verbal reasoning. This causes a huge uproar as many candidates start reading irrelevant information which won’t be tested and hence fall short on those topics which are actually important and form a major chunk of the question paper. This leads to double work, mismanagement of time as candidates spend their valuable time preparing unimportant or less important topics instead of using it judiciously on the necessary areas.
2. Time management
The second problem which an aspirant faces, is regarding the management of time. This is a major issue as CLAT is all about proper time management and getting maximum output through maximum accuracy. So in simple terms a person has to mark the correct answers within 2 hours and get the maximum result with least possible negatives. To achieve this there must be proper time management. However, many of the CLAT takers cannot manage their time till the D-Day and end up hampering their exams. To successfully crack CLAT an applicant must master the skill of time management.
3. The uncertainty of the question paper
The third problem regarding this examination is the uncertainty of the questions that come in it. CLAT is the most unpredictable exam and comes with many surprises. For instance, let’s take the 2017 CLAT paper. Every year CLAT had tested static GK for around 15 marks which is quite important. But in 2017 not a single question was tested on the same except for one which too was related to current affairs. And in the same paper, the Maths section was monopolised with questions from time and work and speed, time and distance even when there are so many topics that can be tested on. And such uncertainties will lead to more doubts in the subsequent years. If a student followed the 2017 pattern and completely focused on just current affairs, he/she would have screwed up their GK section because CLAT 2018 consisted of around 15 static questions and also there was a good mix of all the topics in the math section and not just two major ones.
The uncertainties also extend to the difficulty level of the question paper. There are no fixed standards to ascertain and maintain the difficulty level and hence it varies from year to year. For example, the CLAT 2015 paper is considered to be the toughest paper of all time with CAT level questions coming in it. And just the next year, CLAT 2016 is considered to be the easiest paper with the topper scoring the all-time highest in CLAT- 174.5. And there will always be a section which will be the toughest among all 5.
4. Inability to determine strengths and weaknesses
The fourth problem is that there are many students who cannot determine their strengths and weaknesses. CLAT tests five sections and each student would have some or the other section as his/her strength and some section which would be his/her kryptonite. It is very important to ascertain these as only after that he/she would be able to work on the weak areas and convert their strong sections into their fortes. However, due to various reasons many applicants fail to realise their potential and fail in determining their key areas.
5. Lack of proper guidance
The fifth problem deals with guidance. Many of the test takers don’t get any proper guidance during their preparation and as a result are misguided and walk in the wrong direction. And by the time they realise this, it is too late for them. They cannot undo their lost time and efforts and fail miserably in their attempt to crack CLAT. There are many who don’t go to coaching classes and depend on themselves. There is no one to guide them and they remain in the dark. The people in the remote areas do not get to know the real competition which exists in this examination due to lack of guidance and exposure. The lack of resources also piles more misery on such masses.
6. Aimlessness and depression
There will always come a time where an aspirant is surrounded by aimlessness and depression. This too forms a part of the preparation. As a CLAT taker myself, I can relate to the time where I was lost during the preparation. Everything seemed worthless and I questioned myself thousands of times if I chose the correct career path. Every time I focussed on CLAT a single thought kept on bugging me. If I was doing the right thing by ignoring my CBSE boards. I was mentally constrained. And let me make something clear by saying this. It is completely normal to feel this way. It is normal to feel mentally disturbed because you are at a crossroad of your life. For many it is their career which depends on this exam. We can never judge how important this examination is to someone. There are many candidates who are trying to balance both their boards and CLAT. This in itself is a daunting task for many. But this is the choice one has made and he/she has to play by it. There are no excuses if one wants to succeed. All I can say to this is that one has to stay mentally strong with all their grit and determination. The willpower has to be strong if one wants to compete in the modern world as there is no place for slack and excuses.
These were the main problems a CLAT aspirant faces in his/her preparation. Now it’s time for us to analyse these hindrances and plan our methods to overcome them.
1. Tackling the problem of the never-ending syllabus
Starting with the problem of unlimited and unstructured syllabus. It is impossible for anyone to ascertain the proper syllabus. Hence at best we can narrow down its scope. It can be done with the thorough analysis of the past year question papers. There are many sources claiming the syllabus of CLAT, however, the previous year question papers are the most authentic source for limiting the vast and undefined syllabus. The previous year question papers can show the pattern and the types of questions CLAT tests. For example, a general idea can be drawn on the various topics which comes under the GK section especially the static part of it. We can also see the various questions regarding English grammar which CLAT generally asks. Even questions pertaining to verbal reasoning can be deduced to a certain extent and the applicants can focus on those areas. In short, THOROUGHLY ANALYSE THE PREVIOUS YEAR QUESTIONS.
2. Mastering the skill of time management
Second comes the management of time. Without mastering this no one crack CLAT. It is simply impossible. The best way to learn this skill is to appear as many mocks as possible. This is the most efficient way to determine how much time you spend on a given section and work on it accordingly. You grow with the number of mocks you take. It is as simple as that. It is important to appear mocks because it is only then that you would be able to time your entire paper efficiently and attempt it accurately. With practise you start allotting a fixed time to a particular section. For example, with practise I could attempt the entire GK section in under 10 minutes and the legal section within 35 minutes. Also to increase one’s efficiency, one has to increase his/her reading skills. This is possible with the daily reading of the newspapers. With time your speed will increase and you can read your questions pretty quickly and answer them.
There is another aspect to managing your time. That is managing your life and your time for CLAT preparation. There are many who are balancing both their 12th boards and CLAT. So it is very important to make a timetable or a study schedule because after that you can easily prioritise your workload and handle it proficiently. A fixed number of hours can be devoted to both your board preparation and CLAT and nothing would be neglected. And for the people who are focusing on just CLAT can make a timetable to allot fixed hours on preparation for the various topics. I understand many a times making a schedule becomes a formality as no one sticks to it. It just becomes impossible to follow. However, if one, with the correct mentality, follows the schedule or the timetable he is destined for unparalleled success.
3. Addressing the uncertainties
The next problem is the uncertainty of the questions asked. Well regarding this nothing can be done. All I can say is be prepared with every relevant topic thoroughly so that no matter what the question is you can answer it. I will again ask you to go through the previous year question papers and get a good idea of the range of questions that CLAT can spring up with. I will suggest the same with the difficulty of the paper. Be prepared for the worst case scenario and luck too matters a lot. Uncertainty has a become a characteristic feature of CLAT and hence it is always better to be prepared for anything and everything.
4. Determining strengths and weaknesses
The next problem I discussed was the inability of the students to determine their strengths and weaknesses. The best way to ascertain this is to appear mocks on a regular basis and then do a SWOT analysis. This thorough analysis will help a candidate to understand his strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Only then he/she can work on them accordingly. This will give a deeper understanding as to what a person lacks, where one can improve and what his forte could be. With this SWOT analysis an aspirant can formulate a specific way to attempt the question paper as he would be knowing which section to attempt first so that he can bag in maximum marks. With proper time management and SWOT analysis a candidate can come up with his own ideal format to attempt the paper.
5. How not to get misguided
The next issue deals with guidance. Many of the aspirants join a coaching center to get proper directions. However, there are many who can’t do so for various reasons. But it doesn’t mean that they have to live in the dark. With the advent and advancement of technology a person without joining a coaching too can crack CLAT. There are many free online resources a person can have access to like Lawoctopus, ClatGyan, StudyIQ, Gktoday and thousands of such resources along with many educational videos on Youtube. All a person requires is the determination to succeed and proper motivation. If a person has these with him, trust me, no one can stop him from attaining success.
6. Keeping yourself motivated
The last affair I discussed was the period when a student becomes aimless and starts feeling depressed. This is the time where one need hard-core motivation. Anything which asks him to keep striving for his/her goal. Like in my case I used to follow social media pages like Luxury quotes and millionaire vibes to keep myself motivated. I used to read success stories of various footballers like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. I lived in Hyderabad and it was a normal sight to see the big luxury cars rolling past me. My wish to give my parents a better life, visit Camp Nou and own luxury cars kept me motivated. Similarly, every person has some dream or passion or motivation which keeps on motivating him to strive harder. He/ she just has to identify them and work accordingly. Whenever one feels down, he/she should have these motivating factors in their minds which will stimulate them and light their inner fire to succeed again.
This concludes the various ways and means to overcome the hindrances a CLAT taker faces. Here is the preparation plan in pointers and the strong points have been reiterated to make it clearer.
Ascertain the syllabus
Prepare a timetable or a study schedule
For CLAT and board takers, fix the number of hours for each of the two exams and prepare accordingly.
For just CLAT focused candidates, make a schedule to study the various sections of the entrance and distribute it proportionately.
Give regular mocks to manage your time.
Do a proper SWOT analysis to determine the strengths and weaknesses.
Formulate an ideal format to attempt the question paper
Get proper guidance from any way possible.
Always be motivated to work hard no matter how you feel
Read the newspaper daily to increase your reading speed
Get your doubts, no matter how small, cleared.
Make GK notes daily without any excuses
Give proper time and importance to every section.
Be prepared for the worst possible scenario
Work smart. CLAT is a multi-objective examination where with a bit of common sense you can mark a correct answer.
Follow proper books and materials which are relevant (a brief mention has been made at the end of the article)
And finally…..PRACTICE, PRACTICE AND PRACTICE. After all practice makes a man perfect.
Uncertainties the only certainty of CLAT
This part of the article is essentially written to warn the CLAT aspirants about the horrendous turns this unpredictable exam can take and transform from a national level examination into a complete massacre. The uncertainties I am mentioning here are the problems which mar CLAT every year.
CLAT 2018 is the worst ever CLAT paper affected by gross mismanagement and technical glitches. Computers shutting down, candidates losing their valuable time and many cheating all across the country are just a few of the problems faced. These problems completely marred the sanctity of a national level examination endangering the career of many CLAT aspirants. The condition was so bad that petitions were filed in the High courts and the Supreme court to re-conduct the examination. This wasn’t the first time something erroneous happened with CLAT.
CLAT 2017 proved to be a perfect example of all that is desperately wrong with our testing system. Riddled with badly designed, erroneous questions many of which had more than one correct answer.
In CLAT 2015 there were cases filed in Allahabad High Court alleging discrepancies in CLAT exam process.
In CLAT 2013 too Kerala High Court issued notice to HNLU regarding petitions alleging discrepancies in the allotment list.
It’s the same script every year. We will find erroneous questions which are present in the main paper year after year ironically on a rotational basis with no known improvements. Having technical issues leads to complete chaos in the exam hall which disturbs a focused mind which is very essential for cracking CLAT. Panic creeps in and destroys the very factor which is fundamental to crack CLAT: CALMNESS. This is not expected from a National level entrance examination. But to be honest the CLAT students cannot do anything about it other than to hope that everything goes well. The best we can do is to be prepared for the worst. And by worst I mean cases going to the Supreme court and also probably a re-examination. CLAT is highly unpredictable and anything can happen. So be mentally strong to face anything of that sort. NEVER panic no matter what. Panic will completely demolish your morale. Keep your heart stableand never lose your cool. This will help you get through the worst case scenarios possible in an examination hall.
“A champion is defined not by their wins but by how they can recover when they fall” –Serena Williams
Recent trend in CLAT
CLAT is increasingly becoming more competitive with the number of test takers increasing every year. People are becoming more aware about law as a career. Hence, to win against so many for so less number of seats one has to become competitive, hard-working, focussed and keep in mind what has been said in the article. And don’t just work hard. Work smart wherever required. You will surely go a long way.
Books and materials to follow
English: Wren & Martin. Read newspaper daily to increase your reading speed which will help in answering comprehensions and also help in expanding your vocabulary.
Legal aptitude and Knowledge: Go through previous year question papers, appear mocks and analyse the questions there. Online sites like ClatGyan provide free material. And if one has joined a coaching center, follow the materials they provide. Practice as many questions as possible especially the ones from the past year papers.
Logical reasoning: Verbal and Non-verbal reasoning by R.S.Aggarwal ( yes that thick book)
Mathematics: Quantitative Aptitude by R.S.Aggarwal
General Knowledge: For current affairs one has to read the newspaper daily. Also follow online sources like GKtoday.in, affairs cloud, etc.
For static GK you can refer to Pearson’s GK manual
In the end, I would say that enjoy this process of preparation. You will notice that you have grown as a human in terms of maturity and knowledge by the time you appear CLAT. And this will help you advance in your future endeavours. This preparation should be a willing action and not a compulsion. Only then you can succeed in true sense. I will conclude this article by quoting a few words from my favourite footballer which shows how important hard-work is in achieving success and I wish you lads all the best for your dreams and CLAT 2019.
For many of you English, logical reasoning, Maths, GK are much more manageable than this one large chunk of the exam: legal aptitude! It can be broken down mostly into two parts: legal reasoning and legal GK. Both can give a tough time to even the most diligent and ambitious students, especially because they are taught so unsystematically.
Sometimes you might find the correct answers to legal reasoning questions completely unpredictable, even after reading tons of legal aptitude modules and answering a truckload of mock tests dished out by coaching centers.
Same goes for legal GK, you study a lot and pray that a few things from inside what you read actually comes and not all of it is a huge waste of time.
“You have to fight to reach your dream. You have to sacrifice and work hard for it.”
“It took me 17 years and 114 days to become an overnight success.”
In this article, Anmol Singla of RGNUL discusses how to design a cover letter which helps you grabbing the best internships.
Internships are an essential part of a law student’s life. Their importance has been explained by Shrey Lodha in this article.
A Cover Letter is a basic requirement at the time of applying for an internship. Cover letters are one page documents that you send with your resume or CV when applying for a job or an internship. It is an important document which is used for the purposes listed below.
Introduce yourself to the hiring manager
Describe your skill set in context of the position you are applying for
Fill in places your resume cannot describe
Further explain other aspects of your resume
By hitting those 4 aspects, your letter can be a convincing and powerful companion to a well written resume or CV. It is looked at and examined carefully. A well written cover letter could be the difference between being able to grab an opportunity or allowing it to slip right past you.
How to write a cover letter
Contact Information: The header of every professional cover letter for a job application should include the following:
Your name
Your telephone number
Your email address
The date
The name of the hiring manager and their professional title
The name and address of the company to which you’re applying for
Optionally, you can add:
Your professional title
Your home address
Links to your professional websites
Your social media accounts (only LinkedIn and Twitter)
Your city of residence
Introduction: The first paragraph holds the key. This is your chance to grab the recruiters attention and stand out from the crowd. It should not consist of usual phrases like Dear Sir/Madam or to whom it may concern. It should focus on conveying the position or role you are looking for and how you came to know about this opportunity. It should also comprise of some basic information about yourself like the course you are pursuing, areas of expertise and interest, career goals and how they align with the vision of the place you are applying for.
Advertise your skills: the second paragraph should correspond directly to how you are a perfect fit for the company. It has to be based upon the requirements of the place you are applying for. It is important to know about the company and its objectives. Words and phrases from the requirements of the place can be included in cover letters. You have to convince the hiring manager about how you fit into the company and make your contribution to help the company achieve its objectives. It has to focus upon the specific skill-set possessed by you that helps the company.
Conclusion: This is referred to as the Call to Action paragraph. It focuses upon asking for a follow-up. You have to pose questions like:
Can we discuss how I can help?
I have attached my resume along. When can I expect a call for an interview?
You should end the cover letter by using a proper sign off. Sample cover letter sign-offs:
Thank you,
Best regards,
Kind regards,
Sincerely,
With best regards.
Some of the major places that law students intern at, during their university studies and what to keep in mind while drafting a cover letter for them is discussed below.
Law Firm
Explain what stage are you at in your career.
Include the location you want to intern at and how you came to know about the firm.
Why do you want to work at the law firm? This should convey your interest about working in the specific field practised by the organization. You must include any activities (like workshops, courses, etc.) that serve as a proof of your interest.
What makes you suitable for the law firm? Include your skills like communication, drafting, knowledge of law, etc. that will be useful to the organization. Back the skills by stating your achievements.
End the letter by referring the recruiter to your CV and stating your availability for any interview or assessment that may follow.
Litigation
Why you want to intern with the lawyer or judge? Explain how you came to know about them and why do you want to do it.
Do some background research on the person and cite any incident which you could relate to.
Emphasise the skills you possess that would aid the lawyer.
Show your eagerness to learn and acquire knowledge
End the letter by referring the recruiter to your CV and stating your availability for any interview or assessment that may follow.
Legal Research Intern
Demonstrate sensitivity towards the issues they focus upon and tell about any related event you have attended
Cite your specific skills. Give references to any research you have already done.
Demonstrate writing skills. Tell about any competitions like Essays, Moot memos, Judgement Writings, etc.
End the letter by referring the recruiter to your CV and stating your availability for any interview or assessment that may follow.
NGO
Address the selection criteria. Look up the requirements of the organization and address them.
Highlight any community and volunteer work.
Demonstrate an understanding of the work
Show awareness about the challenges
End the letter by referring the recruiter to your CV and stating your availability for any interview or assessment that may follow.
Public Sector Units
Show awareness about the work they do.
Explain why you want this opportunity and how did you come to know about it.
Be aware of the role of a legal intern and demonstrate the skill-set you possess
End the letter by referring the recruiter to your CV and stating your availability for any interview or assessment that may follow.
Some common cover letter mistakes are stated below
Giving too much emphasis on your personal skills such as Music, Book Reading etc.
Sharing irrelevant details.
Highlighting your insecurities instead of talents
Explaining just your resume
Not backing up claims by examples
Writing a lengthy letter
TYPOS and GRAMMATICAL ERRORS (CARDINAL SINS)
Keeping the above format in mind and the specific instructions for every place draft a cover letter comprising of all the required details and make it presentable. Make sure you don’t make any of the mistakes listed above. Follow this, be confident, and secure your dream internship.
How to ace your internships
To be successful in securing and excelling in a corporate internship, you need to plan and prepare well ahead. We observed the process and journey of securing a corporate law internship and converting one into a job offer for hundreds of law students and then identified the elements that worked and that didn’t work. This program is developed to enable you to acquire those skills before you even walk into a corporate internship. You will be able to build yourself into a person whom a law firm seeks out.
This course is designed to enable law students to tackle two major challenges: secure corporate internships (at corporate law firms or companies) and perform extraordinarily well so that you can get a job offer. Typical ways are securing a PPO (pre-placement offer), a job interview or a call back for a subsequent internship (with a sense that it may convert into a job offer).
In this article, Priyanshi Pandey discusses Screw ups in CLAT since 2009.
Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) was started in the year 2008 and since then every year this examination takes place. It is an integrated test for admission to 19 National Law Universities (NLU) in India, being conducted on a rotational basis by NLUs in order of their establishment.
Before CLAT, autonomous law schools held their own separate entrance tests, requiring the candidates to appear separately for each of these tests putting an unreasonable burden on applicants.
The scheduled date of these tests sometimes overlapped with other entrance tests, that caused students to miss tests and lose opportunities.
Thus, in 2006, each national law school faced a legal challenge for running its own admission test. Hence the introduction of CLAT took place in the year 2008, under the supervision of then The Chief Justice of India (CJI) K.G. Balakrishnan.
He directed the Union of India to consult with the National Law Universities to conduct a common entrance test.
Like many other competitive exams, CLAT also has its own share of flaws which resulted in many controversies and Public Interest Litigations (PIL) with each passing year.
Chronological Journey of glitches in CLAT
CLAT, 2009
The convenor of the exam was Nalsar University of Law, Hyderabad, who was supposed to conduct it on scheduled day but the exam got postponed after a suspected leak of question papers when authorities found locked steel boxes with the test material tampered while it was in transit. Initially, CLAT used to be a paper-pen based exam, conducted in offline mode, so tampering with the material could be the possibility so the university had to reschedule.
Then the next year came CLAT, 2010. It was conducted by National Law Institute University, Bhopal. And unlike the previous year, it was free from any bugs or difficulties and the appearing students were satisfied with the applications and procedures of CLAT.
CLAT, 2011
Each year the convening college has to revitalize the model anew and figure out how to be at par to hold a national level competitive exam. Some gets successful in doing so whereas some just face a disastrous fall down. In the year 2011, the expectations were the same from the convenor, National Law University, Jodhpur to do justice with the examination, but when the candidates appeared for it, they faced few problems like –
The question paper was lengthy in comparison to the time limit provided of two hours.
Twelve questions of various section had underlined answers due to the negligence of the organizers. This could have been easily avoided by making the question paper foolproof.
CLAT, 2012
As if CLAT, 2011 wasn’t sufficient enough, 2012 also touched the par limit of glitches in CLAT. It was conducted by National Law University, Jodhpur. The exam was marred by several controversies such as –
Candidates alleged that the several questions were set out of syllabus and the pattern was entirely changed than the pre-declared pattern.
The official committee also admitted 2 errors in the question-answer key as a result of petitions being filed by the aggrieved students in different High Courts.
The first allotment list was also withdrawn from the website the very next day after it was put up due to the errors it contained regarding ranks. Few days later, fresh allotment list was put up back to the website.
CLAT, 2013
This year yet again the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) got involved in controversy for discrepancies in the allotment of candidates. Hidayatullah National Law University, Raipur (HNLU) had received a notice by Justice K. Surendra Mohan, Kerala High Court for a writ petition filed by four candidates for a stay of the allotment process, and rectification of the discrepancies. In the allotment list, candidates have been wrongly allotted Chanakya National Law University (CNLU), Patna instead of their preferred University that was National University of Advanced Legal Studies (NUALS), Cochin and this was happened despite them having a higher rank to join NUALS
CLAT, 2014
This year the exam was conducted by Gujarat National Law University (GNLU). Soon after the results were declared, the list was withdrawn immediately from the website due to technical discrepancies. A clarification had been given on the CLAT website regarding withdrawal of the list stating that there was a mismatch of identification between the barcode sticker on the front page and candidate’s sticker on the back page in a few cases, the GNLU decided to relook over all the OMR answer sheets manually, which were approximately 32,000. This resulted in petitions being filed seeking a stay to restrain the CLAT Committee from conducting the counseling of CLAT based on the revised results and demanding a fresh examination.
CLAT, 2015
CLAT went online in the year 2015 and the convenor of CLAT, 2015, RMLNLU Lucknow strived to make the exam “problem free, controversy free, litigation-free” but like the rest of the years, candidates faced various problems such as –
The question paper contained typographical mistakes which could have been easily avoided by the organizers.
The authority scrapped 2 questions completely due to the ambiguity it contained.
6 questions had wrong answers in the model answer key released by the committee which clearly demonstrates that the expert committee did not vet the question paper and answer key at all.
Paper was mismatched with the actual standard as prescribed in the official website, few questions were taken from old cat papers.
Wrong allocation list: the software used by CLAT had some serious software glitch. Likewise in 2013, many students who had scored enough marks to secure a place in the merit list of their most preferred NLUs, were allotted the less preferred ones.
CLAT, 2016
Last year CLAT, 2015 saw an unrivalled mess. It was so bad that an article dubbed it as Clataclysm. CLAT, 2016, was conducted by RGNUL, Patiala and despite their huge efforts to curb the prevailing errors in CLAT, the candidates faced various problems –
Technical error: A day after opening of the application forms, it went unavailable for 24 hours which created unrest in students.
The committee provided notice in the official website for changing an answer in the model answer key due to the typographical error in the question.
1 question got cancelled completely by the authority and the performance was evaluated out of 199 questions rather than 200.
After results were declared, the authority postponed the allotment list of candidates due to uncertain reasons.
CLAT, 2017
And just like earlier years, CLAT 2017 also simply failed to deliver better results. CLAT 2017 had many errors. What should have been a test of one’s intellectual capabilities was sadly reduced to a test of one’s luck. Students wasted their time in identifying ambiguous questions and taking a call on whether to answer them or not. The convenor CNLU, Patna faced a writ petition in Delhi high court for its negligent behaviour in framing the question paper. Following were the defects found –
4 erroneous questions were scrapped by the committee after evaluation.
The committee admitted 3 wrong answers that were provided in the official answer key.
The syllabus states that “General knowledge will be tested on the general awareness including static general knowledge”, but no questions were asked based on static general knowledge in the paper.
Adding more to these, 1 question in the mathematics section was found completely out of syllabus and was certainly not within the elementary mathematics taught up to the 10th standard (as was prescribed in the syllabus).
Apart from the errors in question paper, there were technical glitches also faced by candidates such as the test screen blurring out or allegedly not capturing all responses marked by candidates in many cases.
Furthermore, Only two days were granted to the candidates for reviewing and thoroughly analysing the paper to file objections, in case any. This short time period wasn’t sufficient enough for the students.
CLAT, 2018
Right from its inception, CLAT has faced various litigations because of the flaws in conducting the exam. CLAT, 2018 which was conducted by NUALS, Kochi was undoubtedly the worst of the lot. Various candidates moved to the Supreme Court for re-examination and many pleas were filed regarding the enquiry into the affairs of CLAT.
Following are the ruins of CLAT, 2018 –
Nearly 14 centres faced technical glitches. Some computers shutdown automatically which created panic amongst the students but immediately candidates were given the time, they had lost.
At some places, the test started with blank screens yet the timer was running, and to overcome this situation, candidates were told to restart their computers in order to resume the test which took nearly ten minutes of their test timer.
The computers kept hanging in between the exam meanwhile the test timers continued to run.
Some centres faced the problem of power cut during the examination.
Biometric Verifications were slow.
There were discrepancies in the test time allotted to candidates due to technical glitches.
Infrastructural deficiencies were also a part of the problem as there was miscommunication regarding centre names or locations, mis allotment of seats and lack of proper ventilation.
At some places, pen and paper were not provided as required and no practice test was conducted as the centres were running late.
In some cases, mouses were not working properly which resulted in sometimes skipping questions and at times not saving answers.
The whole issue pertaining to CLAT deserves a fresh judicial reconsideration to look into the issue. A judicial notice of successive failure of CLAT needs to be taken notice of. If the issues are let as it is, future aspirants will keep on suffering year after year. The calamitous of CLAT 2018 must stop this year and must not be carried forward. A very famous quote states that justice must not only be done but also seem to have been done. Hopefully, justice will prevail.
Sexual assault, sexual harassment, sexual violence.
We have been reading a lot about how women have been subjected to sexual harassment, abuse, violence across industries, especially in the entertainment and media industry.
There have been accounts of female actors, directors, audience members, regular people who have suffered at the hands of certain male celebrities. Innumerous women have come out on social media to share their stories of sexual harassment.
The reactions to these stories have been mixed. Some believe the alleged victims and some support the alleged perpetrators. The arguments in favour of the accused men vary from “I know this guy, he’s not like that” to “why did you not come forward back then, why now?”
The air around these scandals are marred with disbelief towards the women for they lack evidence or they have come forward years after the incident took place.
The reaction pattern is quite similar to the #MeToo movement in the USA. It started with Harvey Weinstein, Bill Cosby, Bill O’Reilly, Louis C.K, etc. From actors, producers to comedians, newscasters, politicians, judges, even the President of USA has been accused of sexual harassment by victimised women!
The initial reaction was of disbelief as it involved powerful and popular celebrities. People could not believe or did not want to, that these popular personalities were capable of such crimes and allegations. So naturally, the victims were put on the defence. The onus fell on the accusers and victims to prove their stories.
Imagine, being the victim of a crime and then being asked to not only having to retell and relive your crippling story. Then being told that unless you get evidence, you are lying for publicity or money? The mindset of the society at large is that if a person is good or decent before them, they believe that they are the same for everyone.
Truth of the matter is that perpetrators choose their victims carefully. They will oppress the ones they perceive to be weaker. Someone who would not tell on them due to financial, social or other disparity in status. They will not hit the ones who will call them out or hit them back.
Recently, in the controversial confirmation hearing of now Supreme Court jurist, Judge Brett Michael Kavanaugh, at least three victims came forward with sexual assault allegations. Of them, Christine Margaret Blasey Ford, professor of psychology at Palo Alto University and a research psychologist at the Stanford University School of Medicine, gave a sworn testimony before the confirmation committee. She gave a moving and detailed account of the assault by Kavanaugh. Yet, after a hasty FBI investigation, Kavanaugh got a confirmation as a judge of the Supreme Court. The victim was openly mocked by President Trump in a rally!
This is why the victims take years to come forward. Not only are they met with disbelief, they are mocked for their ordeal. Their morality, character, career, personal lives are put on a media trial, where people get to weigh in and comment.
Closer to home in India, we have actor Tanushree Dutta accusing actor Nana Patekar of sexual harassment. She was sent legal notices by the veteran actor Nana Patekar and director Vivek Agnihotri. Then we have actor Sandhya Mridul coming out in support of director Vinita Nanda, while sharing her encounter of sexual harassment at the hands of veteran actor Alok Nath. The comedians like Utsav Chakraborty, Varun Grover, Gursimran Khamba, Kanan Gill have been accused of varying degrees of sexual harassment.
To be clear these are all allegations at this point, corroborated by the victims account. Most of the accused like Gursimran Khamba has stepped aside from the organisation of AIB. Utsav Chakraborty has accepted that his behaviour has been unwarranted on social media and has been condemned and distanced by AIB and other comedians from the industry.
But is this enough? What do the victim of sexual assault need to do in order to get justice for ordeal?
The law in India protects women from sexual harassment under the provisions of the Indian Penal Code.
Under S. 354A of IPC, any unwanted physical or verbal advances which could outrage the modesty of a woman, is punishable by fine and/or rigorous imprisonment.
Under S. 354B of IPC, any assault or use of criminal force against a woman with the intention of disrobing her is punishable by 3-7 years of imprisonment and/or fine.
Voyeurism is punishable under S. 354C, stalking under S. 354 D, rape under S.375.
There are specific legislation for sexual harassment of women at workplace. You can read about duties of employers towards employees here.
With the victims speaking out against their oppressors, the time for change seems to be upon us. At long last the victims are breaking their silence and holding their oppressors accountable for their crimes. But calling them out on social media will only expose them and maybe force them off their celebrity status. It is not justice to have them resign from their position of power. True justice would be for them to realise that oppressing women or forcing them is not acceptable. There should be a due process of law involved. Knowledge is power. But we must know how to wield such knowledge.
The biggest lacuna that I find in the present legal system, is the gender inequality. Both the IPC, POSH looks at sexual harassment or violence against women alone. As I’ve mentioned earlier, the oppressors choose their victims carefully. Sometimes the men are oppressed too.
But they do not have any clear cut legislation protecting them so. If we want true justice to be served, we need for the oppressed men to come out and feel safe enough to share their stories without the fear of being shunned, judged or mocked.
Until the victims have the safe space to come forward and be heard, the oppressors will have a free reign. Their biggest strength comes from the silence and shame that the victims are subjected to. The fact that they will never be held accountable for their actions, for no one will dare come out as the victim.
I sincerely hope that we the people, become more sensitive towards the victims, and the legal system provide timely justice to the ones who believe in the system. The hope that our support goes beyond using hashtags and social media, and we speak out against any act of sexual violence and harassment. Many of us, even if not the oppressors, are the silent spectators or the enablers of such heinous acts. We must come together in support of the victim, and speak out whenever we see such crimes or offences.
In this article, Priyanshi Pandey discusses the policies around Paternity Leave in India.
At times, it is necessary for employees to avail themselves of leave in order to fulfil their parental duties. Parental leave benefits set out the entitlements for parents of children under the relevant age and how an organisation must accommodate those individuals. The Government of India has enacted the Maternity Benefits Act,1961 where women are entitled to certain benefits, perks, facilities to raise their children whereas there is no legislation for paternity benefits.Being a country where our family is of first and foremost importance to us, it is an utter necessity to provide reasonable amount of maternity as well as paternity leaves.
The proposition of Paternity Benefit Bill, 2017
In 2017, After the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017, a new bill is known as Paternity Benefit Bill had been proposed by Rajeev Satav, MP from Maharashtra, in the Lok Sabha in September for the benefits of fathers of newborns.The bill states that all workers, including those in the unorganised and private sector, get paternity leave of fifteen days extendable up to three months. It emphasized on equal parental benefits for both the mother and the father.
According to his words, “Child care is the joint responsibility of both parents. They must devote time to the newborn to ensure its proper well-being”.
Government Sector Employees: Paternity Leave
There are certain provisions for employees working in government sector to possess benefits of paternity leaves. The Central Government in 1999, by notification under Central Civil Services (Leave) Rule 551 (A) made provisions for paternity leave –
for a male Central Government employee (including an apprentice and probationer)
with less than two surviving children
for a period of 15 days to take care of his wife and new born child.
He can avail this leave 15 days before or within 6 months from the date of delivery of child.
If such leave is not availed within the period, it shall be treated as lapsed.
He shall be paid leave salary equal to the pay last drawn immediately before proceeding on leave.
Case Law: Paternity Leave in Private Schools
In the year 2009, in Chander Mohan jain v. N.K Bagrodia Public School , Chander mohan Jain, a private school teacher moved to the High Court of Delhi challenging the rejection of his paternity leave application and deduction of his salary by N K Bagrodia Public School for taking leave to take care of his wife and the newly born child. Despite there being no legislation, New Delhi High Court in this case held that all male employees of unaided recognised private schools were entitled to paternity leave. The court then directed the school to refund the deducted amount to Chander mohan Jain. Therefore, providing relief to private sector teachers.
Private Sector Employees: Paternity Leave
While paternity leave is sanctioned for government employees, there isn’t any such law that mandates private sectors to provide the paternity leaves to its employees. Therefore, paternity leave is open to interpretation by individual companies. Some of the major multinational companies have already taken steps towards implementing the paternity leave through their HR policies. Some of them are –
Microsoft : 12 weeks of Paternity Leave.
Infosys : 5 days of Paternity Leave.
Facebook : 17 weeks of Paternity Leave.
Starbucks : 12 weeks of Paternity Leave.
TCS : 15 days of Paternity Leave.
Oracle : 5 days of Paternity Leave
Deloitte : 16 weeks of Paternity Leave.
UNICEF: Paternity Leaves
UNICEF had the provision of four weeks paid paternity leaves to its male employees but now it has been extended to sixteen weeks across all its offices worldwide. With this modernized approach, UNICEF has become the first United Nations Agency to extend such leave beyond the standard four weeks. This step has been taken to give adequate time to fathers and their child.
Paternity Benefit Bill, 2017
After the introduction of Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017, Rajeev Satav proposed a Paternity Benefit Bill in September 2017 in Lok Sabha, to protect the paternity rights of working men. Some of the major aspects that are mentioned in the bill are – (Be it enacted by the Parliament )
Applicability
It extends to the whole of India. The Act shall be applicable to all the establishments like factory, mine, plantation etc either belonging to the Government of India or private sectors. The provisions include all the men of government sector and private sector, also including those who are self-employed or working in an unorganised sector where less than ten persons are employed.
Payment
Every employee shall be entitled to receive the paternity benefit with the same rate as the average daily wage payable to him on days which he has worked or the minimum rate of wage fixed or revised under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 or ten rupees whichever is the highest for the period of his paternity leave.
Working Duration
A man will be entitled to the benefit only if he has actually worked in the establishment from whom he claims paternity benefit for a period not less than eighty days in the twelve months immediately preceding the expected date of delivery of child. The qualifying period of eighty days will not be applicable to a man who has recently immigrated into the state and whose wife was pregnant at the time of immigration.
Duration of Leave
Any man with less than two surviving children will be entitled to receive paternity benefit for the period of fifteen days, of which not more than seven days shall precede the date of expected delivery. It will be availed upto three months from the date of delivery of child. This Act also provides provisions for exceptional cases like –
If the man dies immediately following the date of delivery of his child for which he is entitled to the paternity benefit, leaving behind the child, the employer will be liable for providing the benefit for entire paternity period to the nominee of that man.
If the child also dies during the paternity period, then the employer is liable to provide paternity benefit for the days up to the death of the child, including the date of death (child).
Parental Benefit Scheme
The Central Government under this Act will introduce a scheme with proper guidelines to be known as the Parental benefit Scheme for providing paternity benefit to every man.
Parental Scheme Benefit Fund
Under this scheme, the government will create a Fund to be known as the Parental Benefit Scheme Fund for carrying out the purposes of paternity benefits. All employees (irrespective of gender), employers and the Central Government would contribute to the Fund in such ratio as may be prescribed. The Fund then will be utilised to meet the costs related to paternity benefit under this Act.
Advance Payment of Salary
The amount under paternity benefit for the period preceding the date of expected delivery of child to man, will be paid in advance by the employer to employee on production of proof that his wife is expecting a child, and the amount due for the subsequent period should be paid to the employee within forty eight hours of production of proof.
No dismissal
Whenever a man takes leave in accordance with the provisions of this Act, it will be held unlawful for his employer to discharge or dismiss him from the establishment during or on account of such absence or to give notice of discharge or dismissal on such a day that the notice will expire.
Inspecting Officer
The appropriate government by giving notification in the Official Gazette may appoint officers as it thinks fit to be a Inspector for meeting the objectives of this Act. The local limits of the jurisdiction within which they will exercise their functions will be defined by the governing authority. Every Inspector appointed under this Act is deemed to be a public servant within the meaning of section 21 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860.
Non-fulfilment of Benefit
If an employer fails to pay any amount of paternity benefit to a man entitled under this Act, he will be punished with imprisonment, not less than three months but may extend to one year and with fine which will not be less than twenty thousand rupees but may extend to fifty thousand rupees.
Miscarriage
In case of miscarriage, the Act provides that the employee after production of such proofis entitled to wages at the rate of paternity benefit for the period of seven days immediately following the day of the miscarriage.
Adoption
According to the provisions of this Act, every man who legally adopts a child below the age of three months or the legal husband of the commissioning mother, will be entitled to paternity benefit for a period of fifteen days from the date the child is handed over to the adopting father or legal husband of the commissioning mother.
Objective: Paternity Benefit Bill, 2017
The main aim of this bill is to provide benefit to natural parent, adoptive parent, or a person acting in loco parentis to the relevant child. If it is enacted by the Parliament, it will benefit the population of 32 crore men in the labour force (NSSO, 2012 data), including those in the unorganised sector. Introduction of paternity leave will ensure that the mother gets some support from the father during and after childbirth, who is not forced to return to the workforce in order to generate income. At present, the Central employees under the All India and Central Civil Services Rules can avail a paid fifteen day paternity leave which puts India in the top fourteen countries to provide the highest maternity leave and by providing a fifteen days paid paternity leave to all the sectors, India will be in top thirteen countries to provide the highest paternity leave and other associated benefits.
Paternity Leave Policies around the World
India comes among 92 countries in the world without any national provisions for paid paternity leave. Nonetheless having the most infant mortality rate, countries like India, Nigeria, China don’t have any provisions of paternity leave to entitle any benefit to fathers. Comparatively, countries with higher infant population like Brazil and most of the European countries have the best parental leave policies.
Norway: The statutory parental leave is either 49 weeks at 100% salary or 59 weeks at 80% salary to be divided between both parents but with some constraints. The father is entitled to take 2 weeks paid leave when the child is born and must take additional 14 weeks of paid leave before the child turns 3 years of age. The remaining weeks to use are up to the parents how they want to use it.
Iceland: Both the parents have an independent right to parental leave of three months and also have a joint right to three additional months, which may be either taken by one of the parents or equally divided between them.
Sweden: Parents are provided the policy of getting 480 days (16 months)of paid parental leave at 80% of their salary. They are also entitled to 180 bonus days in case of twins. Swedish fathers must take at least three of those 16 months. The days do not expire till the time the child reaches age of 8.
Spain: Fathers are entitled to 30 days paid leave to do justice with fatherhood and bond with the new born child at 100% of covered pay.
In this article, Priyanship Pandey discusses the provision of Iddat under Muslim Personal Law.
Introduction
Iddah or Iddat is an Arabic term which means period of waiting and is observed by Muslim women. It is a period of chastity which a Muslim woman is bound to observe after the dissolution of her marriage due to the death of her husband or by divorce before she can lawfully marry again. The reason behind observing iddat period is to ascertain whether the woman is pregnant or not and to acknowledge the certainty of paternity.
Iddat period varies in different cases
a divorced woman observes it for 3 months whereas a woman whose husband has died observes it for four lunar months and ten days after the death of her husband, whether the marriage was consummated or not.
Iddat period lasts for divorced woman who is pregnant till the time she gives birth or miscarriage.
If a woman is pregnant at the time of husband’s death, she observes iddat for a complete year consisting nine months for pregnancy and three months of iddat period.
This period is considered as a balance by some Islamic scholars by providing sufficient time to mourn for the death of her husband and also protects the widow from criticism that she might be subjected for remarrying too quickly after her husband’s death. This period mainly helps in determining whether a woman is pregnant or not, since four and a half months is half the duration of a normal pregnancy if there is any. In Muslim law, husband shall make a will in favor of their wives for the provision of one year’s residence and maintenance, unless the wives leave the house out of their own free will.
(Al-Baqarah 2: 234 – 235) of Quran enlists the following things about Iddah in the form of verses –
The observing period for a widow is four months and ten days,
During this period, a woman cannot marry another man
If a person wants to marry a widow or divorced woman, he may declare his intentions in a socially acceptable manner while iddat period is running, there shouldn’t be any secret commitment of marriage with the widow.
Once the period of four months and ten days has completed, a marriage contract can be finalized containing time and place for marriage rituals.
Place to observe Iddah
It is compulsory to observe iddat period in the same house where the woman was residing permanently at the time of her husband’s death or in case of dissolution of marriage.
If a woman receives the news of her husband’s demise while she was on journey, she is supposed to immediately return to the place of her residence to observe her iddah, provided that her home is within the reach not beyond, else she could return back upon reaching the destination.
A woman who was sent to her parental home should return to the home of her husband, upon her husband’s demise to complete her Iddat there because according to the rule, Iddat is completed in the house which is the permanent residence of a wife. Her parents’ house is not considered as permanent residence.
Rules of Iddat
Certain things are forbidden to muslim women during the period of iddat. In Muslim Personal Law, the term ‘Haraam’ is used for strictly prohibited things such as –
It is Haraam upon a woman to indulge into the activities of beautifying herself through makeups or any other ways during iddat.
She is forbidden to wear silken clothes or other gaudy dresses. No particular colour is specified to wear during this period like black or white or any such, just a simple and plain clothing would suffice.
She is not allowed to leave house till the completion of iddat period unless there is some emergency like requirement of basic needs or medical illness to such extent that it is not possible to arrange for a house-call by a physician.
She is obliged to mourn for her husband by praying to Allah (God) and supplicating Allah-Subhanahu for her husband and for herself.
There is no restriction of seeing the moon or the mirror as some people in the name of islam try to enforce these restraints.
Commencement of Iddah/Iddat
Iddah period starts right after the death of husband or after a divorce for muslim wife. Despite of her ignorance to observe iddah, it would not be held due or affected in anyway.
If she didn’t receive the news on time of her husband’s demise but got to know about it within the prescribed iddah period, then she is obliged to observe it for the remaining days of iddat period.
In case if she receives the news at later stage when iddah period has already passed, she is not bound to experience it. The time counts from the time of husband’s demise or the time when divorce is given.
Prohibition of marriage during Iddat
The Quran permits only the socially acceptable manner to declare the intentions of marrying a woman observing iddat, all the other direct proposals or secret commitments are strictly prohibited. Once the completion of iddah period, the women can lawfully enter into a contract of second marriage. A marriage done during the period of iddah is not recognised in the islamic law and considered as void.
Staying at home during Iddat
During the iddah period, the wife gets deprived of everything outside the premise of her deceased husband’s house. She is not allowed ( Haraam) to leave her house if she has sufficient resources of basic needs.
She is allowed to leave the house only in case if she is the sole breadwinner with no other source of income to maintain her livelihood. She is permitted to work during the day time only and must return home before the nightfall.
She is not required to confine herself to a certain room or stay silent, she may carry out household works or occupy herself in virtuous acts or praying to Allah.
She is allowed to leave the house for any emergency medical treatment accompanied by Mehram (a male member of the family whom she cannot marry under Islamic Law).
She is forbidden from attending any funerals or visit the ill though they might be close relatives or immediate neighbours.
She is allowed to shift from deceased husband’s house in case there are no proper accommodations inside the house, or the remaining heirs do not permit her to use the deceased’s property or she faces troubles in maintaining the purdah required under Islam.
If the wife is unable to pay for the rented house, she can shift to the nearest safe place available where she must complete her Iddah period.
In case she is the sole occupant of the house where iddah has to be passed but fear of being alone is to that extent that might cause mental illness or any defects, she is allowed to shift to another house. Reasonable amount of fear does not permit to shift from the house.
If the house is in dilapidated condition and there is a risk that it might mall down or collapse any time soon or it is not unsecured which might put a threat to woman’s chastity or honour or life, she is allowed to shift from that place. But as soon as the cause of risk is removed, she is obliged to return to her house.
In all the instances mentioned above, utmost care must be taken like –
The cause must be true and genuine
She must move to the nearest available safe place.
After changing the house once, she may not move to another place before completion of her iddah without a valid reason.
Maintenance during Iddat
During the iddah period, a muslim wife is not entitled to claim maintenance out of her husband’s estate as she is herself an heir to it. This is because the liability of maintaining the wife lies only on the husband and not on the other heirs. If she did not receive her dower (Mehr) nor did she renounces it, she would be entitled to receive it as a first charge from his estate.
Rules for the observance of Iddat
There are two verses in the Quran regarding the observance of ‘iddah of death’ known as ayahs. These ayahs signify the importance of iddah –
According to (AI.Baqarah – 234) –
‘and (as for) those of you who die and leave wives behind, such women should keep themselves in waiting for four months and ten days’
For pregnant women, according to (Al-Talaaq – 4) –
‘And the pregnant women, their prescribed time is that they lay down their burden’
In this article, Kashish Khattar discusses All you need to know about Fintech in India. Kashish is a 4th-year student at Amity Law School, Delhi. This article is a discussion revolving around the FinTech space and the regulations surrounding them.
Introduction
You would have heard of Berkshire Hathaway’s investment into Paytm recently. According to a Livemint article, it was Warren Buffett’s first investment in the country. Berkshire invested Rs 2500 Cr in the parent company of Paytm i.e One97 Communications Ltd, this gives the company a valuation of USD 10-12 billion. Further, the Indian fintech software market is forecasted to touch USD 2.4 billion by 2020 from a current USD 1.2 billion, as per NASSCOM. The transaction value in the FinTech space was recorded around USD 33 billion in 2016 and is expected to shoot up to USD 73 billion by 2020. According to an EY report, India is just behind China in the adoption of FinTech services in the world. The adoption rates are through the roof, the EY report states that the sample in the survey done by this particular report had used 2 FinTech services in the last 6 months.
According to a livemint article, the FinTech Industry in India can be divided into 12 broad categories and they can be listed as follows:
Alternative Funding;
Banking Tech;
Crowdfunding;
Consumer Finance;
Cryptocurrency;
Enterprise Finance;
Foreign Exchange;
Insurance Tech;
Investment Tech;
Mobile Wallets;
Payments; and
Software for Institutional Investor.
Reasons for rapid growth
The FinTech industry’s rapid growth can be attributed to the holy trinity of India’s Fintech revolution: The Banks, Government and Startups. Let us now analyse all these three aspects and how they helped in the exponential growth of the FinTech space in India.
Government – The Central government’s push towards a cashless digital economy through its various policy initiatives has helped in laying a strong foundation for the FinTech sector in the economy. These factors can be listed as follows:
India Stack – With the introduction of India Stack, which is basically a set of APIs that allows governments, businesses, startups and developers to utilise a unique digital infrastructure. The government has tried to introduce a world-class technological framework to the startup sphere, innovators and MNCs which would, in turn, accelerate the growth of the FinTech space in the country. The scenario is just like the policy support given by the government in the late 1990s to the Telecom industry which took paramount importance in many reform initiatives of those times.
Startup India – The startup India program as launched by the Centre includes various tax exemptions, simplification of regulations, reforms to the patent regime, mentorship and a substantial increase in government funding.
Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana – Financial inclusion drives such as the PMJDY is regarded as the world’s biggest financial inclusion program which had a target to get basic banking activities to the underserved section of the Indian population.
Adoption of Aadhar – You would know about RBI’s KYC norms involving Aadhar based biometric authentication which will make opening a bank account to be a hassle-free task.
National Payments Council of India Initiatives or the NPCI – With the introduction of Unified Payment Interface or UPI, the NPCI has tapped into the exponential growth of the mobile phones and the Jio revolution and in turn, reduced the cost of infrastructure for the FinTech startups. The smartphone user base which is expected to touch about 500 million users by 2020, from about 150 million users in 2016. This aggressive growth will ensure a bigger digital banking footprint in the economy. The NPCI has come up with numerous innovative initiatives which give a solid base for a digitally enable FinTech sector in the country. Which gives the startups in this space, to leverage this time and the numerous opportunities to grow and be adopted as mainstream banking activities. Services such as Digital KYC, BHIM (Bharat Interface for Money), Bharat Bill Payments Scheme (BBPS), Aadhar Enabled Payment System (AEPS) are all trying to ease the process of digital payments for all classes of people in the Indian society.
Public Relations – Centre has also marketed the whole digital monetary system well. Space still requires regulations for various FinTech industries such as the P2P transactions, crowdfunding and data security. PM Modi’s formula of IT + IT = IT (Indian Talent + Information Technology = India Tomorrow) can be seen as the government’s stand on the digitisation of every sector including the finance field.
Effects of Demonetisation – The FinTech space got a major boost due to the sudden announcement of Rs. 500 and 1000 notes were demonetized by the Prime minister on 8th Nov 2016. The e-payments and e-wallet system saw a boost of 500% in terms of traffic in the first few months. Government data states that 1.7 mn transactions were done by these e-wallet services in the first month after the announcement of demonetisation. Approximately, 46% of the FinTech space are involved in the payment services business.
Regulators – The four main regulators who will be taking care of the FinTech space will be the Reserve Bank of India, Securities and Exchange Board of India, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and finally, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA).
Startups – India’s Fintech space got it’s much-needed attention in 2016 and has been growing ever since the Payments sector got a boost after the Demonetization. Alternate lending also has been enjoying a good growth rate because of a number of unbanked, new to the bank, underbanked consumers. But the FinTech system still has a lot of scope for growth, let us look at the various sectors in the startup sphere of the FinTech space:
Payments – The digital payments sector in the country is expected to grow to USD 500 billion by 2020, representing around 15% of the GDP. It is estimated that 80% of the economic transactions in India still happens through cash, whereas it is 21% for developed economies. This leaves a significant room for growth. There was a rapid growth in transactions in the year 2016-2017 and has grown ever since. Mobile payments applications such as wallets, P2P transfer applications and mobile points of sale are as popular as ever and they have a strong user adoption rate among the tech-savvy youth of the country. Some players in the FinTech space are taking advantage of different and innovative policy initiatives such as Payments Banks. Basically, a model of a modern bank to serve the unserved which blends together both mobile services and the traditional banking services.
Alternative Lending – Alternative Lending is said to the second most funded and one of the fastest growing sectors in the Indian FinTech space. As of October 2016, alternate lending in India had received USD 199 million in funding across 33 deals.
P2P lending has emerged to be the most sought out startup idea of the FinTech system. P2P has the characteristics of everything FinTech solution – it is quick, cheap and meant for the greater good. After the 2008 financial crisis, banks have become risk-averse, loans have got tougher to obtain and the banks have altered their own operations. P2P is the solution to this problem, the major contributors to this growth are the unmet demand loans by MSMEs with a gap of roughly USD 200 billion in credit supply. It is a really inexpensive model that runs on a sense of social responsibility. P2P is here to stay and has all the prerequisites to grow exponentially in the Indian society.
InsurTech – The insurance sector in India has not been the easiest sector to accept innovative products, but with the customers asking for a bang for their buck and an increased access to technology-enabled efficiencies. The insurance companies are not looking out to incorporate technologies and products that improve basic factors of customer engagement, retention and improving the complete customer lifecycle. Internet-of-Things or IOT has gained quite some reputation in the InsurTech sector, which is powered by extensive customer data. Linking of data of health and wellness can help the insurers to predict the know-hows of customer behaviour and lead to an increase in their earnings through better pricing strategies.
Wealth Management – The asset and wealth management will witness a wave of automation, and so will India. The technological advancements have to lead to a better product offering. The rise of e-payments, e-KYC through Aadhar and online fund transactions, online statements of investments have made the future of an automated wealth management sector quite bright. India’s young and largely under-banked population has been largely absent from the stock and the bond markets and this present quite a room for improvement for players in this sector. Furthermore, SEBI and RBI have encouraged simplicity. All in all, this has lead to quite a lot of users being guided towards formal investments.
Banking Technology – Financial Institution has been investing heavily in emerging technologies to improve the customer experience, their internal operations etc. Globally, it can be seen that large commercial banks are investing in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Blockchain startups for both back office and front office purposes.
Blockchain Tech – Blockchain based system offer vastly improved trust and transparency and due to its regulatory uses, the adoption of Blockchain or Distributed Ledger Technology (“DLT”) in the Indian banking sector is also finding some traction and support from the regulatory bodies. DLT in India presently has only reached the proof of concept stage, where a commercial bank is trying it out to enforce a smart contract, its application in remittances and trade finance. DLTs are overall attractive from a regulatory and audit point of view. The three main applications of the DLT in the coming future could be: (i) Efficient payments transfer infra; (ii) Enforcement of smart contracts; and (iii) Digital Identity i.e. a tamper-proof history of a transaction and gives the users an option of choosing who to give access to their personal data.
AI and ML – Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) and Machine Learning (“ML”) are all set to disrupt the Banking sector in India in the near future. AI can be explained as a bigger and broader concept which relates to machines doing activities that we consider to be smart, while MI is one of the particular applications of AI which basically learns from the data given to it to make predictions and inferences that can be used by the user. AI can have a lot of applications in the banking sector ranging from customer acquisition, KYC and Onboarding, Accounts and Loans, Customer Service, Brand Management, to Risk and Credit etc.
Most of the sectors in the Fintech space are not yet regulated. Sectors such as P2P lending and payments systems are some of the sectors that need to be regulated on an urgent basis because they handle public money. P2P lending does not fall under the regulatory framework of the RBI. Therefore, these alternative lending entities have quite an edge over banks and financial institutions who charge higher rates of interest and demand a collateral.
However, the alternative lending platforms do fall under the Usurious Loans Act, 1918. This Act has given the power to the courts in India to intervene in cases where the interest rates are really high, which basically keeps a check on unfair rates of interest. Further, almost 22 states have different and separate acts on money lending to be complied with. Furthermore, the platforms also need to have a license from the state under the Act to carry out the business of lending.
RBI has gone ahead and regulated with some sectors of the Fintech, which mainly include the e-wallets and payment services. These entities have to be registered with the RBI under the Payment and Settlements Act, 2007. The RBI has made sure to have stringent rules and regulations regarding these. This ensures the security of the information given and the public money at large, which are basically moved around through the means of the FinTech space. Apart from these, there has not been much of regulation in any of the other sectors of the FinTech space. This does put an opportunity in the hands of the regulator and the businesses to try different approaches.
The RBI has as per its press release of 14th July 2016, set up Inter-regulatory Working Group on FinTech and Digital Banking to review and appropriately reorient the regulatory framework and respond to the dynamics of the rapidly evolving Fin Tech scenario.
Various security risks faced by the FinTech space
There are a number of risks faced by the Fintech Companies at present. There are various new avenues that have come up due to the evolution of the FinTech revolution. You must have heard of the all the famous line that data is the new oil. The most valuable thing in the world is not a fossil fuel, but sensitive information collected by apps from its users. The more FinTech revolution spreads nationwide, the more will be the amount that they deal with. As more people go online, things like data ubiquity, data security are becoming a major challenge for the FinTech industry. A tremendous amount of data is gathered by the FinTech space, which is then analysed to gather insight into more of customer buying patterns and retention strategies. This includes a lot of personal data, including financial, health, and social data of a user. Protection of this kind of data is the need of the hour. Seamless data is another avenue which helps survive the dynamics of the partnerships formed between Financial Institutions and the Fintech space. They have provided the users with better products at better prices and have improved the existing products and services also. Another challenge that is faced by the FinTech space can be of data ownership. This kind of a risk must be overcome through a combination that consists of both technical and legal measures. Furthermore, trying to manage customer access to various solutions and services becomes a lot more complicated for the ever-increasing customer base. Options of cyber security concepts like data labelling, selective data sharing and identity-aware data shareholding can be solutions to various risk-related problems for this space.
FinTech Companies v. Financial Institutions
The Fintech Space has really evolved over time with the emergence of multiple mature players especially in the payments segment and consumers giving preference to new innovative products that offer different financial services. This puts the FinTech companies in direct competition with the traditional large bank and financial corporations. The ecosystem by no doubt has shifted from a traditional competitive edge where the financial institutions introduce their own products and services to compete to more of a collaborative one. Where both the startups are looking for growth with the help of Large institutions who have been in this game for very long. And open innovation and new ideas can be adopted by big institutions. The financial institutions have realised over time that collaboration with the FinTech industry is more an effective strategy than competing with them. These institutions now even embrace the disruption that this space is creating in the financial world.
Basically, institutions are trying to blend existing technologies offered by the FinTech space in their operations or are developing their own innovative solutions in partnership with various startups. Partnering with a FinTech startup allows the institution to effectively outsource their research and development and develop services that can be introduced and brought to the market quickly. Which in term also makes them gain access to different technologies that can build solutions for bigger and better problems they may face in the future. The FinTech scene benefits from this partnership with the access to the large customer base of financial institutions as well as their management and deployment capabilities. Collaboration makes sense for startups as they have to compete in the marketplace where a lot of similar services are already being offered by major telecom or public sector players.
The methods by which Indian financial institutions use while working with new FinTech technologies can be summarised as follows:
(i) Supplementary Offering – Use of new or existing subsidiaries to offer new services;
(ii) Partnerships – where both the parties develop solutions together;
(iii) Acquisitions – of various startups and enhancing their value;
(iv) Incubation – Where you run startup programs to incubate companies relevant to the market they are involved in;
(v) Investing – Setting up of venture funds to invest in the FinTech space; and
(vi) Bridge makers – Bridging the gap between demand and supply by curating the best business ventures to meet the needs of the market.
The road to collaboration is not an easy one, there are a couple of hurdles that have to bridged by both the parties to come up to a suitable solution. The obstacles arise from the new challenging the old, the different business models of both the businesses, a difference of the culture between both the places. Institutions have a problem because of their slow adoption of change and innovation, their slow acceptance to disruption in the market. The difference also arises in terms of goals where FinTech wants to bring in new levels of efficiency in what they do, whereas Institutions have to go slow and steady as they have to take care of the whole range of products and services required in the transaction. However, these challenges can be overcome and make way for a highly promising future for both the FinTech space and the financial institutions. Opportunities for collaboration and growth will only grow over time and there will be so much room for innovation and disruption.
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(A graph comparing India v. Other FinTech hubs globally.)
Conclusion
India needs to regulate, invest, and promote its business, startup environment only after which it can emerge as a startup haven. It has got a huge potential to change into a developed economy. FinTech space has made use of new technologies and disruptive approaches to come up with better and innovative products. This trend is expected to continue and go bigger in the coming years. Banks will go through a revolutionary change with AI and MI in the centre of all the disruption that will happen in this sector. Wealth management which consisted mainly of high net worth individuals now has room due to cheaper services to advise more customers in the coming times. There is automation in Corporate and Investment Banking, which has led to cost reduction and improved efficiency in all major banks. India is on the cusp of the FinTech revolution, accelerated in part by the Government’s policy initiatives and development of the Indian Stack. India’s vast underbanked and new-to-bank population makes it the most exciting opportunity place to be in right now. It is now to be seen as to how the FinTech revolution is going to change the habits and behaviour of the Indian population.
Kashish Khattar is a 4th-year student at Amity Law School, Delhi. This article is a discussion revolving around the structure and types of REITs and InvITs in India.
Introduction
Real Estate Investment Trusts (“REITs”) are very similar to mutual funds and they basically facilitate investments into real estate sector where the people are buying units rather properties and profiting from their investment for the same. This is mainly for people who are not looking to buy properties but only looking to invest in the property market. REITs are governed by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (“SEBI”) (Real Estate Investment Trusts) Regulations, 2014. These regulations provide a framework for registration and regulation of REITs in the country. The government and the regulators have been making big leaps to help wide implementation of the REITs. Finance Ministry’s decision in 2016 decided to remove the DDT clause. In Dec 2017, SEBI also allowed the REITs to invest 50% of its funds in holding companies.
Much like the REITs are the InvITs which can be described somewhat similar to REITs, where people pool in small sums of money in a similar fashion like in a mutual fund. The InvITs were introduced to enable investment in the infrastructure sector. SEBI notified the Infrastructure Investment Trusts Regulations in 2014 for the registration and regulation of InvITs in India. InvITs can be said to be a modified version of REITs which are designed to suit the specific circumstances in India.
REITs
REITs as defined, are to be used for investments in real estate. Real estate mainly refers to land and any permanently attached improvements to it, whether on leasehold or freehold and includes buildings, sheds, garages, fences, fittings, fixtures, warehouses, car parks, etc. and any other assets incidental to the ownership of real estate. But the definition does not include mortgage and any asset falling under the purview of ‘infrastructure’. This definition comes through a Notification of Ministry of Finance dated 7th October 2013.
A REIT in India is mainly allowed to invest in completed and revenue generating assets and other approved investments. Also, REIT has to distribute the majority of the income they produce among the unitholders. REITs can mainly invest in commercial real estate through two ways – (i) directly; and (ii) through a Special Purpose Vehicle (“SPV”) which has to invest more than 80% of their assets in properties. During an IPO, the minimum investment has to be Rs. 2 Lakhs. In the case of primary markets, REITs can be traded with an investment cap of Rs. 1 Lakh.
If the REIT is being done through an SPV, REIT must have a controlling interest with 50% of the equity share capital or the interest in the SPV. REIT needs to be registered through an initial public offering (“IPO”). REIT units will be listed with an exchange and then traded as a security. REIT shares some really diversified and safe investment opportunities to the public with an added advantage of reduced risks under a capable management to ensure the best returns on investments.
Types of REITs in India
Equity REITs – Equity REITs basically make money by the owner giving spaces like shopping malls, large office spaces, massive residential townships to tenants on the lease. The income earned is then divided among the REITs investors in the form of dividends.
Mortgage REITs – Here, there is no concept of an owner. There are only finances that are taken against the debt which is taken for the development of the real estate projects. Basically, Mortgage REITs earn income in the form of EMI’s which are then distributed among the REITs investors as dividends.
Structure of REITs
REITs can be set up as trusts under the Indian Trusts Act, 1882 and are registered with SEBI. Similar to a mutual fund, it has three parties:
Trustee – who generally oversees the activities of the REITs and is supposed to be a registered debenture trustee who is in no way associated with the sponsor;
Sponsor – they hold at least 25% in the REITs for 3 years and 15% after that. Their main responsibility is to set up the REIT and appoint the trustee; and
Manager – who is a company or an LLP or a body corporate which manages and operates the REIT. A manager has to have at least 5 years of related experience along with other requirements as notified.
What can be the benefits of investing in REITs?
(i) Income is secured by long leases;
(ii) liquidity;
(iii) professional management;
(iv) transparency;
(v) higher dividend; and
(vi) portfolio diversification.
The advantages of investing in REITs can be understood in the following ways:
REITs mainly generate income in the form of rents. The rental income from the beginning of time is seen to be a very assured type of income.
The convenience of buying REITs shouldn’t be underrated. REITs can be bought like shares instead of the hassle of buying real estate and dealing with the various types of legalities that come connected with it.
We cannot forget about the yields generated by the REITs for its shareholders. On an average, REITs can yield close to 10% per annum returns for its shareholders.
1st REIT in India is being done by the Blackstone group through the local partner Embassy group, it is expected to raise about USD 1 billion. The REIT is expected to include properties from the Embassy group as well as properties of the Blackstone group.
InvITs
InvITs short for Infrastructure Investment Trusts. They are really similar to REITs funds. InvITs also pool in small sums of money from investors. The pooled money is then used as an investment in an Infrastructure project which will ensure smooth cash flow.
InvITs can basically invest in infrastructure projects, either directly or through an SPV. In the case of Public-Private Partnership, InvITs can only be done through SPVs. InvITs just like REITs is governed by SEBI through SEBI (Infrastructure Investment Trusts) Regulations, 2014. Which mainly provide for registration and regulation of InvITs. InvITs can be bought in an IPO for 10 years or more. The minimum amount of investment is Rs. 10 Lakh.
Types of InvITs
InvITs which mainly invests in completed infrastructure projects, this type has to take make a public offer of its units; and
InvIT which actually has the elasticity to invest in the under construction projects, whereas this type has to go for a private placement of its units.
Structure of InvITs
They are typically set up as trusts and registered with SEBI. They mainly have 4 parties involved-
(i) Trustee – Trustee has to be a SEBI registered debenture trustee;
(ii) Sponsor (one or more) – Sponsor is a promoter or a company or an LLP or a body corporate with a net worth of Rs. 100 crore who has set up the InvIT. It is an SPV in the case of a PPP project. They have to hold InvITs for a minimum of 3 years except as otherwise stated in any regulatory requirements notified.
(iii) Investment Manager – It is a company or an LLP or a body corporate which basically manages all the business activities surrounding the InvITs.
(iv) Project Manager – He is responsible for the execution of the project and in the case of PPP, it is the entity formed which has to take care of responsibilities surrounding the execution of the project.
Advantages
InvITs are a way of providing a suitable structure for the financing of infrastructure projects in the country. At a time where most of the major infrastructure projects under development in India are delayed and have varied reasons for being incomplete including debt finance costs, locked up equity of the private investors and many more. InvITs can come to the rescue and help in the following ways –
InvITs can provide for a longer term refinancing of existing infrastructure projects.
Help retrieve the developer’s capital so that it can be used for reinvestment into other new infrastructure projects.
InvITs can provide for taking out of existing high-cost debt with long-term low-cost capital and additionally help the banks from risky loan exposure.
InvITs can help in furthering infrastructure development in the country. Further, it will investors to have diversified investments in the infrastructure sector.
It will also help in attracting international finance in the infrastructure space.
It is also said to bring better standards of governance in the infrastructure space.
InvITs in India
GMR Infrastructure Investment Trust
IL&FS Transportation Investment Trust
India Grid Trust
IRB InvIT Fund
MEP Infrastructure Investment Trust
Reliance Infrastructure InvIT Fund
Conclusion
Several international institutional investors have shown a keen interest in the real estate market of the country. They are eyeing REITs and InvITs as a type of opportunity to take advantage of India’s growing growth in this sector. REITs and InvITs are a good idea for these institutional investors to diversify their investments in India. It is believed that strong REIT governance protocols made up by SEBI, along with laws such as RERA protecting the customers at large contribute to the transformation of the real estate investment space.
According to Lasalle Investment Managers, India’s real estate is now the world’s 13th largest real estate market by asset value and is worth more than USD 1 trillion. Only the time will tell as to how attractive will these investments be in the future.
In this article, Ranojoy Middya discusses Legal framework regulating eSports in India.
Introduction
With the very advent of Esports in global as well as Indian platform, the sports industry worldwide has witnessed a spectacular evolution. Considering its nonpareil significance which simply leaves us captivated with its gradual augmentation around the world at large, this very e-gaming sector has now become a phenomenon which in recent times carries a cultural connotation in its core. This monumental growth of Esports can be traced back to the year 2015 when the word ‘Esports’ got its first official inclusion in the Oxford Dictionary. From there onwards this e-gaming sector has trodden on its never ending streak. As result of such today is the day when Esport has been considered as a potential event at the 2024 Olympics. The major demographic criteria for this Esports gaming industry is the age group between 18-25 years, that’s might be the reason why most of the youths are found being crammed up in an single apartment for two straight days with their joysticks in hands. With the continuance of such practice, this e-gaming which was once reckoned as a childhood obsession and youthful indulgence has now gradually become the most important professional endeavours.
Esport carries very distinctive characteristics of its own. It has an unique transcendental connects towards the youth. The players are known as the real torchbearers of this virtual world where they get to promote themselves through participating in the breathtaking experience that too being literally unbound by geographical limitations. And resulting in such rapid growth the entertainment sphere opens their arms to welcome this cultural shift.
Where Indian Esports market stands in the Entertainment sphere
The so called unexplored or untrodden status of Indian Esports market now has no longer remained the same. It met its extremity with the advancement or establishment of companies such as Alibaba, Nodwin Gaming, JetSyntheses and Nazara who have already invested the bulk of their money in this particular sector considering its burgeoning expansion due to the rise of disposable incomes that too coupled with the ease of access to smartphones and internet. Going by the statistical stands, India till now has produced 120 million online gamers which is estimated to go beyond the number of 300 million by 2021. In addition to that there were also few efforts made to strengthen the very Indian Esports market. Companies like Nvidia brought about few symposiums as GamerConnect in order to bring together the sparse E-gaming community. Earlier, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) also came up with a Indian Gaming Show in which different stakeholders such as publishers, organizers and players were called upon a common platform to assist each other in building up a positive interaction and developing the very E-gaming ecosystem in the country. The rise of Esports cafes and championships in the country has made it indispensable to understand the various law and policy issues around India and the world’s the next sporting revolution.
Important aspects of Esports in India & globally
Governance Overview
Before overviewing the governance of the Esports gaming sector nationally or internationally we must refer to the very famous saying of Cyrus Pallonji Mistry–
“When you look at good governance you also need to look at how to approach the subject”.
As it is widely perceived that the governance of Esports is usually a twisted or tangled one which is mostly seen to be intertwined in the ambiguous confluence between the virtual and real gaming industries, there have been several attempts made to regulate this befogged administration. But everytime it embraces the hurdles. However, these days the very trend of Esports has been at its prime due to the guaranteed revenue generation which eventually led to the increase of various Esports leagues. Therefore it simply deems imperative to formulate an appropriate governance model.
Talking about the development of the Global Sports Governing Bodies (GSB) which mostly works in favor of the traditional sports, was an organic regulatory that came into being with the exigency of standardization of rules. On the other end the distinctive characteristics of Esports and the competing interests of the different stakeholders such as publishers, organizers, and sponsors have been the major reasons which made the process more cumbersome for digital sports.
For building up a better understanding on the very complexity of the governance of Esports gaming industry we must place it in comparison with the very governance model of the traditional sports. Here it is as follows;
Governance
Traditional Sports
Esports
1.
This sort of governance is a direct result of output legitimacy which is determined by the outcome of the model. Hence the credibility of these organizations gets decided through their performances.
Esports on the other end talks about a sort of governance which is based on the input legitimacy and it is because Esports are governed by the publishers of the game who at the same time govern the tournaments of their respective games.
2.
The role of GSB comprises of formulating and implementing the rules of the game and the code of conduct.
Esports mostly talks about the rules which are determined by the mechanics of the games. Thus it is difficult to have a unified set of rules. Mostly the role of a global organization in Esports is thus aimed at addressing the issue of competitive integrity.
3.
In traditional sports governance has always been the main task which is assigned to a global organization.
Esports on the other end mostly concerns about their publishers who mainly focuses on their business aspect of selling video games. Governance is simply a part of their marketing spectrum.
These fundamental differences consequently affect the interests and outcomes of decision making. For example oversight of sports integrity maybe outsourced but largely other issues concerning human and image rights of the players are largely ignored.
4.
On the aspects of competitive integrity such as match fixing, doping, gambling etc, the traditional sports have their global organization that collaborates with the regional organizations and the enforcement agencies to deter these malpractices.
Esports in this purpose very much dependant on the amount of control exercised by the publisher. For example, Riot Games, the publisher of League of Legends (LOL) controls the entire domain of the esport aspect of the games. Hence they have strict prohibition against betting.
This is in contradistinction with Valve, who is the producer of Counter-Strike Global Offensive (CS:GO) which is not so involved with the Esports aspect. Thus despite repeated instances of match-fixing at CS:GO there have been no stringent measures from their side.
5.
Traditional Sports ensure a well versed policy for the protection of players.
Unfortunately Esports lack in this sector as they don’t have any sort of policy to protect the players.
During the so called phase of unregulated Esports industry, the players are mostly found to be at the mercy of the team owners. This absence of overarching framework concerning over the protection of the players’ rights somewhere makes the players and the industry vulnerable.
Global Governance Model
As it is pretty much evident so far that Esports has a very distinctive stand in the global market which somehow to a certain extent describes its characteristics which in recent times has led to the unionization of gaming communities stressing on few specific games such as LOL, CS:GO crew etc. The rarest outlining of this model is something which makes the involvement active throughout the world. Hence it is needless to mention that the elementary existence of corporatization in the unions provides the very stability in their economic structure. Apart from that the players are only left with the option of self funding which nowhere seems to be a viable supposition that too for these sort of a budding networks.
Role of Global Governance Body
For any sports to be acknowledged in their progressive strides, they demand anInternational Federationto be the catalyst for the growth. And after the distinction laid down above in between traditional sports and Esports, the reason of having no such federation as a catalyst has already been transparent. As a result of such, the functional overlap between growth and governance of Esports has led the complexities of governance to a greater extent. As a repercussion of the same, the publishers resort to the concept of empowering third parties for the governance which resulted Global Governance Body in laying down the charter for international best practices, ensuring economies of scale in operation, bringing in transparency and accountability in the conduct of the tournaments. Just like the way competition law globally is equipped with the specificity of sports, similarly Esports must also be complemented with the specificity of the digital games especially considering the exigencies of framing the rules of governance.
Role of International e-Sport Federation (IeSF)
It is noteworthy to mention that so far there have been few number of attempts to formulate a world governing body for sports. One of the major ones among them is International e-Sport Federation (IeSF). This federation predominantly aims at constantly improving e-Sports and promoting it in the terms of its values which, inter alia, includes humanitarian, educational, cultural, a unity of purpose and ability to promote peace. IeSF is also known as the signatory of the World Anti-Doping Code (WADC) and conducts doping tests on cyber athletes. But still the suitability of IeSF for regulation of Esports is questionable. The reasoning of such can easily be traced back to the very peculiarities of Esports as illustrated earlier. The Esports industry and its distinctive features has led IeSF to conceptualize on the framework of input legitimacy. In addition to that it also focuses on various aspects of this sector such as national membership, segregation of teams as per gender, uniformity in the application of rules. But they somehow overlooked the reality which shows the majority of the Esports are international. Therefore, focussing only on national governance that too in accordance with traditional sports has turned out to be a flawed one.
Role of World e-Sport Association (WESA)
There is another organization naming World eSports Association (WESA) which was founded in 2016 by a group of E-Sports teams and Electronic Sports League (i.e. largest video game event in the world). WESA mostly entails in professionalizing the industry, regulating matters regarding revenues and schedules. This organization is also brought about with its own internal arbitration court that operates independently and has always been open to everyone involved in E-Sports, such as players, teams, organizers and publishers.
Keeping the very distinctive characteristics of Esports governance, the structure of this organization seems to be more suitable. The membership consists of few multi-gaming organizations, Esports teams founded on the model of revenue sharing among the constituents. But in recent times its membership mostly focuses on the European countries.
Reconciliation
In order to reconcile the efforts of these organizations and ensure a good governance, IeSF and WESA must step forward to shake their hands together for promoting a united association. IESF is basically structured on the lines of other GSB with a national membership. Hence it can be very helpful in organising national events. Whereas, WESA on the other end, can oversee the organization of inter-club games and international competitions not founded on national orientation. That is how they can easily help each other in the creation of norms of competitive integrity. IeSF can help in maintaining a hierarchical framework of governance whereas WESA can be the international observer. This will result in better policies as WESA consists of more stakeholders and direct involvement of athletes.
As it has already been understood that Esports are these days in ultimate exigency to bring unification of global governance within their e-gaming industrial sphere. We are almost at the threshold of the era where Esports would acknowledged as synonymous with any other physical sport. Hence, it is high time for the norms to be placed rightly as an equipment for us to counter all the challenges that we may encounter in its organic development.
Esports Governance in India
Considering the governing aspects of Esports in India, Esports Federation of India (ESFI) plays a very pivotal role as ESFI is presently known as the governing body for digital gaming. It shares its membership along with IeSF and Asian Electronic Sports Federation (AESF). SInce the Director of ESFI is also the Vice-President of AESF, it somehow cropped up as the bone of contention in creating a situation of potential conflict of interest but it is too trivial to be reckoned as an aberration.
Esports Federation of India (ESFI)
ESFI has may be been bestowed with the onus of governing Esports in our country but despite being the governing body it has not been entitled to be a National Sports Federation (NSF). As it is a well known fact in recent times that in order to be a NSF, the particular body is required to be recognized by the Ministry of Youth Affairs (MYAS) on a yearly basis. And ESFI has not been mentioned in the two consecutive lists of NSFs released by MYAS in 2017 as well as 2018. In accordance with the National Sports Development Code of India 2011, (Sports Code), there are certain mainstream criteria fulfilling which a governing body can be recognized as to be a NSF which are as follows;
1.
Membership of international organizations,
2.
Recognition from Indian Olympic Authority (IOA),
3.
Active efforts by the Federation for the development of sports in the country,
4.
Financial and Managerial accountability,
5.
Democratic election,
6.
Transparency in governance,
7.
Availability of required infrastructure,
Failing in maintainability of all the above mentioned criteria eventually put the governing body out of the very ambit of MYAS which means that all the requirements to be an NSF have not been complied with hence the body cannot be considered as a NSF.
Similar to the BCCI who is not a national sports federation, but is still considered to be the sole governing body of cricket in our country resulting from the absence of any other competing body, ESFI has also so far gained the recognition to be considered as the nodal body for esports governance in India. The only difference or concern is IOA’s approval which stands mandatory on the purpose of being considered as NSF for Olympic and Asian games sports. Since such approval is very much responsible for sending the entries for these competitions from the country. Cricket on the other end is a kind of sport which faces no such difficulty as the tournaments are only conducted by the governance of ICC. But in case of Esports which has already been a demonstration sport for 2018 Asian games, and also included in the 2022 Asian Games, that too coupled with its potential inclusion in Olympics in 2024, India right now is in the exigency of forming a particular governing body which would be compiled with both the Sports Code and international governance norms. This particular need of an hour has been identified by none other than Ronnie Screwvala who is also at the same time speculating talks with MYAS to create a proper ecosystem for governance.
Reviewing Esports Players Contracts
The very essence of sports contracts can only be sensed from a point of view of the traditional athletes but with times and the emergence of Esports Digital Gaming Industries worldwide the trend of sports contract has become more integral that too focusing on brand new digital athletes. Usually whenever we encounter a sports contract it seems very standardized either in the form of an embodiment of “Take it or leave it clauses” or as an representative of unequal bargaining power. However, these contracts mostly are seen to be doing away with the need to negotiate every minor or trivial issues, the reason being the sole responsibility of the federation to ensure that the welfare of both the federation and the players is taken into consideration.
Needless to say, negotiation of athletes’ contracts carries a very cardinal connotation in the sports industry. But before delving the minds into the negotiation we must frame a suitable outline in our heads relating to certain major elements which are must for negotiating athlete contract. And apart from that since India is already on the verge of making a grand entry soon to the professionally developed global Esports industry, our digital athletes or prized possessions can no way be kept as incognizant of the various channels through which the prevalent contractual exploitations take places. Here are the important factors to be looked at while drafting or negotiating the Esports contracts as follows;
Consideration
This will include the clauses of payment of salary, base salary, performance based bonuses, tournament purse shares (the earnings increase if they win and the media hype also accelerates the sale and revenue) etc. The specificity of these clauses should be looked into and any case of arbitrary finality reserved with the organizers of the event or the federation over payment should be double-checked.
Non-Gaming Responsibilities
Fan Base and Popularity
Digital athletes have their own fan base and popularity. To cash on their public demand, it is common for them to find themselves obligated to go certain events, tweet fixed no. of times over the week, give interviews etc. As players, it is important that the contracts delineates all these responsibilities specifically and there is a provision to inform the players through advance notices. (The clauses have assumed exceptional importance in the professional athletes where they are as much a player, as they are an idol, a brand endorser and a very important public figure).
Morality clauses
Another important element is morality clauses which outline the parameters to be followed at social events or during the progress of the matches. Esports being international in true sense, such clauses also contain a code of conduct to respect the different cultural sensitivities.
Competitive Integrity
This is an area where both traditional sports and Esports dovetail. The issues of match-fixing, doping and gambling might have found novel ways of expression in the virtual world but encapsulate the same concerns. There are a few international agencies such as Esports Integrity Coalition(ESIC) which have formulated regulatory policies. Otherwise athletes have to mandatorily agree to abide by the event specific policies. In countries such as India, which are not a part of the ESIC, with respect to issues such as bribery and gambling which are not specifically addressed by International Esports Federation (IeSF) and Asian Electronic Esports Federation (AESF), local laws are referred in the case of disputes. It is important for the players or agents to be aware of the governing law of the contract.
Image Rights / Personality Rights
These clauses have been the bone of contention for quite some time both in India and other jurisdictions. In the event of signing the contract the athletes should be wary of the duration and the range of things they are assigning control over to the organizers, federations, and the team owners with respect to their name, persona, logo, image or likeness.
Intellectual Property Assignment
Digital athletes have dual consideration pertaining to personality rights. They have an added virtual identity which can be protected under the ambit of intellectual property laws. Thus the athletes should be circumspect while evaluating these clauses to ensure that they have maximum control over their brand which is distinct from team’s brand with which the player is associated for a tournament (This is important because even India is resorting to the concept of hybrid tournaments). Thus the players need to ensure their rights over the ownership of;
Trademark rights in their gamertag and phrases or expressions associated with them
Their past content creation pertaining to any game.
Ownership of their gaming e.g., Origin, Xbox Live accounts etc. and social media accounts.
Termination Clauses
They play a pivotal role in any sports player contract. The players should be explicitly aware of the grounds for their termination in a tournament. The provision of notice and appeal against termination should be available to the players to protect their rights and prevent exploitation. The contract should also detail the consequences of the breach of disciplinary processes and non-compete clauses. Additionally, the players should have an option to initiate termination as well, such as in the cases of unreasonable terms for benching them or due to injury. This ensures that the contract is not inequitable.
Analysing the downright disparity of Esports Federation of India’s (ESFI) Player contract for the Asian Games 2018
There are a few things which lawyers and non-lawyers perceive in the same manner. The expression of utter disbelief on seeing the contractual obligations of the players in the Exhibition event of Esports in Asian Games 2018, is certainly one such rare thing. It gives the impression of being a copied document of the worst template of contracts found online. The following section will vindicate the vitriolic narration.
In the imminent Asian Games, Esports is going to be held as a demonstration sport. The National Qualifiers for the event were held on with only a 36 hour window for registration. AESF has opened a deadline of 15 days between May 15 and May 31, 2018, for the conduct of qualifiers to send the national teams. ESFI took a poll on the Facebook page on 26th May 2018 to gauge the possibility of conducting qualifiers and eventually decided to go ahead with participants having less than two days to be ready for the same. Time constraints is something to which the ESFI certainly seemed oblivious. The contractual obligation threw down the gauntlet to all lawyers to look for tiny vestiges of legal protection for players in it.
Clause 7 of the contract titled –Expenses stated that all participation expenses will be borne by the players. ESFI will not be liable for any accommodation or travel expenses. Moreover, they also have to provide for their own travel and medical insurance. (The welfare of the players certainly does not seem to be their prime concern.)
Sub clause vii of General Terms and Conditions (T&C) stated that any non-adherence with the terms and conditions is a ground for disqualification from the tournament. This is overriding over the requirement of providing an opportunity of being heard in the previous clauses. (This contract can be a perfect case study for the principles harmonious interpretation)
Sub-clause viii of the General T&C states that participants have to make themselves available at any time for any photo-shoots, video recordings or promotion. Additionally, they waive their image rights completely in favour of ESFI and ASFI. This grants the federation a royalty free, exclusive and worldwide license to exploit them on any platform
In per Sub-clause xvi of the General T&C, in case of breach of any of the contractual rules and regulations, ESFI is not responsible to compensate the athletes.
Sub-clause xvii is a notch higher as it immunizes ESFI from giving any feedback or answering any queries of the participants. ( Transparency and accountability are no longer the virtues of good governance)
Per Sub-clause xx, participants agree to assign all the IP and their benefits to ESFI without any qualifications. (My Way or Highway!!)
The supremacy of this contract is ensconced by sub-clause xxi of General T&C. It states that regardless of any foreseen or unforeseen events, you cannot withdraw from the competition and if you do so, compensation has to be paid to ESFI within 15 days.
As we move further ahead in the contract, responsibility and governance become parallel to each other. Sub-clause xxv states that ESFI will not liable for any “foreseen or unforeseen” event, mishap or damage that might be caused to the participants or their legal guardians. But participants have to indemnify the federation for all damage that may be caused due to their actions which may or may not be within their control. (This is seriously the best example of unequal bargaining power). Similar inequitable provisions continue throughout in the contract.
As they say, save the best for the last, this contract did not disappoint in this regard. Sub clause- Xlii states that the T&C of the contract may be changed or modified at any point of time and they may or may not be intimated separately to the participants. Also, ESFI can withdraw anytime from the tournament without any reason and with no responsibility towards the participants. (ESFI- The BOSS!)
The above pointers justify why the standard form of contracts are known as “contract of adhesion”. In India, unlike in England, there is no separate legislation to govern the standard form of contracts. Despite the recommendation of 103 Law Commission, such a method could not come to fruition.
Although the standard form of contracts is not barred in India, in order to protect the weaker party, there are some legal principles which have to be followed to ensure its enforceability. For example, reasonable notice has to be given to the parties so that they have precise knowledge of all the terms they are bound by. In ESFI’s contract, the discretion of the federation to alter the contract at any time with no liability to give individual notices in case of contract alteration defeats this basic requirement.
Another measure is to enable the party in a lower bargaining position to enforce the terms of the contract in case of a fundamental breach. But in the ESFI’s contract, the federation is conveniently free from all liability of performance, damage or compensation in case of non-adherence. Such contracts can also become unenforceable only if they are signed under influence as per section 16 of the Indian Contract Act (ICA) or are opposed to public policy as per section 23 of the ICA. This criterion will have to be assessed on the basis of objective evaluation of the contract. Besides the standard form of contracts also have to uphold the provision of privity of contract. The liability of the players in case of third party claims also raises question over the availability of these contracts.
Although ESFI, later posted on their Facebook page that they are open to suggestions with respect to the demands of the players, to be incorporated in the contract, this is clearly an indication for the sports lawyers in the country to step up and assist the digital athletes of the country.
Intellectual Property Protection
Esports have an interlinked association with intellectual property. The best way to understand the legal complexities of IP for esports is by analyzing the legislative framework for video games as they have occupied a prominent space since the beginning of the 20th century.
In India, the video games are not classified under any particular category of IP. Under section 2 of The Copyright Act 1957 (Copyright Act), “cinematograph works” is defined as;
“any work of visual recording on any medium produced through a process from which a moving image may be produced by any means and includes a sound recording accompanying such visual recording and ‘cinematograph’ shall be construed as including any work produced by any process analogous to cinematography including video films.”
As per the above definition, the reference to any “process analogous to cinematography” is wide enough to include video games under its ambit. As per the Copyright Act, the computer programmes can be protected as literary work. Thus the source code of the video games can also be protected under the Act.
The derivative protection to video games holds true for the legal protection of the Intellectual property of Esports in the country. For example, trademark law aids in the protection of the name of the game, its logo, its tagline as well the distinct identity of the characters. Copyright law is usually used in the protection of the source code, background music, and other artistic content which is used in the game. Patent law basically helps in the protection of the gaming devices such as joysticks, or any other technical processes which help in enabling games. Trade secrets come into play when the publishers do not want to divulge the source code of their games. (Competition, not common sense is commonplace these days).
The common contractual requirements pertaining to Esports are as follows-
As per Section 2 (d) (vi) of the Copyright Act, the meaning of an “author” in relation to any literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work that is computer-generated, is the person who caused the work to be created. Thus in the case of Esports, the author will be the publisher of the game who would be entitled to all the authorship rights, This should be read in consonance with section 17 of the Copyright Act which details the different scenario of the first owner of the copyright. Thus only in the absence of a contract to the contrary such as contract of employment would the authorship normally vest with the publisher.
As per section 18 and section 19 of the Copyright Act, the owner of a work can assign the rights through a contract. Thus the publishers of the game can transfer the limited rights to the organizers of the tournament through an assignment contract. The assignment contract as per section 19(3) also has to specify the amount of compensation/ royalty if any that has to be paid or their legal heirs. The licensing and assignment provisions also come into play, when the game is inspired from any game or a comic strip etc.
Recently there has been concern over the protection of the contribution of the players to Esports while playing the game. Recently by the amendment to the Copyright Act in 2012, there has been insertion and protection of performers’ rights. As per section 2 (q) of the Copyright Act, performance means -“in relation to performer’s right, means any visual or acoustic presentation made live by one or more performers”. Section 38 explains about the protection of the performer right which is exclusive to the protection of the rights of the authors. This is a fairly new provision and its application for the protection of Esports players is still terra incognita. Although this provision may provide for a possibility of protection for the rights of the players.
Conclusion
As far as the governance of Esports industry is the concern, we always envision the industry to be one of the upcoming potential biggest gaming hubs of the world. With that vision in eyes, it also seems to be of utmost importance to bring about a kind of Esports governance system which would be modelled in compliance with all the existing norms of the Sports Code and IOA requirements.
Next, concerning about the Esports players’ contract reviewing section it is simply imperative for the entire legal fraternity to take a stand for the same and get the new generation of digital players acquainted with the very intricacies of contractual clauses in respect to negotiating and exploiting issues.
And last but not the least, Intellectual property issues revolving around this digital gaming sector have already ensured that although there is no direct provision for the protection of Esports IP, India certainly has a basic legislative framework in place to provide protection for its development. As the governance for Esports becomes sophisticated, there might be a possibility to bring in new legislative mechanism tailored to the specificities of Esports.
In this article, Ranojoy Middya discusses Election Procedure for Housing Societies.
Introduction
When it comes to the elections within the Co-operative Housing Societies, the importance of Bye-laws has always been pivotal in nature. But, with the advent of new Model Bye-laws now the election procedures have seen an epic growth in the very management of the affairs of the Co-operative Housing Society which solely vests in the Committee of the Management duly elected by the General Body of the Society that too being in consonance with the provisions of the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act, 1960 and the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Rules, 1961. So let’s see how it is conducted in consonance with the new Model Bye-laws.
Initial Stage
In the year of 2013 w.e.f February 14, 2013, the very Ordinance brought forth the much-required amendment in MCS Act. Following such amendment, the Chapter XIA governing elections viz., sections 144A to 144Y got eliminated. And in lieu, the same, Section 73CB got introduced by the ordinance. In addition to that, State Election Authority has been bestowed with the election powers in a Cooperative Society.
At the same time, the Mumbai District Co-operative Housing Federation cropped up with a representation to the State Government that implementation of such provision has all the tendency to create tremendous hardships to small Co-operative Housing Societies. Hence, the preferences need to be given to the Model bye-laws till such time and the very election rules prescribed thereunder are to have prevailed.
With the complete registration of the society, the chief promoter /builder promoter gets obliged to conduct the first statutory general meeting of the society within a period of three months from the date of the registration of the society. The major agenda of this meeting must be reflected in constituting a provisional committee of some members of the society until the regular election of the management committee is held.
Due date of the election to the Committee
In actual terms, the elections are supposed to be held on 14th August every year during the Annual General meeting but it hasn’t been followed most of the times. Instead, they are held sometime later during the year.
As per Bye-laws, the election must be held on or before the completion of 5 years from the date of the previous election. The period of 5 years commences from the very date of the previous election. Hence, an election on 1st October 2012 would be succeeded with the next election on or before 1st October 2017. In order to conduct the announcement of the election results, a Special General Body Meeting must be called for.
Removal of Restriction on Voting Rights
With the advent of the very amendment of Section 27of the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act 1960, the waiting period of two years for voting rights had been removed.As a result of such, any eligible member or an associate member with the consent of 1st member can contest the election immediately after seeking membership and his admission is made as a member of the society.
Election candidature of a Member, Proposer, and Seconder in arrears of the society
In accordance with the Bye-law No. 118, the candidature of a member who is in arrears in respect of any dues of the society on the date of scrutiny of nomination papers beyond 90 days cannot be considered to be eligible to contest the election.
However, in the case of the proposer and seconder member of the society, they can propose and second any candidature even if they are in arrears in respect of dues to the society.
Even there are no such restrictions on the members to propose or second the candidature. They are privileged with N-number of opportunities to propose and the second candidature.
Election Procedure
First and foremost, the Managing Committee must introduce the initial steps at least three months prior to the date of conducting the election. Also in accordance with the bye-law No.115 (Rule No. 2.1), the very strength of the managing committee shall be determined.
There has also been an inclusion of probable conditions for disqualification in the Act, Rules and Model bye-laws for any member to be elected on the committee of the management. Thus it negates the practice of standing for election just on the basis of the candidate’s interest in respect of services provided to the society.
Also keeping in mind all the defaulting members in respect of dues of the society, they are said to be severed within three months from the date of service of notice in writing, demanding the payment of dues and in case the dues still remains unpaid till filing of the nomination and the date of scrutiny of nominations, the said nomination will prima facie be considered as invalid.
In addition to that, the associate member without the submission of No Objection Certificate of the original member cannot stand for election.
Once the elections get over, the Secretary of the previous committee of the society must render the charge to the newly elected committee.
In accordance with the section of 73 (IAB) of the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act, 1960 and Rule 58 A of the Maharashtra Cooperative Societies Rule 1961, every elected committee member, within 15 days of his/her assuming office must draft a bond to the effect in form of M-20 on a stamp paper worth rupees`200/-. And all the above expenses are to be borne by the society. Upon failure to execute such bond on time, the said member shall be deemed to have been vacated as a member of the committee. The Secretary of the society shall keep them on record of the society and accordingly inform the concerned Registrar of the ward along with copies of the bonds within 15 days from the formation of the committee. The execution of the bond has been waived in respect of Co-operative Housing Societies by notification order No. CSL 2012/CR- 402/15-C dated September 06, 2012.
Management of the Society
The management of the affairs of the society shall vest in the committee duly constituted in accordance with the provisions of the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act, 1960, the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Rules, 1961 and the bye-laws of the society.
Under bye-law No.115 there is a provision regarding the strength of the committee and now it is compulsory to have at least one women in the committee as provided under section 73(BBB) of the Maharashtra Co-op Societies Act 1960. However, there is also a provision that in the event of women not being available or not willing to represent in the committee the seats reserved for her may be filled from other. The committee of management of the society as per Model bye-law No.115 depending on numbers of members of the society shall consist asunder. The strength includes the reservation of seats for women members as provided under section 73 BBB of the Act.
No of Members
The strength of the M.C
Quorum in M.C
General
Women
Total
Up to 50
4
1
5
3
51 to 100
6
1
7
4
101 to 300
8
1
9
5
301 and above
9
2
11
6
In case of the unavailability of women members in representing the committee, the seats which are reserved for them may be filled by other eligible members.
The strength of the committee
The committee must be comprised of various numbers of members of the society. It could vary from 5 to 11 at the max. This strength includes the reservation of seats for women members as provided under section 73 BBB of the Act, as indicated in the above table.
Election of the Managing Committee (MC) under Bye-law No.116
Election of all the members of the Managing Committee shall be held once in 5 years in accordance with the Election Regulations. The retiring members of the committee shall be eligible for election. If the paid up share capital is more than ‘10,000 then the voting shall be done by secret ballot.
Election of all the members of the MC shall be held once in 5 years, accordance with the Election Regulations annexed to the Model bye-laws. The retiring members of the committee still possess the eligibility to be elected in their re-election. The period of office of the committee elected shall be for 5 years.
As per Model bye-law, No. 116(b) In the event of receipt of inadequate valid nominations, required to constitute the full Committee, the General body at its meeting shall ill in the vacancies by election. During the general body meeting in case of inability to elect the required number of members to constitute the Committee, the elected members of the Committee shall be competent to compensate the same by co-option whether they form the quorum or not, notwithstanding the provisions of the bye-law No. 127 regarding the quorum.
Disqualification for election to the Managing committee. Bye-law 118
No person shall be eligible for being elected as a member of the MC or Co-opted on it, if:
He has been convicted of the offense, involving moral turpitude unless the period of six years has elapsed since his conviction,
He is unable to serve the society with the payment of dues to the society, within three months from the date of service of notice in writing, served either by hand delivery or by post (under the certificate of posting), demanding the payments of dues.
He has been held responsible under Section 79 or 88 of the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act, 1960 or has been held responsible for the payment of the costs of inquiry under section 85 of the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act, 1960.
He has without the previous permission of the society, in writing sublet his lat or part thereof or given it on leave and license and the caretaker basis or has made his way with its possession in any other manner or has sold his shares and interest in the society.
He, being an associate member, held responsible for non-submission of the no-objection certificate and undertaking, as prescribed under these bye-laws, by the member.
He is declared as ineligible as per the provisions of the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act, 1960 and Rules, 1961.
A new sub-clause is inserted that no person shall be eligible for being elected as a member of the committee or co-opted on it if he is declared as ineligible as per the provisions of the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act, 1960 and Rules 1961.
Under Bye-law No.118 provision for disqualification for election to the committee is made. In sub-Bye-law No. 2 when a member defaults the payment of the dues to the society within three months from the date of service of notice in writing served either by hand or by U.P.C demanding the payments of dues and the same has not been compiled with then he shall not be eligible for being elected as a member of the committee or can be opted in to committee. Further now even associate member has been given a membership right can contest election for managing committee only if he has submitted no objection certificate and undertaking as prescribed under the present Bye-law.
Constitution of a member of the committee
Under Bye-law No.119, a new provision for constitution of the committee has been inserted which is in compliance with the provisions of Maharashtra Co-op. Societies Act, 1960 and Maharashtra Co-op. Societies (2nd Amendment) Act,1986 (MAH.XXXVII of 1986).
During the general election of members within the committee of a society, on the election of two-thirds or more number of members, the returning officer or any other officer or authority conducting such election shall within seven days after the declaration of results of the election of such members, or where such election is held before the date of commencement of the 1966 Act, [Maharashtra Co-operative Societies (second amendment) Act, 1966 (Mah. XXXVII of 1986)], such number of members have been elected but the committee has, for whatever reason, not been so far constituted, forward their names together with their permanent addresses to the registrar, who shall within fifteen days from the date of receipt thereof by him, publish or cause to be published such names and addresses by affixing a notice on the very notice board or at any prominent place in his office, and followed by such publication, the committee of the society must be deemed to be duly constituted in determining two thirds of the number of members, a fraction shall be ignored.
Cessation of a member of the committee under Bye-law no.120
A person shall cease to be the member of the committee, if:
He turned out to be incurring any of the disqualifications laid down in the bye-law No. 118 or:
He has failed to attend any three consecutive monthly meetings of the Committee, without the leave of absence.
Intimation of cessation of membership of the committee
In case any of the members of the committee gets disqualified under the bye-law No. 120 (1), the committee then shall be obliged to record the fact in the minutes of the meeting and following such record the secretary of the society shall intimate the same to the respective member and Registrar accordingly. Henceforth, such member would cease to be the member of Managing Committee by the very virtue of the order of the Registrar.
Period of office to the elected Committee
Under bye-law No.122 the period of office of the Committee elected under the bye-law No. 116(a) shall be for 5 years.
The period of 30 days of the election must be maintained in order to hold the first meeting of the newly elected committee.
Under bye-law No. 123(A) a provision is made to hold the first meeting of the newly elected and outgoing committee within 30 days from the date of constitution of new Committee as provided in bye-law No. 119.
In accordance with the provisions of the bye-law No.123(a), the secretary of the outgoing Committee shall issue the notice of the first meeting of the newly elected Committee and the outgoing Committee to the members thereof. On the failure of the secretary of the outgoing Committee to convene the said meeting, the chairman of the outgoing Committee shall call it. On the failure of both, the Registering Authority may call such a meeting.
Under bye-law No.126 the President, Chairman, Secretary, of the society shall hold office for the period of five years from the date of their election to such office. However same shall not be beyond the expiry of the term of the committee.
In case of a no-confidence motion moved against Chairman, Secretary or Treasurer then such special meeting of the committee called shall be presided by the Registrar or such officer, not below the rank of Asst. Registrar. The provision was not present in the old Model bye-laws.
Election of office bearers of the society
Every Committee must elect a Chairman, Secretary, and Treasurer among the members of the committee during its first meeting followed by the election.
Period of office of the chairman/secretary and ‘No Confidence’ motion against either
The Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer of the society must be holding their respective offices for the period of 5 years from the date on which he is elected to be the Chairman or as the case may be the Secretary and Treasurer. But this holding period would no way exceed the expiry of a term of the Committee:
Provided that he shall cease to be the Chairman, or as the case may be the Secretary and Treasurer of the society if the motion of ‘No Confidence’ is moved in the special meeting of the Committee called, and presided by Registrar or such officer not below the rank of an Assistant Registrar, upon the notice given by 1/3rds members of the Committee and the motion ‘No Confidence’ is passed by 3/4th members present as such meeting, having attendance of a least 2/3rd members of the Committee, who are entitled to vote at election of such Chairman, Secretary, and Treasurer.
Stressing further, it has also been provided that in case of another motion of ‘No Confidence’, it shall not be brought against the Chairman or as the case may be the Secretary or Treasurer of the society till the completion of the period of 6 months from the date of the preceding motion of the ‘No Confidence’.
Numbers of Committee Meetings to be held in a month.
Under Bye-law No.128 the Committee shall meet as often as necessary but as least once in a month.
In case of emergency, the committee may place a resolution and get the same passed by the committee members. However the same be placed before the next immediate meeting.
To fill in vacancies of the committee
Under bye-law No.129 in the event of vacancies in the committee, caused an account of the death, resignation, disqualification or removal of any members of the Committee, by the Registrar the Committee may occupy such vacancies by co-option on the Committee of any other members eligible to be on the Committee, irrespective of the fact whether there is the quorum or not, regardless of what contained in the bye-law No. 127. Such vacancies by co-option must not exceed two.
Bye-law No. 129 provides that in case of the vacancy caused due to any reason of disqualification, death, resignation or removal, the vacancy by co-option shall not be more than two.
The period of office of the member co-opted on the Committee
Under Bye-law No. 130:The office period for all the co-opted member of the Committee shall be co-terminus with tenure of office of the Committee.
Resignation by a member of the Committee
Under Bye-law No. 131: A member of the Committee in case of resigning his membership from the Committee must write a letter addressing to the Chairman of the society. The resignation shall be effective from the date it is accepted by the Committee or an expiry of the period of one month from the date of the receipt of the letter of the resignation by the Chairman or the Secretary of the society, whichever is earlier.
Under Bye-law No. 132 (E) a provision is made that in the event entire committee is desirous to resign then the resignation of such committee shall be placed before the general body and such resignations shall be effective from the date of acceptance of such resignations by the general body till alternative arrangement is made for the management of the society outgoing committee continues in office.
The resignation of the office-bearer ship of the society
The Chairman of the Society enjoys his own discretion in resigning his office as Chairman through a letter addressed to the Secretary of the Society;
The Secretary or Treasurer of the society during the time of his resignation must also be resigning his office as Secretary or Treasurer, that too by a letter addressed to the Chairman of the society;
Chairman/Secretary/Treasurer’s resignation would come to its effect only after its acceptance and handing over the charge to the newly elected Chairman/Secretary/Treasurer, as the case may be.
The Committee shall only accept the resignation of the office of the Chairman/Secretary/Treasurer after they are satisfied that the Chairman or as the case may be the Secretary or Treasurer of the society has come up with all of his up to date works which were entrusted to him and at the same time has produced the entire papers and property of the society, which were in his possession before the Committee.
In case entire Committee come up with their intentions to resign, such resignations would be placed before the general body and shall be effective from the date of acceptance of such resignations by the General Body. The Committee must continue in office till the time the alternate arrangement is made for the management of the society.
Who can become a Returning Officer
A returning officer has been appointed from amongst the members of the society provided he is not intending to contest the election or propose or second any candidature. If no member is willing to work as a returning officer, the registering authority shall appoint a returning officer. The society will have to pay the honorarium to the said returning officer for working as a returning officer. The amount will be related to the number of members of the society and numbers of candidates to be elected.
Duties of Returning Officer
Duties of returning are spelled out in the Election Rules;
He has to function as per Election Programme and Rules.
If the number of nomination papers is equivalent to the number of seats on the Committee.
If numbers of nomination papers are less than the number of seats on the Committee.
After scrutiny of nomination papers and date of withdrawal, the Returning Officer will have to report the valid number of nominations and an invalid number of nominations. If valid numbers of nominations are equivalent to the number of seats on the Committee, no election will be held. The Chairman has to declare in the General Body that they are elected.
However, if number of nomination papers or the number of valid nomination papers are less than the number of seats on the Committee, after scrutiny and withdrawal of nominations the Returning Officer has to report accordingly to the Chairman who will declare them as elected in the General Body and request the members to fill up the remaining number of seats on the Committee.
If the General Body does not elect the members for the remaining seats, the newly elected members at their first Committee meeting can co-opt the members for the remaining seats on the committee as per bye-law No. 116.
Election Rules
These Rules shall be called the Rules of Election of a member of the Managing Committee of the Co-operative Housing Society Ltd. They shall be deemed to have come into force from the date of their approval by the Registering Authority.
Each and every Managing Committee is entitled to hold elections before the expiry of its term.
If the recovered share capital is more than 10,000 then, voting shall be secret voting.
The members of the society on the Register of Members as on 31st December, if the election is due during subsequent period between 1st January to 30th June, and as on 30th June if election is due during subsequent period between 1st July and 31st December, only be eligible to vote in the election to Managing Committee of the Society.
The retired members, if not disqualified, shall be eligible for re-election.
In consonance with the point(3) mentioned above, the Managing Committee has been given the authority to prepare the provisional list which later on must be notified on the Notice Board of the society, 60 (sixty) days before the date of election, inviting suggestions and objections in respect of the names of the members, within a period of 8 (eight) days, from the publication of such list.
In accordance with the received suggestions and objections, if any, the Managing Committee proceeds with the publication of final list of members who stands eligible to vote, within two days of the last date as mentioned at 4 above.
The provisional and final list of members referred to above shall be in the Appendix ‘A’ appended to these Rules.
Once the final list is confirmed, the Managing Committee shall then appoint a Returning Officer from the very members who are not candidates for election. It also includes those members who neither have proposed nor requested any sort of candidature of any kind of membership. However, in case of a member being appointed as Returning Officer, the Managing Committee shall obtain an undertaking from such member that he will not contest the election nor propose or second any candidate. The Returning Officer in such scenarios enjoys the authority of appointing the polling staff according to his necessities.
In case the Managing Committee fails to appoint a Returning Officer, the Registering Officer is bestowed with the responsibility to appoint a Returning Officer and polling staffs are being borne by the Society.
The Returning Officer shall maintain a Notice Board in which he must draw and declare a programme of various stages of the election, as mentioned below, that too within the stipulated time period of seven days from the very date of publication of final list of voters of the Society.
Submission of copies of the stated Programme to the register and the concerned Housing Federation
Last date from making nominations.
7 days from the date of declaration election programme.
The date of publication of the list of nominations received.
On the last date and after the expiry of the time for nomination.
Date of scrutiny of Nominations.
Next day of the date making nomination.
Date of publication list of valid Nominations.
Next day after the date of completion of scrutiny.
Date of which candidature may be withdrawn
After clearing 15 days from the date of scrutiny.
Date of Publication of final list of contesting candidates.
The day next succeeding the last date fixed for withdrawal of candidature.
Date and time during which and the place at which the poll shall be taken
Minimum 5 days after the date of withdrawal (time & place to be fixed by Returning Officer)
Date time and place for counting votes
Immediately after polling is over.
Date of declaration of results of the voting
Immediately after counting of votes.
Explanation:– If the last date in reckoning dates as specified in the above cases is a public holiday, the next succeeding working day shall be mixed for the respective events.
The functions of the Returning Officer shall be as under;
1
Conducting a detailed programme of election to the Managing Committee of the society, after taking into consideration the various stages of the election process, as enumerated in 9 above.
2
Having a detailed check on the received nominations, and scrutinize them accordingly. Once done, he exhibits a list of valid nominations along with the list of final nominations remaining after withdrawal of nominations, if any,
3
Arranging for election by ballot in accordance with the provisions of the Election Rules.
4
Furnishing the result of the election to the Chairman of the society for being declared at the General Body meeting/special general body meeting of the society.
5
Executing other required and incidental actions which favor the election of Managing Committee of the society! The nominations from members shall be in form at Appendix ‘B’ appended to the Rules.
6
No members of the society shall be eligible to participate in the election of the society, If;
He is in arrears in respect of any charges and any other amounts due to the society, as on the date of scrutiny of nomination papers.
He has incurred any of the disqualifications as mentioned in the Maharashtra Cooperative Societies Rules, 1960 and Maharashtra Co-op Societies Rules, 1961 and the bye-laws of the society.
7
The nominations received till the last date and hour fixed for receiving nominations shall be scrutinized by the Returning Officer on the date fixed for scrutiny of nominations, in the presence of the candidates or their duly authorized representatives and the list of the valid nominations shall be published on the Notice Board of the society as per election programme. The candidates whose nominations are rejected shall be informed by the Returning Officer. in writing of the reasons for rejection of their nominations on the same day, in form at Appendix ‘B-2’.
8
The candidates, whose nominations have been declared valid shall be allowed time of 15 days (as required u/s 152 A of the M.C.S. Act 1960) from the date of publication of the list of valid nominations, to withdraw their candidature by means of a letter handed over to the Returning Officer.
9
Immediately after the expiry of the period allowed for withdrawal of candidature a final list of the candidates contesting the election shall be notified on the notice board of the society.
10
The voting at the election shall be secret Ballot.
11
The ballot paper shall be in the form of Appendix C’ appended to these Rules. It shall bear the seal of the society and the counterfoil thereof shall bear the initials of the Returning Officer.
12
The names of the candidates in the ballot paper shall be arranged in alphabetical order with surname appearing first.
13
The date, time and place of voting shall be as declared in the election programme.
14
The ballot box shall be so constructed that ballot papers could be conveniently put into it but could not be taken out, without the box being unlocked.
15
On the date of the polling, the empty ballot box shall be shown to the candidates or their authorized agents, if any and present 15 minutes before the time fixed for the commencement of the poll and shall be locked and sealed in their presence.
16
Once each member voter is satisfied with his or her identity and obtaining his or her signature on the counterfoil of the ballot paper, he or she must be supplied with an authenticated ballot paper.
17
Member-Voter coming to the polling station after the expiry of the time allowed for voting shall not be allowed to vote.
18
Immediately after the completion of voting, the ballot box shall be sealed in the presence of the candidates or their authorized representative if present.
19
The counting of votes shall be done immediately after the polling is over.
20
The Returning Officer shall submit to the Chairman of the Society a report indicating the numbers of voters who voted, the number of valid and invalid votes and the votes polled by each of them shall be put on the Notice Board of the society at the conclusion of the counting of votes.
21
The names of the candidates with voters polled by each of them shall put on the Notice Board of the society at the conclusion of the counting of votes.
22
The final result of the election shall be declared in the ensuing Annual General Body Meeting or Special General Body Meeting as the case may be.
23
All the records pertaining to the election shall be carefully preserved in box duly locked and sealed by the Secretary of the society for a period of 3 months and destroyed thereafter. However, if the result of the election is disputed, the records pertaining to an election shall be preserved until the final decision of the dispute.
24
The Committee shall be constituted as enumerated under section 73(3) of the M.C.S. Act 1960.
25
If for any reasons beyond the control of the society, it is not possible to observe the time schedule under these Rules, the Returning Officer of the society may revise the same with due notice to members and with due consent of the concerned Housing Federation. The Returning Officer shall inform such revision of schedule to the Registrar.
Amendments to bring about the reforms in the new election rule
The very new law has already taken a troublesome appearance towards the people who work in an honorary capacity in housing societies. And it is because of the mandate took place with the advent of this new rule in the year of 2013 that elections for cooperatives, including housing in the state, would be entitled to the Maharashtra State Co-operative Election Authority. Resulting from this, the very roadmap became very tedious and expensive for those who were forced to take the new route. There were even times when they were misled by the election officials when it came to charging the fee to conduct elections. Due to the flouted condition of rulings, the very members were left out with the practice of shelling out more money.
Fixation through Cabinet
The housing federations combining with the government became the first one to take up the very issue and also frames the functioning of housing societies as non-profit units unlike other cooperatives such as sugar factory and milk units. A sustained follow-up being backed by some ruling party leaders in Mumbai made its way for a positive response for the government. The Cabinet also introduced major changes in the law. Henceforth, housing societies having less than 200 members shall become eligible to hold their elections in the annual general meeting every five years.
Along with such relaxation, the Cabinet made sure that all the erring management committees were made accountable. In addition to that, concerning upon all the office bearers who do not submit audited accounts and other mandatory documents to the state cooperatives department within the set deadline, the cabinet has come up with a stringent rule which states the imposition of a fine of Rs 25,000. The members must come up with their self-declarations failing which would be considered as an offense.
Also in order to bring about a crystal clear matter, a separate chapter on governance of housing societies is being created in the Maharashtra Cooperative Societies (MCS) Act, 1960. An ordinance will be promulgated later this month.
Beneficiaries
Housing societies especially having less than 200 members are usually entitled to conduct their elections in the AGM. According to the co-operation department, about 80 percent of societies fall in the under the 200-member category. However, the social reservations and a quota for women would still remain in continuance inside the management committee. In addition to this election reforms, the government must be ready to ensure transparency in the housing society managements works which will eventually help the members who seek information and right to service have hassle-free services.
An amendment entitles the bonafide member to inspect all the records, books of accounts, and correspondence of the society that too in free of cost. This decision actually came into being with an aim to activate the management in terms of misleading the members. Majority of the cases through which the registrars of societies deal with on a daily basis are against the management resulting in which the information gets hidden or fabricated.
The penalty of R25,000 will come into existence for failing to submit accounts/documents to the government and society members. The management has been entitled with more powers to deal with a defaulting member to recover dues. Transferring provisional membership to the person nominated by a deceased member has also been made possible. This is because submission of legal documents of succession takes some time, and in the meantime, the family gets affected because of lack of rightful membership.
Opposing fine
It seems to be highly contentious to impose a fine of Rs 25,000 on office-bearers who are responsible for not submitting accounts and other documents to the members and the government. The elected members work in an honorary capacity and it is a known fact that not many residents come forward to take up the responsibility. The penalty clause will surely keep the people away despite their interest.
Conclusion
On a conclusive note, we must not overlook the thin layer of another emerging issue which talks about the inadequate knowledge of housing society law. It usually gets conversed into wrong interpretations by the people of management along with residents. The new law has corrected the flaw. It envisages the societies to put its impetus on contributing towards training and education of members through the local state housing federation. Yes, it might give a birth to an additional financial burden, but that would indeed be a useful one if the parties put their involvements with the assurance of conducting the training sessions regularly by the federation.
In this article, Saumya Sinha of Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law does an overview of labour laws in India.
Labour Laws in India
Labour law is also commonly known as ‘the law of employment’. The growth and development of labour laws can be traced back to the establishment of the International Labour Organisation, the only tripartite U.N. agency, in 1919. It brings together governments, employers and workers of 187 member States to set labour standards, develop policies and devise programmes promoting decent work for all women and men.[1]It is devoted to promoting social justice and internationally recognized human and labour rights, pursuing its founding mission that social justice is essential to universal and lasting peace.[2] India has been the permanent member of the governing body of ILO since 1922. This has been a major reason behind the progressive labour legislation in India.
Moreover, labour policy in India has been evolving in response to specific needs of the situation to suit requirements of planned economic development and social justice and has two fold objectives, namely maintaining industrial peace and promoting the welfare of labour.[3] Labour law cover three aspects.
Industrial Relations
Workplace Health and safety
Employment standards
Legislating Power
Both the Central government and the State government are vested with the power to legislate on the matters concerning labour laws. The Central government has the power to legislate with respect to the entries mentioned in the Union List of Schedule VII of the Constitution.
Regulation of labour and safety in mines and oilfields[4],
Industrial disputes concerning Union employees[5], and
Union agencies and institutions for professional, vocational or technical training.[6]
On the other hand, both the Central Government and State Governments have the power to legislate with respect to the entries mentioned in the Concurrent List of Schedule VII of the Constitution.
Trade unions, industrial and labour disputes[7],
Social security and social insurance, employment and unemployment[8], and
Welfare of labour including conditions of work, provident funds, employers’ liability, workmen’s compensation, invalidity and old age pensions and maternity benefits[9].
For instance, the central legislation includes the Trade Unions Act, 1926, the Factories Act, 1948, the Payment of Wages Act, 1936, etc. and the State legislation includes the Shop & Establishment Acts (of respective States), Labour Welfare Fund Act (of respective States), etc.
Classification of Labour Laws
There are more than a hundred legislations dealing with labour law in India. Therefore, the classification of labour laws becomes important for the purpose of understanding them. One way of classifying them is on the basis of enactment and enforcement. The other way of classifying is on the basis of the purpose and the objective of the legislation.
The former type of classification is as listed below.
The labour laws enacted by the Central Government, the responsibility of enforcement of which lies solely on the Central Government.
The laws enacted by the Central Government, the responsibility of enforcement of which lies on both the Central Government and the State Government.
The laws enacted by the State Government and enforced by them only.
The laws enacted and enforced by various State Governments which apply to respective states.[10]
The other type of classification can be done by dividing the legislation under broad categories.
Laws dealing with industrial relations.
Laws dealing with remuneration- payment, deduction and related issues.
Laws dealing with the social security of the employees.
Laws dealing with nature and conditions of service and employment such as the issue of working hours, weekly holidays, the interval between working hours, etc.
Laws dealing with the issues of gender equality and women empowerment.
Laws dealing with social evils and prohibiting them such as bonded labour, child labour, etc.
Laws dealing with employment and training of the employees.
For the purpose of having an overview of the labour laws, we shall be dealing with the latter type of classification.
Laws dealing with Industrial relations
The Industrial Disputes Act, 1947
This an important legislation dealing with the issues of industrial dispute, closure, lock-out, strike, retrenchment, lay-off, etc. Prior to this Act, the Trade Disputes Act, 1929 solved the industrial disputes. However, there were some inherent defects in the Act which was sought to be removed by enacting a fresh legislation i.e. the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947. The Act provides for an elaborate mechanism to get the industrial disputes resolved. There are various authorities under the Act for the same which includes Conciliation officers, Boards of Conciliation, Labour Courts, Tribunals, and National Tribunals. The main features of the Act have been discussed in the subsequent points.
The industrial dispute has to be referred for conciliation at the first instance.
The dispute may be referred to the industrial tribunal either by the parties or by the State government. The parties refer the dispute by an agreement with respect to the same.
Strike and lockouts are regulated by the Act. The Act lays down certain circumstances in which they are prohibited.
The Act also provides for compensation to the workmen in case of lay-off or retrenchment or transfer/closure of an undertaking.
The Trade Unions Act, 1926
Trade Unions are vital to the smooth functioning of the industry. The Trade Unions collectively assert the demands of the workmen and make it easy for the workmen to negotiate with the employer. This is commonly called ‘collective bargaining’. The Trade Unions Act, 1926 provides for the establishment of the Trade Unions and lays down provisions with respect to the registration of such Trade Unions and their rights and liabilities. The Act places no restriction on the objects which the Trade Unions can take up. Trade Unions which do not get registered are not governed by the provisions of the Act.
Laws dealing with remuneration- payment, deduction and related issues
Payment of Wages Act, 1936
This Act came against the backdrop of the great injustice that was being done to the employees with respect to the payment of wages. There were many cases of abuse such as the wages were denied or delayed, arbitrary deductions were made, heavy fines were imposed and more often than not payment was done in kind rather than in cash. Thus, the Act was enacted to regulate the payment of wages by certain regulations such as fixing responsibility for such payment, fixing wage-period, and time of payment of wages, etc. It has provision for authorized deductions from the wages and levying of fines under certain circumstances. There are penalties for the employer in case of non-compliance of the provisions of the Act.
Minimum Wages Act, 1948
The objective of this Act is to provide minimum wages to the workers employed in the employments mentioned in the Schedule I of the Act such as employment in any rice mill, flour mill or dal mill or employment in any tobacco manufactory, etc. The appropriate government is empowered under the Act to fix minimum wages and revise them regularly. It also lays down provision for overtime wages. There are penalties under this Act too for non-compliance of the provisions by the employer.
Laws dealing with the social security of the employees
Employee’s Compensation Act, 1923
The Act provides for the compensation to workmen or their dependents in case of accidents arising out of or in the course of employment. Such accidents may either result in death or disablement (permanent/temporary) of the workmen. It also includes compensation for occupational diseases i.e. the diseases contracted from the employment. The Act lays down a detailed list of the persons falling under the category of ‘dependents’ and the method to calculate the amount of compensation in different circumstances. Thus, the Act is a comprehensive legislation dealing with all the facets of compensation and the related issues.
Employees’ State Insurance Act, 1948
The Act lays down provisions for benefits to employees such as sickness benefit, maternity benefit, disablement benefit, medical benefit and funeral benefit. Out of these, medical benefit is extended to the family members of the employee too and the funeral benefit is paid to the eldest surviving member of the family or in his absence, to the person who actually incurs the expenditure on the funeral. It is to be noted that all the benefits under this Act are paid in cash. The Act also provides for the establishment of Corporation, Committee, and Council etc. to implement the provisions of the Act effectively.
Employees’ Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952, Labour Welfare Fund Act (of respective States), Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 are some other laws which fall under this category.
Laws dealing with nature and conditions of service and employment
Factories Act, 1948
The Act regulates the working conditions of the workers employed in factories. It lays down provisions to ensure adequate safety measures are implemented in the factories for the health and welfare of the workers. The Act outlines the general duties of the occupier for the same and the duties of the manufacturers, etc. who import or supply any article for use in a factory. Furthermore, there is a separate chapter in the Act dealing with hazardous processes in factories. There are separate provisions dealing with working hours of adults, annual leave with wages, etc. It regulates the employment of women and children and prohibits the employment of children below fourteen years of age.
The Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946
This is another important legislation which was enacted to resolve the friction between the employers and the workmen. This Act requires the employer to formally define the conditions of employment under him. The Act contains a schedule which contains the list of the matters to be provided in standing orders. The employer is under an obligation to make the standing orders known to the workmen. Further, the Act also regulates the duration and modification of such orders.
Shops and Commercial Establishments Act (of respective States), Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970, The Plantation Labour Act, 1951, The Mines Act, 1952 are other laws dealing with the nature and conditions of work.
Laws dealing with the issues of gender equality and women empowerment
Equal Remuneration Act, 1976
Equal pay for equal work has constitutional recognition as contained in the Fundamental Rights[11] and the Directive Principles of State Policy.[12] The Act provides for the payment of equal remuneration to both men and women for performing same work or work of similar nature, failing which the employer is penalised. Thus, it prevents discrimination against women in the matters of payment of remuneration.
Maternity Benefits Act, 1961
Prior to the enactment of this Act, there were different State Acts and three central Acts dealing with the provisions of maternity benefit. The Act was enacted to reduce the disparities in different laws and provide for maternity protection to the women employed in all establishments except those to which Employees’ State Insurance Act, 1948 apply. The Act prohibits the employer from employing women during certain periods and the right of such women to be paid the maternity benefit.
Laws dealing with the prohibition of social evils
Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986
The Act is in consonance with various articles of the Constitution.[13] It distinguishes between ‘adolescent’ and ‘children’ and prohibits the engagement of children in all occupations and the engagement of adolescents in hazardous occupations. Further, the Act also provides for the regulation of conditions of work of adolescents in such employment where they are permitted to work. These regulations are with respect to the working hours, holidays, health and safety. Moreover, the Act also lays down penalties for not complying with the provisions of the Act.
Sexual Harassment at the Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013
This is one of the most recent legislation and was enacted to incorporate the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court.[14] It provides for protection of women against sexual harassment at workplace. There are provisions in the Act dealing with the prevention and redressal of such complaints. This Act is in consonance with the spirit of Article 21 of the Constitution which includes the right of a woman to dignity, life and liberty.
Bonded Labour System (Abolition), Act, 1976, the Beedi and Cigar Workers (Conditions of Employment) Act, 1966 are the other Acts which fall under this category.
Laws dealing with employment and training of the employees
Apprentices Act, 1961
The wave of Industrial revolution generated the need of trained employees and thus, the need for training apprentices. The Act is a comprehensive legislation dealing with the qualification of being engaged as an apprentice, obligations of apprentices, their payment, their working conditions and working hours, employer’s liability, etc.
Conclusion
There are various labour laws which deal with different labour and industrial issues. The Acts have been enacted with the objective of social and economic justice. They also embody the constitutional spirit contained in various Articles.
The Articles contained in Part III of the Constitution such as Article 16, 19, 23 and 24
The Articles contained in Part IV of the Constitution such as Article 39, 41, 42, 43, 43A and 54
The provisions laid down in various conventions and treaties which India hasratified have also been incorporated in these Acts time and again.
However, they fail to achieve the objectives completely because of certain reasons.
The penalties given under the various Acts are inadequate so as to create a deterrent in the mind of an offender.
There are so many legislations that the workmen or the employees are more often than not unaware of their rights under these laws.
References
[1]About the Ilo, International Labour Organisation, https://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/lang–en/index.htm.
[2]Mission and Impact of the ILO, International Labour Organisation, https://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/mission-and-objectives/lang–en/index.htm.
[3] http://ncib.in/pdf/ncib_pdf/Labour%20Act.pdf.
[4] INDIA CONST. Schedule VII, List I, Entry 55.
[5] INDIA CONST. Schedule VII, List I, Entry 61.
[6] INDIA CONST. Schedule VII, List I, Entry 65.
[7] INDIA CONST. Schedule VII, List III, Entry 22.
[8] INDIA CONST. Schedule VII, List III, Entry 23.
[9] INDIA CONST. Schedule VII, List III, Entry 24.
[10] Labour Laws in India, National Crime Investigation Bureau,http://ncib.in/pdf/ncib_pdf/Labour%20Act.pdf.
[11] INDIA CONST. Art. 16(2).
[12] INDIA CONST. art. 39(a), 39(d).
[13] INDIA CONST. art. 23, 24, 15(3), 39(c), 44.
[14] Vishaka v. State of Rajasthan, (1997) 6 SCC 241.
In this article, Malveka Nautiyal of Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, Punjab discusses Legal Education in India Vis-à-vis other Asian Nations.
The field of law has been prevalent in the society since time immemorial; right from its use in the primitive ancient times, to the current, highly modernised times. The inception and growth of standardized legal system, and eventual legal education, in the case of Asia, as compared to the whole world, did not take off much until colonisation and eventual independence of the countries.
Owing to Globalization, legal education has made massive strides in Asia, as law has emerged as an omnipotent socio-political tool of order and stability, in the rapid and constant flux of changes that are taking place. The new dynamics in the relations of nations across the globe had led to the need for necessary changes in the legal education, more-so in vibrant continents, like Asia, where now, the demand to produce highly trained professionals in larger numbers, has boosted.
In the latest QS World University Rankings, Law of 2018, many Asian universities have made their mark. This year the Rankings have been as under.
At rank 15, National University of Singapore (NUS)
At rank 19, The University of Hong Kong
At rank 21, Peking University (China) and so on.
In the ranking, 42 Asian universities come under top 300 ranks, and all of them are from countries like, Singapore, China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, along with Malaysia and Macau, but India, such a significant player in Asia, doesn’t seem to have even 1 of its top Universities under the top 300 ranks.
India is a country with booming possibilities in the field of law, with several private law colleges/universities that offer both 3 year LL.B. course and 5 year B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) course, and conduct their own entrance tests, along with National Law Universities, which conduct the CLAT in the month of May, every year, for admission to around 19 NLUs in the country. Still, the Indian law universities have a long way to go, with respect to gaining a stature of international level.
This situation is doubly highlighted by the fact that, India continues to show mediocre results, while its neighbour like China or a country as small as Singapore, are fostering world-class institutes.
Talking of legal education, with the very aim of bringing structure and quality to legal education in India, NLU or National Law Universities, were set up, in India, the first one to be, National Law School of India University, Bangalore, in 1986. They were introduced as a breath of fresh air in the times when, legal education in India needed a massive revamp.
Over the years a lot has been achieved, but a lot still needs to be further achieved. The in-ability of even any NLU, which was meant to be an institute of legal excellence, throws some serious light on the management of legal education system in India.
Legal Education in China
Law schools
Law universities
Justice college
Specialized judicial and professional training centres.
Currently, there are some 80 Law Colleges or Universities, and many university-based law schools or departments in People’s Republic of China. Though, historically, the best known ones are called “The Five Institutes and Four Departments”.
Entry to Law colleges, like maximum of all the other undergraduate courses in China, is through, the National College Entrance Examination (NCEE), commonly known as Gaokao. This exam is usually taken by students in their last year of senior high school, although there has been no age restriction since 2001.
Chinese and Mathematics is included in all tests, and students get a choice between taking either social sciences (history, political science, geography etc) or natural sciences(physics, chemistry, biology etc).
The system of legal education in China, has boomed exponentially in the past 3 decades, and the Chinese have experimented with several innovative ways to develop legal studies in their country, like-
Incorporating global perspectives into legal education, by which they have been able to tap into global potential and opportunities.
Young experimental law schools coming forward with comparative law and skill centric, pedagogy.
The State pushing on reforming and improving higher legal education, and putting greater emphasis on practical legal education/ training
Introducing, global perspectives and scenarios, all the while training budding law students, for rural legal work, which adds substantially to the nation’s growth, socially.
All these moves have clearly worked well for China, as can be seen in the rankings where its universities are bagging top ranks and producing skilled, quality lawyers. India as compared to China has a long way to go, where it comes to emulating the practical aspect of legal studies and reformation.
Legal Education in Bangladesh
In Bangladesh, obtaining a degree of LL.B is a prerequisite to practicing of law in the courts. It has both LL.B. and LL.B.(Hons.), offered by both public and private universities.
Only 7 public universities in Bangladesh, offer a 4 year LL.B. (Hons.) degree, and also a 1 year LLM degree.
Along with these universities, some private universities also provide the 4 year LL.B. (Hons.) and 1 year LLM degree.
A 2 year LL.B. degree is also offered to non-law graduates, by National University of Bangladesh.
The scene of legal education is not so bright here, and it does not respond to the needs of modern society and economy, its reforms have become a national need, there are several aspects that the legal education system in Bangladesh needs to look into, like-
Objective of legal education needs to be shifted from a narrow view, of provisions and principles of law and legal system, to a more justice and social value, emphasised system
Application of law as a tool of social engineering for the welfare of the people, needs to be reflected in the curriculum, and teaching methodology and needs to be used as a motivation for the upcoming students.
As law is a practical social science, it is pertinent that it is valued and taught both academically and vocationally. The issue in Bangladesh is that much like how it is in India, its main focus is on the academic aspect of legal education, which results in that, the method of teaching law is lecture based, hence, need for a practical or Socratic method of teaching, including moot courts, clinical legal education, mock trials, etc are very much needed.
Also somewhat like India, Bangladesh has a wide difference between the legal education imparted by its public universities and other private law colleges. This is because of several issues such as, lack of funds, absence of government control as well as financial assistance, infrastructural inadequacy, lack of academic facilities, poor management, absence of full-time teaching staff, irregularity in admission and examination of students, and poor monitoring and control by affiliating National University.
Legal Education in Singapore
In Singapore, the LL.B. degree is conferred by either National University of Singapore (NUS) or the Singapore Management University (SMU) after a 4 year course consisting of 8 semesters. NUS, also offers a 3 year LL.B. (Hons.) course to graduate law students, while SMU offers a Juris Doctor, programme.
Singaporean legal education is doing extremely well, this country, which is doing extremely great now, had initially started off in a time when not many students were willing to take up law, due to numerous reasons like-
English being the medium of education (this was a problem for the non-english medium school children)
Cultural ideological conflicts regarding the nature of law, in European and local ways.
Uncertainty over the professional recognition of the law degree.
But over time local legal scholarships came into being, and also a wide variety of legal literature, including commentaries etc were published.
During 1966, Singapore witnessed a shift towards a more professional curriculum, and emphasis was placed on the substantive law subjects, due to lot of political change
From 1966 to 1982 tremendous amount of development went on, to develop the curriculum into a more specialised line.
In the year 1981, a major curriculum review process was undertaken, resulting in the Jayakumar-Chin Report.
All these various steps taken during the 1900s, helped Singapore tremendously. Singapore changed its approach with the changing environment, and took advantage of the commercial hub it was slowly becoming.
These examples of a few other Asian countries, should act as motivators, to India, so as to motivate it to become more versatile, practical and global in its approach towards legal education.
Why is India lagging behind Singapore and China in terms of quality legal education
What makes a major difference between the other Asian law universities mentioned and Indian law universities, are:
The amount of funding the universities get
Despite being named as National Law Schools, all the NLUs run under the aegis of the state government and its fund, which usually stops coming after the initial first time funding, which leaves the NLUs to fend for themselves, where in turn, they increase the admission fees, and in cases where the state government does continue with the funding, the transparency regarding the use comes under questioning, as had happened at RMNLU, in 2017
Even in 2012, NLSIU Bangalore, which got its funding from the Karnataka State Government, faced trouble, when its grant was slashed by 50% by the State Government, resulting in it being left with a fund gap of 2 crore. This led to fears of cutting down on expenditure, and deteriorating of quality services, while also resulting in trouble of attracting competent teaching staff.
2. The quality of faculty the universities attract
There can be seen in even the top law universities in India, a lack of competent faculty, which results in further low research output and drop in quality of education, furthering down the ranks. The problem with funds, in all NLUs creates troubles in attracting teaching staff as, even the salaries of top professors are comparable to that of fresh law graduates, with little job growth satisfaction
3. The number and quality of publications and research
Work the university/ faculty gets done in international top-notch journals, help in improving research output, and citation score). All top universities have a reputable research oriented frame of working, which lacks in the Indian scenario, where theoretical classroom teaching is the usual norm.
4. The international reputation
In the form of getting more and more international law firms coming for recruitment, signing of various MoUs and agreements with leading international universities, resulting in enhancement of global reputation and increased chances of international students, further boosting the Universities’ reputation and an overall more dedication to holistic growth of students of law.
5. Teaching Methodology
Indian education in general, and legal education specifically, don’t have the required practical bent to it’s application, that would make law students adept future lawyers with skills, rather it has turned legal education into rote learning statutes and cases, which mostly results in the supply of nothing more than legal technicians and not professionals, from Indian universities. In most law courses, attending classes and scoring in exams is the only criterion, and numerous universities do not have any specialised courses.
An adept law student by the end of his/her course should have a deep knowledge of any law they have specialised in, should be able to draft briefs, frame petitions and critique different viewpoints in an analytical manner.
Legal education in India should shift from only doctrinal to practical in approach, legal research should be taught and encouraged in law colleges, law faculties should be given the appropriately updated pedagogy, which will facilitate a more engaging and skill-oriented legal learning, rather than rote learning of rules and laws.
The scenario around the rest of Asia, is again of quite a variety; some similar, some in contrast to the Indian system.
While we see that there are numerous areas that the Indian legal education system needs to revamp and even more hurdles that it needs to cross, with cases like, the ongoing HNLU protests, and all the other under covered or lesser known, long stretched cases, an all-encompassing overhaul should be in order and various aspects such as paucity of funds, excessive red-tapism , lack of research orientation, and other institutional issues should be effectively dealt with.
Furthermore, discussing and coming to a definite solution on the proposal of naming all NLUs as “Institutions of National Importance”, a tag given to all IITs and IIMs, could give a tremendous boost to the current status of legal education in India, and should be thought and acted upon.
India in today’s dynamic world, where Asia as an area in itself is doing tremendously well, should make use of all the opportunities it can, and decisively focus on working on upping the status of legal education in India, and justifying its potential in the world.
In this article, Ninisha of Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law discusses top law colleges in India.
Top Law Colleges in India
In this post-modern society, many exquisite fields have emerged with the advent of new ideas and concepts. In the midst of these new fields, law has blossomed into an ever-expanding discipline, the branches of which are proliferating day by day. The demand of lawyers has protruded in our country due to increased disputes and complex crimes which are hiking unstoppably. Only law can convert injustice to justice and diminish sufferings. But the question is that how to train students in this specialized sphere so as to make them ready for their future endeavours and career in law? The answer is better education, maximum support and attractive opportunities which our respectable law institutions provide in India. These institutions can be divided into government and private. Let us discuss about some of the eminent institutions of our Democratic nation:
National Law Universities (NLU)
These are government funded universities, recognized by University Grants Commission and affiliated to Bar Council of India. Students can pursue legal education from these after 12th class by passing Common Law Admission Test. The curriculum is moulded in such a pattern that students get excellent experience and exposure so as to face further challenges in their later life.
There are total 22 NLUs for now. They can be divided into 3 tiers. NLSIU Banglore, NALSAR Hyderabad, NLJS Kolkata, NLIU Bhopal, NLU Jodhpur, NLU Delhi, GNLU Gujarat and HNLU Raipur are in first tier.
NUALS Kochi, RMLNLU Lucknow, RGNUL Patiala and CNLU Patna come in the second tier.
In the third tier, NLUJJA Assam, TNNLS Trichy, NUSRL Ranchi, NLU Orissa, DSNLU Vishakhapatnam are there.
Newly established NLUS are also improving: MNLU Nagpur, MNLU Mumbai, HPNLU Himachal, and MNLU Aurangabad.
Dharmashastra National Law University, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh has been recently established in India.
First in the list is National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Banglore, which was the first to be established. In India Today Rankings, NLSIU was considered as on top in 2016 and NLU Jodhpur, NLIU (Bhopal) AND NUJS (Kolkata) were appraised as best emerging law colleges. NALSAR (Hyderabad) and GNLU (Gujarat) were some of them which were included in the top 10 list at that time.
IDIA (Increasing Diversity by Increasing Access) organisation ranked top 5 NLUS as the best in India: NLSIU(1), NALSAR(2), NUJS(3), NLU Jodhpur(4) and NLU Delhi(5), depending upon their academics, faculty, facilities, infrastructure, locational benefits, placements and internships.Also, according to the OUTLOOK magazine, NLSIU, Banglore is ranked at top in India for its performance in 2018. NLUJ has been ranked at second position after NLSIU. HNLU Raipur is at seventh position, NLU Orissa has been ranked at eighteenth, according to the scores of CLAT which they had received recently.
According to the National Institutional Framework Rankings (NIRF), which were announced by Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Prakash Javadekar, considered NLSIU as India’s top leading Law University with RANK First followed by NLU Delhi at second and NALSAR at third position in the year 2018. Then NLU Jodhpur was also ranked at fifth place. NUJS (Kolkata) was ranked at seventh and RMLNLU (Lucknow) grabbed eighth rank. According to ‘Legally India’, NLSIU comes at top in 2018, followed by NALSAR, NLIU, NUJS, NLU Jodhpur, GNLU, MNLU Mumbai, HNLU, RMLNLU, RGNUL, NUALS, NLU Orissa, CNLU, MNLU Nagpur, NUSRL, DSNLU, NLUJJA, TNNLS and MNLU Aurangabad in this particular order of ranking respectively.
But there are certain government colleges other than NLUs which can be taken into consideration like Jamia Millia Islamia and Banaras Hindu University. They also hold prominent spots in the law discipline and attract large number of students in their institutions.
Private Law Institutions
Private law colleges are also providing quality education and they are also expanding at a fast pace. Whether it is 3 year LLB or 5 year BA.LLB, there is superfluity of opportunities in these esteemed colleges. These institutions provide exposure to multifarious activities in aspect of mooting, extracurricular activities, academics or anything. Nowadays, every private college tries to provide education in every area like criminal law, business law, international law, constitutional law etc. in order to compete with their rivals. Some of them are as follows:
Maharashtra
Symbiosis law school (Pune)
Bharati Vidyapeeth, New law School (Pune)
DY Patil College Pune
Manikchand Law College.
Punjab
Army Institute of Law (Mohali)
Delhi
Amity Law School (Delhi), IMS law school (Noida), VIPS, USLLS
Gujarat
Institute of Law (Ahmedabad), Nirma University,
Haryana
Jindal Global Law School.
Banglore
Christ University and MS Ramaiah College of Law.
Hyderabad
ICFAI Law School (Hyderabad)
Bhubaneshwar
KIIT School of Law.
These are some of the reputed Private Law Colleges in India which provide Legal Education and professional ethics to the budding lawyers.
Students generally consider these colleges as last resort when they not able to secure place in any other college. But it is important to always keep Plan B so as to prevent your year from being wasted. Some of the colleges are:
In private ones, there are KLE Society’s Law College (Banglore), GITAM University of (Vishakhapatnam), University of Petroleum and Energy (Dehradun), Alliance School of Law (Banglore), JSS Law School (Mysore), Banglore Institute of Legal Studies, The NorthCap University (Gurgaon), Indore Institute of Law ( Indore) and SDM Law School (Manglore).
Also, Lloyd Law School (Noida), Sidhharth College of Law (Mumbai) and School of Law (Mumbai) are also included in this list. Even Gitarattan International Business School of Delhi, Sri Krishna college of Education Baghpat are to be included. They need profound improvement in their infrastructure for encouraging student participation in their colleges.
Regarding Government colleges in this category, kurukshetra University, Osmania University of Hyderabad, Department of Law-University of Calcutta, Damodaram Law University and St. Wilfred’s College of Law are included. These colleges also provide Legal Education in India in order to help students to pursue their dreams.
All these three categories tell us about different law colleges in India whether Government or Private which provide facilities and exposure to our future generation and work for the welfare of the country. There are certain clarifications which have to be made regarding the selection criteria of universities:
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Important note
It should be noted that there is no authoritative ranking list of law schools in India. Every Organisation/magazine/ firm/coaching interprets position of NLUs, private and local colleges according to its own bias and prejudice. The rankings are not Official and therefore, aspirants should not rely upon this categorization. Every university has its own value and status which should not be undermined.
These rankings are mostly deceptive which confuses the students while selecting the colleges. Even some organisations and agencies presented top colleges at lower positions. Also, parents should also carefully examine the aspects of different colleges before sending their children there instead of being influenced by news agencies. Above points should also be taken into consideration which will be immensely helpful.
Motivation for Aspirants
The main concern is that if a student is not able to secure his/her place in any NLU or other desired institution then there is always a way to get out of the problematic situation. If a person is willing to continue career in Law then it can be pursued from local colleges also and hard work always pays off irrespective of the location of college, it just depends upon the talent, utter determination and confidence upon oneself. If you are not serious regarding your career and progress then no college, however, reputed or advanced, can make you reach the acme of life. Struggle and belief are those two constituents which make a lethal combination.
In this article, Simran Sabharwal discusses what is law.
Not for nothing, the great Greek thinker, Aristotle, had said, “At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice, he is the worst” and similarly, Thomas Hobbes had pronounced, “It is not wisdom but Authority that makes a law.” Various philosophers have given their unique definition for law. Even every layman has his own definition. Everyone has their own interpretation of what law is and what law ought to be. The primary purpose of this article is to interpret the meaning of law and how the law evolved with the times of today.
What is Law?
Law plays different roles in the lives of everyone. A single word cannot define law. There cannot be a word which can equate law. One can draw analogy to understand law. Law is like a temple which is designed so that men and women can live in his or her palace of peace. Law is love, which is inarticulate in nature. Both have the power to regulate human emotions. Law is as complex as love. An analogy can be drawn between law and sea. Both law and sea are vast and as a drop adds to the quantity of water in the ocean, in the same way every judgement adds itself to many precedents. Also, there is no life without water, there is no life without law.
Law is not a mistress, law is a spouse. It stays with you, wherever you go. Law is an invisible force that controls every human being. Law connects us like Life and Water (LAW). All these statements gives the idea that law is universal.
Salmond defined law as, “ the law may be defined as body of principles recognised and applied by the state in the administration of justice.” Though Salmond did not define justice yet his definition can be considered as the most workable definition.
According to John Chipman Gray, “the Law of the State or of any organised body of men is composed of the rules which the courts, that is judicial organ of the body lays down for the determination of legal rights and duties.” His definition also received criticism that his definition focused neither on nature of law nor on statute laws.
Nature and Scope of Laws
What is the nature of law or what is the essence of law is a long disputed question. Various Greek thinkers have already raised several questions on the topic and the answer is still not clear. That does not mean that there is no clear answer but there is not a complete answer which can be claimed to be absolute. Also, this question has preoccupied Jurisprudence and philosophy of law.
There are two kinds of law. One is based on justice, the other one is based on control. The latter part is in use today. “Might is right” principle is followed. It is retribution instead of restoration which should be followed.
Justice is a set of universal principles which guide people to analyse what is right and what is wrong. It disregards the culture and society one lives in. Fiat justitia ruat caelum is a Latin phrase which means, “Let justice be done, though the sky falls.”
Social control refers to mechanisms which regulate individual and group behaviour. E.A. Ross, the famous sociologist believed that it is not the laws that guide human behaviour but it is the belief systems that guide what individuals do. Social control mechanisms can be adopted as laws and norms which control and define human behaviour.
Law serves many purposes and functions. It helps to maintain peace. Violence should not be allowed in the society and thus, peace is maintained by the orders or we can say the laws of the government. Law also helps to establish standards. It also protects rights of the people. Without laws, people will not even get the basic rights which they deserve.
Also, law can be called as a good career option. From Mahatma Gandhi to Barack Obama, all are associated with the career of law. It acted as a stepping stone to their success. There are various career options in law like litigation, civil services, professors or one can go in the corporate sector.
Jurisprudential Schools of Law
Jurisprudence refers to the study of law. It can also be called as a science which deals with creation, exploration and enforcement of laws. The word is derived from juris prudential which means knowledge of the law. If one understands the theories and philosophies then one can get a better understanding of law. Legal thoughts can be viewed from the angle of different schools of jurisprudence which are given below.
Positivist School
According to Positivist school, law is the command of the sovereign. It says that decisions can be made logically from predetermined cases and ignoring the moral aspects. It is also called Analytical school.
This school says there isn’t a connection between law and morality. For example, Judges may not want the landlord to evict the elderly old lady from the land on which the rent is overdue. Though the laws may say that if the rent is not paid, the defaulter has to vacate the land. Positivist law school says that judges should decide cases in accordance to law and keeping aside their morals.
It believes that integrity of law is maintained through neutral judiciary. Law is what is laid down. What ought to be the law factor should be ignored.
Also, basis of law should be maximum happiness of maximum people.
Historical School
“Law is the product of social consciousness.” This social consciousness started even before sovereignty. It started from the very beginning of the society. Sir Henry Maine, Edmund Burke are the renowned jurists.
The Historical school is based on Volksgeist theory. It says law is based on the general will of the people. It grows as the nation grows. Also, a law which is suitable for one set of people may be useless for the other which gives us the point that there is no universal application of law. The laws are based upon the local customs, local behaviour and the current thought processes of the society. All these affect law and makes it a peaceful society.
The theory focuses a lot on the past. However, it mentions that laws must change with time. Laws must be what the society demands.
Natural School
Natural law is a philosophy that focuses on the laws of the nature. It says that there are some laws which all humans deserve as they are inherent in society. It opposes the positivist theory. A lot of emphasis is placed on morals and ethics of the society.
It is based on the reasons they make for deciding between good and evil.
Immanuel Kant, Hegel and Grotius are eminent jurists. They regarded law neither as command of the sovereign nor a product of consciousness rather based on rationality and reasonableness.
The main aim of Philosophical school or Natural school is to elevate humans from evil and raise them to do good.
Even in Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights of US Constitution, Thomas Jefferson has cited Natural Law theory calling it “the laws of Nature and of Nature’s God.”
Sociological School
This school emerged as a synthesis of many jurist’s thoughts. This school of thought lay emphasis on functional part of law rather than the abstract part of law.
They regarded law as a social institution. They believed that laws are not created by state. Laws come from society. The laws are not sanctioned by the state but by the awareness on the part of people.
These laws establish an interconnection between society and laws. Both Historical and Philosophical schools caused a hindrance to social and legal reforms, as a result Sociological school was formed.
This school is the only school of jurisprudence which has a definite program which the other schools do not have. They placed a lot of emphasis on the concept of justice.
Realism School
This school of law emphasises a lot on what courts may do rather than the abstract ideas. Law exists as a matter of reality.
Allen observed that “fermentation is necessary in legal chemistry for without it the liquor of” the law becomes sour and stale. This takes into account the customary practices and circumstances for providing with a new law. The theory can be understood with descriptive way or prescriptive way or both.
In this it is believed that law is a body of government for the administration of justice. Like Positivist theory, this also sees law as will of the state but it is done through administration of justice.
Comparative School
Professor Kecton considers, “the development of Comparative Jurisprudence is the development of two or more systems of law.” However, the term has one meaning.
As historical school is concerned with time, this school is concerned about space. It collects and examines rules that are prevalent and the man who agree and disagree with the system and tries to find a system which is natural. Natural system will be the system what all men wanted to have but due to different laws couldn’t.
Comparative Jurisprudence does a comparative analysis and aids Historical as well as an Analytical School of Law.
Evolution of Law
Christianity and Law
Many centuries ago, it was believed that according to Christianity, God and Old Testaments created the law. Law was a set of rules written by God. People believed in Divine power. Also, it was believed that only if the laws are considered to be sacred then it will be followed.
Christians placed a lot of emphasis on morals. They believed that if the foundations of law are weak, then society will easily revise them according to their needs. The laws will become crooked according to man’s selfish needs.
As Christians, it was believed that the omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent loving God is the world’s Lawgiver (Psalm 127:1). He provides Himself as an absolute basis for law. The Christian system of law did not change according to the whims and remained static.
Christianity did not neglect human rights. It ensured certain human rights that are written in the Bible. The Bible has certain instructions specified and He commands us to follow them. The Bible tells us what God believes to be good and what He wants from us: “to do justify, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God” (Micah 6:8).
It was believed that one can hoodwink man’s laws but no one can escape from God’s punishment.
This theory led to diverse views. The people who believed in God were questioned by others. People questioned them because there was no evidence of God coming to earth and formulating the laws.
As a result, the definition changed over time. Later people started believing more in themselves than in the supreme commander. The meaning of law became closer to humans. The definition shifted its emphasis from God to lawmakers.
Sovereignty and Law
There was a time when people believed in command of the sovereign. Various Political philosophers have their own controversial statements related to sovereignty. It was regarded as absolute. No power is above superior.
Another feature is, that it was considered to be permanent. It did not end with the death of the king, rather the eldest son of the king became the next ruler, the principle of primogeniture.
Now, this poses a question what if the new king is inefficient? No one had the right to remove the king.
Starting with Austin’s theory which meant that sovereignty is the command given by superior to inferior. So, whatever the King proclaimed can be considered as law and should not face any revolt. Divisibility of power was not allowed. The ultimate power rested with the king and he was the one who imposed all the laws on the society.
If there was only one person who made all the laws, is he competent enough to frame laws for all the sectors of the society? The laws made by King could not be questioned. Whatever the king said, prevailed.
So, what if a particular sector of society is unhappy with the existing law? They had no right to question the king. Thus, Austin’s theory focused on supremacy. A few lines from a poem which can elaborate on his theory-
“Laws are
Framed by us.
We are framed by someone else,
Who is above any law.”
However, Hans Kelsen believed in the idea to end sovereignty. He gave his new definition.
He believed that there was no need for the word sovereignty to understand the meaning of law and to locate the applications of legal norms. He believed that legal norms are not valid because they are given by sovereign or compatible with moral laws. He discarded the theory that sovereignty is the ultimate source of law.
It is believed that where there is sovereignty there is no law and where there is law, there is no sovereignty.
Therefore, times changed and people realised that whatever King ordered should not be proclaimed as law. Rather, they should have the freedom to choose their ruler or decide whom they want to be ruled by. So, sovereignty part was disregarded by time.
Modern time and Law
Law in modern time is dynamic. Law is what the judges say. Law evolved from religious books to Kings proclamation to what it is today.
Law in the modern times is influenced by time and places. A crime in one place may be an ordinary act of another. Thus, nothing is wrong or right, it is now the law of the state which governs the act. It is customs, practices and habits that become law.
Different culture punishes different things, which means that different rules guide different laws of the land. The punishment for a crime varies from one country to the other.
For instance, punishment for negligent driving, witch branding, adultery is different at different places. Though main aim of the present laws is to provide justice to the one in need. Also, no one is condemned unheard which leads to the idea that justice is given after hearing both the sides.
In present times, it is what the judges say. In one of the beautiful poems, law is described as,
“Law cannot bind me,
Law cannot judge me,
I can change the law
As per my convenience.”
Law is defined as, “a set of special legal rules, enforceable by the courts, regulating the government of the state, relationship between the organs of the state and relationship or conducts subjects towards each other.” It is a body of rules made by the legislature.
In fact, laws are the rules that bind human together. Without laws, man can become worse than an animal. Law is a necessity for the nation to prosper. The rules are made by man, enforced by man, on the man.
Law can only be enforced by the majority. When there is general support, law enforces itself. A body is elected which frames the law for everyone. People have to be governed by law to avoid illegal and immoral acts.
Even in ancient times there were certain customs which acted as laws. In other words, it can be said that law can be called as the supreme force which acts as a catalyst between society and illegal practices.
Also, every single person has his own definition for the three-letter word. Even the judges that make law, give judgements according to time.
For instance, Section 377 which was a crime before was ruled out in September 2018 and was legalised in the nation. Although there are still many nations where gay marriages are criminalised. In other words, we can say that, what is a law today can be criminalised tomorrow. This is what makes the nature of law dynamic.
Are Laws Necessary?
Now, thinking upon the point: why do we need law? Is it even required?
“We talk while we are mobile, some of us drink like fish from the wine lake and smoke like bush fire and literally are buried under butter mountain while our compatriots are hungry, we are always in haste and have no time for others.” These lines do summarise the ideas of need of law.
Law acts as a medicine to cure the sufferer. We all must be aware that a condition of lawlessness is neither desirable for the nation, nor for the individual.
Civilisation has developed the humans, not only in emotions but also in technology. So, at every new turn, we require a law to help us move forward in society. When politicians prove to be a dark horse, then the law is required.
Lord Dylan said,” to live outside the law, you must be honest.” The words within the quotes are absolutely right because if everyone is honest then there will be no need for law. There would have been peace all around but we all know that this is not the reality. We require more and more laws because we are progressing at a very fast pace though inside we are regressing.
The current generation requires law the most. Though laws are filled with flaws i.e. Every law has some deficiency but law is what limits and coerces the majority. If it is necessary, it is required for survival and sustenance.
So, just imagine a day without law. A hell lot of problems will arise if there is not any law. We humans are filled with self-interest and our selfishness will override every single thing on this planet. There will be misery all around. There will be war of all against all. Thus, law acts as a guard of all the negative human emotions of life. Law are guidelines which are required to be followed.
Also, law and ethics go together. In some ways, ethics governs law. Most of the judgements are given keeping in mind the ethical values of the society. Law and ethics, both help in providing the solutions, like what they should do and what they should not in a certain situation.
Even thinkers were aware of the importance of law. Greek thinkers believed that the end of the state is the good life, both for individuals and society so for that law is needed, which is backed by the common interest of all the people.
What is the main aim of Law?
We now know that laws are necessary but what is the aim of law. How will they benefit the society?
Law acts as an instrument to provide justice. Various theorists harped upon the main aspect of justice. They equated law with justice.
But why is law required to ensure justice? In order to answer the question Thomas Hobbes in his book Leviathan says, “To this war of every man, against every man, this also is consequent; that nothing can be unjust. The notions of right and wrong, justice and injustice have there no place. When there is no common power, there is no law: where no law, no injustice.” So, it can be concluded that in order to have justice, law is needed.
This now poses another question that What if law proves to be inefficient and no justice is provided? What will be the situation if law turns out to be biased?
The answer to the above question is: For every judgement passed by the court there are amendments which ensures that law moves with time. It changes with the changing demands of the society. Also, take the infamous Nirbhaya case which shook the nation. There were no such case laws related to juvenile offenders. After the happening, a panel was formed which recommended tougher punishments for sexual violence. In other words, if a law proves to be of not so use, amendments are made in it. Same is the case of section 377, when it was proved that the law needs to be changed, the Supreme Court gave a green signal and decriminalised the 150+ year old practice.
Now, why is the decision-making authority with the Supreme court and not with the people? What if the people get together in kins for mutual protest?
This is not allowed as man is considered to be selfish. He will think of his self-interests and not of the society. He will think only of himself, which will aggravate the situation. This will later lead to agitation and violence which will eventually result in mob lynching as not all the sector’s needs will be taken up.
Thus, there is a need for a body to make laws for everyone keeping aside the biases. Also, Supreme court of India, in July 2018, passed a judgement ensuring that justice is the law’s business and not mob’s. Furthermore, the Indian constitution guarantees justice for all.
Conclusion
Law is an instrument of positive social change and also as a means of changing existing social arrangements. It acts as a catalyst change agent.
Law has influenced literature. Shakespeare has mentioned law more than any other profession in his plays. That is to say, Law is so important that it has its impact even in literature.
Lawyers can look into literature as a rich source of certain forms of knowledge. Law is what everyone of us look forward to.
Law may prove to be deterrent at times, but its main purpose is to provide justice. Law means a strong order in the society. All this can be provided by government. All things considered, law is the most crucial part of the state. It is the supreme power of the state commanding what is right and what is wrong.
Although law has one syllable and has only three letters yet the word can be understood in various ways.
The Competition Act, 2002 has been enacted to prevent the activities that have an adverse effect on competition in the Indian Market. The Preamble of the Act states: An Act to provide, keeping in view the economic development of the country, …which unambiguously enunciates the role of ‘Economic Efficiency’ in the Competition Law. The goal of competition law is to build a competitive market and thus foster economic growth of the nation. However, with emergence of digital economy, the issues relating to ‘Big Data’, ‘Big Analytics’ & and their implications on Competition Policy have been raised in Business Literature.
the velocity at which data is collected, used, and disseminated;
the variety of information aggregated; and finally
the value of the data.
After collection of such data, what comes into picture is ‘Big Analytics’: a term referring to the complex process of examination of Big Data using specialized algorithms to uncover hidden patterns, extracting useful information such as consumer preferences, market trends etc. Such information helps business entities in planning their future business policies.
The interaction between data protection and competition laws
The emergence of Big Data as an asset for market players does not only raise data protection issues but also leads to competition considerations. The rapid growth of data application in this digitalized economy unveils the scope of data protection in the realm of competition law. The interaction between data protection and competition laws started to gain attention from policy makers and academician after the announcement of Google’s proposed acquisition of DoubleClick in 2007. The concerns were raised mainly owing to the information which would have been in the hands of Google after the completion of acquisition.
However, despite calls to oppose the acquisition on the grounds of privacy considerations, the Federal Trade Commission of US stated that it lacks the legal jurisdiction to tether conditions that do not associate to anti-trust. In its view, the sole purpose of merger review is to identify and remedy transactions that harm competition. It was contended that FTC could have depended on a different hypothesis to combine privacy issues in competition analysis of the transaction by the then-commissioner Paula Jones Harbour.
The discourse got revitalized when Facebook announced acquiring Whatsapp in 2014 which was approved by both the US FTC and the European Commission. European Commission reiterated that any privacy related concern as a result of the transaction do not fall within the scope of EU competition law but within the ambit of EU data protection laws.
In spite of oppositions to both Google/DoubleClickiii and Facebook/Whatsappiv acquisitions, the US FTC as well as the European Commission deny to include privacy-related concerns into competition law and state that privacy-related concerns should rather be resolved under data protection laws.
Data has been recognized as a non-price parameter in competition assessment in the Microsoft/Linkedinv merger, if it is a significant factor in the quality of services rendered. In the digital era, Big Data helps the enterprises in improving the services rendered by them, providing more customized options based on the individual preferences, however, at the same time, it raises privacy-related concern which should not be ignored.
DATA PROTECTION INTERESTS IN MERGER REVIEW
Data-related competition issues cannot always be identified using the current distinction made between horizontal, vertical and conglomerate mergers. Even if a merger does not lead to horizontal or vertical overlap and does not give rise to conglomerate effects in terms of the product and services that are offered by the merging parties, a combination of datasets may still have a competitive impact. The obtained datasets provide an opportunity to an enterprise to improve existing products and to develop new products i.e. entering into another relevant market. Since no real market for supply and demand of data exists, it becomes quite difficult for competition authorities to tackle such issues. However, by defining a potential market for data as an asset, authorities would be able to tackle competition concerns relating to datasets or data concentration in merger cases. This might be considered as a big step in merger review as the datasets act as a super asset in the combination cases in the online market. In a March 2016 speech, EU Competition Commissioner stated “Sometimes, what matters are its assets. That could be a customer base or even a set of data”.Need of potential relevant market for data can be illustrated by reference to the Google acquisition of Nest in 2014. Nest, a producer of smart home devices and Google, a search engine, were not competing in any relevant market. Nevertheless, this acquisition benefited Google as it acquired the access to data on the behaviour of consumers, which in turn, must have benefited Google in developing the services rendered by it or in developing a new product. The US FTC, which cleared the deal, would have been able to assess such concerns in more detail had it defined the potential market for data.vi In a data-driven economy, such merger has the potential of restricting the concentration of relevant data and create entry barriers for new companies as they don’t have access to such amount of relevant data leading to obstructing their expansion and in turn to eliminating competition. Merger in the data-related economy can also lead to vertical or conglomerate effects if a large enterprise has obtained the ability to restrict upstream or downstream competitors’ access to data. More generally, Vertical integration can entail discriminatory access to strategic information with the effect of distorting competition.
DATA PROTECTION INTERESTS AND ABUSE OF DOMINANCE
Data may play a significant role in establishing dominance. It is argued that “a serial disregard for the privacy interest of consumers forms a indication that an undertaking has the power to behave independently in the market and thus posses a dominant position”.vii However, it is not necessary that existence of Data is always detrimental to consumer welfare if privacy forms only one aspect of quality and works as a currency for more relevant end-products and services. Nevertheless, a dominant position can be establised if data protection is the only aspect of quality and does not interrelate with other product dimensions.
From a competition perspective, the question which arises is that, What amount of data is to be considered as excessive to establish dominance? An approach which can be followed involves the use of data protection benchmark against which the existence of abusive behaviour can be tested. By using this principle, data protection can be integrated in competition law for assessing abuse of dominance [such approach was used by Bundeskartellant (German Competition authority) when they announced the opening of proceedings against Facebook]. Data can also facilitate price discrimination as a large amount of data helps in analysing the preferences and reservations of the consumers which helps the companies in adapting the prices to individual customer groups.
CONCLUSION
Even though competition authorities is currently reluctant to integrate data protection into competition, it is submitted that greater consideration should be given to data protection. The competition authorities need to go beyond the school of thought of justification of competition i.e. the concept of ‘Economic Efficiency’ while assesing the merger and abuse of dominance cases which involve data on a large scale. Competition authorities need a balanced approach between ‘Economic Efficiency’ and ‘Data Protection’. However, at the same time, it should be noted that competition and data protection law are two different legal regimes having different causes of concern. This implies that pure data protection issues should be considered by Data Protection authorities. Considering that the utilization of data as an advantage by showcase players may interfere with fair competition, it is presented that the Competition Commission of India has a specific level of duty to advance the use of the right to data protection as well when acting in its ability as a competition authority.
iOECD, Data-Driven Innovation for Growth and Well-Being: Interim Synthesis Report, October 2014, http://www.oecd.org/sti/inno/data-driven-innovation-interim-synthesis.pdf
iiP. Swire, ‘Submitted Testimony to the Federal Trade Commission Behavioral Advertising Town Hall’, 18 October 2007, p. 5.
iiiCase No COMP/M.4731 – Google/DoubleClick, 11 March 2008.
ivCase no COMP/M.7217 – Facebook/Whatsapp, 3 October 2014.
vCase No COMP/M.8124 – Microsoft/LinkedIn, 6 December 2016.
viI. Graef, ‘Market Definition and Market Power in Data: The Case of Online Platforms’, World Competition, 2015, vol. 38, no. 4, (473), pp. 492-495.
viiA.J. Burnside, ‘No Such Thing as a Free Search: Antitrust and the Pursuit of Privacy Goals’, CPI Antitrust Chronicle 2015, vol. 5, no. 2, (1), p. 6.
viiiGiovanni Buttarelli is the European Data Protection Supervisor.
