The HNLU Wall Journal-Vol I Issue 1

The HNLU Wall Journal Vol.
I Issue 1
September 17, 2008
Copyright: HNLU Student Editorial Board

Page |1
THE HNLU WALL

JOURNAL
A Student Editorial Board Initiative (2008-09)
Section I: From the Editors Desk
Dear Friends,
As an ongoing initiative on part of the HNLU Student Editorial Board to reinvent
writing talents and information dispensation within the HNLU environment, we
bring to you the first edition of the fortnightly Wall Journal. The Wall Journal would
essentially comprise of four sections including the Editorial, Student Space (for
which students can contribute for each edition and one article on any subject
would be awarded space the maximum limit for which is two pages), an update
on legal news in terms of regulatory and legislative changes as well happenings
from the corporate world and the fourth section on judgment updates. A flexible,
fifth miscellaneous space can be added or subtracted depending on the issue.
At the outset we must acknowledge that this particular edition has been slightly
overdue owing to certain inevitable reasons. Nevertheless, we shall try and stick
to our plan of coming out with at- least three editions before the close of this
Semester. The long term objective of this idea to have a fortnightly Wall Journal is
to convert this wall format into print newsletter format which involves certain
finances and budget allocations for which we do not have a ready proposal as
yet.
We also take this opportunity to thank our Advisory panel comprising Prof. (Dr.)
IP Massey, Mr. Uday Shankar and Mr. Divya Tyagi for proposing the idea to
work on these lines. Each edition of the Wall Journal will be managed by four
students from amongst the members of the Student Editorial Board.
This Edition
The HNLU Wall Journal Vol. I Issue 1
September 17, 2008

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The Editorial: The Editorial in this edition is not a topical one, this being the
first edition. It is more or less introductory in nature. The futuristic idea however
is to have a topical editorial.
Student Space: Debanshu writes on Master Science for the Student Space
this edition. He has given a pragmatically scholastic understanding of the basic
drive in human beings in all spheres of life. This understanding however, can be
debated on a two-fold perspective comprising those who could be classified as
objectivists and those who might perceptively be classified as the softer class in
modern understanding of these objectivists. Simplistically speaking, the second
category of people who would be more than eager to give an anti-thesis to this
one dimensional understanding of mans mind, would be those who would attach
emotions to mans well being. It is a subject worth a political as well as an
ideological debate. The Board is indeed grateful to Debanshu for his contribution.
Judgment and Legal Update: The sections on updates and judgment snippets
have been clubbed. The primary purpose of this section is to attract students to
read at-least some if not all of what might be quintessential for job interviews. It
is indeed one of the most important things for legal professionals to keep
themselves up to date with general and legal happenings. Unfortunately,
students ignore this by and large. Reading newspaper editorials is also one of the
easiest ways to develop a better command over the language.
Miscellaneous: In this section, we have a few newspaper clippings and an
extract from the awe inspiring Prof. Menons (the founding Director of NLSIU,
Bangalore and NUJS, Kolkata) article on: EXCELLENCE IN HIGHER EDUCATION
Some insights from the National law School Experience. The newspaper articles
are not recent, but of a few years ago when HNLU was in the very formative
stages. They nevertheless reflect an outside understanding within the national
and local scenarios, each in their own context. Some, we need to question, some
we need to change for we have no other option!
We hope that this endeavour proves to be informative as well as pleasurable.
Happy reading!
Saurabh Saraogi
September 17, 2008

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For the Student Editorial Board (2008-09)

Working Team for this Edition:
Vikash Kumar Sinha, Pranjita Barman, Shreemoyee and Saurabh
Saraogi
Section II: Student Space

The Master Science
-Debanshu Mukherjee
Ever since man came to become a social animal, it is Politics that has continued
to govern his journey from the cradle to the grave. This is an attempt to unravel
some complexities of this rather subtle concept.
Technically speaking, Politics is the theory and practice of government. A closer
look at this apparently simple definition reveals many imbricated meanings.
Politics actually is the science that governs the inter-relationships between
human beings. It is a science because of the certainty with which it predicts
human behaviour. And it is through the notion of Political Power that any
relationship in a given society can be explained.
Power, as defined by scholars, is the ability of an individual to influence the
behaviour of others. Examine any relationship in a society and you would see
that its existence or non-existence is determined by the exercise of power by the
players involved.
Relationships between Government and the people, parents and their children,
husband and wife, employers and their employees and even between two friends
are shaped by the exercise of power by one in relation to the other.
All our acts relating to other individuals are directed at influencing their
behaviour. When a car salesman tries to convince a customer into buying a car,
he is only trying to influence the customers behaviour in order to ensure that he
does buy it. The customer on the other hand remains sceptical throughout the
process, asking questions every now then, and in the process influencing the
behaviour of the salesman who is forced to give his best. If the customer ends up
buying the car, the salesman was more effective in exercising his power than the
September 17, 2008

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customer and hence can be called more powerful. But, how does this happen?
How does one become powerful?
It is here that ability assumes importance. In the above example, if the car
salesman has an experience of more than ten years, his ability of influencing the
behaviour of a customer is obviously high. And unless the customer has a very
good understanding of cars himself, he would find it extremely difficult to not
succumb to this ability of the salesman.
The logic of the above argument can be extended to each and every relationship
in the society. Be it the Prime Minister and his Secretary, a lawyer and his client,
a beautiful girl and her beholder, a doctor and his patient, a CEO and his
employee, a software-professional and his client and even a taxi driver and his
passenger, they are all perpetually caught up in this clash of abilities. They are
all trying to influence each other and more often than not, it is their natural
ability or education/training that determines the final outcome as to who
overpowers whom. The crux of the argument is that we are all perpetually
involved in politics which is shaped by our respective abilities to influence the
behaviour of others.
But then why do we enable ourselves? What makes us crave for power? The
answer lies in understanding a highly complex facet of the human mind, i.e., the
ego. Ego is our own idea of our worth in the society we are part of. It is to
increase this worth that we channelize all our energies throughout our lives. No
human mind is bereft of this inherent quality. We try to look good, impress
others, earn money, and move ahead in life with the sole purpose of increasing
our self worth in the society. While a rickshaw puller works hard to give good
education to his children so that his own self worth increases in his society, a
CEO of company does that to make sure that his company earns the highest
possible profit, increasing his self worth in the process. Our ego therefore, is the
single most determining factor in directing our desire to enable ourselves - going
to the gym, working hard for the exams, working hard at the work place are all
means of augmenting our abilities- for influencing the behaviour of others.
Disparaging as it might sound, but the fact remains that in trying to impress
upon your boss, in engineering somebodys downfall and even in seducing
someone, you are doing nothing but playing politics. Politics, in no uncertain
terms is the art of making what seems impossible, possible. And yet it is a
science that governs all others.
So, before you throw a jibe at a politician involved in the governance of the
country, do remember that he is one of your own tribesmen, a little less enabled
then you perhaps.
What is imperative for you is to be aware of your own politics. This is because
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understanding your own politics is the key to understanding why certain things
ever happen to you.
This life is a political battleground. Dont play blindly without thinking about the
pros and cons of your actions. And make the right moves. You would always get
the same results. Its the master science after all. And always remember that you
cant help but play.
And be on your guard. Because this game stops only with your end!
Sections III & IV: UPDATE (regulatory, news and

judgment)
NATIONAL
Companies Bill introduced in Parliament
The Union Cabinet gave its approval for introduction of the Companies Bill,
2008 in the Parliament to replace the Companies Act, 1956, the existing
statute for regulation of companies in the country and considered to be in
need of comprehensive revision in view of the changing economic and
commercial environment nationally as well as internationally. The
Companies Bill, 2008 seeks to enable the corporate sector in India to
operate in a regulatory environment of best international practices that
fosters entrepreneurship, investment and growth and provides for:
A new entity in the form of One-Person Company (OPC) while

empowering Government to provide a simpler compliance regime
for small companies.
Facilitates joint ventures and relaxes restrictions limiting the number

of partners in entities such as partnership firms, banking companies,
etc.
September 17, 2008

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Duties and liabilities of the directors and for every company to have
at least one director resident in India.
Companies not to be allowed to raise deposits from the public

except on the basis of permission available to them through other
Special Acts.
A single forum for approval of mergers and acquisitions, along with

concept of deemed approval in certain situations.
Shareholders Associations/Group of Shareholders to be enabled to

take legal action in case of any fraudulent action on the part of
company and to take part in investor protection activities and 'Class
Action Suits'.
Consolidation of fore for dealing with rehabilitation of companies,

their liquidation and winding up in the single forum of National
Company Law Tribunal with appeal to National Company Law
Appellate Tribunal.
Special Courts to deal with offences under the Bill.
New company law to post email as evidence

The new company law, being drafted by the government, is likely to
recognize email as a valid piece of evidence. With corporate relying on
emails for bulk of their communication, the ministry of corporate affairs is
planning to recognize electronic communication by corporate as evidence
during company law prosecutions.
Pricing of Depository Receipts
Keeping in mind todays grim global capital market scenario, the
Government of Indias (GoI) Ministry of Finance (MoF), and more
specifically the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), in its release
dated July 31, 2008, had proposed certain changes to the pricing of
American Depository Receipts (ADRs) and Global Depository Receipts
(GDRs) regime.
Court pulls up insurance firms for challenging compensation
orders
The Delhi High Court criticized insurance companies that frequently
challenge lower court orders of accident compensation. Dismissing a
petition of Oriental Insurance Company, Justice V B Gupta said the
provisions in the Motor Accident Claim Tribunal Act (MACT) were brought
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in to grant relief to the victim by way of compensation. He also said that

the insurance companies should not avoid payment of compensation by
raising all possible pleas and thereby defeating the object of such
provisions.
Central Govt. not to violate court ruling on shrine
The Central Government has made it clear that no solution that violates
the high court ruling on the Amarnath land and the J&K Shrine Board Act,
2000, will be acceptable. The Government till now has been indulgent
towards the protests in the valley.
Consumer court pulls up Kingfisher Airlines
Kingfisher Airlines is pulled up by the national consumer redressal body
for adopting an unfair trade practice by misinforming passengers about
the airline they were flying by. The complainant herein bought a DelhiBhubaneswar return ticket on a March 8 Kingfisher flight over the internet
from the airline's website. But the problem arises when the complainant
was told at the check-in counter that Kingfisher Airlines did not have a
flight between Delhi and Bhubaneswar and was asked to take an Air
Deccan flight instead.
Law ministry moots penalty in R&D bill to protect IPR
The law ministry has recommended introduction of penal provisions in the
Public Funded R&D (Protection, Utilization and Regulation of Intellectual
Property) Bill of 2007. This leads to prevent misuse of intellectual property
by scientists and also allow public sector R&D organizations to
commercialize their inventions and share their profits with the inventor.
Arbitration
Whether rejection of application for appointment of arbitrator
under Section 11(4) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996
can be challenged by way of writ Petition
Whether the writ petition under Article 227 maintainable against
the order of the Civil Judge, Senior Division (designate of the
Chief Justice) and the High Court was wrong in assuming that the
writ petition was not maintainable in view of the decision of the
Hon'ble Supreme Court of India in S.B.P. & Co. v. Patel
Engineering Ltd
Punjab Agro Industries Corpn. Ltd. vs. Kewal Singh Dhillon (Decided on
25.08.2008, Supreme Court)
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Though the order under Section 11(4) of the Arbitration Act is a judicial
order, having regard to Section 11(7) relating to finality of such orders,
and the absence of any provision for appeal, the order of the Civil Judge
was open to challenge in a writ petition under Article 227 of the
Constitution. The decision in SBP case does not bar such a writ petition.
The observations of this Court in SBP that against an order under Section
11 of the Act, only an appeal under Article 136 of the Constitution would
lie, is with reference to orders made by the Chief Justice of a High Court or
by the designate Judge of that High Court. The said observations do not
apply to a subordinate court functioning as Designate of the Chief Justice.
This Court has repeatedly stressed that Article 136 is not intended to
permit direct access to this Court where other equally efficacious remedy
is available and the question involved is not of any public importance; and
that this Court will not ordinarily exercise its jurisdiction under Article 136,
unless the appellant has exhausted all other remedies open to him. Any
such contention that the order of the Civil Judge, Sr. Division rejecting a
petition under Section 11 of the Act could only be challenged, by recourse
to Article 136 is untenable. The decision in SBP case did not affect the
maintainability of the writ petition.
INTERNATIONAL
Global law firms seek tie-ups with Indian peers
The global law majors, White & Case, Ropes & Gray, Ashurst Morris Crisp
and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, are scouting for tie-ups with
domestic law firms as a first step for a footprint in India. For possible
alliances, they have already initiated talks with a host of law firms in the
country. Since the Bar Council of India (BCI) prohibits the entry of foreign
law firms in India, these tie-ups will be in the form of client referral
arrangements where both parties will refer work to each other when there
is a demand for India-related advice from international clients.
To fight child porn, Google deal with Brazil
Google, a famous internet search engine signed an agreement with
Brazilian public prosecutors. This is to help combat child pornography on
its social networking site Orkut, an accord that the company believes is
the first of its kind internationally
Court holds seizure of computer within scope of search warrant
for records reasonably likely to be stored on the computer
(United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit)
United States v. Giberson
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In this criminal conviction appeal, the appellant argued that the trial court
erred in denying his motion to suppress incriminating evidence found on
his computer. The computer was seized via a search warrant for
documents and records relating to child support obligation failures, and
was forensically searched under a warrant for evidence of fraudulent
activities. The appellant argued that the general principle that a search
warrant for materials authorizes the search of objects that may contain
those materials should not apply to computers because computers
contain an enormous volume of data, likely to contain irrelevant personal
data, and likely to contain First Amendment-protected data. The court held
that a search warrant describing a document reasonably likely to be
contained on a computer authorizes the seizure of that computer.
Subsequently, the court upheld the trial court's decision not to suppress
the computer evidence and the appellant's conviction.
Multi-jurisdictional Copyright Infringement (UK High Court of
Justice)
Lucasfilm Ltd and others v. Andrew Ainsworth and another
The claimant production and licensing companies behind the original Star
Wars films brought copyright action against the defendants for the
production of replica star wars uniforms. As the uniforms in issue could not
be described as either sculptures or works of artistic craftsmanship, and
furthermore had been exploited on an industrial scale, they were not
amenable to copyright protection in the UK. The claimants also failed in
their passing off and reverse passing off action. The default judgment
obtained against the defendants in the US was not enforceable, as they
had not submitted to the jurisdiction of the US courts. The Court did,
however, find it was right to determine the US copyright claim as the
defendant infringed claimant's rights under UK Copyright laws.
September 17, 2008

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Section V: Miscellaneous
Food for thought on the clippings and cuttings
Headline: Law and Behold
Should we sue the Times of India for misguiding the public?!
Headline: HNLUs Collaboration with European

Universities approved
We heard, we read but we never saw! Get informed!
Market regulator hunts for fresh blood, turns to law

schools, IIMs
We too are a National Law University!
Prof, NR Madhava Menon, Excellence in Education

extract
Many, in-fact most of us have either forgotten and the new
ones misguided, i.e. students, what and how legal studies
should be in a law school. It is more of a rigourous Socratic
exercise than discussing mundane things in lifethe existence
is becoming moribundREVIVE!Please!

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September 17, 2008

Copyright: HNLU Student Editorial Board

THE HNLU WALL