Faizan Mustafa

This article analyses the track record of Justice N V Ramana as the Chief Justice of India on the metrics of judicial appointments, progress on major constitutional challenges, and transparency in the exercise of the CJI’s prerogative as the master of roster. The article argues that on these metrics, there was only marginal improvement over the track record of his immediate predecessors.

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Recusal Refusals

Vol. 54, Issue No. 45, 16 Nov, 2019

Faizan Mustafa

Judges recuse themselves from benches to retain people’s trust in the judiciary. Lately, there have been controversial recusals: in one case by a few Supreme Court judges, and in another where a recusal was refused. The Chief Justice of India too had refused to recuse himself in a third case. Through an examination of various tests of determining bias and examples of other countries, a critical examination of the propriety of these refusals to recuse has been made.

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Holy Cow, Privacy, and Unholy Laws

Vol. 52, Issue No. 51, 23 Dec, 2017

Faizan Mustafa, Vivek Mukherjee

The impact of the privacy judgment on the constitutionality of the so-called beef statutes is examined through the critique of earlier judgments of the apex court, demonstrating how unscientific and unauthentic information became the basis of these judgments and how a selective approach was adopted in applying directive principles and fundamental duties over fundamental rights. With privacy as a fundamental right, it is no more an issue of just the butcher’s right to trade, but a question of an individual’s choice of food.