#Sudarshna

[megaelectronictreecollecto-blog4]

Merits of Rare Golden Crystal Shesha Sudarshan Ananta Padmanabha Shaligram The shaligram shila is also known as salagram shila or saligram stone, Salagram, Shalagram is regarded as the direct manifestation of lord vishnu. This Shaligram is extremely rare and has a shape like exact Ananta Padmanabha  with crysral Shesha hood. This has a very rare golden Maha Visnu and Sudarshna in the centre and from the naval of Vishnu Lord Brahma is emanating out on the white Lotus. For more info:- Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/rajiv.krishn... Twitter     : https://twitter.com/ShaligramShala Linkedin  : https://www.linkedin.com/in/shaligram... website   :www.shaligram.org Email ID  :- shalagram8@gmail.com Website: www.shaligram.com/index.php https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPTI... or Meet  at affice Address : 306-C Wing,Vidyavihar (West),Neelkanth Business park,Near Vidyavihar Railway Station.

[lionheart341]

Shiva carrying corpse of sati (his wife). It is said he roamed the universe like this for eons before Vishnu using his sudarshna chakra cut the dead body into pieces. Each piece was later on consecrated into shrines by shiva. A great story about love and giving up even gods have to learn give up, sometimes it takes a sharp weapon to cut the dead of the relationship into pieces but you should consecrate each and every part of the relationship into something much more meaningful. #lettinggo

[ykpurohit]

Dear sir ..

good morning

i see how to you promoting to fresh art worker or child artist .you were presented in music studio for recording of sound of baby Aradya .there you presented as a grandfather or in post of today i see how to you motivate to a child artist at gate of Jalsa .

Really you are you my EGuru Ji ..( in words of Sir Anupam kher ) .

here i visited a painting exhibition at Maharani Sudarshna kala dirgha .. so i wrote a short note in Hindi for post ,on artist sushma jain ji Bikaner ..

i wrote it ..

मित्रों आज बीकानेर की महारानी सुदर्शना कला दीर्घा में चित्र प्रदर्शनी को अवलोकित करने का अवसर मिला ! ये अवसर बनाया बीकानेर की ही वरिष्ठ चित्रकार ( वर्तमान में प्रवासी भारतीय के रूप में सिंगापुर निवासी ) श्रीमती सुषमा जैन जी ने ! वर्ष २००३ -०४ के बाद आज ही आप से पुनः साक्षात् होने का अवसर बना बीकानेर मे वो भी सुदर्शना कला दीर्घा में ! जहाँ सुषमा जी ने ४५ चित्रों की एक श्रृंखला को प्रदर्शित किया था बीकानेर के आम जन के अवलोकन और संग्रहण के लिए !

चित्रकार सुषमा जैन जी की ये चित्र प्रदर्शनी पूर्ण रूप से अनुदान हेतु प्रदर्शित की हुई थी ! जिसका अर्थ ये की चित्र प्रदर्शनी में जितने भी चित्र संग्रहकर्ताओं द्वारा संगृहीत किये गए उन सभी चित्रों की कीमत अनुदान के रूप में भेट दी जायेगी जरुरतमंदो को चित्रकार सुषमा जैन जी के द्वारा ! ये अपने आप में कला से परोपकार के विचार को प्रमाणित करती हुई कला प्रदर्शनी रही चित्रकार सुषमा जैन जी की सो उन्हें साधुवाद मेरी और से !

चित्र प्रदर्शनी में प्राकृतिक विषय के चित्रों को प्रदर्शित किया गया था जिसमे रचनात्मक अभिव्यक्तियाँ भी संयोजन के साथ प्रदर्शित थी !चित्रों के विषय प्रकृति दृश्य , पुष्प , पुष्प गुलदान , गणेश , कृष्णा , नायिका आदि थे !

बीकानेर के युवा चित्रकार मास्टर कमल किशोर जोशी ने भी सुषमा जैन जी के दो चित्र संगृहीत किये तो चित्रकार राम कुमार भादाणी ने भी सुषमा जी के चित्र संगृहीत किये ! सो उन दोनों युवा कलाकारों को भी साधुवाद की वे सृजन के साथ समाज के उथान हेतु किये कए कलात्मक कार्य में भी अपना योगदान दे रहे है एक सजक कलाकार के नाते !

चित्रकार सुषमा जैन जी की चित्र प्रदर्शनी के समापन के अवसर पर उपस्थित रहे वरिष्ठ चित्रकार हरिगोपाल हर्ष सन्नू जी , डॉ. सतीष गुप्ता जी, सर योगेंद्र जैन जी , चित्रकार रवि कुमार शर्मा , मास्टर अनिकेत कच्छावा , मास्टर कमल किशोर जोशी , मास्टर राम कुमार भादाणी , मास्टर गणेश रंगा और मैं स्वयं भी खुद को कला दर्शन से लाभान्वित महसूस करता हुआ !

यहाँ कुछ छाया चित्र प्रदर्शनी के समापन के अवसर के फोटो चित्रकार राम कुमार भादाणी द्वारा लिए गए है !

Artist sushma ji ni mid of this group photo with her green Dupata ..

you have a great day sir ..

warm regards

Yogendra kumar Purohit

Master of Fine arts

Bikaner ,India

DAY 5395

Jalsa, Mumbai                 Nov 20/21,  2022              Sun/Mon 12:38 AM

and this little fellow came up all the way from Indore after at the age of 4 he saw DON .. and stuck to it .. dialogues acting my lines etc., .. in tears for having met me his desire for long .. sublimates himself at the feet , which I just do ot like and abhor .. but ..

console him as he breaks the cordon and runs up .. console him .. autograph the paintings he did of me and get to read a letter from his Father ..

such be the emotion of the well wishers .. it leaves me in a swell of the aqua when in solitude  .. what how when why .. me  !

and then back to the connect with the audience .. you my dearest Ef ..

KBC JUNIOR begins the recordings by day after .. so tomorrow need to rehearse for the onslaught of this most aware brigade of this generation - smart, aware, intelligent beyond all perception, and with the maturity of one that has had decades of experience .. 

so a newcomer like me needs to be in the educated environ with this new breed of the garam kursi .. 

i need to refer back to Babuji .. to replenish thought word and deed .. to learn beyond all learnings .. and to have the capacity to share it with the Extendum Familium .. 🤣🤣

the body desires rest .. 

stay well breathe well ..

Amitabh Bachchan

[thehushpost]

Virbhadra's son Vikramaditya engaged to Sudarshna Singh of Udaipur royal family

Virbhadra’s son Vikramaditya engaged to Sudarshna Singh of Udaipur royal family

Sudarshna is an interior designer and lives with her parents in Mumbai

The Hush Post: Vikramaditya Singh, son of former Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and Shimla (Rural) MLA is all set to tie the nuptial knot soon. The scion of the Bushahar royal family will be marrying Sudarshna Singh of the Udaipur royal family in Rajasthan.

Sudarshna is an interior designer and lives with her…

[juudgeblog]

Laws Governing Comparative Advertisements in India

In this article, Sudarshna Thapa of Law College Dehradun, Uttaranchal University discusses the Law governing comparative advertisements in India.

Introduction

Every Company wants to promote their products, services, and brands in different styles. Advertising is the most crucial step in determining product’s future prospects. It is the most advantageous way to catch the attention of the consumers in the market. Speaking legally, there are multiple players in the market focusing on increasing their advertisements and many times in order to gain attention and pecuniary gain they use some tactics which land them in trouble. Comparative advertisements is one such unfair trade practice.

Comparative Advertisements

Comparative Advertisements means such practice where one goods or services is compared with another belonging to one of the same field , speaking legally through an advertisement. The comparison is made on the basis of price, quality by referring the alternative brand’s name, visual illustrations, and other distinctive attributes. This type of advertisements is mostly more attention-grabbing and have high rate than non-comparative advertisements. Such type of advertisements creates confusion in the mind of consumers. It mainly affects the goodwill and reputation of the competitors whose products are comparing in such a manner.

Reckitt & Colman v. Kiwi TTK[1]

The Delhi High Court stated that an advertiser can compare his goods by stating it better than the goods of the competitor but he cannot state the competitor’s goods as bad, this would amounts to defamation. Court has the power to grant an injunction in this regard.

Conditions

Comparative Advertising shall be permitted when the following conditions are met

It should not misleading.

There is a comparison between the goods and services which is for same needs and the same purpose.

It compares those goods and services where there are relevant features, which may include price.

It does not create any confusion in the market between the advertiser and a competitor or between the advertiser’s trademarks, trade names, other distinguishing marks, goods or services and those of a competitor.

In the reputation of trademarks of a competitor, there is no unfair advantage.

Classification of Comparative Advertisements

Direct Comparative Advertising: This type of advertisement deals with the competing products either are explicitly named or can be precisely identified (by photos, images or trademark).

Indirect Comparative Advertising:It does not directly refer to competing brand names.

Objectives of Comparative Advertisements

There are some objectives behind the comparative advertisements:

Evaluation of brand performance,

To degrade the competitor’s brand on the basis of value proposition the competitive brand is offering,

To increase consumer’s information about alternative brands.

To convince the users of competing brands to switch to the sponsored brand.

Categories

There are following categories of Comparative Advertisements:

These types of advertisements are done to declare that they are better than others in the market with or without referring to any other particular competing products.

Advertising confers that they are better than other particular class or categories of products.

Advertisement asserting the measurable features of the products or services to make an objective comparison.

Advertisements referring to the competitor’s product with a blurred trademark.

It directs claims that they are better than any single products/ competitor.

Role of Communication in advertising

To increase the strategy of advertising, communication plays a vital role. With the help of print media (newspapers, articles, journals, etc.), audio-visual media (television, internet, movies, etc.), or audio (FM/AM radio), an advertisement can reach to a customer.

Statutory Provisions in India

MRTP Act

The Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act was enacted to prevent monopolies and restrictive trade practices in the economy. Under the MRTP Act, any representation which gives false information or disparages the goods and services of other person is considered as unfair practices in comparative advertisements. Matters relating to untrue and misleading advertisements were adjudicated upon by the MRTP Commission, constituted under the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act, 1969. Section 36A of MRTP Act, 1969 listed with ‘Unfair Trade Practices’.

MRTP Act deals with only three aspects of the market:

Monopolistic

Restrictive

Unfair Trade Practices

Unfair Trade Practices: This practice adopts an unfair method, unfair or deceptive practices for promoting the sales of goods and services. Following are the practices which make it unfair:

Provide false information or facts about goods and services.

Unfair practices of making any statement, whether orally or in writing or by visible representation.

However, MRTP Act was repealed by section 66 of the Competition Act, 2002. The provision on unfair trade practices had a life for two years under the MRTP Act. A consumer needs protection not only from defective goods and deficient services but also from unfair trade practices. The provisions on unfair trade practices were copied from the MRTP Act into the Consumer Protection Act.The definition of ‘Unfair trade practices’ was incorporated under section 2(1)(r) of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986.

Balasundaram v. Jyothi Laboratories[2]

An advertisement of Ujala blue showed that 2-3 drops were sufficient to bring striking whiteness of clothes while several spoons of other brands were required but no label of any brand was shown. In the advertisement, a lady holding a bottle of Ujala was looking down on other bottle and exclaiming, chi, chi, chi! in a disgusting manner. The manufacturer of Regaul, a competing brand, approached the MRTP Commission that the advertisement was disparaging its goods. The Commission was of the view that mere claim to superiority in the quality of one’s product by itself is not sufficient to attract section 36(1)(x) of the MRTP Act. The Commission was of the opinion that it could not be a case of disparagement of goods.

New Pepsodent v. Colgate

Hindustan lever ltd. advertised it’s toothpaste, ‘New Pepsodent’ claiming that it’s toothpaste i.e., ‘New Pepsodent’ is better than the leading toothpaste. The Commission was of the view that the word toothpaste has become synonymous with Colgate over the years. In addition, the Commission noted that the jingle in the background was a familiar one. Thus, it was a case of comparative advertisement where a claim could be made of disparagement of Colgate’s product.

Use of Trademark in Comparative Advertisements

Trademark Act, 1999 is enacted to guarantee protection to national and international brand owners, in conformity with the TRIPS Agreement. It regulates Unfair Trade Practices in comparative advertising and prevents trademark infringement in India.

To identify the products and services, the holder of a trademark has the exclusive rights. Sometimes these exclusive rights can be used in comparative advertisements. A registered trademark is infringed by a person if he exploits such registered trademark, as his trade name or part of his trade name, or the name of his business concern dealing in goods or services in respect of which trademark is registered. Trademark Act has made the grounds for such infringement. Section 29(8) and 30(1) deals with comparative advertisements.

Section 29(8) of the Act outlines the situations in which there is the use of another’s trademark in advertising which amounts to infringement. It is considered to be the unification of laws of unfair competition and unfair trade practices that have set considerations for the use of trademarks in comparative advertisements.[3] According to this section, a registered trademark is infringed where an advertisement:

Is harmful to the trademark’s reputation,

Is destructive to the trademark’s distinctive character,

Takes unfair advantage or considered to be contrary to honest practice.

Section 30(1) provides with an exception when such use of marks is done according to the “Honest Practices” in industrial and commercial matters. When there are comparative advertisements then it might lead to dilution, tarnishment of the trademark of the competitors

The Act permits Comparative Advertisements in three ways:

If there is a bonafide use of Trademark,

If in accordance with the honest practices,

If it does not take an unfair advantage of the reputation of the mark.

Pepsico. Inc. and Ors. v. Hindustan Coca-Cola Ltd. and Anr.[4]

The concept of disparagement was explained by Delhi High Court where it was stated that ‘a manufacturer can make a statement for making his goods at best level and he also makes statement for puffing of his goods and the same will not give a cause of action to the other traders or manufacturers of similar goods to institute proceedings. In doing so, there is no disparagement of the manufacturer’s goods. A manufacturer is not entitled to say the competitor’s goods are bad as to puff and promote his goods. Thus, it was concluded that comparative advertising cannot be permitted which denigrates the trade name or trademark of the competitor.

Reckitt Benckiser (India) Ltd. v. Hindustan Unilever Ltd.[5]

The court held that the advertisement showed between the defendant’s product “Lifebuoy” and the petitioner’s product “Dettol” was a violation of Section 30(1) of the Trademarks Act, 1999. The Court stated that a trader is allowed to declare his goods as the best but the defendant showed the comparison between the two products in his ad and crossed the thin line between puffery and disparagement.

Tata Press Ltd. v. Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd.[6]

According to the Supreme Court, the information available through the advertising must be for the benefit of the public. The law relating to trademarks is also for the protection of public interests only.

Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) and Comparative Advertisements

It is a self-regulating voluntary organization of the Indian advertising industry. It was established for protecting the interests of the consumers while observing and guiding the commercial communications.

ASCI has adopted a Code for Self-Regulation (ASCI Code) which applies to all involved in the commissioning, creation, placement, or publishing of advertisements to scrutinize advertising in India. Chapter IV of the code deals with the form and manner of comparative advertising. Advertisements containing comparisons with competing manufacturers and sellers are permissible in the interests of vigorous competition and free dissemination of information. There are following requirements being to be satisfied are:

Advertiser’s product is being compared with the aspects of competitor’s product.

The comparison should not take place in a way which confers an artificial advantage upon the advertiser and should not suggest falsely that advertiser’s product is better.

A Consumer should not mislead due to the comparison.

The advertising does not unfairly denigrate attack or discredit other products, advertisers or advertisements directly or by implication.

The above mentioned principles ensure the advertising activities are conducted in a fair manner, with the interests of all associated groups being secured. These guidelines do not have the force of law there are merely recommendatory in nature.

Consumer Complaints Council (CCC)

The CCC is constituted by ASCI where a person can complain to the ASCI if there is an objectionable advertising. The CCC consists of eminent persons from the industry and well-known persons from the civil society. CCC hears the facts of the complaint and if it finds that the advertisement in question violates ASCI Code or any other law, then it can suggest that the advertisement is voluntarily either withdrawn or modified.

How to Lodge Complaint against Comparative Advertisements

There are three types of Complaints:

Complaints from General Public which includes Government regulators and consumer groups.

Intra Industry Complaints (When an advertiser lodges a complaint against another advertiser)

Suo Moto

Procedure for Complaint

The Complaint may be submitted by letters at the postal address which is provided on the website, visit https://ascionline.org/index.php/how-to-complaint.html

The Complaint can be submitted through the online form, visitwww.ascionline.org and you can also contact through the telephone in 1-800–22-2724 (toll-free) and also through Whatsapp in +91-7710012345.

No fee required for complaints except in case of Intra Industry complaint which is lodged under the Fast Track Complaint Redressal Scheme where the decision is delivered within 7 days and a fee of INR 75,000 is charged for complaint.

If the complaint is complete, the decision will be taken by ASCI’s Consumer Complaints Council (CCC) within a period of one month (approximately).

On receipt of a complaint, the Secretariat acknowledges the complaint and requests the advertiser or agency to provide comments in respect of the complaint.

Within the period of 4 to 6 weeks, the CCC decides upon the complaints.

If the complaint is upheld, then the advertiser and its agency are informed of the CCC decision within 5 working days.

To comply with the CCC decision, the advertiser is given the time of 2 weeks.

For further more information of procedure of Complaint visit. https://ascionline.org/images/pdf/ccc_procedure.pdf

Freedom of Speech and Expression and Comparative Advertisements

The Constitutional guarantee has been provided under Article 19(1)(a) to regulate the advertising as the right to advertise is implicitly provided. In the case Hamdard Dawakhana v. Union of India[6], according to the Supreme Court advertisements were not constitutive of the concept of ‘free speech’. In order to promote trade and commerce, there should be the object of commercial gain. In the market, the process of economic liberalization has brought certain changes for the consumer goods. The development of many products and services increases the competition with advertising which plays a vital role in the consumer’s demand. The media was too dependent on advertising revenues. The Supreme Court held that advertising is essential for ‘commercial speech’ and can be brought within the extent of constitutional provision conferred by Article 19(1)(a). Advertisements for non-prohibited products would be protected as free speech.

Conclusion

When we consider the competition in the market, it becomes very necessary to have an edge over the competitors. Comparative Advertisements is the one which enables an advertiser to build his brand in the market stating the supremacy of his brand over the other brands. But there must have been regulations to check the abuses. It should be kept in mind of the advertisers that they not only promote their products but also educate the consumer. An ideal comparative advertisement is that which ensures the protection of consumer interests.

References

[1] https://indiankanoon.org/doc/956353/ (Date and Time of visit the site: 25/02/2018 at 12:35 PM IST)

[2] AIR 1995 (82) CC 830

[3] Ashwini Kr. Bansal, “Law of Trademarks in India”, (2009), New Delhi, Institute of Constitutional and Parliamentary Studies and CLIPTRADE, pg 507

[4] https://indiankanoon.org/doc/924003/ (Date and Time of visit the site: 26/02/2018 at 11:40 AM IST)

[5] https://indiankanoon.org/doc/60787994/ (Date and Time of visit the site: 26/02/2018 at 2:05 PM IST)

[6] https://indiankanoon.org/doc/752455/ (Date and Time of visit the site: 28/02/2018 at 01:05 PM IST)

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[loyallogic]

Laws Governing Comparative Advertisements in India

In this article, Sudarshna Thapa of Law College Dehradun, Uttaranchal University discusses the Law governing comparative advertisements in India.

Introduction

Every Company wants to promote their products, services, and brands in different styles. Advertising is the most crucial step in determining product’s future prospects. It is the most advantageous way to catch the attention of the consumers in the market. Speaking legally, there are multiple players in the market focusing on increasing their advertisements and many times in order to gain attention and pecuniary gain they use some tactics which land them in trouble. Comparative advertisements is one such unfair trade practice.

Comparative Advertisements

Comparative Advertisements means such practice where one goods or services is compared with another belonging to one of the same field , speaking legally through an advertisement. The comparison is made on the basis of price, quality by referring the alternative brand’s name, visual illustrations, and other distinctive attributes. This type of advertisements is mostly more attention-grabbing and have high rate than non-comparative advertisements. Such type of advertisements creates confusion in the mind of consumers. It mainly affects the goodwill and reputation of the competitors whose products are comparing in such a manner.

Reckitt & Colman v. Kiwi TTK[1]

The Delhi High Court stated that an advertiser can compare his goods by stating it better than the goods of the competitor but he cannot state the competitor’s goods as bad, this would amounts to defamation. Court has the power to grant an injunction in this regard.

Conditions

Comparative Advertising shall be permitted when the following conditions are met

It should not misleading.

There is a comparison between the goods and services which is for same needs and the same purpose.

It compares those goods and services where there are relevant features, which may include price.

It does not create any confusion in the market between the advertiser and a competitor or between the advertiser’s trademarks, trade names, other distinguishing marks, goods or services and those of a competitor.

In the reputation of trademarks of a competitor, there is no unfair advantage.

Classification of Comparative Advertisements

Direct Comparative Advertising: This type of advertisement deals with the competing products either are explicitly named or can be precisely identified (by photos, images or trademark).

Indirect Comparative Advertising:It does not directly refer to competing brand names.

Objectives of Comparative Advertisements

There are some objectives behind the comparative advertisements:

Evaluation of brand performance,

To degrade the competitor’s brand on the basis of value proposition the competitive brand is offering,

To increase consumer’s information about alternative brands.

To convince the users of competing brands to switch to the sponsored brand.

Categories

There are following categories of Comparative Advertisements:

These types of advertisements are done to declare that they are better than others in the market with or without referring to any other particular competing products.

Advertising confers that they are better than other particular class or categories of products.

Advertisement asserting the measurable features of the products or services to make an objective comparison.

Advertisements referring to the competitor’s product with a blurred trademark.

It directs claims that they are better than any single products/ competitor.

Role of Communication in advertising

To increase the strategy of advertising, communication plays a vital role. With the help of print media (newspapers, articles, journals, etc.), audio-visual media (television, internet, movies, etc.), or audio (FM/AM radio), an advertisement can reach to a customer.

Statutory Provisions in India

MRTP Act

The Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act was enacted to prevent monopolies and restrictive trade practices in the economy. Under the MRTP Act, any representation which gives false information or disparages the goods and services of other person is considered as unfair practices in comparative advertisements. Matters relating to untrue and misleading advertisements were adjudicated upon by the MRTP Commission, constituted under the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act, 1969. Section 36A of MRTP Act, 1969 listed with ‘Unfair Trade Practices’.

MRTP Act deals with only three aspects of the market:

Monopolistic

Restrictive

Unfair Trade Practices

Unfair Trade Practices: This practice adopts an unfair method, unfair or deceptive practices for promoting the sales of goods and services. Following are the practices which make it unfair:

Provide false information or facts about goods and services.

Unfair practices of making any statement, whether orally or in writing or by visible representation.

However, MRTP Act was repealed by section 66 of the Competition Act, 2002. The provision on unfair trade practices had a life for two years under the MRTP Act. A consumer needs protection not only from defective goods and deficient services but also from unfair trade practices. The provisions on unfair trade practices were copied from the MRTP Act into the Consumer Protection Act.The definition of ‘Unfair trade practices’ was incorporated under section 2(1)(r) of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986.

Balasundaram v. Jyothi Laboratories[2]

An advertisement of Ujala blue showed that 2-3 drops were sufficient to bring striking whiteness of clothes while several spoons of other brands were required but no label of any brand was shown. In the advertisement, a lady holding a bottle of Ujala was looking down on other bottle and exclaiming, chi, chi, chi! in a disgusting manner. The manufacturer of Regaul, a competing brand, approached the MRTP Commission that the advertisement was disparaging its goods. The Commission was of the view that mere claim to superiority in the quality of one’s product by itself is not sufficient to attract section 36(1)(x) of the MRTP Act. The Commission was of the opinion that it could not be a case of disparagement of goods.

New Pepsodent v. Colgate

Hindustan lever ltd. advertised it’s toothpaste, ‘New Pepsodent’ claiming that it’s toothpaste i.e., ‘New Pepsodent’ is better than the leading toothpaste. The Commission was of the view that the word toothpaste has become synonymous with Colgate over the years. In addition, the Commission noted that the jingle in the background was a familiar one. Thus, it was a case of comparative advertisement where a claim could be made of disparagement of Colgate’s product.

Use of Trademark in Comparative Advertisements

Trademark Act, 1999 is enacted to guarantee protection to national and international brand owners, in conformity with the TRIPS Agreement. It regulates Unfair Trade Practices in comparative advertising and prevents trademark infringement in India.

To identify the products and services, the holder of a trademark has the exclusive rights. Sometimes these exclusive rights can be used in comparative advertisements. A registered trademark is infringed by a person if he exploits such registered trademark, as his trade name or part of his trade name, or the name of his business concern dealing in goods or services in respect of which trademark is registered. Trademark Act has made the grounds for such infringement. Section 29(8) and 30(1) deals with comparative advertisements.

Section 29(8) of the Act outlines the situations in which there is the use of another’s trademark in advertising which amounts to infringement. It is considered to be the unification of laws of unfair competition and unfair trade practices that have set considerations for the use of trademarks in comparative advertisements.[3] According to this section, a registered trademark is infringed where an advertisement:

Is harmful to the trademark’s reputation,

Is destructive to the trademark’s distinctive character,

Takes unfair advantage or considered to be contrary to honest practice.

Section 30(1) provides with an exception when such use of marks is done according to the “Honest Practices” in industrial and commercial matters. When there are comparative advertisements then it might lead to dilution, tarnishment of the trademark of the competitors

The Act permits Comparative Advertisements in three ways:

If there is a bonafide use of Trademark,

If in accordance with the honest practices,

If it does not take an unfair advantage of the reputation of the mark.

Pepsico. Inc. and Ors. v. Hindustan Coca-Cola Ltd. and Anr.[4]

The concept of disparagement was explained by Delhi High Court where it was stated that ‘a manufacturer can make a statement for making his goods at best level and he also makes statement for puffing of his goods and the same will not give a cause of action to the other traders or manufacturers of similar goods to institute proceedings. In doing so, there is no disparagement of the manufacturer’s goods. A manufacturer is not entitled to say the competitor’s goods are bad as to puff and promote his goods. Thus, it was concluded that comparative advertising cannot be permitted which denigrates the trade name or trademark of the competitor.

Reckitt Benckiser (India) Ltd. v. Hindustan Unilever Ltd.[5]

The court held that the advertisement showed between the defendant’s product “Lifebuoy” and the petitioner’s product “Dettol” was a violation of Section 30(1) of the Trademarks Act, 1999. The Court stated that a trader is allowed to declare his goods as the best but the defendant showed the comparison between the two products in his ad and crossed the thin line between puffery and disparagement.

Tata Press Ltd. v. Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd.[6]

According to the Supreme Court, the information available through the advertising must be for the benefit of the public. The law relating to trademarks is also for the protection of public interests only.

Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) and Comparative Advertisements

It is a self-regulating voluntary organization of the Indian advertising industry. It was established for protecting the interests of the consumers while observing and guiding the commercial communications.

ASCI has adopted a Code for Self-Regulation (ASCI Code) which applies to all involved in the commissioning, creation, placement, or publishing of advertisements to scrutinize advertising in India. Chapter IV of the code deals with the form and manner of comparative advertising. Advertisements containing comparisons with competing manufacturers and sellers are permissible in the interests of vigorous competition and free dissemination of information. There are following requirements being to be satisfied are:

Advertiser’s product is being compared with the aspects of competitor’s product.

The comparison should not take place in a way which confers an artificial advantage upon the advertiser and should not suggest falsely that advertiser’s product is better.

A Consumer should not mislead due to the comparison.

The advertising does not unfairly denigrate attack or discredit other products, advertisers or advertisements directly or by implication.

The above mentioned principles ensure the advertising activities are conducted in a fair manner, with the interests of all associated groups being secured. These guidelines do not have the force of law there are merely recommendatory in nature.

Consumer Complaints Council (CCC)

The CCC is constituted by ASCI where a person can complain to the ASCI if there is an objectionable advertising. The CCC consists of eminent persons from the industry and well-known persons from the civil society. CCC hears the facts of the complaint and if it finds that the advertisement in question violates ASCI Code or any other law, then it can suggest that the advertisement is voluntarily either withdrawn or modified.

How to Lodge Complaint against Comparative Advertisements

There are three types of Complaints:

Complaints from General Public which includes Government regulators and consumer groups.

Intra Industry Complaints (When an advertiser lodges a complaint against another advertiser)

Suo Moto

Procedure for Complaint

The Complaint may be submitted by letters at the postal address which is provided on the website, visit https://ascionline.org/index.php/how-to-complaint.html

The Complaint can be submitted through the online form, visitwww.ascionline.org and you can also contact through the telephone in 1-800–22-2724 (toll-free) and also through Whatsapp in +91-7710012345.

No fee required for complaints except in case of Intra Industry complaint which is lodged under the Fast Track Complaint Redressal Scheme where the decision is delivered within 7 days and a fee of INR 75,000 is charged for complaint.

If the complaint is complete, the decision will be taken by ASCI’s Consumer Complaints Council (CCC) within a period of one month (approximately).

On receipt of a complaint, the Secretariat acknowledges the complaint and requests the advertiser or agency to provide comments in respect of the complaint.

Within the period of 4 to 6 weeks, the CCC decides upon the complaints.

If the complaint is upheld, then the advertiser and its agency are informed of the CCC decision within 5 working days.

To comply with the CCC decision, the advertiser is given the time of 2 weeks.

For further more information of procedure of Complaint visit. https://ascionline.org/images/pdf/ccc_procedure.pdf

Freedom of Speech and Expression and Comparative Advertisements

The Constitutional guarantee has been provided under Article 19(1)(a) to regulate the advertising as the right to advertise is implicitly provided. In the case Hamdard Dawakhana v. Union of India[6], according to the Supreme Court advertisements were not constitutive of the concept of ‘free speech’. In order to promote trade and commerce, there should be the object of commercial gain. In the market, the process of economic liberalization has brought certain changes for the consumer goods. The development of many products and services increases the competition with advertising which plays a vital role in the consumer’s demand. The media was too dependent on advertising revenues. The Supreme Court held that advertising is essential for ‘commercial speech’ and can be brought within the extent of constitutional provision conferred by Article 19(1)(a). Advertisements for non-prohibited products would be protected as free speech.

Conclusion

When we consider the competition in the market, it becomes very necessary to have an edge over the competitors. Comparative Advertisements is the one which enables an advertiser to build his brand in the market stating the supremacy of his brand over the other brands. But there must have been regulations to check the abuses. It should be kept in mind of the advertisers that they not only promote their products but also educate the consumer. An ideal comparative advertisement is that which ensures the protection of consumer interests.

References

[1] https://indiankanoon.org/doc/956353/ (Date and Time of visit the site: 25/02/2018 at 12:35 PM IST)

[2] AIR 1995 (82) CC 830

[3] Ashwini Kr. Bansal, “Law of Trademarks in India”, (2009), New Delhi, Institute of Constitutional and Parliamentary Studies and CLIPTRADE, pg 507

[4] https://indiankanoon.org/doc/924003/ (Date and Time of visit the site: 26/02/2018 at 11:40 AM IST)

[5] https://indiankanoon.org/doc/60787994/ (Date and Time of visit the site: 26/02/2018 at 2:05 PM IST)

[6] https://indiankanoon.org/doc/752455/ (Date and Time of visit the site: 28/02/2018 at 01:05 PM IST)

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Prasar Bharati (Broadcasting Corporation of India) Act, 1990 – An overview

In this Article Sudarshna Thapa of Law College Dehradun, Uttaranchal University gives an overview of the Prasar Bharati Act.

Introduction

Media is a mediator of information between the citizens and the State. It is the fourth-pillar of our democracy which has a responsibility in shaping the public opinion. A vibrant and a free media is to be necessary for a healthy democracy. As media has the nature of questioning and criticism, so it has a vital role in the whole countries. This means that, for any country which has aspired to democratic norms of governance, should have a free and fair press.

A step towards liberalizing Media

Prasar Bharati is India’s largest public broadcasting agency. It consists of Doordarshan television network and All India Radio. Earlier, both were media units of the Ministry Of Information and Technology. During the emergency time as well as other times, Doordarshan was used for government propaganda. Thus, the Prasar Bharati Act, 1990 was established. The main motive of the Act is to provide freedom to electronic media i.e. the All India Radio and Doordarshan.

History of Prasar Bharati Act, 1990

After 50 years of Independence, in the year 1997 was a year in which measures to free the broadcast media from the control of Government has taken. It was the first time where revolutionary changes are bringing in the field.

During the Emergency period, Indira Gandhi buried the Chanda Committee Report[1]. She openly questioned the need for credibility for the Government media. She widely misused the AIR for political propaganda.

In 1977, initial steps were taken by Janata Government and to suggest a remedy for this, B.G. Varghese Committee was appointed. In 1978, a report was submitted by this committee where it was recommended that there should be an independent National Broadcasting Trust (Akash Bharati) responsible for both Akashvani and Doordarshan.

In 1979, a bill was introduced by L.K. Advani in the Parliament. He was Information and Broadcasting Minister at that time. This bill proposed the “Autonomous Corporation” for both AIR and Doordarshan which was known as Prasar Bharati. The bill lapsed and Congress Government did not re-introduce the bill of its previous government.

In 1982, P.C. Joshi Committee was appointed whose main aim was to prepare a software plan for Doordarshan. According to this committee, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting should be recognized. They also said that Railway Board should be created in which only professional experienced person should get the entry.

In 1989, Prasar Bharati Bill was introduced by the National Front Government. Bill borrowed some contents from the previous bill and also added some new changes. V.P. Singh Government moved this bill and was passed in Lok Sabha in August 1990.

In 1992, Vardan Committee was set up by P.V. Narasimha Rao. The committee was under K.A. Vardan, the additional secretary of Information and Broadcasting Ministry. According to this committee, the second channel of Doordarshan should be leased out in 4 metros and some FM stations should also be leased out.

The new policies of Narasimha Rao Government are to allowed private and foreign broadcasters to engage in limited operations in India.

Later K.P. Singh Deo, Information and Broadcasting Minister said that the invasion of the foreign media would be responded with an indigenous programming strategy. He made repeated statements that Government was serious about implementing the Prasar Bharati Act, but not want to grant autonomy to Akashvani and Doordarshan.

Finally, Prasar Bharati came into force in 1997 which is established under the “Prasar Bharati Act” and came into existence on 23rd November 1997.

Doordarshan and All India Radio

Doordarshan was founded in 1959. Its motto is “Satyam Shivam Sundaram”. In 1960, the terrestrial broadcast was started in Delhi and it was extended to metropolitan cities. Doordarshan was started as a part of All India Radio until it was separated from it in 1976.

All India Radio is the largest radio network in the world. It is a National Public Radio Broadcaster in India which was launched on 1st March 1930. It is officially known as Akashvani with its motto “Bahujana Hitaya Bahujana Sukhaya”.

Both played the role of National and Public Service Broadcaster and served as the voice of the Government and the people. For true Public Service and National Broadcaster, it was decided by the Hon’ble President to convert it into Prasar Bharati.

Grievance Redressal Mechanism

AIR (Prasar Bharati) works at three levels:

Concerned Station Level

Zonal Headquarter Level

Central Headquarter Level

The citizens can approach any concerned officer at any of the three level from the following:

Information Facilitation Counter (IFC): It may be approached for getting the information and necessary help as per the matter. The grievance redressal system is approached to Director of Public Grievance at central level or Grievance officer at local station/office level.

Major/Policy/ Planning issues: These are at central level and anyone can contact or send grievance or complaint to the Director General, Akashvani Bhavan, Parliament Street.[2]

Contact for particular grievance matters:

Any specific grievance matter of the central level can be redressed by approaching any of the following officers at the O/o DG: AIR, Akashvani Bhavan, New Delhi.

For an particular grievance matter one may contact below:

Programme: Addl. Director General (Programme Planning and Development),

Directorate General, All India Radio, Room No.106, Akashvani Bhavan, Parliament Street, New Delhi-110 001. Tele : 011-23421391,Fax : 011-23421632, Email: ddgppd@air.org.in

Engineering: Addl. Director General Engineering (Development), Directorate General:All India Radio, Room No.107, Akashvani Bhavan, Parliament Street, New Delhi-110001. Tele : 011-23421464, Fax : 011-23421967, E-mail: ced@air.org.in

News: Addl. Director General (News), News Services Division, Room No.211, NBH, All India Radio, Parliament Street, New Delhi-110001. TeleFAX : 011-23421209, Email: adgnews2.nsd@nic.in

Administration: Dy. Director General (Admin.), Room No. 146, 1st Floor, Akashvani Bhavan, Parliament Street, New Delhi-110001. Tele : 011-23421110, Fax : 011-23421110.

Civil Construction Wing (Civil and Electrical Works): Addl. Director General Engineering / Chief Engineer (Civil), Civil Construction Wing, Soochna Bhawan, Lodhi Road, New Delhi-110003. Tele :011-24367360, Fax : 011-24367360,E-mail:ce_ccwair@rediffmail.com

Time Frame

Issue of interim reply to the petitioner: 1-2 week

Issuance of formal reply to the petitioner: 4-8 weeks

Forwarding of petition to the concerned authority: 2 weeks

Referred cases will be disposed finally by the concerned Ministry/ Department/ State and time limit for informing the position of the outcome: 3 months

‘Sexual Harassment of Women at workplace’ cases will be referred to the Complaint Committee: 3 months

Grievance Redressal: within 3 months, and other issues: As per usual time frame.

Prasar Bharati (Broadcasting Corporation of India) Act, 1990

This Act extends to the whole of India. The Act provides for the establishment of a Broadcasting Corporation. The Act defines composition, powers and functions of the corporation. It grants autonomy to the All India Radio and Doordarshan which were previously under the control of the government. Section 3 of the Act deals with the establishment and composition of the corporation. The corporation is a body corporate having perpetual succession and a common seal with the headquarters in New Delhi.

Structure of the Prasar Bharati Board

The Act specifies General Superintendence, direction and management of affairs of the corporation. Prasar Bharati Board does all such acts and exercises all those powers which may be done by the corporation.

The Board shall consist:

Chairman

One Executive member

One member (Finance)

One member (Personnel)

Six Part-time members

Director-General (Akashvani), ex officio

Director-General (Doordarshan), ex officio

One representative of the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (India), to be nominated by that ministry and

Two representatives of the employees of the corporation

The President of India appoints Chairman and other member except for ex-officio members, a nominated member and the elected members. There shall be not less than six meetings every year but three months shall not intervene between one meeting and the next meeting.

Functions and Objectives of Corporation

The main motive of the corporation is to educate, inform and entertain the public. By conducting and organizing public broadcasting services to people, it has become easy to provide the information to the people in an easy manner. It also ensures the balanced development of broadcasting on radio and television.

The following objects are namely:

To provide the autonomy to Akashvani and Doordarshan, so that to ensure the function in a fair, objective and creative manner.

To uphold the unity and integrity of the country.

To maintain the democratic and social values which are enshrined in the constitution.

To look after the safeguarding of the citizen’s right to be informed freely, truthfully and objectively.

To spread literacy, agriculture, rural development, health, family welfare, environment, science and technology.

To encourage healthy competition and spirit of sportsmanship by providing adequate coverage to sports and games.

To promote cultures and languages of the various regions by broadcasting many programmes.

To provide special needs of the youth always organize special programmes.

To remove the problems of women, pay special attention to the upliftment of the women.

To take special steps for the protection of the children, the aged, the blind, the handicapped and other vulnerable section.

To protect the rights of working classes and advancing their welfare.

To provide the suitable programmes for the needs of the minorities and tribal communities.

To promote national integration that will maintain the community language of the nation.

To promote research and development activities of radio broadcast and television broadcast technology.

Parliamentary Committee

According to section 13, it shall consist of twenty-two members of Parliament, out of which fifteen from the House of the People shall be elected by the members and seven from the Council of States shall be elected by the members. The committee shall function according to the rules made by the speaker of the House of the People.

Powers of Central Government

According to the Act, the government has the following powers are:

From time to time when the government may think fit may issue the directions to the corporation for the unity, sovereignty and integrity of India.

The Central Government require the corporation to furnish the information which government may consider.

At the time of any difficulty arises, the central government may by order publish in the official gazette and make the procedure to remove the difficulties.

The Central Government has also the power to make the rules. The rules may be considered in relation to:

The salaries and allowances and condition of service in respect of leave and pension.

Allowances payable to the chairman and part-time members.

Control, restrictions and conditions for which corporation may appoint officers and other employees.

Conditions and restrictions which a Recruitment Board may establish.

Qualifications, other conditions and period of the office of the members of the Recruitment Board.

Terms and condition of the service of the officers.

Form and manner in which the annual statement of record shall be prepared.

Significance of Prasar Bharati

There are two significance of Prasar Bharati:

India’s Public Service Broadcaster

National Broadcaster

Public and Private Service Broadcaster

Private Broadcasters cannot fulfill the objectives of Public Service Broadcasting. The main motive of Private Broadcaster is to sell products of their advertisers. They depend upon the revenue from their advertisers. Commercial broadcasting will not meet the needs of public service broadcasting because commercial broadcasting assumes the audience as consumers and not as citizens.

National Broadcaster

National Broadcaster Prasar Bharati is the largest technical coverage. The Prasar Bharati services are available in all the corner of the country. In remote and border areas it reaches 99.3% and 91.42% in geographical areas. A strong National Broadcaster is a symbol of national pride for the entire nation. A National Broadcaster is the one which has a great strategic significance in emergency situations like natural calamities, war etc.

Freedom of expression is guaranteed as a fundamental right of the citizen in our constitution. And we all know that Prasar Bharati is a means of expression and a most important part of our democratic set-up. All media’s are enjoying full freedom of expressions like Print media and electronic media too. As it is well known that, Print media and electronic media are owned by big corporate sectors and now these companies are enjoying the freedom of expression. So we can’t imagine that public broadcaster suffers from every kind of restrictions that put it under the effective control of the government.

To control the growth of Prasar Bharati was in the interest of the private sector since Prasar Bharati came into being on 15th September 1997 with the formal Prasar Bharati Act notification and it commands an unstoppable reach.However, it has not been able to function as the medium of the people. It has practically no freedom except to sing the praise of the government of the day. It is not surprising that it has not risen in public esteem.

Autonomy for Prasar Bharati: Sam Pitroda Committee recommendations

Sam Pitroda Committee has taken minimal action to strengthen the Prasar Bharati in February 2014. Certain recommendations have been made by Sam Pitroda Committee for the autonomy of Prasar Bharati:

Effective Freedom

To give the effective freedom to the Prasar Bharati, amend the Prasar Bharati Act, 1990.

Manpower

In order to frame rules and regulations and to hire manpower without the approval of the Government, Prasar Bharati should be given the power.

Genuine Public Broadcaster

Prasar Bharati should become a “Genuine Public Broadcaster” as against a “Government Broadcaster”.

Direct -To-Home(DTH)

To make the Direct-To-Home (DTH) signals in a primary mode.

Allocation of Funds

To increase the allocation of funds in order to content generation to 50% of the total expenditure within a period of 5-7 years.

Technology Front

To meet the obligations of the public service broadcasting, satellite and digital cables TV operations should be expanded.

Social Media

To define the social media strategy of Prasar Bahrain.

Review of Channels

To review all the channels, Doordarshan and All India Radio and their sub-optimal utilization of the resources should be phased out.

Prasar Bahrain Connect (PBC)

To set up PBC as the third arm of the public service broadcaster, Doordarshan and All India Radio.

To create best broadcasting service

It should be best broadcasting service in the world using next-generation opportunities, strategies, technologies and etc.

Manpower Audit after the recommendation

After the recommendation of Sam Pitroda Committee, Prasar Bharati has prepared a tender to start the manpower audit of the organization in January 2018. The Broadcaster has allowed an RFP (Request for Proposal) by Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Ltd (BECIL). To carry out the audit, a private agency would be finalized soon.

Multiple Manpower Challenges: There are two multiple manpower problems which Prasar Bharati has been facing:

Several employees have not seen promotions in a long time.

The last recruitment program took place in 1996.

World’s largest Public Broadcaster

According to the report of Sam Pitroda Committee, 2014, Prasar Bharati had 33,800 employees and a sanctioned strength of 48,022. On the other hand, BBC had 16,858 staff and public broadcasters of Japan and China had 10,000 each.

Number of channels in Doordarshan

Doordarshan operates 23 television channels and Direct-To-Home (DTH) platform DD Free Dish.

Number of radio stations in All India Radio

AIR operates 420 total radio stations which include FM Channels, local radio stations, Vividh Bharati Stations and five community radio stations.

Prasar Bharati signs MOU to set up cooperation in the Broadcasting Sector

Recently in 2017, Prasar Bharati signed MOU with Morocco’s Societe Nationale de Radiodiffusion et de Television for the cooperation of broadcasting sector. The MOU was signed during the fifth India Morocco Joint Commission Meeting (JCM) in Rabat, Morocco’s capital. The MOU was signed by Kheya Bhattacharya,Ambassador of India, on behalf of Prasar Bharati and Faycal Laraichi, Chief Executive Officer of SNRT.

Case Laws

Union of India v. Board of Control for Cricket in India and Ors. [3]

The Supreme Court held that Prasar Bharati cannot engage in free transmission of the signals of live sporting or cricketing events, received from content right holders/owners, to cable operators.

Union of India v. Cricket Association of Bengal [4]

Supreme Court held that broadcasting should be under the control of public and should be operated by the public statutory corporation.This implicit in Article 19(1)(a) where the corporations, whose constitution and composition must be in such order to ensure their impartiality in political, economic and social matters and other public issues.

The right of free and expression includes the right to receive the information. It is necessary that citizens have the benefit of the plurality of views and must have opinions on the all public issues. There must be a diversity of opinions, views, ideas and ideology among the citizens. Private Broadcasting is more prejudicial to the right of free speech of the citizens than the government controlled media.

BCCI-Nimbus Prasar Bharati Case [5]

According to the Court, the objects and purpose of the Sports Act are to provide access to the largest number of the viewer through sports broadcasting channels with Prasar Bharati. Court also said that it should be essentially directed towards those citizens who do not have access to cable television and only access to terrestrial and DTH networks of Prasar Bharati. Court also pointed out the virtue of Section 12(3)(c) of the Prasar Bharati Act.

Today’s Broadcasting Scenario

Today, collaboration with western channels has become an accepted practice in India. India is a country where there are number of cultures, religions and languages. The National Broadcaster has a vital role in the national security, integrity and unity. It can’t be expected from Private Commercial Broadcaster for the national integration. In February 2007 when the coverage given by the private broadcasters to the 36th national games held at Guwahati, Assam shows their real attitude. Because of this, it provoked the I&B Minister to ask in a television interview, “Why you not shown National games, Are you not Indian citizens, only Prasar Bharati Shown it”.

In a democratic country like India, the basic objective of National or Public Service Broadcaster is to strengthen the democratic process by providing information, promoting debate and discussions on all the main issues.

List of relevant websites

Prasar Bharati:http://prasarbharati.gov.in

All India Radio-Organization:www.allindiaradio.org

All India Radio-News Services Division:http://www.newsonair.com and, www.newonair.nic.in

Doordarshan: http://www.ddindia.gov.in

Ministry of Information and Broadcasting: http://mib.nic.in

References

[1] A.K. Chanda Committee was formed under the Broadcasting and Information media to evaluate work of different media under the ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

[2]New Delhi- 110001 (Telephone: 011-23421300, FAX: 011-23421956, e-mail: dgair@air.org.in), or, Chief Vigilance Officer(CVO), Prasar Bharati, Prasar Bharati Secretariat, PTI Building, Parliament Street, New Delhi-110 001

[3]http://supremecourtofindia.nic.in/supremecourt/2015/4418/4418_2015_Judgement_22-Aug-2017.pdf

[4] AIR 1995 1236, 1995 SCC (2) 161 https://indiankanoon.org/doc/539407/

[5] Check the judgment here

http://www.livelaw.in/delhi-high-court-rules-favour-bcci-nimbus-prasar-bharati-case/

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Prasar Bharati (Broadcasting Corporation of India) Act, 1990 – An overview

In this Article Sudarshna Thapa of Law College Dehradun, Uttaranchal University gives an overview of the Prasar Bharati Act.

Introduction

Media is a mediator of information between the citizens and the State. It is the fourth-pillar of our democracy which has a responsibility in shaping the public opinion. A vibrant and a free media is to be necessary for a healthy democracy. As media has the nature of questioning and criticism, so it has a vital role in the whole countries. This means that, for any country which has aspired to democratic norms of governance, should have a free and fair press.

A step towards liberalizing Media

Prasar Bharati is India’s largest public broadcasting agency. It consists of Doordarshan television network and All India Radio. Earlier, both were media units of the Ministry Of Information and Technology. During the emergency time as well as other times, Doordarshan was used for government propaganda. Thus, the Prasar Bharati Act, 1990 was established. The main motive of the Act is to provide freedom to electronic media i.e. the All India Radio and Doordarshan.

History of Prasar Bharati Act, 1990

After 50 years of Independence, in the year 1997 was a year in which measures to free the broadcast media from the control of Government has taken. It was the first time where revolutionary changes are bringing in the field.

During the Emergency period, Indira Gandhi buried the Chanda Committee Report[1]. She openly questioned the need for credibility for the Government media. She widely misused the AIR for political propaganda.

In 1977, initial steps were taken by Janata Government and to suggest a remedy for this, B.G. Varghese Committee was appointed. In 1978, a report was submitted by this committee where it was recommended that there should be an independent National Broadcasting Trust (Akash Bharati) responsible for both Akashvani and Doordarshan.

In 1979, a bill was introduced by L.K. Advani in the Parliament. He was Information and Broadcasting Minister at that time. This bill proposed the “Autonomous Corporation” for both AIR and Doordarshan which was known as Prasar Bharati. The bill lapsed and Congress Government did not re-introduce the bill of its previous government.

In 1982, P.C. Joshi Committee was appointed whose main aim was to prepare a software plan for Doordarshan. According to this committee, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting should be recognized. They also said that Railway Board should be created in which only professional experienced person should get the entry.

In 1989, Prasar Bharati Bill was introduced by the National Front Government. Bill borrowed some contents from the previous bill and also added some new changes. V.P. Singh Government moved this bill and was passed in Lok Sabha in August 1990.

In 1992, Vardan Committee was set up by P.V. Narasimha Rao. The committee was under K.A. Vardan, the additional secretary of Information and Broadcasting Ministry. According to this committee, the second channel of Doordarshan should be leased out in 4 metros and some FM stations should also be leased out.

The new policies of Narasimha Rao Government are to allowed private and foreign broadcasters to engage in limited operations in India.

Later K.P. Singh Deo, Information and Broadcasting Minister said that the invasion of the foreign media would be responded with an indigenous programming strategy. He made repeated statements that Government was serious about implementing the Prasar Bharati Act, but not want to grant autonomy to Akashvani and Doordarshan.

Finally, Prasar Bharati came into force in 1997 which is established under the “Prasar Bharati Act” and came into existence on 23rd November 1997.

Doordarshan and All India Radio

Doordarshan was founded in 1959. Its motto is “Satyam Shivam Sundaram”. In 1960, the terrestrial broadcast was started in Delhi and it was extended to metropolitan cities. Doordarshan was started as a part of All India Radio until it was separated from it in 1976.

All India Radio is the largest radio network in the world. It is a National Public Radio Broadcaster in India which was launched on 1st March 1930. It is officially known as Akashvani with its motto “Bahujana Hitaya Bahujana Sukhaya”.

Both played the role of National and Public Service Broadcaster and served as the voice of the Government and the people. For true Public Service and National Broadcaster, it was decided by the Hon’ble President to convert it into Prasar Bharati.

Grievance Redressal Mechanism

AIR (Prasar Bharati) works at three levels:

Concerned Station Level

Zonal Headquarter Level

Central Headquarter Level

The citizens can approach any concerned officer at any of the three level from the following:

Information Facilitation Counter (IFC): It may be approached for getting the information and necessary help as per the matter. The grievance redressal system is approached to Director of Public Grievance at central level or Grievance officer at local station/office level.

Major/Policy/ Planning issues: These are at central level and anyone can contact or send grievance or complaint to the Director General, Akashvani Bhavan, Parliament Street.[2]

Contact for particular grievance matters:

Any specific grievance matter of the central level can be redressed by approaching any of the following officers at the O/o DG: AIR, Akashvani Bhavan, New Delhi.

For an particular grievance matter one may contact below:

Programme: Addl. Director General (Programme Planning and Development),

Directorate General, All India Radio, Room No.106, Akashvani Bhavan, Parliament Street, New Delhi-110 001. Tele : 011-23421391,Fax : 011-23421632, Email: ddgppd@air.org.in

Engineering: Addl. Director General Engineering (Development), Directorate General:All India Radio, Room No.107, Akashvani Bhavan, Parliament Street, New Delhi-110001. Tele : 011-23421464, Fax : 011-23421967, E-mail: ced@air.org.in

News: Addl. Director General (News), News Services Division, Room No.211, NBH, All India Radio, Parliament Street, New Delhi-110001. TeleFAX : 011-23421209, Email: adgnews2.nsd@nic.in

Administration: Dy. Director General (Admin.), Room No. 146, 1st Floor, Akashvani Bhavan, Parliament Street, New Delhi-110001. Tele : 011-23421110, Fax : 011-23421110.

Civil Construction Wing (Civil and Electrical Works): Addl. Director General Engineering / Chief Engineer (Civil), Civil Construction Wing, Soochna Bhawan, Lodhi Road, New Delhi-110003. Tele :011-24367360, Fax : 011-24367360,E-mail:ce_ccwair@rediffmail.com

Time Frame

Issue of interim reply to the petitioner: 1-2 week

Issuance of formal reply to the petitioner: 4-8 weeks

Forwarding of petition to the concerned authority: 2 weeks

Referred cases will be disposed finally by the concerned Ministry/ Department/ State and time limit for informing the position of the outcome: 3 months

‘Sexual Harassment of Women at workplace’ cases will be referred to the Complaint Committee: 3 months

Grievance Redressal: within 3 months, and other issues: As per usual time frame.

Prasar Bharati (Broadcasting Corporation of India) Act, 1990

This Act extends to the whole of India. The Act provides for the establishment of a Broadcasting Corporation. The Act defines composition, powers and functions of the corporation. It grants autonomy to the All India Radio and Doordarshan which were previously under the control of the government. Section 3 of the Act deals with the establishment and composition of the corporation. The corporation is a body corporate having perpetual succession and a common seal with the headquarters in New Delhi.

Structure of the Prasar Bharati Board

The Act specifies General Superintendence, direction and management of affairs of the corporation. Prasar Bharati Board does all such acts and exercises all those powers which may be done by the corporation.

The Board shall consist:

Chairman

One Executive member

One member (Finance)

One member (Personnel)

Six Part-time members

Director-General (Akashvani), ex officio

Director-General (Doordarshan), ex officio

One representative of the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (India), to be nominated by that ministry and

Two representatives of the employees of the corporation

The President of India appoints Chairman and other member except for ex-officio members, a nominated member and the elected members. There shall be not less than six meetings every year but three months shall not intervene between one meeting and the next meeting.

Functions and Objectives of Corporation

The main motive of the corporation is to educate, inform and entertain the public. By conducting and organizing public broadcasting services to people, it has become easy to provide the information to the people in an easy manner. It also ensures the balanced development of broadcasting on radio and television.

The following objects are namely:

To provide the autonomy to Akashvani and Doordarshan, so that to ensure the function in a fair, objective and creative manner.

To uphold the unity and integrity of the country.

To maintain the democratic and social values which are enshrined in the constitution.

To look after the safeguarding of the citizen’s right to be informed freely, truthfully and objectively.

To spread literacy, agriculture, rural development, health, family welfare, environment, science and technology.

To encourage healthy competition and spirit of sportsmanship by providing adequate coverage to sports and games.

To promote cultures and languages of the various regions by broadcasting many programmes.

To provide special needs of the youth always organize special programmes.

To remove the problems of women, pay special attention to the upliftment of the women.

To take special steps for the protection of the children, the aged, the blind, the handicapped and other vulnerable section.

To protect the rights of working classes and advancing their welfare.

To provide the suitable programmes for the needs of the minorities and tribal communities.

To promote national integration that will maintain the community language of the nation.

To promote research and development activities of radio broadcast and television broadcast technology.

Parliamentary Committee

According to section 13, it shall consist of twenty-two members of Parliament, out of which fifteen from the House of the People shall be elected by the members and seven from the Council of States shall be elected by the members. The committee shall function according to the rules made by the speaker of the House of the People.

Powers of Central Government

According to the Act, the government has the following powers are:

From time to time when the government may think fit may issue the directions to the corporation for the unity, sovereignty and integrity of India.

The Central Government require the corporation to furnish the information which government may consider.

At the time of any difficulty arises, the central government may by order publish in the official gazette and make the procedure to remove the difficulties.

The Central Government has also the power to make the rules. The rules may be considered in relation to:

The salaries and allowances and condition of service in respect of leave and pension.

Allowances payable to the chairman and part-time members.

Control, restrictions and conditions for which corporation may appoint officers and other employees.

Conditions and restrictions which a Recruitment Board may establish.

Qualifications, other conditions and period of the office of the members of the Recruitment Board.

Terms and condition of the service of the officers.

Form and manner in which the annual statement of record shall be prepared.

Significance of Prasar Bharati

There are two significance of Prasar Bharati:

India’s Public Service Broadcaster

National Broadcaster

Public and Private Service Broadcaster

Private Broadcasters cannot fulfill the objectives of Public Service Broadcasting. The main motive of Private Broadcaster is to sell products of their advertisers. They depend upon the revenue from their advertisers. Commercial broadcasting will not meet the needs of public service broadcasting because commercial broadcasting assumes the audience as consumers and not as citizens.

National Broadcaster

National Broadcaster Prasar Bharati is the largest technical coverage. The Prasar Bharati services are available in all the corner of the country. In remote and border areas it reaches 99.3% and 91.42% in geographical areas. A strong National Broadcaster is a symbol of national pride for the entire nation. A National Broadcaster is the one which has a great strategic significance in emergency situations like natural calamities, war etc.

Freedom of expression is guaranteed as a fundamental right of the citizen in our constitution. And we all know that Prasar Bharati is a means of expression and a most important part of our democratic set-up. All media’s are enjoying full freedom of expressions like Print media and electronic media too. As it is well known that, Print media and electronic media are owned by big corporate sectors and now these companies are enjoying the freedom of expression. So we can’t imagine that public broadcaster suffers from every kind of restrictions that put it under the effective control of the government.

To control the growth of Prasar Bharati was in the interest of the private sector since Prasar Bharati came into being on 15th September 1997 with the formal Prasar Bharati Act notification and it commands an unstoppable reach.However, it has not been able to function as the medium of the people. It has practically no freedom except to sing the praise of the government of the day. It is not surprising that it has not risen in public esteem.

Autonomy for Prasar Bharati: Sam Pitroda Committee recommendations

Sam Pitroda Committee has taken minimal action to strengthen the Prasar Bharati in February 2014. Certain recommendations have been made by Sam Pitroda Committee for the autonomy of Prasar Bharati:

Effective Freedom

To give the effective freedom to the Prasar Bharati, amend the Prasar Bharati Act, 1990.

Manpower

In order to frame rules and regulations and to hire manpower without the approval of the Government, Prasar Bharati should be given the power.

Genuine Public Broadcaster

Prasar Bharati should become a “Genuine Public Broadcaster” as against a “Government Broadcaster”.

Direct -To-Home(DTH)

To make the Direct-To-Home (DTH) signals in a primary mode.

Allocation of Funds

To increase the allocation of funds in order to content generation to 50% of the total expenditure within a period of 5-7 years.

Technology Front

To meet the obligations of the public service broadcasting, satellite and digital cables TV operations should be expanded.

Social Media

To define the social media strategy of Prasar Bahrain.

Review of Channels

To review all the channels, Doordarshan and All India Radio and their sub-optimal utilization of the resources should be phased out.

Prasar Bahrain Connect (PBC)

To set up PBC as the third arm of the public service broadcaster, Doordarshan and All India Radio.

To create best broadcasting service

It should be best broadcasting service in the world using next-generation opportunities, strategies, technologies and etc.

Manpower Audit after the recommendation

After the recommendation of Sam Pitroda Committee, Prasar Bharati has prepared a tender to start the manpower audit of the organization in January 2018. The Broadcaster has allowed an RFP (Request for Proposal) by Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Ltd (BECIL). To carry out the audit, a private agency would be finalized soon.

Multiple Manpower Challenges: There are two multiple manpower problems which Prasar Bharati has been facing:

Several employees have not seen promotions in a long time.

The last recruitment program took place in 1996.

World’s largest Public Broadcaster

According to the report of Sam Pitroda Committee, 2014, Prasar Bharati had 33,800 employees and a sanctioned strength of 48,022. On the other hand, BBC had 16,858 staff and public broadcasters of Japan and China had 10,000 each.

Number of channels in Doordarshan

Doordarshan operates 23 television channels and Direct-To-Home (DTH) platform DD Free Dish.

Number of radio stations in All India Radio

AIR operates 420 total radio stations which include FM Channels, local radio stations, Vividh Bharati Stations and five community radio stations.

Prasar Bharati signs MOU to set up cooperation in the Broadcasting Sector

Recently in 2017, Prasar Bharati signed MOU with Morocco’s Societe Nationale de Radiodiffusion et de Television for the cooperation of broadcasting sector. The MOU was signed during the fifth India Morocco Joint Commission Meeting (JCM) in Rabat, Morocco’s capital. The MOU was signed by Kheya Bhattacharya,Ambassador of India, on behalf of Prasar Bharati and Faycal Laraichi, Chief Executive Officer of SNRT.

Case Laws

Union of India v. Board of Control for Cricket in India and Ors. [3]

The Supreme Court held that Prasar Bharati cannot engage in free transmission of the signals of live sporting or cricketing events, received from content right holders/owners, to cable operators.

Union of India v. Cricket Association of Bengal [4]

Supreme Court held that broadcasting should be under the control of public and should be operated by the public statutory corporation.This implicit in Article 19(1)(a) where the corporations, whose constitution and composition must be in such order to ensure their impartiality in political, economic and social matters and other public issues.

The right of free and expression includes the right to receive the information. It is necessary that citizens have the benefit of the plurality of views and must have opinions on the all public issues. There must be a diversity of opinions, views, ideas and ideology among the citizens. Private Broadcasting is more prejudicial to the right of free speech of the citizens than the government controlled media.

BCCI-Nimbus Prasar Bharati Case [5]

According to the Court, the objects and purpose of the Sports Act are to provide access to the largest number of the viewer through sports broadcasting channels with Prasar Bharati. Court also said that it should be essentially directed towards those citizens who do not have access to cable television and only access to terrestrial and DTH networks of Prasar Bharati. Court also pointed out the virtue of Section 12(3)(c) of the Prasar Bharati Act.

Today’s Broadcasting Scenario

Today, collaboration with western channels has become an accepted practice in India. India is a country where there are number of cultures, religions and languages. The National Broadcaster has a vital role in the national security, integrity and unity. It can’t be expected from Private Commercial Broadcaster for the national integration. In February 2007 when the coverage given by the private broadcasters to the 36th national games held at Guwahati, Assam shows their real attitude. Because of this, it provoked the I&B Minister to ask in a television interview, “Why you not shown National games, Are you not Indian citizens, only Prasar Bharati Shown it”.

In a democratic country like India, the basic objective of National or Public Service Broadcaster is to strengthen the democratic process by providing information, promoting debate and discussions on all the main issues.

List of relevant websites

Prasar Bharati:http://prasarbharati.gov.in

All India Radio-Organization:www.allindiaradio.org

All India Radio-News Services Division:http://www.newsonair.com and, www.newonair.nic.in

Doordarshan: http://www.ddindia.gov.in

Ministry of Information and Broadcasting: http://mib.nic.in

References

[1] A.K. Chanda Committee was formed under the Broadcasting and Information media to evaluate work of different media under the ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

[2]New Delhi- 110001 (Telephone: 011-23421300, FAX: 011-23421956, e-mail: dgair@air.org.in), or, Chief Vigilance Officer(CVO), Prasar Bharati, Prasar Bharati Secretariat, PTI Building, Parliament Street, New Delhi-110 001

[3]http://supremecourtofindia.nic.in/supremecourt/2015/4418/4418_2015_Judgement_22-Aug-2017.pdf

[4] AIR 1995 1236, 1995 SCC (2) 161 https://indiankanoon.org/doc/539407/

[5] Check the judgment here

http://www.livelaw.in/delhi-high-court-rules-favour-bcci-nimbus-prasar-bharati-case/

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Job Opportunities for law students after Graduation

In this article, Sudarshna Thapa of Law College Dehradun, Uttaranchal University discusses Job Opportunities for law students after Graduation.

Introduction

For the law graduates, choosing a right career in law is an important task which they have to achieve in any manner. “If you are a law graduate and you don’t want to choose your career as a lawyer, then it’s not the time to get worried about this”. Litigation is a traditional option but not the only one. Due to this, it becomes a more critical situation for the student to choose either of becoming a lawyer or something else.

Job Opportunities for law students after Graduation

Law is globally a challenging career which is a system of rules and regulations. But as a profession, it encompasses various fields. Students could go through in litigation. But this concept has changed now. They can also make their career in patent laws and corporate laws, etc. A law degree not only opens the career as a lawyer but also gives the option in various sectors such as corporate management, administration services, and legal services.

Here are some career option for Law Graduates in the following manner:

Litigation

For a law graduate, the traditional career path is practicing in a court. To become a lawyer graduates have to clear an exam which is conduct by Bar Council of India. It is held twice in every year. It is an open book exam which is based on analytical skills and basic knowledge of the law.

Eligibility for Bar Council Exam

Students must have a law degree from any recognized University of India. Candidates should be enrolled as an advocate under section 24 of Advocate Act, 1961.

Area of practice in litigation

There are two fields in practice: Civil law and Criminal law.

A lawyer may specialize in a particular field such as the constitution, land laws, family law etc.

Civil Litigation Lawyer: He/She specializes in civil laws e.g. taxation laws, excise laws.

Criminal Litigation Lawyer: He/She specializes in criminal laws e.g. CrPC, IPC, Evidence Act and various other penal laws.

A young lawyer and a law student is needed to prepare himself for the litigation. Online Legal Courses can help on this. LawSikho provides online law courses for the education of litigation process. To learn the course of Criminal Litigation and Trial Advocacy visit https://onlinecourses.nujs.edu/courses/criminal-law-litigation-trial-advocacy/

The certificate of the course has been awarded by NUJS.

How to increase your chances of excelling in litigation by preparing yourself in law school?

Law School is the main institution from where you learn a lot. Basic learnings of law and starting grade of law are only taught by your law school. Today various activities are conducted by law schools to make the student eligible for taking up part in competitive lines and also make the student strong in litigation.

Internships

Internships have become an integral part of the law programme. Practical Knowledge is more beneficial than theoretical knowledge. If your interest is in litigation, it will be beneficial for to do the internship in different courts. You may send your CV to different lawyers or firms for an internship

It seems difficult for the first time when you entered the courtroom or district court. Legal training provided where you come to know about legal proceedings of the cases, cross-examination etc. You also prepare yourselves in legal drafting and so on. Doing Internships in every vacation will make you practically responsible.

Moot Courts

It is a mock court in which law students argue imaginary cases for practice. It is an extracurricular activity which is conducted by every law colleges. Students participate in moots which involves legal drafting, oral arguments. Moot Court is very helpful for the students to become more comfortable with the arguments and expressing towards the Judges. Every year many National Moot Court Competitions is organized by various Universities in India. So whoever wants to make their career in litigation then the moot court is the great opportunity to shaping up.

To learn mooting rapidly and to become a mooting champion. You can make yourself champion in mooting within 3 months. Visit https://courses.lawsikho.com/courses/how-to-win-moots-course-online/ which provides you the guidance to do well in mooting.

Corporate Law Firms

A career in the corporate sector is one of the great things. It plays an important role in drafting, vetting, negotiating contracts, monitoring compliances with legal rules and legal disputes. It is a study of the interaction between the shareholders, director, employees, creditors, community, and environment.

Transactional Lawyer

A transactional lawyer is one who has knowledge of certain areas which can deal with Bankruptcy, Intellectual Property Rights, Contract Laws, Company Laws, Tax Laws and Securities Laws, etc. He is the legal advisor of the Organization who deals with all the legal matters. He is the one who works for the company and represents their entities. A corporate lawyer can also practice as a legal advisor, advocates, solicitors, etc privately.

Eligibility to become a Transactional Lawyer

A corporate lawyer must have a law degree and also always updated with various information which is issued by the government. An aspiring corporate lawyer should have completed their undergraduate programmes majors in business, economic and finance. He should have knowledge of current issues in business world and companies.

Law Firm

A law firm is a partnership between lawyers who have come together to offer their expertise works to clients under one name. Partners share their profits, liabilities and also engage other lawyers to work with them as associates. Major law firms have two departments:

Corporate Department

Litigation Department

Corporate Department

This department deals with the matters of companies. It advises Companies on the corporate deals such as important inter-company agreements, investment in India by foreign clients, acquisition of companies and etc.

Litigation Department

This department deals with the matters of firms clients in which they are involved. In this, there is interaction with lawyers and it feels like a court practice.

Internships

Internship plays a major role to set up the attitude of a law student for corporate. If you are looking a career in corporate then the preparation for the corporate personality should be started from the beginning. You have to attach your CV for an internship before two months of joining the internship in firms or corporate sector. You can’t expect too much as you are a fresher. So you must start from the beginning. Internships in corporate sector would make you ultimate in legal research, legal drafting, pleadings, communication skills, personality etc.

Lawctopus is useful to find out new internships opportunities and you can also get notifications on corporate, law firms, government job posts for the law students. Here you can also read about internships experiences of other students.

Ace your Internship

Students who are appearing internships in the corporate law firms are expecting more to get jobs in the future. For this, you have to perform in an extraordinary manner to get the jobs offer. An internship is the one way which can be converted into a job. Ace your internship with online course through which you can build yourself into a person whom a law firm seeks out, visit https://courses.lawsikho.com/courses/how-to-get-top-law-internships-and-get-PPO/

Career in Law Firm for Law Graduates

There are three standout qualities required by everyone who wants to succeed in legal jobs i.e., Leadership, Team Spirit, and Tenancy. Working in a law firm is a desk job involving long hours work. Growth inside the company is a quick and one may become a partner in the law firm in as few as seven or ten years from joining.

Here are some lists of legal positions in Law Firms are:

Arbitrator

Paralegal

Attorney

Case Manager

Jury Consultant

Legal Analyst

Legal Assistant

Legal Services Director

Law Firm Administrator

Emerging Options for the Lawyers

Other emerging options for the lawyers are:

Intellectual Property Rights

Cyber Laws

Consumer Law

Family Law

Taxation Law

Government Services

UPSC Civil Services Exams [1]

Civil Services is one of the great opportunity to serve the nation. Civil Servants has given the responsibility to promote social welfare. The career in Civil Services provides the individual with wide powers.The Union Public Services Commission is India’s central recruitment agency. As per the Article 320 of the Indian Constitution, UPSC conduct the examinations for appointments to the services of the union. All India Service examination is conducted by UPSC which consists of Group ‘A’ and Group ‘B’ of central services. This can be a good Job Opportunities for law students after Graduation.

As we know UPSC is the service of public policy so rather than another individual, a law student has more capability to handle the service of public policy. A law student is the one who knows all legal rules of the country and laws related to the past and current issues. So the Civil Services are the best services which can be served by a law graduate.

Series of Civil Services

The series of Civil Services are divided into two groups:

Group A services

The following services under Group ‘A’ are:

Indian Administrative Service (IAS)

Indian Foreign Service (IAS)

Indian Police Service (IPS)

Indian P & T Accounts & Finance Service

Indian Audit and Accounts Service (IAAS)

Indian Revenue Service (Customs and Central Excise)

Indian Defence Accounts Service (IDAS)

Indian Revenue Service (CBEC) (IRS-Customs)

Indian Ordnance Factories Service (IOFS)

Indian Postal Service

Indian Civil Accounts Service (ICAS)

Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS)

Indian Railway Accounts Service (IRAS)

Indian Railway Personnel Service

Indian Railway Protection Force (Assistant Security Commissioner)

Indian Defence Estates Service

Indian Information Service (IIS)

Indian Trade Service, Group ‘A’ (Gr. III)

Indian Corporate Law Service (ICLS)

Group B Services

Armed Forces Headquarters Civil Service (Section Officer’s Grade)

Delhi, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Daman & Diu, and Dadra & Nagar Haveli Civil Service

Pondicherry Civil Service

Pondicherry Police Service

Delhi Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Daman & Diu, and Dadra & Nagar Haveli Police Service

Eligibility for UPSC examinations

As per section 3 of the University Grants Commission, the candidate must have bachelor’s degree in Arts/ Commerce/ Science/ Law from any recognized University.

Candidates who are in final year are also eligible for the examinations.

The minimum age of the candidate is 21 year and shall not be older than 32 years as on 1st August of the year in which candidate is applying.

For General Category = 32 years (if physically handicapped= 42 years) with maximum 6 attempts and for physically handicapped 9 attempts.

For SC/ST = 37 years (if physically handicapped= 47 years) with unlimited attempts.

For OBC = 35 years (if physically handicapped= 45 years) with 9 attempts.

Benefits to the Law Graduates for appearing in the UPSC exams

Law is an edge to clear civil service exams. In civil service exams, mainly questions are based on Indian Political and Constitution so it becomes easy for a law student to clear the exams.

There is an emphasis on administrative law and constitutional law in Prelims (GS Paper-I) of UPSC exams. In mains, exam questions are mainly asked by Law of Torts, Law of Crimes, Mercantile Law and Contemporary legal developments. So it becomes beneficial for a law student to score good rank in the exam.

Judiciary

The role of Judiciary is very important in India. Supreme Court is the apex court of India. Judiciary is the guardian of fundamental rights and ensures the constitutional provisions. The position of Judge is the highest and most respected in the judicial system of India. A Judge always works on new techniques and strategies for the development of the society. Most of the law student see themselves as a Judge in the future. It can be fulfilled if you have the ability to work hard for the nation. This can be a good Job Opportunities for law students after Graduation.

Eligibility to become a Judge

Judicial Service Examination is conducted annually by the Public Service Commision of the respective state.

To qualify the exam one must have a degree in law from a recognized University.

One must have enrolled as an advocate with the membership in the State Bar Council of India.

The age for appearing the exam may vary from state to state.

About Examination

Judicial Service Examination is held in two stages:

Judicial Service Preliminary Examination = Objective type questions

Judicial Service Main Examination = Written exam

Minimum qualifying marks in the exam are:

For General = It is 60%

For reserved category = It is 55% (SC, ST and physically handicapped)

The candidate who got 40% marks in each written paper and 50% marks in aggregate shall be called for a viva-voce test. The marks of viva-voce shall be added to the marks of the main exam (written exam).The candidate who has qualified in the Judicial Service Examination are eligible for the post of the Judge. This can be a good Job Opportunities for law students after Graduation.

Appointment of Judges

District Courts: In a state, there are various judicial districts which are presided over by a District and Session Judge. A judge of the District Court is the highest judicial authority below the High Court. The Judges of the District Courts are appointed by the Governor of the State with the consultation of the Chief Justice of High Court.Central or State Government appoints Magistrates in consultation with the Chief Justice of the High Court of the concerned states.

Army JAG Officer [2]

Choosing a career in the Indian Army is one of the pride services for the nation. For the law student, Army JAG recruitment is held twice in a year. The post of Judge Advocate General in India is held by legal and chief Judicial of the Army.

Eligibility

One must be an Indian Citizen.

The age limit for JAG post = 21 to 27 years

One must have minimum 55% aggregate marks in LLB/B.A. LLB./BBA LL.B.) Candidate must be eligible for registration with Bar Council of India/State.He must be from recognized University.

10 vacancy for men and 4 for women.

Selection Procedure

On the basis of academic performance, candidates are shortlisted by the Recruiting Directorate, Integrated Headquarter of MOD (Army).

After that shortlisted candidates will be sent to the SSB centers.

Those who pass all the stages of SSB will be sent for the medical examination.

Training

The candidates who will be selected in the final merit list will be called for training in Officers Training Academy, Chennai.

Cadets will be granted commission in the rank of lieutenant after 49 weeks of training.

No candidate can marry during the training, nor allowed to live with parents or guardian.

Career in Indian Air Force [3]

Choosing a career in Indian Air Force is like to handle the difficulties and facing the challenges. There are three branches of Air Force: Ground Duty Branch, Flying Branch, and Technical Branch.

Law Graduates are only eligible for Ground Duty Branch. Ground Branch Officers have work to manage the resources of Air Force.

This is consists of:

Administrative Branch

Logistic Branch

Meteorology Branch

Education Branch

Accounts Branch

Administrative Branch

Duties of Officers under this branch are Air Traffic Control and Flight Control.

Eligibility for Administrative Branch

A citizen must be Indian.

Both men and women can apply for this post.

Candidate must be of 21 to 23 years of age.

The age must be 20 to 25 years in case of postgraduates including 5 years integrated LLB.

In case of 3 years law graduate, the age limit will be one year more than the 5 years of LLB.

A degree of post-graduation or a graduation degree with 60% is mandatory.

Candidate below 25 must be unmarried.

Logistics Branch

The officers has the responsibility to manage the I.A.F. resources.

Eligibility for Logistics Branch

In case of graduates, age must be 20 to 23 years.

In case of LLB. of 5 years integrated course./ Post Graduates, the age must be 20 to 25 years.

In case of 3 years law graduates, age must be 20 to 26 years.

Indian nationality.

Both men and women can apply.

Graduation degree with minimum 60%. Post Graduation degree or equivalent diploma with minimum 50% marks.

Education Branch

An officer performs the duty of the study and educational requirements of the Air Force employees.

Eligibility for Education Branch

In case of postgraduates age must be 20 to 25 years and in case of M.Ed and Ph.D. age must be 20 to 27 years.

Candidate must be an Indian citizen.

Both men and women can apply.

Post Graduation degree with minimum 50% aggregate.

Law Graduates are only applicable for Administrative and Logistics Branch.

Educational Branch is applicable for Post Graduates only.

AFCAT Exam

On the basis of AFCAT examination candidates are shortlisted for SSB. It is conducted twice in a year. It posses mainly three branches:

Ground Duty Branches

Flying Branch

Technical Branch

PSUs [4]

Law graduates who have applied for CLAT for LLM are eligible for PSUs (Public Sector Units). On the basis score of CLAT and merit list, the candidate will be called for interviews and special tests.

PSU Companies hiring through CLAT

Oil India Limited (OIL)

Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL)

Oil And Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC)

Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL)

National Thermal Power Corporation Limited (NTPC)

Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL)

Other Government posts

There are various other government posts in which law graduates may apply are:

Legal advisors in Department of Legal Affairs.

Legislative Counsel in Legislative Department.

Appointment of Law Officers/ Legal Advisors in almost all the ministries/ departments/ undertakings of the Government of India and State Government of India.

Post of Assistance in the Secretariat, such as Legal Assistants, Legal/ Judicial Translators etc.

Government secretaries in assemblies.

Staff in higher/ lower judiciary/ Quasi-Judicial Institutions.

Judicial member in CAT.

Government Advocates, Public Prosecutors, solicitors.

Attorney General of India.

Advocate General.

Notaries and Oath Commissioners etc.

Career as a Professor in Universities and Colleges

Law graduates can also be heading towards their career as a professor in the Universities. One shall hold the degree of LL.M., Ph.D. degrees for the post of a professor. There is a responsibility to take up the jobs to provide law study to the students in Universities.

Journalism and Broadcasting

In Law Schools, students are trained for the value of language. Drafting the basic documents, pleading in a perfect manner is the good quality of an intelligent law student. After that when one becomes a lawyer then his creativity with language made the legal work more complex. Some lawyers find themselves to work into the journalism. Whatever we learn, all are from our law school. It is a plus point for any law student who has fluency and commands over the communication skills. A lawyer can practice journalism and broadcasting. There are few jobs available in journalism as legal correspondents. National newspapers have specific journalists to report on high legal cases and also make the views on legal articles. If you want to move towards media and journalism then choices are endless. One can be a news anchor, legal correspondent etc. It can be a bright future to work with the core of Journalism.

Legal Content Writer

Law Firms has open the posts for a content writer. A content writer is the one who highlights the management and marketing of the firms through his writing skills. Much reputed management is now hiring Legal Content Writer. Big Law Firms usually pay high salaries to the content writer up to INR 50,000 to INR 1 Lakh. So if you have the ability to research and writing, then the legal content writer is the best opportunity for any law graduates. Legal blogs writing is the more gaining method to secure the knowledge and also to share the views on the internet with other connected lawyers and people. This can be a good Job Opportunities for law students after Graduation.This can be a good Job Opportunities for law students after Graduation.

Confident in taking Law as a Career – You can do these even before taking CLAT

It is very difficult for a school student who is studying in class 11th and 12th to choose the best career after school. Different students have different choices. But those who want to choose their career in law are still in confuse for the selection of best law colleges. Usually, relatives or other known people prefer them to take admission in private law colleges. But to make your career on the highest peak you first have to make your foundation strong.

You can prepare for Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) exam and do 5 years integrated course of law from one of the 16 National Law Universities (NLUs) in India. These are regarded as best law colleges in India. If you are already graduate then you can do 3 years course of LLB.

CLAT plays an important role in making a career in Law

By cracking the CLAT exam you can get entry into the best national law college like NLSIU Bangalore, NALSAR Hyderabad, NLU Jodhpur, NUJS Kolkata, GNLU Gandhinagar, etc.

Admission to best college means bright future. It’s like new learnings are waiting for you. Grab all the knowledge.

Here what you should do for preparation of CLAT

For clearing the exam you must have a competitive attitude. First, you have to handle your mental strength. The desire for success should be greater than your fear.

General Knowledge and Current Affairs

50 questions are coming from this section in an examination. You must have to increase your knowledge and capacity. Go through the current news and should have to start reading newspapers, monthly magazines, G.K. updates. Especially past CLAT papers will be more helpful.

Legal Aptitude

There are 50 questions from this section. It is the most interesting area. Questions consist of legal principles and facts. Questions mainly come from the legal areas like Law of Torts, Law of Contracts and Criminal Law and legal G.K.

You must have to go through with detailed study to score good marks.

English

This section consists of 40 questions where candidate’s proficiency in English, based on vocabulary, grammar, comprehension is tested. Reading a newspaper daily will be beneficial to improve the vocabulary skills.

Logical Reasoning

There are 40 questions consist of this section. It is given to test the candidate’s ability to identify the patterns and to rectify illogical arguments. This includes questions from the logical sequence, deductions or syllogism, analogies, odd man out, statements and assumptions.

Mathematics

This section comprises of 20 questions which include mathematics up to class 10th.like percentage, profit & loss, probability, compound interest, etc. Old aptitude knowledge shall be tested under this section.

For the Online CLAT preparation course visit

https://courses.lawsikho.com/courses/online-course-clat-legal-aptitude-reasoning-GK/

Conclusion

Legal Careers are competitive in nature. Work Experience makes the commitment to a law career. For achieving a successful law career, you must have the confidence to apply, seeking and acting upon the feedback.

References

[1] To know more about UPSC visit http://www.upsc.gov.in/ [Date and Time of visit the site- 17/02/2018 at 2:00PM]

[2] For further information on Army JAG Officer visit joinindianarmy.nic.in [Date and Time of visit the site- 17/02/2018 at 3:15PM]

[3] To know more about the AFCAT exam visit https://afcat.cdac.in/AFCAT/ [Date and Time of visit the site- 18/02/2018 at 11:45AM]

[4] PSU recruitment through CLAT

https://exams.collegedunia.com/clat/psu-recruitment

The post Job Opportunities for law students after Graduation appeared first on iPleaders.

Job Opportunities for law students after Graduation syndicated from https://namechangersmumbai.wordpress.com/

[loyallogic]

Job Opportunities for law students after Graduation

In this article, Sudarshna Thapa of Law College Dehradun, Uttaranchal University discusses Job Opportunities for law students after Graduation.

Introduction

For the law graduates, choosing a right career in law is an important task which they have to achieve in any manner. “If you are a law graduate and you don’t want to choose your career as a lawyer, then it’s not the time to get worried about this”. Litigation is a traditional option but not the only one. Due to this, it becomes a more critical situation for the student to choose either of becoming a lawyer or something else.

Job Opportunities for law students after Graduation

Law is globally a challenging career which is a system of rules and regulations. But as a profession, it encompasses various fields. Students could go through in litigation. But this concept has changed now. They can also make their career in patent laws and corporate laws, etc. A law degree not only opens the career as a lawyer but also gives the option in various sectors such as corporate management, administration services, and legal services.

Here are some career option for Law Graduates in the following manner:

Litigation

For a law graduate, the traditional career path is practicing in a court. To become a lawyer graduates have to clear an exam which is conduct by Bar Council of India. It is held twice in every year. It is an open book exam which is based on analytical skills and basic knowledge of the law.

Eligibility for Bar Council Exam

Students must have a law degree from any recognized University of India. Candidates should be enrolled as an advocate under section 24 of Advocate Act, 1961.

Area of practice in litigation

There are two fields in practice: Civil law and Criminal law.

A lawyer may specialize in a particular field such as the constitution, land laws, family law etc.

Civil Litigation Lawyer: He/She specializes in civil laws e.g. taxation laws, excise laws.

Criminal Litigation Lawyer: He/She specializes in criminal laws e.g. CrPC, IPC, Evidence Act and various other penal laws.

A young lawyer and a law student is needed to prepare himself for the litigation. Online Legal Courses can help on this. LawSikho provides online law courses for the education of litigation process. To learn the course of Criminal Litigation and Trial Advocacy visit https://onlinecourses.nujs.edu/courses/criminal-law-litigation-trial-advocacy/

The certificate of the course has been awarded by NUJS.

How to increase your chances of excelling in litigation by preparing yourself in law school?

Law School is the main institution from where you learn a lot. Basic learnings of law and starting grade of law are only taught by your law school. Today various activities are conducted by law schools to make the student eligible for taking up part in competitive lines and also make the student strong in litigation.

Internships

Internships have become an integral part of the law programme. Practical Knowledge is more beneficial than theoretical knowledge. If your interest is in litigation, it will be beneficial for to do the internship in different courts. You may send your CV to different lawyers or firms for an internship

It seems difficult for the first time when you entered the courtroom or district court. Legal training provided where you come to know about legal proceedings of the cases, cross-examination etc. You also prepare yourselves in legal drafting and so on. Doing Internships in every vacation will make you practically responsible.

Moot Courts

It is a mock court in which law students argue imaginary cases for practice. It is an extracurricular activity which is conducted by every law colleges. Students participate in moots which involves legal drafting, oral arguments. Moot Court is very helpful for the students to become more comfortable with the arguments and expressing towards the Judges. Every year many National Moot Court Competitions is organized by various Universities in India. So whoever wants to make their career in litigation then the moot court is the great opportunity to shaping up.

To learn mooting rapidly and to become a mooting champion. You can make yourself champion in mooting within 3 months. Visit https://courses.lawsikho.com/courses/how-to-win-moots-course-online/ which provides you the guidance to do well in mooting.

Corporate Law Firms

A career in the corporate sector is one of the great things. It plays an important role in drafting, vetting, negotiating contracts, monitoring compliances with legal rules and legal disputes. It is a study of the interaction between the shareholders, director, employees, creditors, community, and environment.

Transactional Lawyer

A transactional lawyer is one who has knowledge of certain areas which can deal with Bankruptcy, Intellectual Property Rights, Contract Laws, Company Laws, Tax Laws and Securities Laws, etc. He is the legal advisor of the Organization who deals with all the legal matters. He is the one who works for the company and represents their entities. A corporate lawyer can also practice as a legal advisor, advocates, solicitors, etc privately.

Eligibility to become a Transactional Lawyer

A corporate lawyer must have a law degree and also always updated with various information which is issued by the government. An aspiring corporate lawyer should have completed their undergraduate programmes majors in business, economic and finance. He should have knowledge of current issues in business world and companies.

Law Firm

A law firm is a partnership between lawyers who have come together to offer their expertise works to clients under one name. Partners share their profits, liabilities and also engage other lawyers to work with them as associates. Major law firms have two departments:

Corporate Department

Litigation Department

Corporate Department

This department deals with the matters of companies. It advises Companies on the corporate deals such as important inter-company agreements, investment in India by foreign clients, acquisition of companies and etc.

Litigation Department

This department deals with the matters of firms clients in which they are involved. In this, there is interaction with lawyers and it feels like a court practice.

Internships

Internship plays a major role to set up the attitude of a law student for corporate. If you are looking a career in corporate then the preparation for the corporate personality should be started from the beginning. You have to attach your CV for an internship before two months of joining the internship in firms or corporate sector. You can’t expect too much as you are a fresher. So you must start from the beginning. Internships in corporate sector would make you ultimate in legal research, legal drafting, pleadings, communication skills, personality etc.

Lawctopus is useful to find out new internships opportunities and you can also get notifications on corporate, law firms, government job posts for the law students. Here you can also read about internships experiences of other students.

Ace your Internship

Students who are appearing internships in the corporate law firms are expecting more to get jobs in the future. For this, you have to perform in an extraordinary manner to get the jobs offer. An internship is the one way which can be converted into a job. Ace your internship with online course through which you can build yourself into a person whom a law firm seeks out, visit https://courses.lawsikho.com/courses/how-to-get-top-law-internships-and-get-PPO/

Career in Law Firm for Law Graduates

There are three standout qualities required by everyone who wants to succeed in legal jobs i.e., Leadership, Team Spirit, and Tenancy. Working in a law firm is a desk job involving long hours work. Growth inside the company is a quick and one may become a partner in the law firm in as few as seven or ten years from joining.

Here are some lists of legal positions in Law Firms are:

Arbitrator

Paralegal

Attorney

Case Manager

Jury Consultant

Legal Analyst

Legal Assistant

Legal Services Director

Law Firm Administrator

Emerging Options for the Lawyers

Other emerging options for the lawyers are:

Intellectual Property Rights

Cyber Laws

Consumer Law

Family Law

Taxation Law

Government Services

UPSC Civil Services Exams [1]

Civil Services is one of the great opportunity to serve the nation. Civil Servants has given the responsibility to promote social welfare. The career in Civil Services provides the individual with wide powers.The Union Public Services Commission is India’s central recruitment agency. As per the Article 320 of the Indian Constitution, UPSC conduct the examinations for appointments to the services of the union. All India Service examination is conducted by UPSC which consists of Group ‘A’ and Group ‘B’ of central services. This can be a good Job Opportunities for law students after Graduation.

As we know UPSC is the service of public policy so rather than another individual, a law student has more capability to handle the service of public policy. A law student is the one who knows all legal rules of the country and laws related to the past and current issues. So the Civil Services are the best services which can be served by a law graduate.

Series of Civil Services

The series of Civil Services are divided into two groups:

Group A services

The following services under Group ‘A’ are:

Indian Administrative Service (IAS)

Indian Foreign Service (IAS)

Indian Police Service (IPS)

Indian P & T Accounts & Finance Service

Indian Audit and Accounts Service (IAAS)

Indian Revenue Service (Customs and Central Excise)

Indian Defence Accounts Service (IDAS)

Indian Revenue Service (CBEC) (IRS-Customs)

Indian Ordnance Factories Service (IOFS)

Indian Postal Service

Indian Civil Accounts Service (ICAS)

Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS)

Indian Railway Accounts Service (IRAS)

Indian Railway Personnel Service

Indian Railway Protection Force (Assistant Security Commissioner)

Indian Defence Estates Service

Indian Information Service (IIS)

Indian Trade Service, Group ‘A’ (Gr. III)

Indian Corporate Law Service (ICLS)

Group B Services

Armed Forces Headquarters Civil Service (Section Officer’s Grade)

Delhi, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Daman & Diu, and Dadra & Nagar Haveli Civil Service

Pondicherry Civil Service

Pondicherry Police Service

Delhi Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Daman & Diu, and Dadra & Nagar Haveli Police Service

Eligibility for UPSC examinations

As per section 3 of the University Grants Commission, the candidate must have bachelor’s degree in Arts/ Commerce/ Science/ Law from any recognized University.

Candidates who are in final year are also eligible for the examinations.

The minimum age of the candidate is 21 year and shall not be older than 32 years as on 1st August of the year in which candidate is applying.

For General Category = 32 years (if physically handicapped= 42 years) with maximum 6 attempts and for physically handicapped 9 attempts.

For SC/ST = 37 years (if physically handicapped= 47 years) with unlimited attempts.

For OBC = 35 years (if physically handicapped= 45 years) with 9 attempts.

Benefits to the Law Graduates for appearing in the UPSC exams

Law is an edge to clear civil service exams. In civil service exams, mainly questions are based on Indian Political and Constitution so it becomes easy for a law student to clear the exams.

There is an emphasis on administrative law and constitutional law in Prelims (GS Paper-I) of UPSC exams. In mains, exam questions are mainly asked by Law of Torts, Law of Crimes, Mercantile Law and Contemporary legal developments. So it becomes beneficial for a law student to score good rank in the exam.

Judiciary

The role of Judiciary is very important in India. Supreme Court is the apex court of India. Judiciary is the guardian of fundamental rights and ensures the constitutional provisions. The position of Judge is the highest and most respected in the judicial system of India. A Judge always works on new techniques and strategies for the development of the society. Most of the law student see themselves as a Judge in the future. It can be fulfilled if you have the ability to work hard for the nation. This can be a good Job Opportunities for law students after Graduation.

Eligibility to become a Judge

Judicial Service Examination is conducted annually by the Public Service Commision of the respective state.

To qualify the exam one must have a degree in law from a recognized University.

One must have enrolled as an advocate with the membership in the State Bar Council of India.

The age for appearing the exam may vary from state to state.

About Examination

Judicial Service Examination is held in two stages:

Judicial Service Preliminary Examination = Objective type questions

Judicial Service Main Examination = Written exam

Minimum qualifying marks in the exam are:

For General = It is 60%

For reserved category = It is 55% (SC, ST and physically handicapped)

The candidate who got 40% marks in each written paper and 50% marks in aggregate shall be called for a viva-voce test. The marks of viva-voce shall be added to the marks of the main exam (written exam).The candidate who has qualified in the Judicial Service Examination are eligible for the post of the Judge. This can be a good Job Opportunities for law students after Graduation.

Appointment of Judges

District Courts: In a state, there are various judicial districts which are presided over by a District and Session Judge. A judge of the District Court is the highest judicial authority below the High Court. The Judges of the District Courts are appointed by the Governor of the State with the consultation of the Chief Justice of High Court.Central or State Government appoints Magistrates in consultation with the Chief Justice of the High Court of the concerned states.

Army JAG Officer [2]

Choosing a career in the Indian Army is one of the pride services for the nation. For the law student, Army JAG recruitment is held twice in a year. The post of Judge Advocate General in India is held by legal and chief Judicial of the Army.

Eligibility

One must be an Indian Citizen.

The age limit for JAG post = 21 to 27 years

One must have minimum 55% aggregate marks in LLB/B.A. LLB./BBA LL.B.) Candidate must be eligible for registration with Bar Council of India/State.He must be from recognized University.

10 vacancy for men and 4 for women.

Selection Procedure

On the basis of academic performance, candidates are shortlisted by the Recruiting Directorate, Integrated Headquarter of MOD (Army).

After that shortlisted candidates will be sent to the SSB centers.

Those who pass all the stages of SSB will be sent for the medical examination.

Training

The candidates who will be selected in the final merit list will be called for training in Officers Training Academy, Chennai.

Cadets will be granted commission in the rank of lieutenant after 49 weeks of training.

No candidate can marry during the training, nor allowed to live with parents or guardian.

Career in Indian Air Force [3]

Choosing a career in Indian Air Force is like to handle the difficulties and facing the challenges. There are three branches of Air Force: Ground Duty Branch, Flying Branch, and Technical Branch.

Law Graduates are only eligible for Ground Duty Branch. Ground Branch Officers have work to manage the resources of Air Force.

This is consists of:

Administrative Branch

Logistic Branch

Meteorology Branch

Education Branch

Accounts Branch

Administrative Branch

Duties of Officers under this branch are Air Traffic Control and Flight Control.

Eligibility for Administrative Branch

A citizen must be Indian.

Both men and women can apply for this post.

Candidate must be of 21 to 23 years of age.

The age must be 20 to 25 years in case of postgraduates including 5 years integrated LLB.

In case of 3 years law graduate, the age limit will be one year more than the 5 years of LLB.

A degree of post-graduation or a graduation degree with 60% is mandatory.

Candidate below 25 must be unmarried.

Logistics Branch

The officers has the responsibility to manage the I.A.F. resources.

Eligibility for Logistics Branch

In case of graduates, age must be 20 to 23 years.

In case of LLB. of 5 years integrated course./ Post Graduates, the age must be 20 to 25 years.

In case of 3 years law graduates, age must be 20 to 26 years.

Indian nationality.

Both men and women can apply.

Graduation degree with minimum 60%. Post Graduation degree or equivalent diploma with minimum 50% marks.

Education Branch

An officer performs the duty of the study and educational requirements of the Air Force employees.

Eligibility for Education Branch

In case of postgraduates age must be 20 to 25 years and in case of M.Ed and Ph.D. age must be 20 to 27 years.

Candidate must be an Indian citizen.

Both men and women can apply.

Post Graduation degree with minimum 50% aggregate.

Law Graduates are only applicable for Administrative and Logistics Branch.

Educational Branch is applicable for Post Graduates only.

AFCAT Exam

On the basis of AFCAT examination candidates are shortlisted for SSB. It is conducted twice in a year. It posses mainly three branches:

Ground Duty Branches

Flying Branch

Technical Branch

PSUs [4]

Law graduates who have applied for CLAT for LLM are eligible for PSUs (Public Sector Units). On the basis score of CLAT and merit list, the candidate will be called for interviews and special tests.

PSU Companies hiring through CLAT

Oil India Limited (OIL)

Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL)

Oil And Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC)

Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL)

National Thermal Power Corporation Limited (NTPC)

Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL)

Other Government posts

There are various other government posts in which law graduates may apply are:

Legal advisors in Department of Legal Affairs.

Legislative Counsel in Legislative Department.

Appointment of Law Officers/ Legal Advisors in almost all the ministries/ departments/ undertakings of the Government of India and State Government of India.

Post of Assistance in the Secretariat, such as Legal Assistants, Legal/ Judicial Translators etc.

Government secretaries in assemblies.

Staff in higher/ lower judiciary/ Quasi-Judicial Institutions.

Judicial member in CAT.

Government Advocates, Public Prosecutors, solicitors.

Attorney General of India.

Advocate General.

Notaries and Oath Commissioners etc.

Career as a Professor in Universities and Colleges

Law graduates can also be heading towards their career as a professor in the Universities. One shall hold the degree of LL.M., Ph.D. degrees for the post of a professor. There is a responsibility to take up the jobs to provide law study to the students in Universities.

Journalism and Broadcasting

In Law Schools, students are trained for the value of language. Drafting the basic documents, pleading in a perfect manner is the good quality of an intelligent law student. After that when one becomes a lawyer then his creativity with language made the legal work more complex. Some lawyers find themselves to work into the journalism. Whatever we learn, all are from our law school. It is a plus point for any law student who has fluency and commands over the communication skills. A lawyer can practice journalism and broadcasting. There are few jobs available in journalism as legal correspondents. National newspapers have specific journalists to report on high legal cases and also make the views on legal articles. If you want to move towards media and journalism then choices are endless. One can be a news anchor, legal correspondent etc. It can be a bright future to work with the core of Journalism.

Legal Content Writer

Law Firms has open the posts for a content writer. A content writer is the one who highlights the management and marketing of the firms through his writing skills. Much reputed management is now hiring Legal Content Writer. Big Law Firms usually pay high salaries to the content writer up to INR 50,000 to INR 1 Lakh. So if you have the ability to research and writing, then the legal content writer is the best opportunity for any law graduates. Legal blogs writing is the more gaining method to secure the knowledge and also to share the views on the internet with other connected lawyers and people. This can be a good Job Opportunities for law students after Graduation.This can be a good Job Opportunities for law students after Graduation.

Confident in taking Law as a Career – You can do these even before taking CLAT

It is very difficult for a school student who is studying in class 11th and 12th to choose the best career after school. Different students have different choices. But those who want to choose their career in law are still in confuse for the selection of best law colleges. Usually, relatives or other known people prefer them to take admission in private law colleges. But to make your career on the highest peak you first have to make your foundation strong.

You can prepare for Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) exam and do 5 years integrated course of law from one of the 16 National Law Universities (NLUs) in India. These are regarded as best law colleges in India. If you are already graduate then you can do 3 years course of LLB.

CLAT plays an important role in making a career in Law

By cracking the CLAT exam you can get entry into the best national law college like NLSIU Bangalore, NALSAR Hyderabad, NLU Jodhpur, NUJS Kolkata, GNLU Gandhinagar, etc.

Admission to best college means bright future. It’s like new learnings are waiting for you. Grab all the knowledge.

Here what you should do for preparation of CLAT

For clearing the exam you must have a competitive attitude. First, you have to handle your mental strength. The desire for success should be greater than your fear.

General Knowledge and Current Affairs

50 questions are coming from this section in an examination. You must have to increase your knowledge and capacity. Go through the current news and should have to start reading newspapers, monthly magazines, G.K. updates. Especially past CLAT papers will be more helpful.

Legal Aptitude

There are 50 questions from this section. It is the most interesting area. Questions consist of legal principles and facts. Questions mainly come from the legal areas like Law of Torts, Law of Contracts and Criminal Law and legal G.K.

You must have to go through with detailed study to score good marks.

English

This section consists of 40 questions where candidate’s proficiency in English, based on vocabulary, grammar, comprehension is tested. Reading a newspaper daily will be beneficial to improve the vocabulary skills.

Logical Reasoning

There are 40 questions consist of this section. It is given to test the candidate’s ability to identify the patterns and to rectify illogical arguments. This includes questions from the logical sequence, deductions or syllogism, analogies, odd man out, statements and assumptions.

Mathematics

This section comprises of 20 questions which include mathematics up to class 10th.like percentage, profit & loss, probability, compound interest, etc. Old aptitude knowledge shall be tested under this section.

For the Online CLAT preparation course visit

https://courses.lawsikho.com/courses/online-course-clat-legal-aptitude-reasoning-GK/

Conclusion

Legal Careers are competitive in nature. Work Experience makes the commitment to a law career. For achieving a successful law career, you must have the confidence to apply, seeking and acting upon the feedback.

References

[1] To know more about UPSC visit http://www.upsc.gov.in/ [Date and Time of visit the site- 17/02/2018 at 2:00PM]

[2] For further information on Army JAG Officer visit joinindianarmy.nic.in [Date and Time of visit the site- 17/02/2018 at 3:15PM]

[3] To know more about the AFCAT exam visit https://afcat.cdac.in/AFCAT/ [Date and Time of visit the site- 18/02/2018 at 11:45AM]

[4] PSU recruitment through CLAT

https://exams.collegedunia.com/clat/psu-recruitment

The post Job Opportunities for law students after Graduation appeared first on iPleaders.

Job Opportunities for law students after Graduation published first on https://namechangers.tumblr.com/

[loyallogic]

Law of Sedition in India

In this article, Sudarshna Thapa of Law College Dehradun, Uttaranchal University discusses the enforceability of law of sedition in India.

Introduction

Every citizen has been given freedom to speak and express their views under Article 19(1)(a) of the Indian Constitution. However, this freedom is not absolute and some reasonable restrictions have been imposed on freedom of speech and expression under Article 19(2). But when a person does an act by his words, signs or representation which is held to be contemptuous towards the Government of India, then such act is punishable under section 124-A of Indian Penal Code, 1860. Sedition is an offence that criminalizes speech that is regarded to be disloyal to or threatening to the state.

The provision of Section 124A is very wide and it covers the act of defamation of the Government excluding any criticism in good faith of any particular measures or acts of administration.

Law of Sedition

The term ‘Sedition’ means “conduct or speech which results in mutiny against the authority of the state”. Law of Sedition deals with section 124A of IPC, 1860, is considered as a reasonable restriction on freedom of speech. It was drafted by Thomas Macaulay and introduced in 1870.

The following points describe the origin of sedition law:

Origin of Sedition law in India is connected to the Wahabis Movement of the 19th century.

This was an Islamic revivalist movement and was led by Syed Ahmed Barelvi.

Since 1830, the movement was active but in the wake of 1857 revolt, it turned into armed resistance, a Jihad against the British.

The British termed Wahabis as rebels and carried out military operations against Wahabis.

History

In British Era, Section 124A was not a part of Indian Penal Code, 1860. But this Section was inserted into IPC by the IPC (Amendment) Act, 1870. By an amending act of 1898, this provision was later replaced by Section 124A. According to the British Era Law, under the old IPC, “Exciting or attempting to excite feelings or disaffection was considered as Sedition”.

Meaning of Sedition under Section 124A of IPC, 1860

“Whoever, by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation, or otherwise, brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards the Government shall be punishable with Life Imprisonment”.[1]

Explanation I to the Section defines the scope of disaffection and in Explanation II and III indicate what under the English Law is not considered seditious intention.

What are the activities that are Seditious in nature?

In India, what constitutes as ‘Sedition’ is highly debated. As per the Indian Penal Code, for an act to be called “seditious”, it should have the following components:

Any words, which can be either written or spoken, or signs which include placards/posters (visible representation)

Must bring hatred/contempt/disaffection against the Indian Government

Must result in ‘imminent violence’ or public disorder.[2]

As per the interpretation of the Court on Section 124-A of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 the following acts have been considered as “seditious”

Raising of slogans against the government – example – “Khalistan Zindabad” by groups. Raising of slogans by individuals casually once or twice was held not to be seditious. [3]

A speech made by a person must incite violence / public disorder for it to be considered as seditious [4]. Subsequent cases have gone to further interpret it to include “incitement of imminent violence”.

Any written work which incites violence and public disorder.

Sedition found in other Laws

The following are some laws which cover Sedition law:

Indian Penal Code, 1860 (Section 124A)

The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (Section 95)

The Seditious Meetings Act, 1911 &

The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (Section 2(o) (iii)).

How legal mechanism sets in motion

Sedition is considered as a high-value crime in the Indian Penal Code which is against the sovereignty of the country. It is a cognizable offence which allows arrest without a warrant and police can start the investigation without the permission of the court. There are some legal procedures regarding the charges of Sedition:

Go to the Jurisdictional Police Station

It is the person’s legal right to file a case against the person who is committing an offence against the state such as Sedition. A person can file the complaint with the nearest Police Station where such offence when committed.

Lodging an F.I.R

The First Information Report (F.I.R.) is a written document which is prepared by the police organizations when they receive any information about the cognizable offence. In the case of seditious offence, it is filed by the person who has come to know about such offence and also can be filed by the police officer.

How Police take Cognizance

When any credible information is being registered by the complainant regarding the sedition offence, then it is the duty of Police Officer to take action for such complaint. Police have the right to arrest without warrant for such offence. There are some procedures when Police are able to arrest without warrant:

When the seditious act is going on before the police inspector, District Magistrate or Executive Magistrate, then they can arrest such person without any warrant.

If any information is received from another police officer for the arrest of the person committed a seditious offence, then the other police officer can arrest such person.

F.I.R. when lodged against the person for the seditious offence.

When a person who is being suspected of Sedition, then the police officer may arrest such person for the further investigation.

Investigation

After giving the information to a police officer in charge of a police station, the investigation is initiated. A magistrate can order a police officer in charge to investigate on cognizable offence such as Sedition. A magistrate is empowered to take cognizance upon receiving any complaint or upon a police report or upon information received from any person other than a police officer who is having knowledge of such offence is committed. A police officer may require to take the.. attendance of witnesses in writing.

Charge Sheet

After the completion of the investigation, police submits charge sheet which consists of F.I.R. copy, statement of the complainant, statement of witnesses etc.

Sedition: Disloyalty In Action

“Sedition” has been described as disloyalty in action. The object of sedition law is to induce discontent and insurrection, and stir up opposition to the Government and bring the administration of justice into contempt. Sedition is a crime against the society as it involves all those practices that result in conduct disturbance in the state or to lead to civil war which contempt the sovereign and promotes public disorder.[5]

Defences Available to a Person Charged With Sedition

To get the exemption from Criminal Liability, the following are the defences:

That he did not make the sign or representation or not speak or write the words, or not do any act in question.

He did not attempt into the contempt or attempt disaffection.

Such disaffection should not be towards the Government.

Sedition and Article 19(1)(a) of the Indian Constitution

The Concept of Free Speech has attained global importance and all have supported it as a basic fundamental right of a human being. In India, such rights are provided under Part-III and Article 19 of the Indian Constitution. The said right has no geographical indication because it is the right of the citizen to gather information with others and to exchange thoughts and views within or outside India.

Courts have been given the power to act as guarantors and protectors of the rights of the citizen. Article 19(1)(a) secures the ‘freedom of speech and expression’ but it has been bound by the limitation which has been given under Article 19(2) which states the permissible legislative abridgement of the right of free speech and expression.

In Niharendu Dutt’s case [6], for sedition, the Federal Court had taken chance to interpret the Section 124A of the IPC in alignment with British Law. It had ruled that tendency to disturb public order was an essential element under Section 124A. The Privy Council held that the incitement to violence or a tendency to disturb public order was not necessary under section 124A.

In Tara Singh v. State[7], the validity of Section 124A of the IPC was directly in issue. In this case, it curtailed the freedom of speech and expression, so the East Punjab High Court declared this section void.

By the Constitution (First Amendment) Act, 1951, two changes were introduced relating to freedom of speech and expression, are:

It considerably widened the latitude for restrictions on free speech by adding further grounds;

The restriction imposed on Article 19(1)(a) must be reasonable.

Therefore, the question now arises of whether Section 124A of IPC is in conflict with Article 19(1)(a) or not. It has been reflected by the following points:

Section 124A of the IPC is ultra vires the constitution in as much as it infringes the fundamental right of freedom of speech in Article 19(1)(a) and is not saved by the expression “in the interest of public order”.[8]

As the expression “in the interests of public order” has a wider connotation and should not be confined to only one aspect of public order, then the Section 124A is not void.

Section 124A IPC is partly void and partly valid. In Indramani Singh v. State of Manipur [9], it was held that Section 124A which seeks to impose restrictions on exciting mere disaffection is ultra vires, but the restriction imposed on freedom of speech and expression covered under Article 19(2) can be held intra vires.

In 1959, Allahabad High Court declared that Section 124A was ultra vires to Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution.

Indian Freedom Fighters who were charged with Sedition during the Freedom Struggle

Mahatma Gandhi was charged with sedition

Gandhiji had written three ‘politically sensitive’ articles in his weekly journal Young India, which was published from 1919 to 1932 so that he was jailed on the charges of sedition. He was sentenced to a six-year jail term.

Three charges were imposed on him:

Tampering with loyalty;

Shaking the manes and

Attempt to excite disaffection towards the British Government.

He wrote the first part of his autobiography during his imprisonment- The Story of my Experiments with Truth- and about the Satyagraha movement in South Africa. He was released after two years as he was suffering from appendicitis.

Bal Gangadhar Tilak was convicted under this [10]

Bal Gangadhar Tilak was charged with sedition on two occasions, are:

Firstly, his speeches that allegedly incited violence and resulted in the killings of two British Officers for which he was charged with Sedition in 1897. He was convicted but got bail in 1898.

Secondly, he was defending the Indian revolutionaries and called for immediate Swaraj or self-rule in his newspaper ‘Kesari’ for which he was convicted under sedition and sent to Mandalay, Burma from 1908 to 1914.

Take on abolishing the law of sedition – Should the Indian legal system abolish the laws punishing seditious activities?

In today’s scenario, the sedition law expects that citizens should not show enmity, contempt towards the Government established by the law.

There are some dark areas which lies between actual law and its implementation.

Thus the laws need to amend those dark areas.

In India, there are so many divisive powers acting together in which such laws are necessary evils in a country like India.

It is the need for such law that those activities which are promoting violence and public disorder should be stopped

Disaffection and the State

A seminar titled with ‘Azadi, the Only Way’ was organized by the Committee for the release of a Political prisoner in Srinagar.

The controversy arises when Sedition was charged against Arundhati Roy, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Varavara Rao and others who spoke at the said Seminar.

Media reported that the Central Government was not in favour of initiating proceedings in this case.

There are reports though of cases having been filed in New Delhi.

Intimidation of cases being filed in other parts of the country against Roy, Geelani and other who spoke at the seminar.

Famous Trials of Sedition

Jogendra Chunder Bose [11]

Jogendra Chunder Bose was an editor of Bangobasi. He was charged with Sedition for voicing against Age of Consent Bill, 189

Cartoonist Aseem Trivedi

During a rally of Anti-Corruption crusader Anna Hazare in Mumbai, he had been accused of putting up banners mocking the constitution and posting the same on his website. He was charged under Section 124A of IPC, Section 66A of Information Technology Act and Section 2 of Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act.

Kashmiri Students

60 Kashmiri Students were cheering for Pakistan in a Cricket Match against India. So they were charged with Sedition in March 2014.

Folk Singer S Kovan

He was charged with sedition for two songs criticising the state government for allegedly profiting from state-owned liquor shops at the expense of the poor.

Binayak Sen

He was a pediatrician by profession and was allegedly supporting Naxalites. For which he was charged with Sedition by Chhattisgarh Government.

Akbaruddin Owaisi

On December 22, 2012, he purported hate speech at Nirmal. He was slapped with the charge of sedition by the District Police of Karimnagar.

Kanhaiya Kumar, Student of JNU [12]

JNU Student Leader, Kanhaiya Kumar was arrested in February 2016 on the charge of sedition. He was arrested for inciting violence through unlawful speech, allegedly spread not all over India but also across the world. This arrest has raised political turmoil in the country by which academicians and activists protesting against this move by the Government. On March 2, 2016, the videos purporting to show this activity were found to be fake and he was released after three weeks in jail.

Constitutionality of Law of Sedition in India

Kedarnath Singh v. State of Bihar [13]

It was held that the law is constitutional and covered written or spoken words that had the implicit idea of subverting the Government by violent means.

With an intention to create public disorder, Citizens can criticize the Government as long as they are not inciting people to violence against the Government.

Supreme Court upheld the validity of Section 124A, it limited its application to acts involving intention or tendency to create disorder, or a disturbance of law and order, or incitement to violence.

Balwant Singh and Anr v. State of Punjab [14]

After the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, the accused had raised the slogan “Khalistan Zindabad” outside a cinema hall.

It was held that two individuals casually raising slogans could not be said to be exciting disaffection towards the Government. Section 124A would not apply to the circumstances of this case.

Romesh Thapar v. State of Madras [15]

The petitioner contended before the Supreme Court that the said order of banning his paper ‘Cross Roads’ by the Madras State.

It has contravened his Fundamental Right of freedom of speech and expression conferred on him by Article 19(1) of the Constitution.

The Supreme Court held that the Article 19(2) where the restriction has been imposed only in the cases where problem to public security is involved. Cases where no such problem could arise, it cannot be held to be constitutional and valid to any extent.

Supreme Court quashed the order of Madras State and allowed the application of the petitioner under Article 32 of the Constitution.

The following acts are not considered seditious

Improvement or alteration by lawful means with the disapproval of the measures of government.

The strong words which are expressing disapprobation of actions of the Government and not encouraging those feelings which generate public disorder by acts of violence.

To improve the condition of the people or to secure the alteration of those acts by lawful means without the feelings of enmity and disloyalty which involve excitement to public disorder or the use of violence.

National Crime Records Bureau Statistics on Sedition

When all the crimes are committed against the state or government, it disturbs public order. According to the data from 2014-2016 of NCRB, 165 people were arrested on the charge of sedition. During 2014, 47 cases were reported under sedition. Of the total sedition cases, Jharkhand and Bihar have reported 18 cases and 16 cases respectively. Besides, 5 cases in Kerala, 2 cases each in Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh and Himachal Pradesh were also reported during 2014.

According to the NCRB, the latest crime data shows the cases of sedition fell from 2014 to 2015. A total of 30 sedition cases were registered in 2015, less than in 2014. Tamil Nadu topped the list for committing the crime against state including sedition. Of the 6,986 cases were registered in 2016, 1,827 cases were reported from Tamil Nadu, followed by U.P. 1,414, Haryana 1,286 and Assam 343 cases. In the last three years across the country, 165 people were arrested on the charge of sedition. According to the reports of NCRB, 111 people were arrested in four state i.e., 68 in Bihar, 15 in Haryana, 18 in Jharkhand and 10 in Punjab.

Conclusion

Sedition is the serious offence in the violation of Article 19. So there is a need that sedition laws should have expressly contained words which satisfied the restrictions of Article 19(2). The purpose of restricting speech under Sedition Act is the protection of National Security. Sedition laws should be interpreted and applied according to the guidelines given by the Supreme Court.

References

[1] Section 124A of IPC, 1860 https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1641007/ (Date of visit the site- 09/02/2018, Time of visit the site- 11:55 AM IST)

[2] Indra Das v. State of Assam

[3] Balwant Singh v. State of Punjab

[4] Kedarnath Singh v. State of Bihar

[5] Nazir Khan v. State Of Delhi (2003) 8 SCC 461

[6] https://indiankanoon.org/doc/256394/ (Date of visit the site- 09/02/2018, Time of visit the site- 1:00 PM IST)

[7] Tara Singh Gopichand v. State, AIR 1951 E.P. 27

[8] Ram Nandan v. State, AIR 1959 All. 101

[9] AIR 1955 Manipur

[10] Queen Empress v. Bal Gangadhar Tilak https://indiankanoon.org/doc/890587/ (Date of visit the site- 09/02/2018, Time of visit the site- 2:15 PM IST)

[11] Queen Empress v. Jogendra Chunder Bose (1892) https://indiankanoon.org/doc/334102/ (Date of visit the site- 09/02/2018, Time of visit the site- 3:00 PM IST)

[12] Kanhaiya Kumar Case http://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/delhi/2017/apr/28/police-question-jnu-students-in-kanhaiya-sedition-case-1598800.html (Date of visit the site- 10/02/2018, Time of visit the site- 11:20 AM)

[13] AIR 1962, SC 955 Supreme Court, 5 Judges https://indiankanoon.org/doc/111867/ (Date of visit the site- 10/02/2018, Time of visit the site- 1:20 PM IST)

[14] AIR 1985 SC 1785 https://indiankanoon.org/doc/123425906/ (Date of visit the site- 10/02/2018, Time of visit the site- 2:05 PM IST)

[15] [1950; SCR 594] https://indiankanoon.org/doc/456839/ (Date of visit the site- 10/02/2018, Time of visit the site- 2:45 PM IST)

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Law of Sedition in India

In this article, Sudarshna Thapa of Law College Dehradun, Uttaranchal University discusses the enforceability of law of sedition in India.

Introduction

Every citizen has been given freedom to speak and express their views under Article 19(1)(a) of the Indian Constitution. However, this freedom is not absolute and some reasonable restrictions have been imposed on freedom of speech and expression under Article 19(2). But when a person does an act by his words, signs or representation which is held to be contemptuous towards the Government of India, then such act is punishable under section 124-A of Indian Penal Code, 1860. Sedition is an offence that criminalizes speech that is regarded to be disloyal to or threatening to the state.

The provision of Section 124A is very wide and it covers the act of defamation of the Government excluding any criticism in good faith of any particular measures or acts of administration.

Law of Sedition

The term ‘Sedition’ means “conduct or speech which results in mutiny against the authority of the state”. Law of Sedition deals with section 124A of IPC, 1860, is considered as a reasonable restriction on freedom of speech. It was drafted by Thomas Macaulay and introduced in 1870.

The following points describe the origin of sedition law:

Origin of Sedition law in India is connected to the Wahabis Movement of the 19th century.

This was an Islamic revivalist movement and was led by Syed Ahmed Barelvi.

Since 1830, the movement was active but in the wake of 1857 revolt, it turned into armed resistance, a Jihad against the British.

The British termed Wahabis as rebels and carried out military operations against Wahabis.

History

In British Era, Section 124A was not a part of Indian Penal Code, 1860. But this Section was inserted into IPC by the IPC (Amendment) Act, 1870. By an amending act of 1898, this provision was later replaced by Section 124A. According to the British Era Law, under the old IPC, “Exciting or attempting to excite feelings or disaffection was considered as Sedition”.

Meaning of Sedition under Section 124A of IPC, 1860

“Whoever, by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation, or otherwise, brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards the Government shall be punishable with Life Imprisonment”.[1]

Explanation I to the Section defines the scope of disaffection and in Explanation II and III indicate what under the English Law is not considered seditious intention.

What are the activities that are Seditious in nature?

In India, what constitutes as ‘Sedition’ is highly debated. As per the Indian Penal Code, for an act to be called “seditious”, it should have the following components:

Any words, which can be either written or spoken, or signs which include placards/posters (visible representation)

Must bring hatred/contempt/disaffection against the Indian Government

Must result in ‘imminent violence’ or public disorder.[2]

As per the interpretation of the Court on Section 124-A of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 the following acts have been considered as “seditious”

Raising of slogans against the government – example – “Khalistan Zindabad” by groups. Raising of slogans by individuals casually once or twice was held not to be seditious. [3]

A speech made by a person must incite violence / public disorder for it to be considered as seditious [4]. Subsequent cases have gone to further interpret it to include “incitement of imminent violence”.

Any written work which incites violence and public disorder.

Sedition found in other Laws

The following are some laws which cover Sedition law:

Indian Penal Code, 1860 (Section 124A)

The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (Section 95)

The Seditious Meetings Act, 1911 &

The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (Section 2(o) (iii)).

How legal mechanism sets in motion

Sedition is considered as a high-value crime in the Indian Penal Code which is against the sovereignty of the country. It is a cognizable offence which allows arrest without a warrant and police can start the investigation without the permission of the court. There are some legal procedures regarding the charges of Sedition:

Go to the Jurisdictional Police Station

It is the person’s legal right to file a case against the person who is committing an offence against the state such as Sedition. A person can file the complaint with the nearest Police Station where such offence when committed.

Lodging an F.I.R

The First Information Report (F.I.R.) is a written document which is prepared by the police organizations when they receive any information about the cognizable offence. In the case of seditious offence, it is filed by the person who has come to know about such offence and also can be filed by the police officer.

How Police take Cognizance

When any credible information is being registered by the complainant regarding the sedition offence, then it is the duty of Police Officer to take action for such complaint. Police have the right to arrest without warrant for such offence. There are some procedures when Police are able to arrest without warrant:

When the seditious act is going on before the police inspector, District Magistrate or Executive Magistrate, then they can arrest such person without any warrant.

If any information is received from another police officer for the arrest of the person committed a seditious offence, then the other police officer can arrest such person.

F.I.R. when lodged against the person for the seditious offence.

When a person who is being suspected of Sedition, then the police officer may arrest such person for the further investigation.

Investigation

After giving the information to a police officer in charge of a police station, the investigation is initiated. A magistrate can order a police officer in charge to investigate on cognizable offence such as Sedition. A magistrate is empowered to take cognizance upon receiving any complaint or upon a police report or upon information received from any person other than a police officer who is having knowledge of such offence is committed. A police officer may require to take the.. attendance of witnesses in writing.

Charge Sheet

After the completion of the investigation, police submits charge sheet which consists of F.I.R. copy, statement of the complainant, statement of witnesses etc.

Sedition: Disloyalty In Action

“Sedition” has been described as disloyalty in action. The object of sedition law is to induce discontent and insurrection, and stir up opposition to the Government and bring the administration of justice into contempt. Sedition is a crime against the society as it involves all those practices that result in conduct disturbance in the state or to lead to civil war which contempt the sovereign and promotes public disorder.[5]

Defences Available to a Person Charged With Sedition

To get the exemption from Criminal Liability, the following are the defences:

That he did not make the sign or representation or not speak or write the words, or not do any act in question.

He did not attempt into the contempt or attempt disaffection.

Such disaffection should not be towards the Government.

Sedition and Article 19(1)(a) of the Indian Constitution

The Concept of Free Speech has attained global importance and all have supported it as a basic fundamental right of a human being. In India, such rights are provided under Part-III and Article 19 of the Indian Constitution. The said right has no geographical indication because it is the right of the citizen to gather information with others and to exchange thoughts and views within or outside India.

Courts have been given the power to act as guarantors and protectors of the rights of the citizen. Article 19(1)(a) secures the ‘freedom of speech and expression’ but it has been bound by the limitation which has been given under Article 19(2) which states the permissible legislative abridgement of the right of free speech and expression.

In Niharendu Dutt’s case [6], for sedition, the Federal Court had taken chance to interpret the Section 124A of the IPC in alignment with British Law. It had ruled that tendency to disturb public order was an essential element under Section 124A. The Privy Council held that the incitement to violence or a tendency to disturb public order was not necessary under section 124A.

In Tara Singh v. State[7], the validity of Section 124A of the IPC was directly in issue. In this case, it curtailed the freedom of speech and expression, so the East Punjab High Court declared this section void.

By the Constitution (First Amendment) Act, 1951, two changes were introduced relating to freedom of speech and expression, are:

It considerably widened the latitude for restrictions on free speech by adding further grounds;

The restriction imposed on Article 19(1)(a) must be reasonable.

Therefore, the question now arises of whether Section 124A of IPC is in conflict with Article 19(1)(a) or not. It has been reflected by the following points:

Section 124A of the IPC is ultra vires the constitution in as much as it infringes the fundamental right of freedom of speech in Article 19(1)(a) and is not saved by the expression “in the interest of public order”.[8]

As the expression “in the interests of public order” has a wider connotation and should not be confined to only one aspect of public order, then the Section 124A is not void.

Section 124A IPC is partly void and partly valid. In Indramani Singh v. State of Manipur [9], it was held that Section 124A which seeks to impose restrictions on exciting mere disaffection is ultra vires, but the restriction imposed on freedom of speech and expression covered under Article 19(2) can be held intra vires.

In 1959, Allahabad High Court declared that Section 124A was ultra vires to Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution.

Indian Freedom Fighters who were charged with Sedition during the Freedom Struggle

Mahatma Gandhi was charged with sedition

Gandhiji had written three ‘politically sensitive’ articles in his weekly journal Young India, which was published from 1919 to 1932 so that he was jailed on the charges of sedition. He was sentenced to a six-year jail term.

Three charges were imposed on him:

Tampering with loyalty;

Shaking the manes and

Attempt to excite disaffection towards the British Government.

He wrote the first part of his autobiography during his imprisonment- The Story of my Experiments with Truth- and about the Satyagraha movement in South Africa. He was released after two years as he was suffering from appendicitis.

Bal Gangadhar Tilak was convicted under this [10]

Bal Gangadhar Tilak was charged with sedition on two occasions, are:

Firstly, his speeches that allegedly incited violence and resulted in the killings of two British Officers for which he was charged with Sedition in 1897. He was convicted but got bail in 1898.

Secondly, he was defending the Indian revolutionaries and called for immediate Swaraj or self-rule in his newspaper ‘Kesari’ for which he was convicted under sedition and sent to Mandalay, Burma from 1908 to 1914.

Take on abolishing the law of sedition – Should the Indian legal system abolish the laws punishing seditious activities?

In today’s scenario, the sedition law expects that citizens should not show enmity, contempt towards the Government established by the law.

There are some dark areas which lies between actual law and its implementation.

Thus the laws need to amend those dark areas.

In India, there are so many divisive powers acting together in which such laws are necessary evils in a country like India.

It is the need for such law that those activities which are promoting violence and public disorder should be stopped

Disaffection and the State

A seminar titled with ‘Azadi, the Only Way’ was organized by the Committee for the release of a Political prisoner in Srinagar.

The controversy arises when Sedition was charged against Arundhati Roy, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Varavara Rao and others who spoke at the said Seminar.

Media reported that the Central Government was not in favour of initiating proceedings in this case.

There are reports though of cases having been filed in New Delhi.

Intimidation of cases being filed in other parts of the country against Roy, Geelani and other who spoke at the seminar.

Famous Trials of Sedition

Jogendra Chunder Bose [11]

Jogendra Chunder Bose was an editor of Bangobasi. He was charged with Sedition for voicing against Age of Consent Bill, 189

Cartoonist Aseem Trivedi

During a rally of Anti-Corruption crusader Anna Hazare in Mumbai, he had been accused of putting up banners mocking the constitution and posting the same on his website. He was charged under Section 124A of IPC, Section 66A of Information Technology Act and Section 2 of Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act.

Kashmiri Students

60 Kashmiri Students were cheering for Pakistan in a Cricket Match against India. So they were charged with Sedition in March 2014.

Folk Singer S Kovan

He was charged with sedition for two songs criticising the state government for allegedly profiting from state-owned liquor shops at the expense of the poor.

Binayak Sen

He was a pediatrician by profession and was allegedly supporting Naxalites. For which he was charged with Sedition by Chhattisgarh Government.

Akbaruddin Owaisi

On December 22, 2012, he purported hate speech at Nirmal. He was slapped with the charge of sedition by the District Police of Karimnagar.

Kanhaiya Kumar, Student of JNU [12]

JNU Student Leader, Kanhaiya Kumar was arrested in February 2016 on the charge of sedition. He was arrested for inciting violence through unlawful speech, allegedly spread not all over India but also across the world. This arrest has raised political turmoil in the country by which academicians and activists protesting against this move by the Government. On March 2, 2016, the videos purporting to show this activity were found to be fake and he was released after three weeks in jail.

Constitutionality of Law of Sedition in India

Kedarnath Singh v. State of Bihar [13]

It was held that the law is constitutional and covered written or spoken words that had the implicit idea of subverting the Government by violent means.

With an intention to create public disorder, Citizens can criticize the Government as long as they are not inciting people to violence against the Government.

Supreme Court upheld the validity of Section 124A, it limited its application to acts involving intention or tendency to create disorder, or a disturbance of law and order, or incitement to violence.

Balwant Singh and Anr v. State of Punjab [14]

After the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, the accused had raised the slogan “Khalistan Zindabad” outside a cinema hall.

It was held that two individuals casually raising slogans could not be said to be exciting disaffection towards the Government. Section 124A would not apply to the circumstances of this case.

Romesh Thapar v. State of Madras [15]

The petitioner contended before the Supreme Court that the said order of banning his paper ‘Cross Roads’ by the Madras State.

It has contravened his Fundamental Right of freedom of speech and expression conferred on him by Article 19(1) of the Constitution.

The Supreme Court held that the Article 19(2) where the restriction has been imposed only in the cases where problem to public security is involved. Cases where no such problem could arise, it cannot be held to be constitutional and valid to any extent.

Supreme Court quashed the order of Madras State and allowed the application of the petitioner under Article 32 of the Constitution.

The following acts are not considered seditious

Improvement or alteration by lawful means with the disapproval of the measures of government.

The strong words which are expressing disapprobation of actions of the Government and not encouraging those feelings which generate public disorder by acts of violence.

To improve the condition of the people or to secure the alteration of those acts by lawful means without the feelings of enmity and disloyalty which involve excitement to public disorder or the use of violence.

National Crime Records Bureau Statistics on Sedition

When all the crimes are committed against the state or government, it disturbs public order. According to the data from 2014-2016 of NCRB, 165 people were arrested on the charge of sedition. During 2014, 47 cases were reported under sedition. Of the total sedition cases, Jharkhand and Bihar have reported 18 cases and 16 cases respectively. Besides, 5 cases in Kerala, 2 cases each in Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh and Himachal Pradesh were also reported during 2014.

According to the NCRB, the latest crime data shows the cases of sedition fell from 2014 to 2015. A total of 30 sedition cases were registered in 2015, less than in 2014. Tamil Nadu topped the list for committing the crime against state including sedition. Of the 6,986 cases were registered in 2016, 1,827 cases were reported from Tamil Nadu, followed by U.P. 1,414, Haryana 1,286 and Assam 343 cases. In the last three years across the country, 165 people were arrested on the charge of sedition. According to the reports of NCRB, 111 people were arrested in four state i.e., 68 in Bihar, 15 in Haryana, 18 in Jharkhand and 10 in Punjab.

Conclusion

Sedition is the serious offence in the violation of Article 19. So there is a need that sedition laws should have expressly contained words which satisfied the restrictions of Article 19(2). The purpose of restricting speech under Sedition Act is the protection of National Security. Sedition laws should be interpreted and applied according to the guidelines given by the Supreme Court.

References

[1] Section 124A of IPC, 1860 https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1641007/ (Date of visit the site- 09/02/2018, Time of visit the site- 11:55 AM IST)

[2] Indra Das v. State of Assam

[3] Balwant Singh v. State of Punjab

[4] Kedarnath Singh v. State of Bihar

[5] Nazir Khan v. State Of Delhi (2003) 8 SCC 461

[6] https://indiankanoon.org/doc/256394/ (Date of visit the site- 09/02/2018, Time of visit the site- 1:00 PM IST)

[7] Tara Singh Gopichand v. State, AIR 1951 E.P. 27

[8] Ram Nandan v. State, AIR 1959 All. 101

[9] AIR 1955 Manipur

[10] Queen Empress v. Bal Gangadhar Tilak https://indiankanoon.org/doc/890587/ (Date of visit the site- 09/02/2018, Time of visit the site- 2:15 PM IST)

[11] Queen Empress v. Jogendra Chunder Bose (1892) https://indiankanoon.org/doc/334102/ (Date of visit the site- 09/02/2018, Time of visit the site- 3:00 PM IST)

[12] Kanhaiya Kumar Case http://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/delhi/2017/apr/28/police-question-jnu-students-in-kanhaiya-sedition-case-1598800.html (Date of visit the site- 10/02/2018, Time of visit the site- 11:20 AM)

[13] AIR 1962, SC 955 Supreme Court, 5 Judges https://indiankanoon.org/doc/111867/ (Date of visit the site- 10/02/2018, Time of visit the site- 1:20 PM IST)

[14] AIR 1985 SC 1785 https://indiankanoon.org/doc/123425906/ (Date of visit the site- 10/02/2018, Time of visit the site- 2:05 PM IST)

[15] [1950; SCR 594] https://indiankanoon.org/doc/456839/ (Date of visit the site- 10/02/2018, Time of visit the site- 2:45 PM IST)

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Merits of Rare Golden Crystal Shesha Sudarshan Ananta Padmanabha Shaligram

Merits of Rare Golden Crystal Shesha Sudarshan Ananta Padmanabha Shaligram The shaligram shila is also known as salagram shila or saligram stone, shalgram, Salagram, Shalagram is regarded as the direct manifestation of lord vishnu. This Shaligram is extremely rare and has a shape like exact Ananta Padmanabha  with crysral Shesha hood. This has a very rare golden Maha Visnu and Sudarshna in the centre and from the naval of Vishnu Lord Brahma is emanating out on the white Lotus. For more information :- Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/rajiv.krishn... Twitter   : https://twitter.com/ShaligramShala Linkedin  : https://www.linkedin.com/in/shaligram... website   :www.shaligram.org Email ID  :- shalagram8@gmail.com Visit our Website For More Infromation : http://www.shaligram.com/index.php https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPTI... or Meet  at affice Address : 306-C Wing,Vidyavihar (West),Neelkanth Business park,Near Vidyavihar Railway Station.