Ubi Jus Ibi Remedium

*Published in Chareted Secretary, Vol. XL, No. 7, July 2010, pp. 947-955 1. BRIEF FACTS OF THE CASE The brief facts of the case titled Deewan Arora v. Tara Devi Sen & Ors. , as per the suit averments, are as under: On 14-02-2008, Tara Devi -the defendant no. 1 executed an agreement to sell her freehold property in favour of Deewan Arora -the plaintiff for a consideration of Rs. 23,50,000/-. A sum of Rs. 8,00,000/- was paid to the defendant in cash on 14-02-08 by the plaintiff and it was agreed that the defendant would hand over the vacant physical possession of the suit property to the plaintiff by 10-04-2008, which condition was complied with. Balance consideration of Rs. 15,50,000/- was to be paid on or before 10-05-08. Accordingly a sum of Rs. 9,30,000/- was again paid in cash on 02-05-08. When on 03-05-08 the plaintiff again visited the defendant no. 1 and her husband -the defendant no. 2 to pay the balance of the consideration amount, they were not there and could not be t...

(Published in Legal News & Views, Indian Social Institute, New Delhi, Vol 23: No. 8: August 2009) Safety of patients from incompetent and negligent doctors and safety of doctors from undue harassment from unscrupulous litigants has been a perennial problem faced by the Medical Jurisprudence. But when a two judges bench of the apex court in the case of Martin F. D'Souza v . Mohd. Ishfaq [1] directed in February 2009 that whenever a complaint is received against a doctor or hospital by the Consumer Forum or by the Criminal Court then before issuing notice to the doctor or hospital it should first refer the matter to a competent doctor or committee of doctors, specialized in the field relating to which the medical negligence is attributed, and only after that doctor or committee reports that there is a prima facie case of medical negligence should notice be then issued to the concerned doctor/hospital, many perceived that balance has tilted in favour of doctors as a team of ...

Published in Chartered Secretary, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 2, Feb. 2008, pp. 176-178 (Monthly publication of ICSI, N. Delhi) Arbitration is one of the alternative dispute resolution mechanism designed to solve the problem of mounting arrears of cases pending in regular courts of law. M.A. Sujan observes: “In popular parlance, arbitration may be defined as a private process set up by the parties as a substitute for court litigation to obtain a decision on their disputes.” [1] Arbitration is an ‘alternative’ or ‘substitute’ for the regular courts of law empowered to dispense justice. Self-contained code in itself The Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1908 (hereinafter “the Act” for short) of India is a self-contained code in itself providing within it all the procedural and substantial aspects of Arbitration. Section 19 (1) of the Act provides that the arbitral tribunal shall not be bound by the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 or the Indian Evidence Act, 1872. Section 16 of the Act provides abso...