Category: Indian Law Basics

Introduction The Attorney General of India (AG) is the chief legal advisor to the Union Government and the principal law officer who represents the Union of India in litigation. Although a constitutional office, it is as much a practice-oriented post as a constitutional one: the AG supplies legal advice at the highest level of government,…

Introduction Attest — in its legal sense — is the act of witnessing and authenticating a document or a fact by signature or oral declaration so as to provide prima facie proof of the genuineness of the document or the occurrence testified to. In Indian practice, attestation operates at the intersection of substantive requirements (e.g.,…

Introduction “Assessment Year” (AY) is a deceptively simple phrase that governs the temporal architecture of income‑tax administration in India. It fixes the year in which the income of a taxpayer (earned in the immediately preceding “previous year”) is assessed, returns are filed, notices issued, appeals prosecuted and tax liabilities crystallised. For practitioners, accurate identification and…

Introduction The Assessing Officer (AO) is the central operational actor in the administration of direct taxation in India. Far more than a formal designation, the AO is the statutory officer who conducts inquiries, frames assessments, levies tax, initiates reassessment proceedings, imposes certain penalties and passes orders that directly determine a taxpayer’s liability. Mastery of the…

Introduction “Assessee” is the foundational identity in Indian direct tax law: the person on whom the Income-tax Act, 1961 (the Act) confers rights and obligations to be assessed, to file returns, to pay tax, and to be proceeded against in assessment, reassessment and recovery proceedings. Accurate identification of the assessee — and of categories such…

Introduction An arrest memo — frequently called an “arrest cum seizure memo” in practice — is the contemporaneous document drawn up by the police at the moment of arrest. It records the identity of the arrested person, the time, date and place of arrest, the reason for arrest, the identity of the arresting officer(s), and…

Introduction The Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) is the specialised statutory forum for the adjudication of disputes and complaints concerning members of the Indian Armed Forces. It is the principal forum for appeals from courts‑martial and for original applications on service and pension matters affecting Army, Navy and Air Force personnel. For practitioners handling military clients…

Introduction Arbitration is a private, party-driven method of dispute resolution by which parties agree to submit their disputes to one or more impartial third parties (arbitrators) for a final and binding decision (the award). In India, arbitration has moved from being an optional private mechanism to a central pillar of commercial dispute resolution policy —…

Introduction The phrase “Appellate Authority” is central to the machinery of transparency under the Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI Act). In RTI parlance it primarily refers to the officer or body that entertains appeals against decisions (or non-decisions) of Public Information Officers (PIOs). Proper use of the appellate route—first appeal within the public authority…

Introduction Appeal is the principal corrective mechanism in the Indian adjudicatory architecture: it enables scrutiny, correction and, where necessary, reversal of judicial decisions rendered by inferior courts and tribunals. Practically, appeal is not merely a right to re-argue; it is a disciplined process governed by substantive and procedural thresholds which determine when and how a…

Introduction Anticipatory bail is a procedural device of immense practical importance in Indian criminal law. It enables a person who reasonably apprehends arrest on account of accusation in a non‑bailable offence to obtain an order of protection in advance, so that if arrested he/she is released on bail rather than remanded to custody. Properly invoked,…

Introduction “Annul” in family-law practice denotes a judicial declaration that a marriage is a nullity — that it never validly came into legal existence (ab initio) or, in some cases, that it is defeasible and may be set aside. Annulment differs fundamentally from divorce: a decree of divorce severs a valid marriage, whereas an annulment…

Introduction Ancestral property (commonly called coparcenary property under Mitakshara law) is one of the most litigated and strategically significant concepts in Indian family and succession law. For practitioners, the term determines not only the quantum of a client’s proprietary interest but also the remedies available — partition, injunctions against alienation, accounting, and claims for maintenance…

Introduction “Amendment” is the constitutional and legislative mechanism by which a legal order is altered, refined or corrected to meet changing social needs, political choices or judicial pronouncements. In India, the word most frequently evokes Article 368 of the Constitution and the formidable jurisprudence that has developed around the scope and limits of Parliament’s constituent…

Introduction Allocable surplus is a central technical concept under the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965 (PBA). It determines the quantum of profits out of which bonus is distributable to employees. Precise computation of allocable surplus — and its interaction with concepts such as available surplus, set‑offs for past losses and transfers to reserves — is…

Introduction Akshaya Tritiya is a widely observed spring festival in Hindu and Jain communities, traditionally regarded as an auspicious day for starting new ventures — including the solemnisation of marriages. From a legal perspective in India, Akshaya Tritiya is not merely a cultural calendar entry: it is a high-risk temporal flashpoint when families accelerate or…

Introduction Aided school is a deceptively simple phrase with complex legal consequences in India. At its core an aided school is privately established but receives full or part government funding; that funding converts private initiative into a public interest enterprise and draws the institution into a hybrid regulatory space between private autonomy and public control….

Introduction “Aggrieved person” is a short, potent phrase that recurs across Indian statutes and litigation. At root it captures standing — the legal capacity to sue or seek relief — by reference to a person who has suffered a legally cognisable wrong. But its effect is context‑specific: different statutes and branches of law (civil, criminal,…

Introduction Affray is a public-order offence that sits at the intersection of private violence and public tranquillity. In practice, it is deployed where physical fighting in a publicly accessible place disturbs the peace of the neighbourhood. For litigators — both prosecution and defence — affray raises questions of precise pleading, proof of “public place” and…

Introduction Affinity denotes the kinship created between a person and the blood relatives of his or her spouse by virtue of marriage. In Indian practice, affinity is not a mere sociological label: it determines legal rights and liabilities across matrimonial validity, domestic relations, criminal prosecution for family cruelty, maintenance claims, custody disputes and reliefs under…

Introduction An affidavit is a written statement of fact sworn or affirmed to be true by the person making it (the deponent) before a competent authority. In Indian litigation and quasi-judicial practice, the affidavit is the workhorse of procedure: it supports interim applications, verifies pleadings, furnishes documentary narratives, and often substitutes for oral evidence where…

Introduction The Advocate‑General is the chief legal officer of a State under the Constitution of India. Though constitutionally a state office, the Advocate‑General performs functions that are both advisory (to the Governor and State executive) and adversarial (representing the State in litigation). In practice the office is central to constitutional litigation involving State action, to…

Introduction Adultery — in the plain, descriptive sense — is voluntary sexual intercourse between a married person and a person who is not that married person’s spouse. Despite its apparent simplicity, the legal status of adultery in India has undergone a fundamental shift in the last decade. Once treated as a criminal offence under the…

Introduction Adulterated products—goods to which an extraneous or inferior substance has been added, or from which a vital ingredient has been removed—are a recurring and high‑stakes problem in Indian law. They strike at public health, consumer confidence and the integrity of markets. For practitioners, “adulteration” is not just a regulatory label: it is the doorway…

Introduction “Adolescent” is not merely a sociological term in Indian law: it is a category that triggers distinct rights, duties, procedural safeguards and prohibitions across multiple statutes — criminal, social welfare, labour and family law. For practitioners, the stakes are practical and immediate: the classification of a person as an “adolescent” (typically falling between 14…

Introduction An “Administrator” in Indian law is a functional and legal chameleon: in private law it denotes the person appointed by a court to collect, preserve and distribute the estate of a deceased person where no executor is available; in public constitutional law it denotes the person appointed by the President to exercise executive authority…

Adjournment Introduction Adjournment is the judicial act of postponing further hearing of a cause to a later date. In Indian practice it is one of the most frequently invoked procedural devices — used legitimately to secure fair preparation and, abused, as an instrument of delay. For practitioners, mastering the law and etiquette of adjournments is…

Introduction An “addict” in Indian law is not merely a social label but a legally significant status with consequences across criminal, civil and health-law spheres. Recognition of addiction shapes investigation, evidence-gathering, charging, bail and sentencing, and it triggers statutory entitlements to medical treatment and rehabilitation. For practitioners handling NDPS matters, criminal defence, probation applications, custodial…

Introduction Actionable claim is a core private-law concept with outsized practical importance in civil litigation, debt recovery, banking practice and commercial transactions in India. Properly understood, it determines who may sue, what can be assigned, how creditors and assignees enforce rights, and the procedural route for recovery. Misconceptions—especially conflating actionable claims with interests in immovable…

Introduction “Act of God” is a short-hand legal phrase for natural events of extraordinary magnitude and unpredictability that interrupt human affairs — earthquakes, cyclones, floods, lightning strikes, volcanic eruptions and the like. In Indian law the concept appears across contract, tort and regulatory contexts as both a shield (a defence) and as a trigger for…

Introduction Abetment is a core concept in Indian criminal law that gauges secondary liability for wrongdoing. It captures those who do not commit the principal actus reus themselves but who, by instigation, conspiracy or intentional aid, make the commission of an offence possible or more likely. For practitioners, mastery of abetment is essential: it determines…

Introduction An “addict” in Indian law is not merely a social label but a legally significant status with consequences across criminal, civil and health-law spheres. Recognition of addiction shapes investigation, evidence-gathering, charging, bail and sentencing, and it triggers statutory entitlements to medical treatment and rehabilitation. For practitioners handling NDPS matters, criminal defence, probation applications, custodial…