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Ambiguity and Uncertainties in Law Create A Disorderly and Disruptive Society Whose Progress Towards Greater Equity Is Always Impeded - Justice Gautam Patel
Ambiguity and Uncertainties in Law Create A Disorderly and Disruptive Society Whose Progress Towards Greater Equity Is Always Impeded - Justice Gautam Patel
Ambiguity and Uncertainties in Law Create A Disorderly and Disruptive Society Whose Progress Towards Greater Equity Is Always Impeded - Justice Gautam Patel
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https://www.livelaw.in/news-updates/justice-gautam-patel-ambiguity-and-uncertainties-in-law-create-a-disorderly-and-disruptive-society-litigation-215349 1/8
11/29/22, 7:53 PM Ambiguity And Uncertainties in Law Create a Disorderly And Disruptive Society Whose Progress Towards Greater Equity is Alwa…
Bombay High Court judge Justice Gautam Patel recently talked about
"What does constitutional law have to do with commerce? What does the
limited to certain parts- Part III 'Fundamental Rights'- that we are not realising
the Constitution for what it is, which is the charter for us as a society and all
its problems, including the way we go about living, working, earning and
doing business. There are phrases in the Constitution which are important,
and we have begun to fling a couple of them around without really pausing to
think about them. One of those words is 'justice'. The Constitution begins
with this and we have to pause once in a while to ask what this means and
https://www.livelaw.in/news-updates/justice-gautam-patel-ambiguity-and-uncertainties-in-law-create-a-disorderly-and-disruptive-society-litigation-215349 2/8
11/29/22, 7:53 PM Ambiguity And Uncertainties in Law Create a Disorderly And Disruptive Society Whose Progress Towards Greater Equity is Alwa…
at a tremendous cost to human life, and the result was that we wound up with
poor which is another question because there have been rich always and
there have been poor always. The only question really that we need to ask
way to do the most equity, to do the greatest good, the labels that you attach
to this don't matter. A principle of governance which says that we will take it
away because we think you have too much does not address the question of
businesses, obvious examples are taxation- you must know where you stand
and what the tax law is. But there is a more fundamental thing here- certainty
client what will happen in the given scenario, to be forced to a position where
one has to say 'we don't know, let's see what the courts do', that has a
pinning of the rule of law. People know what to do and how to go about doing
https://www.livelaw.in/news-updates/justice-gautam-patel-ambiguity-and-uncertainties-in-law-create-a-disorderly-and-disruptive-society-litigation-215349 3/8
11/29/22, 7:53 PM Ambiguity And Uncertainties in Law Create a Disorderly And Disruptive Society Whose Progress Towards Greater Equity is Alwa…
"My list (cause-list) today, Friday, was entirely of writ petition, claims for
protection under article 226 invoking some form of some right under part III of
quickly looked at the list on the phone and I counted. 47% of the cases total
were by commercial entities and not individuals. There were some coming in
for pension, some for individual benefits, but a full 47% of the others were in
That should tell you somewhat of where we are going with this conversation",
he added.
talks about is pendency. Nobody has defined it. Nobody knows what this
beast is and it is the 800 pound gorilla in the room. The minute a case of any
by one but that case is not ready for disposal by the fastest of the fastest of
the fastest judges. It can't be done because the judicial process mandates
that you have to give a copy of this lawsuit to the other side, serve him and
get him to court, give him time to respond to your case. Once he has filed it-
fair enough, don't give any adjournments, accepted- but once he has been
given enough opportunities, then decide it. How is it pending until then?
These numbers lie. Unless you sort out and identify the problem, you're
never going to be able to address the solution correctly. You are looking at
this huge mountain and you're wondering how you will ever get over it. One
of my fellow judges yesterday said that it is an odd thing what will we say
about ourselves at the end of our tenure as judges once we retire, that there
https://www.livelaw.in/news-updates/justice-gautam-patel-ambiguity-and-uncertainties-in-law-create-a-disorderly-and-disruptive-society-litigation-215349 4/8
11/29/22, 7:53 PM Ambiguity And Uncertainties in Law Create a Disorderly And Disruptive Society Whose Progress Towards Greater Equity is Alwa…
buckets out of it. But the ocean is what it is. Glaciers melt faster than we can
dispose off cases. Why? How? Many solutions, many problems. But it is
"On the 'bossy State' and on privatisation- how much privatisation and of
what would be constitutionally valid? How many of our resources would you
accept passing into private hands? Drinking water, breathable air? What are
the limits to this privatisation, and there must be some limits and we must
define those. On the 'bossy State', the government is now a market player, it
one armed ferociously with powers that private corporates do not have. This
will be a test of the future, we are going to have to test how much corporate
can go. This is a direct collusion with the other thought of privatisation
cataclysmic explosion and it is going to happen in the law courts with very,
"Last point, what is it that judges should be doing in courts? Should we just
give you a judgment and leave it to you to figure out what you want to do with
compliance? Are we crossing lines, crossing boundaries, going over into the
other side of the organs of the government? I don't know. Society has to
decide this for us and they have to tell us that if you, as judges, are going to
function then you only deliver judgments on what the law says and how
https://www.livelaw.in/news-updates/justice-gautam-patel-ambiguity-and-uncertainties-in-law-create-a-disorderly-and-disruptive-society-litigation-215349 5/8
11/29/22, 7:53 PM Ambiguity And Uncertainties in Law Create a Disorderly And Disruptive Society Whose Progress Towards Greater Equity is Alwa…
things stand, and what to do with your judgment, we will decide not to you.
"One more issue will come in addition to the others- Environment and climate
Everybody will say that that piece of land should be preserved as a forest
and you should not have an industry near it or a highway through it. Nobody
the one side, and what is nice to have, on the other. That is a false metric
"The other issue that is going to happen in corporates and in boardrooms are
become huge buccaneering behemoths, very much like the East India
company used to be, in that conflict with minority rights. This is going to be a
big thing because now you have extremely empowered minority rights and as
corporates get bigger, their management tends to get more cautious. They
have a whole lot more to lose whereas the minority seems to want them to
going to be a conflict and old settled law will have to be up-ended in the next
https://www.livelaw.in/news-updates/justice-gautam-patel-ambiguity-and-uncertainties-in-law-create-a-disorderly-and-disruptive-society-litigation-215349 6/8
11/29/22, 7:53 PM Ambiguity And Uncertainties in Law Create a Disorderly And Disruptive Society Whose Progress Towards Greater Equity is Alwa…
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