LEX INSIGHT

  The dust has settled on the elections. The garlands have been exchanged, and the victory speeches delivered. I extend my heartiest congratulations to the newly elected committee of the Kerala High Court Advocates’ Association. But as the celebrations fade, a sobering reality must take its place. You are taking charge at a time when our profession stands at a crossroads. As a member of this Association, I do not just offer you my wishes; I offer you a checklist of expectations. However, I am not writing to demand better canteen menus or parking slots. My focus is deeper. I am writing to propose a roadmap for the professional development of our members. This is a mandate to move beyond annual promises and invest in the intellectual and practical growth of the Bar—empowering the practitioner of the present and securing the lawyer of the future. 1. From 'Academic' to 'Vocational': A New Education Calendar Historically, our Association has conducted various 'Continuing...

Long before the 11:00 AM judgment by the Principal Sessions Court, Ernakulam on December 8, 2025, my home was already divided. While awaiting the verdict in the 2017 Kerala actor abduction and assault case, there was absolute consensus on one fact: that the immediate perpetrators—Accused Nos. 1 to 7—deserved to be convicted. The conflict arose solely over the question of the conspiracy alleged to have been hatched by the prominent actor. The division in my home—and indeed, across the state—rested entirely on that invisible thread: the conspiracy. While the court ruled that the prosecution failed to prove this, resulting in the acquittal of Accused No. 8 and others, the story did not end there. The defining moment occurred when the actor stepped out of the court and alleged a counter-conspiracy: one he claimed was ignited by his former wife and activated by the police. This statement is the trigger for this article, as I wish to examine that profound accusation. Let us look at some stat...

  By: A Member of the Kerala High Court Advocates' Association I am 58 years old and joined this noble profession in 1992. For over three decades, I have walked these corridors, and for the last 26 years, attending the Annual Day of our Association was a ritual I followed religiously. It was not just a function; it was a tradition of our professional family. To an outsider, these events might have seemed amateurish, but to us, they were everything. The heart and soul of the evening was often a drama staged by the advocates themselves. These performances were certainly not "market-standard" productions, but we applauded them until our hands hurt and laughed aloud like children. The true celebration was never about the perfection of the act, but the shared joy in its making. But this year, for the first time, I stayed home. My absence was a silent protest. It was a personal decision born out of deep discomfort with the manner in which the program was arranged, particularly ...

  Apartment living was never a choice for me. I was instead pulled by the city that holds Kerala's judicial capital—a non-negotiable professional backdrop to my own domestic migration. The philosophy of migration, even within a state, held true: the pursuit of better professional ground. It began in the late nineties, manifesting as a frantic, daily commute on the Coimbatore Superfast, courtesy KSRTC, departing Kollam at 5 AM. That 'day's caller' routine gradually softened, progressing from a single lodge room to a one-bedroom apartment, then two, and culminating in our current space: a three-bedroom apartment complex.   The expansion of this new life accelerated recently: I purchased my apartment in 2021, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, while my son and daughter-in-law acquired the adjacent unit in early 2024. These purchases were driven by strong commercial considerations—easy access to highways and a major super-specialty hospital—all while being located in a quiet, su...

Many things that had faded away have been resurrected—listening to the radio, watching movies in theatre, and several others. Movies were once an addiction; 9 pm was almost always movie time, and the language or genre didn't matter. That habit has since  died down. While OTT platforms have taken over a part of it, the addiction itself largely doesn't exist anymore. Instead, writing has become an obsession, and finding topics for it has become another addiction. In the life of a lawyer, especially after many years in the profession, experiences are overwhelmingly legal. Therefore, the law naturally provides the most fertile ground for topics. Today's subject, for instance, is a little fraud that was exposed in Court 5A of the Kerala High Court. The court was hearing a set of matrimonial appeals between one Anu and one Bina. (The names of all parties involved in this case have been changed to protect their privacy.) Now, don't be surprised—they were not in a matrimonial t...

  Author's Note: The Genesis of this Article This article stems from a recent, practical teaching challenge. While serving as a faculty member for the internship on real estate law, jointly organized by the PCL Foundation and LJRF Voice, I was tasked with making the dense RERA Act, 2016, intuitive for a new generation of law students. In preparing that material, it became clear that a traditional, sequential reading of the Act—starting with definitions and registration—was not the best approach. The 'key' to unlocking the statute, and making its complex machinery feel logical and purposeful, was to abandon that traditional start and instead begin at its very heart. This article is a refined version of that core teaching, offering what I hope is a simple and illuminating path to mastering the Act by starting with the "why": the rights and duties of the allottees. Chapter 1: From a Failed Compact to an Enforced Right In Indian epics like the Mahabharata, 'Dharma...