LIJDLR

Volume IV Issue I

UNIVERSITY INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY POLICIES IN TRANSITION: LESSONS FROM THE BAYH-DOLE ACT AND THE CASE FOR A COMPREHENSIVE INDIAN FRAMEWORK

Volume IV Issue I /

UNIVERSITY INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY POLICIES IN TRANSITION: LESSONS FROM THE BAYH-DOLE ACT AND THE CASE FOR A COMPREHENSIVE INDIAN FRAMEWORK Mohan Kumar N, LLM Student, School of Law, Christ (Deemed to be University), Bengaluru (India) Download Manuscript doi.org/10.70183/lijdlr.2026.v04.45 This research paper examines the critical relationship between university intellectual property (IP) policies and innovation outputs, with particular focus on the Indian higher education and research landscape.  It investigates how statutory frameworks, judicial interpretations, and institutional policies collectively shape ownership, commercialization, and benefit-sharing of academic innovations.  The study adopts doctrinal legal research methodology, systematically analyzing Indian IP statutes, case law, regulatory guidelines, and university policy documents, while drawing selective comparative insights from international models such as the Bayh-Dole Act in the United States and European university IP regimes.  The analysis aims to identify gaps and inconsistencies between legislative provisions, judicial reasoning, and institutional practices, and to evaluate their impact on technology transfer, startup creation, and industry collaboration.  By highlighting tensions between centralized ownership and academic freedom and assessing the effectiveness of revenue-sharing and commercialization mechanisms, the study seeks to propose context-specific reforms for Indian universities.  Rather than offering empirical findings, the paper provides a normative and policy-oriented evaluation of university IP governance, contributing to legal scholarships and offering practical recommendations for institutional administrators, policymakers, and legislators.  Ultimately, it argues that well-designed, legally robust, and innovation-friendly IP policies can strengthen India’s academic innovation ecosystem while preserving its educational mission and public interest.

UNIVERSITY INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY POLICIES IN TRANSITION: LESSONS FROM THE BAYH-DOLE ACT AND THE CASE FOR A COMPREHENSIVE INDIAN FRAMEWORK Read More »

SHADOW DIRECTORS AND DE FACTO CONTROL OF INDIAN CORPORATE GROUPS: RE-EVALUATING ACCOUNTABILITY IN THE COMPANIES ACT, 2013

Volume IV Issue I /

SHADOW DIRECTORS AND DE FACTO CONTROL OF INDIAN CORPORATE GROUPS: RE-EVALUATING ACCOUNTABILITY IN THE COMPANIES ACT, 2013 Danny Varghese, LL.M (Business Law), Amity University, Noida (India) Download Manuscript doi.org/10.70183/lijdlr.2026.v04.44 The concept of shadow directors fills a vital yet underdeveloped place in corporate governance jurisprudence. In certain countries, including the United Kingdom, shadow directorship has been recognised in statute as a tool to hold persons actually in real influence or control over the board of a company liable, even though the person is not formally appointed to the board. Indian Company law under Companies Act, 2013, in its turn, does not give a detailed statutory definition of shadow directors, or de facto control in corporate groups. The exclusion is especially given to the Indian business world where the promoter-based structure, holding-subsidiary structure, and informal sources of power often allow directorship to become indistinguishable with effective control. This paper aims at providing a doctrinal study of the legal issues that shadow directors and de facto controllers have in Indian corporate groups. It looks into the aspects of whether the current provisions which deal with directors’ responsibility, key managerial staff sections, and fraud responsibility are adequate to deal with those who wield control without being formally in office. The study assesses the effectiveness of existing accountability mechanisms through the construction of statutory provisions, judicial precedents and regulatory developments. The study adopts a limited but deliberate comparative analysis of the United Kingdom where shadow directorship is statutorily recognised as a methodological tool to illuminate structural gaps in the Indian framework. The paper concludes that the absence of a clearly articulated doctrine of shadow directorship in India creates a structural accountability gap, particularly in promoter-dominated corporate groups and related party contexts. It argues that existing statutory mechanisms are insufficiently integrated to address sustained de facto control, and advocates for a principled doctrinal framework judicially evolved and, where necessary, legislatively clarified to align effective control with fiduciary responsibility and strengthen corporate governance standards in India.

SHADOW DIRECTORS AND DE FACTO CONTROL OF INDIAN CORPORATE GROUPS: RE-EVALUATING ACCOUNTABILITY IN THE COMPANIES ACT, 2013 Read More »

LGBTQ COMMUNITY IN INDIA A SOCIO-LEGAL ISSUE

Volume IV Issue I /

LGBTQ COMMUNITY IN INDIA A SOCIO-LEGAL ISSUE Yashasvi Khattry, BA.LLB (H) /5th year/Semester 10th Student at Amity Law School Lucknow (India) Dr. Rohit Kumar Shukla, Assistant Professor at Amity Law School Lucknow (India) Download Manuscript doi.org/10.70183/lijdlr.2026.v04.43 This research paper examines the position of the LGBTQ community in India as a socio legal issue, with a specific focus on constitutional guarantees, judicial developments and gaps in public policy. It traces the journey from colonial criminalisation under Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code to the recognition of sexual orientation and gender identity as protected facets of dignity, privacy and equality under Articles 14, 15, 19 and 21. It analyses key decisions such as NALSA, Puttaswamy and Navtej Singh Johar, and evaluates how far they have transformed access to education, work, family life and public spaces for LGBTQ persons. A central focus of the study is the constitutional architecture of reservation in higher education and the scope for inclusion of LGBTQ communities, especially transgender and gender nonconforming persons, within vertical and horizontal affirmative action frameworks. Using a socio legal method and drawing on reports, case law and policy documents, the paper maps continuing discrimination, implementation deficits and economic costs of exclusion. It then offers constitutionally viable recommendations for reform of higher education reservation policy and for a more coherent anti discrimination regime, aimed at realising substantive equality and inclusive citizenship for LGBTQ persons in India.

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A STUDY ON ECONOMIC COSTS OF OVER-INCARCERATION IN INDIA: A MULTI-DIMENSIONAL APPROACH

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A STUDY ON ECONOMIC COSTS OF OVER-INCARCERATION IN INDIA: A MULTI-DIMENSIONAL APPROACH Tejasviya.R, Undergraduate Law Student, II year – B.C.A LL.B(Hons.), School of Excellence in Law, The Tamil Nadu Dr. Ambedkar Law University, Chennai (India) Dr. M.D Chinnu, Assistant. Professor, Dept. of Economics, School of Excellence in Law, The Tamil Nadu Dr. Ambedkar Law University, Chennai (India) Download Manuscript doi.org/10.70183/lijdlr.2026.v04.42 This study examines over-incarceration not merely as a criminal justice concern but as a significant economic issue affecting the nation at large. It analyses the direct and hidden economic costs imposed on the State’s exchequer, including infrastructure, administrative, medical, and opportunity costs. The research adopts a mixed methodology combining doctrinal analysis with empirical (non-doctrinal) research based on stratified random sampling of 135 respondents. Statistical tools such as percentage and average methods were employed for analysis. The empirical findings reveal a broad consensus that over-incarceration burdens national finances. However, the hypothesis that recidivism constitutes the primary hidden economic cost was rejected, with respondents identifying loss of family income and inter-generational economic impact as the most significant hidden cost. The study concludes that continued reliance on incarceration is economically unsustainable and calls for greater emphasis on cost-effective and reform-oriented alternatives.

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AGENTIC ALGORITHMS AND ANTITRUST: RETHINKING COLLUSION IN THE AGE OF AUTONOMOUS AI

Volume IV Issue I /

AGENTIC ALGORITHMS AND ANTITRUST: RETHINKING COLLUSION IN THE AGE OF AUTONOMOUS AI Rishabh Sisodiya, 4th Year Student at National Law Institute University, Bhopal (India) Ayush Agrawal, 4th Year Student at National Law Institute University, Bhopal (India) Adarsh Jain, 4th Year Student at National Law Institute University, Bhopal (India) Download Manuscript doi.org/10.70183/lijdlr.2026.v04.41 The proliferation of agentic artificial intelligence in digital markets presents an unprecedented challenge to established competition law frameworks. Unlike conventional pricing software, agentic AI systems powered by deep reinforcement learning and Q-learning autonomously observe market conditions, adapt strategies, and converge on supra-competitive equilibria without any explicit human instruction or inter-firm communication. This paper argues that this technological evolution creates a critical enforcement vacuum: foundational antitrust statutes, including Section 1 of the Sherman Act (US) and Article 101 TFEU (EU), are premised on identifying a human ‘meeting of the minds’ or explicit agreement, evidentiary standards that are wholly inadequate when collusion emerges as a machine-discovered, profit-maximising strategy. Drawing on Ezrachi and Stucke’s taxonomy of algorithmic collusion messenger, hub-and-spoke, predictable agent, and digital eye the paper demonstrates that existing jurisprudence across the United States, European Union, United Kingdom, and India successfully captures only the first two categories, while remaining structurally blind to emergent, autonomous collusion. Through an interdisciplinary analytical framework combining antitrust law, game theory, and computer science, the paper further identifies three core doctrinal failures: the impossibility of proving explicit intent against a black-box algorithm, an unresolved agency and liability gap between developers and deployers, and the risk of ‘superhuman collusion’ that surpasses the durability of any human cartel. To remedy these failures, this paper proposes a two-pronged normative framework: first, the formal recognition of ‘algorithmic agreement’ as a distinct category of anti-competitive conduct, shifting the evidentiary burden from intent to sustained, machine-driven parallel pricing outcomes; and second, a hybrid liability model holding both developers and deployers accountable across the algorithmic supply chain. These proposals are complemented by recommendations for mandatory ex-ante algorithmic auditing, regulatory sandboxes, and international harmonisation through the OECD and ICN, alongside specific legislative amendments to India’s Competition Act, 2002.

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OFFENCES RELATING TO MARRIAGE IN INDIA: A DOCTRINAL AND SOCIO-LEGAL ANALYSIS OF STATUTORY FRAMEWORK AND JUDICIAL TRENDS

Volume IV Issue I /

OFFENCES RELATING TO MARRIAGE IN INDIA: A DOCTRINAL AND SOCIO-LEGAL ANALYSIS OF STATUTORY FRAMEWORK AND JUDICIAL TRENDS Ishita Singh, BA.LL.B (hons)/5th year/10th semester Student at Amity University Lucknow Campus (India) Download Manuscript doi.org/10.70183/lijdlr.2026.v04.40 This study examines the doctrinal and socio-legal framework governing offences relating to marriage in India, with particular focus on the statutory consolidation introduced by the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 and its interaction with procedural and evidentiary regimes. Marriage is analysed not merely as a personal or cultural institution but as a legally regulated status that generates enforceable rights and corresponding vulnerabilities. The paper maps the statutory architecture covering deception-based relationships, bigamy, fraudulent ceremonies, cruelty, and inducement offences, and situates them within a broader enforcement matrix shaped by the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023. It argues that matrimonial offences function as a composite regulatory domain rather than isolated penal provisions, requiring courts to engage simultaneously with questions of civil marital status, criminal intent, and evidentiary reliability. Judicial precedents reveal a calibrated interpretive approach that balances victim protection with safeguards against misuse, particularly through strict proof requirements and intention-based tests. The analysis concludes that effective enforcement depends on integrated statutory reading, digital-evidence competence, and procedural proportionality, and recommends doctrinal clarification and investigative reforms to strengthen justice delivery in marriage-linked offences.

OFFENCES RELATING TO MARRIAGE IN INDIA: A DOCTRINAL AND SOCIO-LEGAL ANALYSIS OF STATUTORY FRAMEWORK AND JUDICIAL TRENDS Read More »

BEYOND THE BINARY: ANALYZING INTERSECTIONAL BARRIERS TO JUSTICE AND THE IMPLEMENTATION CRISIS OF ANTI-HARASSMENT LAWS FOR MARGINALIZED IDENTITIES IN INDIA

Volume IV Issue I /

BEYOND THE BINARY: ANALYZING INTERSECTIONAL BARRIERS TO JUSTICE AND THE IMPLEMENTATION CRISIS OF ANTI-HARASSMENT LAWS FOR MARGINALIZED IDENTITIES IN INDIA Astha Pandey, BALLB/5th year/10 semester Student at Amity Law School Lucknow (India) Dr. Kunvar Dushyant Singh, Assistant Professor at Amity Law School Lucknow (India) Download Manuscript doi.org/10.70183/lijdlr.2026.v04.39 This paper examines how India’s anti-harassment legal regime, while formally grounded in equality and dignity, often fails to deliver effective remedies for persons whose lived identities do not align with dominant, binary and majoritarian assumptions embedded in institutional practice. Using an intersectional lens, it argues that harassment is not merely an individual wrong but a structural harm produced through overlapping hierarchies of gender, caste, class, disability, sexuality, religion, migration status, and workplace precarity. The study maps how these intersecting locations shape exposure to harassment, the capacity to report, and the credibility afforded to complainants during internal and external processes. It highlights the “implementation crisis” as a composite failure: procedural formalism without survivor-centric safeguards, weak internal committee independence, confidentiality lapses and retaliatory practices, under-reporting driven by stigma and livelihood insecurity, and uneven access to legal literacy and representation. Particular attention is paid to the erasures faced by transgender, gender non-conforming, queer, and other marginalized identities within complaint pathways that were designed around a narrow archetype of the complainant and the workplace. The paper further critiques how institutions translate statutory compliance into checkbox governance, prioritizing risk management over substantive justice, thereby reproducing exclusion even when mechanisms exist on paper. Finally, it proposes a shift from minimalist compliance to an inclusive, intersectional framework that strengthens accountability, ensures accessibility and reasonable accommodation, improves evidentiary sensitivity to power asymmetries, and aligns anti-harassment governance with constitutional commitments to equality and non-discrimination.

BEYOND THE BINARY: ANALYZING INTERSECTIONAL BARRIERS TO JUSTICE AND THE IMPLEMENTATION CRISIS OF ANTI-HARASSMENT LAWS FOR MARGINALIZED IDENTITIES IN INDIA Read More »

R V R [1992] 1 AC 599 HOUSE OF LORDS, UNITED KINGDOM: LANDMARK CASE ANALYSIS

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R V R [1992] 1 AC 599 HOUSE OF LORDS, UNITED KINGDOM: LANDMARK CASE ANALYSIS Diya Deb, 2nd year (BA.LLB Hons) Student at TECHNO INDIA UNIVERSITY, (India) Download Manuscript doi.org/10.70183/lijdlr.2026.v04.38 The decision of the House of Lords in R v R [1992] 1 AC 599 stands as a transformative moment in English criminal law. For over two centuries, the common law had accepted the proposition, attributed to Sir Matthew Hale in 1736, that a husband could not be guilty of raping his wife, on the fiction that marriage entailed irrevocable consent to sexual intercourse. This case analysis examines how that doctrine was ultimately dismantled by the House of Lords in 1991. The paper traces the factual background of the case and its progression through the Crown Court and the Court of Appeal before reaching the House of Lords. It identifies the principal legal issues: whether the marital rape immunity formed part of English law, whether it could be abolished through judicial development of the common law, and whether such abolition would amount to impermissible retrospective criminalisation. The competing arguments of the prosecution and the defence are analysed, particularly the constitutional objection that reform of this magnitude was a matter for Parliament rather than the judiciary. The analysis further examines the reasoning adopted by the House of Lords in declaring the immunity obsolete, distinguishing the ratio decidendi from obiter dicta. Finally, the paper evaluates the decision’s doctrinal and constitutional significance, including its subsequent affirmation by the European Court of Human Rights and its role in reinforcing the principles of consent, bodily autonomy, and equality before the criminal law.

R V R [1992] 1 AC 599 HOUSE OF LORDS, UNITED KINGDOM: LANDMARK CASE ANALYSIS Read More »

STATUTORY FRAMEWORK AND JUDICIAL INTERPRETATION OF THE TAMIL NADU LAND REFORMS (FIXATION OF CEILING ON LAND) ACT, 1961: AN ANALYTICAL STUDY

Volume IV Issue I /

STATUTORY FRAMEWORK AND JUDICIAL INTERPRETATION OF THE TAMIL NADU LAND REFORMS (FIXATION OF CEILING ON LAND) ACT, 1961: AN ANALYTICAL STUDY Pavithra S, II Year, LLM, Department of Property Law, School of Excellence in Law, The Tamil Nadu Dr. Ambedkar Law University, (India) Dr. P. Brinda, Associate Professor, School of Excellence in Law, The Tamil Nadu Dr. Ambedkar Law University, (India) Download Manuscript doi.org/10.70183/lijdlr.2026.v04.37 The Tamil Nadu Land Reforms (Fixation of Ceiling on Land) Act, 1961 represents a significant legislative attempt to implement agrarian reform by limiting the concentration of agricultural land and facilitating equitable distribution. Despite the clarity of its social-welfare objective, the Act has generated extensive litigation, particularly concerning the interpretation and application of its statutory provisions. This paper adopts a doctrinal legal research methodology, relying on primary sources including the Act, its amendments, and judicial decisions of the Supreme Court of India and the Madras High Court, along with relevant secondary literature. The study is guided by key research questions relating to the judicial interpretation of “family” in ceiling computation, the validity of transfers under Section 22, procedural safeguards in surplus land acquisition, and the extent to which judicial trends align with legislative intent. By synthesising statutory provisions with leading judicial decisions, the paper demonstrates how judicial interpretation has shaped the practical operation of the Act over time. The study concludes that while the judiciary has largely upheld the legislative objective of land redistribution, variations in interpretative approaches have occasionally resulted in procedural delays and inconsistent outcomes. The paper emphasises the need for clearer statutory guidance and uniform application to ensure effective implementation of land ceiling laws in Tamil Nadu.

STATUTORY FRAMEWORK AND JUDICIAL INTERPRETATION OF THE TAMIL NADU LAND REFORMS (FIXATION OF CEILING ON LAND) ACT, 1961: AN ANALYTICAL STUDY Read More »

FISCAL FEDERALISM AND URBAN LOCAL GOVERNANCE IN INDIA: A CONSTITUTIONAL ANALYSIS OF THE CENTRAL AND STATE FINANCE COMMISSIONS UNDER THE TWELFTH SCHEDULE

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FISCAL FEDERALISM AND URBAN LOCAL GOVERNANCE IN INDIA: A CONSTITUTIONAL ANALYSIS OF THE CENTRAL AND STATE FINANCE COMMISSIONS UNDER THE TWELFTH SCHEDULE Nishtha Singh, LL.M, 1st Year Student at Amity University Lucknow Campus, (India). Download Manuscript doi.org/10.70183/lijdlr.2026.v04.36 India’s constitutional framework of fiscal federalism seeks to balance national unity with decentralised governance by distributing financial powers among the Union, States, and local self-government institutions. The enactment of the Seventy-Third and Seventy-Fourth Constitutional Amendments marked a decisive shift by constitutionally recognising Panchayats and Municipalities as institutions of self-government and by introducing the Eleventh and Twelfth Schedules. Within this framework, the Central Finance Commission and the State Finance Commissions assume a pivotal role in translating constitutional functions into fiscal capacity. This paper critically examines the constitutional design, evolution, and operational interface of the Central Finance Commission and State Finance Commissions in relation to municipal functions enumerated under the Twelfth Schedule. It analyses whether existing devolution mechanisms have effectively addressed vertical and horizontal fiscal imbalances and enabled meaningful urban self-governance. The study highlights persistent structural challenges, including weak own-source revenues, delayed constitution of State Finance Commissions, selective implementation of recommendations, and increasing reliance on conditional transfers. Drawing upon constitutional provisions, judicial interpretation, and institutional practice, the paper argues that decentralisation without assured finance undermines the constitutional promise of local self-government. It concludes that strengthening State Finance Commissions, ensuring predictable and rule-based transfers, and aligning fiscal flows with functional responsibilities are essential to realise the constitutional vision of cooperative and finance-backed urban governance.

FISCAL FEDERALISM AND URBAN LOCAL GOVERNANCE IN INDIA: A CONSTITUTIONAL ANALYSIS OF THE CENTRAL AND STATE FINANCE COMMISSIONS UNDER THE TWELFTH SCHEDULE Read More »