LIJDLR

Volume IV Issue III

IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF CSR PROJECTS IN INDIA: LEGAL FRAMEWORK AND PRACTICAL CHALLENGE

Volume IV Issue III /

IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF CSR PROJECTS IN INDIA: LEGAL FRAMEWORK AND PRACTICAL CHALLENGE Sachin Verma, Ph.D. Scholar, Netaji Subhas University, Jamshedpur (India) Download Manuscript doi.org/10.70183/lijdlr.2026.v04.337 India’s mandatory corporate social responsibility (CSR) regime under the Companies Act 2013 represents a distinctive legislative model that converts qualifying corporate social expenditure into a statutory obligation. This article examines the impact-assessment framework governing that regime and its evolution through the 2021, 2025 and 2026 regulatory developments, asking whether the legal architecture advances substantive accountability or primarily secures procedural compliance. The research problem concerns the gap between mandatory expenditure and demonstrable social outcomes, particularly in light of fragmented methodologies, uneven evaluator capacity, limited standardisation, and weak mechanisms for measuring long-term change. Employing a doctrinal-cum-analytical and socio-legal approach, the article analyses the Companies Act, delegated legislation, Ministry of Corporate Affairs guidance, comparative sustainability frameworks, and implementation literature. It finds that the post-2021 regime cannot accurately be characterised as a mere “comply or explain” model: where prescribed CSR expenditure remains unspent, the company must disclose reasons and comply with statutory transfer requirements, while defaults in such transfers attract monetary penalties under section 135(7). However, the law does not impose comparable consequences merely because a completed project produces weak or ineffective social outcomes. The study further identifies methodological discretion, assessment-cost constraints, the requirement that qualifying projects be completed at least one year before assessment, and the absence of uniform evaluator-accreditation standards as continuing barriers to reliable and comparable impact measurement. Rule 4A, introduced in 2026, permits limited CSR expenditure through zero coupon zero principal instruments on the Social Stock Exchange and exempts the subscribing company from Rule 8(3) impact assessment for projects funded through that route, while the SEBI Social Stock Exchange framework separately subjects listed projects to impact and utilisation disclosures. Comparing India’s expenditure-centred model with disclosure-oriented sustainability regimes, the article recommends standardised sectoral methodologies, assessor accreditation, stronger board-level responsibility, longitudinal evaluation, and closer integration with sustainable-development indicators.

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RETHINKING AUTHORSHIP: A DOCTRINAL ANALYSIS OF COPYRIGHT PROTECTION FOR ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE-GENERATED WORKS

Volume IV Issue III /

RETHINKING AUTHORSHIP: A DOCTRINAL ANALYSIS OF COPYRIGHT PROTECTION FOR ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE-GENERATED WORKS Divyanshu Tiwari, 5th-Semester B.A. LL.B. Student at IIMT College, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh (India) Download Manuscript doi.org/10.70183/lijdlr.2026.v04.336 Generative artificial intelligence challenges a foundational assumption of copyright law: that protectable expression is attributable to a human author who exercises creative judgment. This article examines how copyright law should treat works generated or materially assisted by AI, with particular attention to authorship, originality, ownership, and the threshold of human creative contribution. Using a comparative doctrinal method, it analyses statutory provisions, judicial decisions, administrative practice, and ongoing reform initiatives in the United States, United Kingdom, European Union, and India. The analysis considers, inter alia, Thaler v. Perlmutter and U.S. Copyright Office guidance; section 9(3) of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and the United Kingdom’s reform debate; the Court of Justice of the European Union’s “author’s own intellectual creation” jurisprudence and the transparency framework under Article 53 of the EU AI Act; and India’s section 2(d) of the Copyright Act, 1957 together with the RAGHAV/Suryast registration episode. The comparison reveals substantial convergence around the need for identifiable human creative input, notwithstanding significant differences in legal technique and the continued existence of statutory provisions for computer-generated works in the United Kingdom and India. The principal unresolved question is not whether human contribution matters, but how much creative control, selection, arrangement, modification, or other expressive intervention is sufficient to support authorship in AI-assisted works. The article argues that neither categorical exclusion nor unrestricted protection adequately addresses this intermediate zone. It therefore proposes a disclosure-based rebuttable presumption under which claimants identify the nature and extent of AI involvement and demonstrate indicia of meaningful human creative control. This framework would preserve human-centred originality while improving transparency, administrability, and doctrinal coherence across increasingly AI-mediated creative practices.

RETHINKING AUTHORSHIP: A DOCTRINAL ANALYSIS OF COPYRIGHT PROTECTION FOR ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE-GENERATED WORKS Read More »

JUDICIAL INCONSISTENCY IN GST: HOW DIVERGENT RULINGS ON IDENTICAL STATUTORY ISSUES ARE FRACTURING THE PROMISE OF “ONE NATION, ONE TAX”

Volume IV Issue III /

JUDICIAL INCONSISTENCY IN GST: HOW DIVERGENT RULINGS ON IDENTICAL STATUTORY ISSUES ARE FRACTURING THE PROMISE OF “ONE NATION, ONE TAX” Adv. Rajendra Kedge, Practising Advocate, Bombay High Court and other High Courts and the Supreme Court of India Adv. Sunil Yadav, Practising Advocate, Bombay High Court and other High Courts and the Supreme Court of India Adv. Archana Kedge, Practising Advocate, Bombay High Court Download Manuscript doi.org/10.70183/lijdlr.2026.v04.335 The Goods and Services Tax (“GST”) was introduced with the constitutional and economic objective of creating a harmonised indirect-tax regime across India. The expression “One Nation, One Tax” came to symbolise not merely the subsumption of multiple indirect taxes into a common framework, but also the expectation of uniformity, predictability, and consistency in the administration and adjudication of tax laws. This paper examines the implications of divergent judicial approaches to disputes concerning reversal of Input Tax Credit (“ITC”) attributable to exempt supplies under Section 17(2) of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 and Rules 42 and 43 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Rules, 2017. It compares, at a high level, the approaches adopted in Niraj Dilip Shah v. State of Maharashtra and Hemraj Rice Mill v. Assistant Commissioner, CGST & CX, Bardhaman Division. Although the cases differ in their factual and procedural settings, both raise a common question concerning the judicial response where the statutory methodology governing ITC reversal is alleged not to have been followed. The paper situates this comparison within the doctrine of alternate remedy under Article 226 of the Constitution and considers the practical significance of statutory pre-deposit requirements. It argues that judicial consistency in GST does not require identical outcomes in every case; rather, it requires coherent and predictable application of common legal principles to materially comparable circumstances. Divergent thresholds for constitutional intervention may otherwise create territorially differentiated access to judicial review. The paper recommends clearer standards for Article 226 intervention in GST disputes, greater procedural discipline in applying Rules 42 and 43, reasoned adjudication orders, improved administrative standardisation, and authoritative resolution of recurring doctrinal conflicts. These measures can strengthen the uniformity, predictability, and institutional coherence expected from a national GST regime.

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CENTRALISATION OF BIRTH AND DEATH RECORDS: DIGITAL STATE CAPACITY, PRIVACY AND COMPARATIVE DATA GOVERNANCE MODELS

Volume IV Issue III /

CENTRALISATION OF BIRTH AND DEATH RECORDS: DIGITAL STATE CAPACITY, PRIVACY AND COMPARATIVE DATA GOVERNANCE MODELS Phalak Lamba, LL.M. (Business Law) Student at Lovely Professional University, Punjab (India) Download Manuscript doi.org/10.70183/lijdlr.2026.v04.334 Civil registration of births and deaths is a foundational State function, but its increasing digitisation and centralisation raise a distinct constitutional question: how far may the State aggregate, link, share and reuse population-scale civil-registration data beyond the immediate purposes for which it is collected? Birth and death records support legal identity, public administration, demographic planning and the delivery of public services, yet their integration across government databases can also intensify risks to informational privacy, purpose limitation and institutional accountability. This paper examines these concerns through doctrinal, analytical and comparative legal research. It analyses the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969, as amended in 2023, the constitutional right to privacy recognised in Justice K.S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) v. Union of India and developed in the Aadhaar litigation, and the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 together with the Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025 and their phased implementation. The paper focuses not on the legitimacy of statutory civil registration itself, but on the downstream storage, aggregation, interoperability, sharing and secondary use of the resulting data. It finds that administrative necessity at the point of registration does not, by itself, justify unrestricted subsequent dissemination or reuse. Comparative analysis of Estonia, the European Union and the United Kingdom further demonstrates that effective digital government need not depend upon indiscriminate data concentration. The paper therefore proposes a model of accountable interoperability in which data exchange is governed by clearly defined statutory purposes, data minimisation, role-based access, auditable transaction logs, retention discipline, correction mechanisms, layered security and independent oversight. Such an architecture can strengthen Digital State Capacity while preserving constitutional limits on governmental informational power.

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A STUDY OF DRUG POLICIES IN INDIA: A CRITICAL LEGAL AND POLICY ANALYSIS OF PROHIBITION, DEMAND REDUCTION, TREATMENT, HARM REDUCTION AND EMERGING NARCOTICS CONTROL

Volume IV Issue III /

A STUDY OF DRUG POLICIES IN INDIA: A CRITICAL LEGAL AND POLICY ANALYSIS OF PROHIBITION, DEMAND REDUCTION, TREATMENT, HARM REDUCTION AND EMERGING NARCOTICS CONTROL Lavanya P, BCA., LL.B. LL.M (Criminal Law with Cyber Crime), Assistant Professor, Bharath Institute of Law Revathy P, B.Com., LL.B., LL.M (Property Law), The TamilNadu Dr. Ambedkar Government Law College, Pattarai Perumbuhur Download Manuscript doi.org/10.70183/lijdlr.2026.v04.333 India’s drug policy combines prohibition, criminal enforcement, regulation of legitimate medicines, public-health intervention and international cooperation. Its central legal framework is anchored in Article 47 of the Constitution and the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act 1985 (NDPS Act), supplemented by the Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act 1988 and executive programmes for prevention, treatment and rehabilitation. Adopting a doctrinal and policy-analysis methodology, this article examines legislation, judicial decisions, government policy documents, official reports and relevant international standards to evaluate the evolution and operation of Indian drug policy. It analyses the NDPS framework, treatment and harm-reduction measures, the National Action Plan for Drug Demand Reduction, the Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan, the Narco-Coordination Centre (NCORD) mechanism, and responses to synthetic drugs, precursor diversion, darknet-enabled trafficking and financial investigation. Particular attention is given to the Vision Document on Narcotics Control 2026–2029 and Tamil Nadu’s Drug-Free Tamil Nadu initiatives, including its Mission Management Unit, Anti-Drug Clubs, treatment interventions and inter-agency coordination. The analysis finds that the principal deficiencies increasingly concern implementation, coordination, treatment accessibility and reliable national and state-level data rather than the absence of a statutory framework. Accordingly, drug-policy effectiveness should be assessed not solely through seizures, arrests and convictions, but also through treatment access and retention, prevention outcomes, reduction in stigma, procedural safeguards and rehabilitation outcomes. The article recommends periodic prevalence surveys, outcome-based evaluation, stronger treatment-diversion and referral pathways, minimum standards for de-addiction services, improved inter-agency and financial investigations, and enhanced capacity to address synthetic drugs and technology-enabled trafficking.

A STUDY OF DRUG POLICIES IN INDIA: A CRITICAL LEGAL AND POLICY ANALYSIS OF PROHIBITION, DEMAND REDUCTION, TREATMENT, HARM REDUCTION AND EMERGING NARCOTICS CONTROL Read More »

FROM PAPER TRAILS TO DIGITAL STREAMS: AN ANALYTICAL CASE FOR JUDICIAL DIGITISATION IN INDIA, WITH A CASE STUDY OF BIHAR

Volume IV Issue III /

FROM PAPER TRAILS TO DIGITAL STREAMS: AN ANALYTICAL CASE FOR JUDICIAL DIGITISATION IN INDIA, WITH A CASE STUDY OF BIHAR Dr. Ranjeet Kumar, Advocate and Faculty Member at CNLU, Patna (India) Download Manuscript doi.org/10.70183/lijdlr.2026.v04.332 India’s judiciary has moved from a paper-bound procedural architecture to a progressively digital justice-delivery framework through the e-Courts Mission Mode Project. This article addresses a central research problem: whether judicial digitisation in India should be assessed merely by reference to unresolved pendency, or by its institutional effects on continuity, transparency, efficiency and access. It asks how Phases I to III of the e-Courts Project have altered court administration; whether digitisation has strengthened access to justice while confronting the digital divide; and what Bihar’s experience, through the Patna High Court, reveals about sub-national implementation in a resource-constrained state. The study adopts a doctrinal and qualitative method, relying on official e-Courts materials, National Judicial Data Grid architecture, government releases, judicial ICT records and secondary legal scholarship, without generating fresh empirical data. The article finds that Phase I created the basic computerisation backbone, Phase II expanded connectivity, videoconferencing, e-filing, virtual courts and the National Judicial Data Grid, and Phase III seeks to consolidate these gains through legacy-record digitisation, universal e-filing/e-payments, e-Sewa Kendras and carefully limited assistive technologies. It further finds that Bihar demonstrates both the promise and limits of digitisation: the Patna High Court’s early adoption of studio-based videoconferencing, e-filing and e-Sewa Kendras sustained judicial functioning during crisis and widened procedural access, but does not by itself resolve vacancy, pendency or wider socioeconomic constraints. The article recommends accelerated Phase III implementation, stronger last-mile assisted access, expanded digital-literacy support, transparent court-wise performance review through NJDG-linked data, and a cautious regulatory framework for AI tools that preserves human judicial decision-making.

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FUNCTIONALITY VS AESTHETIC APPEAL IN INDUSTRIAL DESIGNS: A CRITICAL STUDY UNDER THE DESIGNS ACT, 2000

Volume IV Issue III /

FUNCTIONALITY VS AESTHETIC APPEAL IN INDUSTRIAL DESIGNS: A CRITICAL STUDY UNDER THE DESIGNS ACT, 2000 Devkaran Tanwar, 3rd-Year BBA LL.B. (Hons.) Student at University of Mumbai, Thane Campus (India) Pritimayee, 1st-Year LL.M. Student at Uttar Pradesh State Institute of Forensic Science, Lucknow (India) Download Manuscript doi.org/10.70183/lijdlr.2026.v04.331 The Designs Act 2000 serves as a specialized legal framework designed to protect the visual character of industrial products, encouraging innovation in “eye-catching” configurations. However, this creates a legal tension in distinguishing between the functional aspects and the visual appearance of the product. This study provides a critical analysis of this tension, specifically, talks about section 2(d) of the act, which specifies that design protection can’t be given on the mere basis of the mechanical or technical aspects of an article. The core of this research explores the “dictation by function” doctrine, a legal principle that ensures that the mere functionality of an article remains ineligible for design protection under the act to maintain the patent and design regime. The research evaluates the subjective “appeal to the eye” requirement, that examines how the judiciary makes the basis or the tests to distinguish the aesthetic aspects and the functional features of the product. With the analysis of landmark judicial judgements, like Bharat Glass Tube Limited v. Gopal Glass Works Ltd. and Whirlpool of India Ltd. v. Videocon Industries Ltd., the study illustrates the court’s approach in maintaining the boundary line between the design and patent regimes. Furthermore, the study sheds the limelight on challenges of modern industrial design, where the “form follows function” philosophy often leads to an inseparable overlap between the visual appearance and functionality of an article. This paper concludes that while the Act effectively guards against the monopolization of functional innovations, there is a need to establish clear tests that help to interpret the aesthetic appeal and the functionality of an article.

FUNCTIONALITY VS AESTHETIC APPEAL IN INDUSTRIAL DESIGNS: A CRITICAL STUDY UNDER THE DESIGNS ACT, 2000 Read More »

TAX RISK MANAGEMENT FOR CRYPTO-ASSET BUSINESS AND INVESTMENT ACTIVITIES UNDER VIETNAMESE LAW

Volume IV Issue III /

TAX RISK MANAGEMENT FOR CRYPTO-ASSET BUSINESS AND INVESTMENT ACTIVITIES UNDER VIETNAMESE LAW Quach Thi Thuy Duong, PhD Applicant, University of Law, Hue University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Nguyen Thi Binh, PhD, Head of Academic Affairs for the Undergraduate Program, University of Law, Hue University, Hue City, Vietnam Download Manuscript doi.org/10.70183/lijdlr.2026.v04.330 Crypto-assets have become a significant part of Vietnam’s financial life, with more than 21.2 million holders and capital inflows estimated at USD 220 billion in 2025. In response, the State has promulgated Resolution No. 05/2025/NQ-CP on piloting the crypto-asset market, the Law on Digital Technology Industry No. 71/2025/QH15, and the Law on Tax Administration No. 108/2025/QH15, establishing tax obligations for this class of assets. However, these instruments mainly set out the basis for calculating tax, without yet building a dedicated tax-risk-management mechanism suited to the decentralized, cross-border, and relatively anonymous nature of crypto-assets. This article identifies the specific groups of tax risk involved, assesses the extent to which Vietnamese law addresses them, benchmarks against international experience, and on that basis proposes solutions, using a normative-analysis framework, comparative law, and the OECD’s compliance-risk-management theory combined with risk-based-regulation theory. The findings show that Vietnamese law still lacks a mechanism for structured data reporting by crypto-asset service providers, lacks specialized risk criteria, and lacks blockchain-analytics capacity – factors that the United States, the EU, Germany, Singapore, and South Korea all treat as pivotal. Accordingly, the article recommends a periodic and standardized reporting obligation for licensed virtual-asset service providers, the development of crypto-specific risk indicators, and investment in interoperable blockchain-analytics capacity. It further proposes a phased roadmap under which Vietnam first consolidates domestic reporting infrastructure and then considers accession to the Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework to address cross-border information gaps. In the author’s view, without these tools the new tax legal framework will struggle to be effective, because legal norms are only a necessary condition, whereas risk-handling capacity is the sufficient one.

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FACIAL RECOGNITION TECHNOLOGY AND THE RIGHT TO PRIVACY: COMPARATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL ANALYSIS

Volume IV Issue III /

FACIAL RECOGNITION TECHNOLOGY AND THE RIGHT TO PRIVACY: COMPARATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL ANALYSIS Gursimar Kour Sudan, 1st-Semester LL.M. Student at Lovely Professional University, Punjab (India) Download Manuscript doi.org/10.70183/lijdlr.2026.v04.329 Facial Recognition Technology (FRT), a form of automated identification based on biometric facial data, has become an important tool of State surveillance in modern times. Its use raises constitutional concerns because the collection, analysis and identification of a person’s face by State authorities may interfere with the right to privacy. This paper conducts a comparative constitutional study of India, the United Kingdom, Canada and South Africa to examine the permissible limits of State use of FRT. The study adopts a doctrinal and comparative methodology by analysing constitutional provisions, judicial decisions and relevant legislation in the four jurisdictions. The Indian analysis centres on Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution and the Supreme Court’s ruling in Justice K.S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) v. Union of India [(2017) 10 SCC 1], which recognises privacy as a fundamental right and applies proportionality to evaluate State action. This framework is compared with Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights and R (Bridges) v. Chief Constable of South Wales Police [[2020] EWCA Civ 1058], Section 8 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and Section 14 of the South African Constitution. The paper compares the requirements of legality, legitimate State purpose, necessity, proportionality, equality and safeguards against arbitrary surveillance. It finds that while all four jurisdictions recognise protection against State interference with privacy, they differ in constitutional basis, judicial oversight and legal safeguards for technologically assisted surveillance. The Indian constitutional framework provides a basis for scrutinising FRT, but clearer procedural protections and stricter legality and proportionality standards are necessary to define the permissible limits of State use of facial recognition.

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SERVITUS HUMANITATIS: BRIDGING THE REMEDIAL GAP IN CROSS-BORDER HUMANITARIAN RELIEF

Volume IV Issue III /

SERVITUS HUMANITATIS: BRIDGING THE REMEDIAL GAP IN CROSS-BORDER HUMANITARIAN RELIEF Oghenevwede Donatus Ovwoshokpite, Alumnus, Rivers State University, Rivers State (Nigeria) Download Manuscript doi.org/10.70183/lijdlr.2026.v04.328 Armed conflict frequently produces civilian starvation, medical deprivation and restricted access to essential relief. International humanitarian law permits impartial humanitarian actors to offer assistance, but cross-border relief ordinarily remains conditioned on the consent of the territorial State or the parties concerned. The difficulty arises where consent is refused or delayed without lawful justification while civilians remain in urgent need. This article adopts a doctrinal legal method, examining treaty rules, customary international humanitarian law, judicial authority, United Nations practice and secondary rules on State responsibility. It considers five possible legal bases for overcoming obstructive refusal: the consent framework under humanitarian law, Security Council authorisation, necessity under Article 25 of the Articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts, abuse of rights and the relevance of peremptory norms, particularly where starvation is used as a method of warfare. The article finds that each basis performs an important but limited function. Humanitarian law restricts arbitrary withholding of consent but does not itself create a general right of territorial entry. Security Council authorisation may permit cross-border relief, but its availability depends on political agreement. Necessity is exceptional and temporary, while abuse of rights and peremptory norms may establish wrongfulness without supplying a complete operational remedy. The article therefore identifies a remedial gap between the illegality of arbitrary refusal and the absence of a standing, non-forcible access mechanism. It proposes Servitus Humanitatis as lex ferenda: a treaty-based regime allowing strictly humanitarian, non-forcible and time-bound cross-border access after independent verification. The proposed Independent Humanitarian Arbitrariness Verification Commission would assess urgency, arbitrariness, alternatives and safeguards before relief proceeds.

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