Friend of the Court is a podcast series that explores groundbreaking constitutional cases in India’s judicial history against their political and social contexts. In the first season, we are diving into some of the most pivotal cases in Anil Divan's career, which spanned over six decades beginning in the 1950s till his demise in 2017. He was a part of many crucial legal battles, and watershed moments that shaped Indian history. The cases we are exploring are the Jain Hawala Diaries Case, the Cauvery River Water Dispute and the National Judicial Appointments Commission Case. We are taking you through a wealth of primary documents and notes on cases from Divan’s files, along with research and interviews with lawyers, petitioners and journalists involved in the cases both inside and outside the courts. This is part of a legal history project undertaken by the School of Law, Governance and Citizenship in Ambedkar University Delhi in partnership with the Anil Divan Foundation.
Family and friends share memories of Anil Divan, who passed away in 2017. We hear from his wife Smita Divan about their courtship and marriage, their ...
The Narendra Modi-led NDA comes to power in 2014 and immediately sets its sights on judicial reforms. A new NJAC act is passed in Parliament. A consti...
The first major judgement concerning judicial appointments, known as the First Judges case is pronounced. The judgement says that the executive has an...
The Constitution spells out the procedure for appointing judges as a consultative process between the government and the judiciary. In the early years...
For years the central government delays setting up a tribunal to resolve the water-sharing dispute between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Meanwhile, bad mo...
The Cauvery river, which flows through the Southern peninsula has long been the site of disagreements and negotiations. The dispute initially takes of...
The 1996 elections loom, and a beleaguered Congress party struggles to win back power. In the meantime, the Hawala PIL is clubbed with other similar a...
The CBI’s investigation into the mysterious set of diaries has stalled, despite evidence of widespread corruption among top politicians and bureaucrat...
It’s 1991. Rajiv Gandhi has been assassinated and PV Narasimha Rao has just been sworn in. Militancy is on the rise in Kashmir. The CBI discovers a my...
Anil Divan was a senior advocate, constitutional expert and champion of public-spirited causes. With more than six decades at the bar, Divan was among...