Writing and Research

Academic Writing In Progress

Constitutionalising Private School Fee Regulation in Delhi

Under the aegis of the Ford Foundation Chair for Public Law, NLSIU · Presented at 'Legitimising Judicial Decision-Making in Public Interest Cases' organized by University of Tilburg, Utrecht and the National Law School of India University.

Traces how vague constitutional standards — "reasonable surplus", "commercialisation" — plus weak regulatory capacity produced a court-centred, ad hoc fee regulation regime in Delhi over three decades. Argues that durable reform requires an expert-regulator model with clear surplus and depreciation rules, rather than continued judicial arbitration of school finances. Analyzes the recent Delhi School Fees Regulation Act, 2025.

Empirical and Normative Evaluation of the Speaker's Role in Tenth Schedule Cases since 1986

With Eeshan Sonek · Presented at Philosophy, Politics, Economics, Law Conference, NLSIU

Examines whether Speakers should hold adjudicatory power over anti-defection cases. Argues the office is structurally captured by political incentives, making impartial adjudication constitutionally and empirically implausible. Combines normative analysis with an empirical survey of outcomes since 1986.

The Contradiction in Specific Performance and Mitigation in Indian Law of Remedies

With Prof. Harsha N · NLSIU

Argues that the doctrine of mitigation in Indian contract law is internally incoherent because it simultaneously serves two incompatible normative masters — corrective justice and economic efficiency — without acknowledging the tension between them. Proposes a principled framework for resolving the contradiction.

Legal Pragmatism for Interpretation and Construction in Indian Basic Structure Jurisprudence

Solo · NLSIU

Applies the legal pragmatism of William James and John Dewey to the interpretation and construction of India's Basic Structure doctrine, arguing that pragmatism offers a more coherent account of constitutional adjudication than originalism or living constitutionalism.

Empirical Study of Disability Adjudication in Indian Courts

With Prof. Sanjay Jain

This paper is the first systematic empirical study of disability rights adjudication across the Supreme Court and all High Courts in India, examining what claims reach courts, how courts engage with them, and what relief is granted. It analyses the statutory scheme of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016 and its engagement with the doctrine of reasonable accommodation, and asks whether the quality of adjudication differs between India’s major cosmopolitan High Courts and its smaller non-cosmopolitan ones.

Law and Legal Theory

Politics

The Conditional Constitution: De-federalisation by Procedural Substitution in India, 2014–2026

Solo · NLSIU

India’s Centre-state relations have been transformed not through constitutional violation but through procedural substitution. The Constitution’s conditional channels (Governor’s pocket veto, cesses outside the divisible pool, central agency selectivity, Concurrent List occupation) have replaced its primary channels for routine federal business. The result is a federal balance the constitutional text does not authorise but its procedural architecture cannot easily prevent.

Scope of data: Built on a primary dataset covering 70 state bills held under Article 200 across seven states (2018–2025), the cess and surcharge trajectory in central tax revenue (2010–2024), 209 documented investigations by central agencies against political figures, 48 central laws on Concurrent List subjects, and 47 Supreme Court judgments on federal questions. The empirical record draws on, RBI State Finances reports, agency disclosures, court records, and the work of PRS Legislative Research, Article 14, and the Association for Democratic Reforms.

The Architecture of Single-Party Dominance: Institutional Reorganisation in India

Solo · NLSIU

Across nine institutional domains (media, criminal investigation, state universities, cinema regulation, party defection, surveillance, civil society, the judiciary, and the legal regulation of speech) the period saw a sustained narrowing of the channels through which meaningful opposition can be conducted. The narrowing was articulated by an ideological programme of Hindu cultural majoritarianism that supplied the integrating logic across institutional sites. The configuration is not totalitarian and not adequately captured by competitive authoritarianism; it requires the new category of hegemonic closure for its accurate characterisation.

Scope of data: Built on a primary dataset covering 209 central agency political prosecutions, 62 RSS- and BJP-affiliated state university Vice Chancellor appointments, 76 propaganda films cleared by the CBFC, 71 senior journalist exits from mainstream outlets, 44 FCRA cancellations of civil society organisations, 176 prominent political defections (of which 76 were preceded by agency action), 52 contested Collegium recommendations, 38 post-retirement judicial appointments, and 186 documented hate speech incidents by leaders of the governing party.

Articles

More at Reason and Reform..

Research Assistance

World Bank Group's Global Education Evidence Advisory Panel Report on Cost-Effective Education

How to improve education outcomes most efficiently? A Review using a unified metric. Journal of Development Economics

In-line chlorination for drinking water in Rural Odisha, India: A Randomised Controlled Implementation trial

Translation

Translated Alex Thomas' Macroeconomics: An Introduction to Marathi. Pre-publication Review.