WIELDING THE BLUE PENCIL: A PANACEA OR BANE FOR THE NON-COMPETE COVENANTS

AUTHOR – SHUBHAM SHARMA, DOCTORAL RESEARCHER, FACULTY OF LAW, UNIVERSITY OF DELHI

BEST CITATION – SHUBHAM SHARMA, WIELDING THE BLUE PENCIL: A PANACEA OR BANE FOR THE NON-COMPETE COVENANTS, INDIAN JOURNAL OF LEGAL REVIEW (IJLR), 4 (1) OF 2024, PG. 1042-1048, APIS – 3920 – 0001 & ISSN – 2583-2344.

Abstract

Severability is generally an idea in retrospect, a filtering through a plethora of contractual rubble to rescue whatever endures a decision that a piece of a law or an agreement is illegal or in contractual terms, unfair. However, severability presents a pressing question time and again and that is: If part of an agreement is illegal or unfair, does the rest of the agreement holds good? The question is likewise universal and could emerge whenever part of an agreement is disputed or a specific utilization of a rule is held unlawful. Besides, the appropriate response can have significant results. It could be safely concluded that are severable parts of the agreement carry the risk of leaving the rest of an agreement in such a shape that the resultant agreement would be something that a party would have never sanctioned alone. On the other hand, a holding of non-severability can mean, for instance, that a whole covenant falls. In the landmark case of a solitary unlawful arrangement.As per Black’s Law Dictionary the Doctrine of Blue Pencil is a legal standard for choosing whether to discredit the entire agreement or just the culpable words. Under this standard, just the culpable words are refuted on the instance that it is conceivable to erase them essentially by running a blue pencil through them rather than changing, including or revising words. The Blue Pencil rule permits the courts just to strike down the culpable arrangements and authorize the remainder of the accord. Hence, it becomes imperative to study and analyse the balance to be created between the employer’s right to keep his trade and business intact as well an employee’s right to earn livelihood. This balance could be established by using the Doctrine of Blue Pencil, however, the same comes up with a few roadblocks of its own, which would be discussed further.