A. Hindu Marriage Act, 1955—Sections 13(1)(ia) & 13(1)(ib)—Cruelty and desertion—Professional aspirations of wife—Held: A professionally qualified woman pursuing her career and choosing a safer environment for upbringing of her child cannot be branded as guilty of cruelty or desertion merely because she did not reside with her husband at his place of posting—Marriage does not eclipse individuality or professional identity of wife—Expecting wife to sacrifice her career solely to conform to traditional notions of matrimony reflects patriarchal and regressive mindset incompatible with constitutional values of dignity and autonomy. (Paras 3–7, 21–27) B. Matrimonial law—Women’s autonomy and equality—Held: A wife cannot be treated as a mere appendage to her husba...

A. Hindu Marriage Act, 1955—Sections 13(1)(ia) & 13(1)(ib)—Cruelty and desertion—Professional aspirations of wife—Held: A professionally qualified woman pursuing her career and choosing a safer environment for upbringing of her child cannot be branded as guilty of cruelty or desertion merely because she did not reside with her husband at his place of posting—Marriage does not eclipse individuality or professional identity of wife—Expecting wife to sacrifice her career solely to conform to traditional notions of matrimony reflects patriarchal and regressive mindset incompatible with constitutional values of dignity and autonomy. (Paras 3–7, 21–27) B. Matrimonial law—Women’s autonomy and equality—Held: A wife cannot be treated as a mere appendage to her husba...

A. Motor Vehicles Act, 1988—Compensation—Death of engineering student—Assessment of notional income—Held: While determining compensation for death of a bright engineering student, notional income cannot be equated with minimum wages payable to an unskilled worker—Educational qualifications, academic merit, technical skills and future career prospects must be meaningfully considered—Deceased third-year engineering student possessing diploma in Plastic Engineering and AutoCAD certification held entitled to notional income assessment of Rs.12,000/- per month for accident of year 2000. (Paras 22–26) B. Motor Vehicles Act, 1988—Compensation—Future prospects and deduction for personal expenses—Held: Future prospects are payable even where income of deceased is assessed not...

A. Service Law—Departmental enquiry—Judicial review—Scope—Held: High Court while exercising judicial review in disciplinary matters cannot ordinarily re-appreciate evidence like an appellate authority; however, interference is permissible where findings are unsupported by evidence or enquiry violates principles of natural justice—Reliance by Enquiry Officer on statements of co-accused officers who were not examined in enquiry and against whom delinquent employee had no opportunity of rebuttal amounted to want of evidence and violation of natural justice. (Paras 9.2, 12, 14) B. Canara Bank Officer Employees’ (Discipline and Appeal) Regulations, 1976—Regulation 10—Common proceedings—Interpretation of “may”—Held: The word “may” occurring in Regul...

A. Supreme Court Rules, 2013—Order XII Rule 3—Judgment dictated in open Court—Correction before signing—Held: Draft order dictated in Court remains subject to correction, refinement and enhancement before signing—So long as no material change affecting substantive rights is introduced, rehearing is unnecessary—Signed order alone constitutes final authoritative expression of Court’s opinion. B. Practice and Procedure—Miscellaneous application in disposed matter—Maintainability—Held: Miscellaneous application after disposal of proceedings is maintainable only for correction of clerical/arithmetic errors or where executory directions become impossible due to subsequent events—Application seeking declaration that signed order has “no force of law” amoun...

A. Income Tax Act, 1961—Sections 147 & 148—Reopening of assessment—“Reason to believe”—Held: For valid reopening of assessment under Sections 147 and 148, Assessing Officer must possess tangible material giving rise to a bona fide “reason to believe” that income chargeable to tax has escaped assessment—Reassessment cannot be used as a mechanism for review or for revisiting concluded assessments merely on change of opinion. (Paras 57–64) B. Income Tax Act, 1961—Sections 147 & 148—Change of opinion—Doctrine—Held: Where Assessing Officer had already considered, appreciated and accepted material during original scrutiny assessment under Section 143(3), reopening based on same material amounts to impermissible review in guise of reassessmen...

A. Constitution of India, 1950—Articles 19(1)(a), 21A, 41, 45, 51A(k) & 350A—Mother tongue-based education—Constitutional significance—Held: Right to receive education in one's mother tongue or language of choice is integral to meaningful access to education and freedom of speech and expression under Article 19(1)(a)—Education imparted in a language unintelligible to the child undermines quality, inclusivity and effectiveness of learning—State bears constitutional obligation to facilitate mother tongue/regional language-based education. (Paras 33–45) B. Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009—Section 29(2)(f)—Medium of instruction—Held: Section 29(2)(f) embodies legislative recognition that elementary education should, as far as practicab...

A. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989—Sections 3(1)(r) & 3(1)(s)—“Place within public view”—Essential ingredient—Held: For constituting offences under Sections 3(1)(r) and 3(1)(s) of the SC/ST Act, alleged insult, intimidation or caste-based abuse must occur “in any place within public view”—Requirement of public view is sine qua non and indispensable ingredient of offence—Incident occurring inside residential premises within four walls of house without presence of public persons does not satisfy statutory requirement. (Paras 5.1–5.9, 6.4–6.7, 9–9.1) B. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989—Sections 3(1)(r) & 3(1)(s)—Private place vis-à-vis public view...

A. Contempt of Courts Act, 1971—Section 2(c)(i)—Criminal contempt—Scandalising court—Held: Making reckless, scurrilous and irresponsible public allegations against High Court and its Registry, including describing High Court as a “gambling den”, lowers authority and dignity of institution and amounts to criminal contempt under Section 2(c)(i) of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971. (Paras 45–49) B. Constitution of India, 1950—Article 215—Contempt jurisdiction—Held: Power of High Court to punish for contempt is both constitutional and statutory—Proceedings for criminal contempt are distinct and independent from disciplinary or administrative proceedings such as withdrawal of designation of Senior Advocate. (Paras 34–35) C. Senior Advocate—Withdrawal ...

A. Uttar Pradesh Panchayat Raj Act, 1947—Section 12-C—Election petition—Final order and functus officio—Held: Once the Prescribed Authority passes a final order allowing an election petition, it becomes functus officio and ceases to have jurisdiction to pass any further order in relation to the election dispute—Any subsequent order declaring another candidate elected after recounting is without jurisdiction. (Paras 15–16, 20–21) B. Election law—Recounting of votes—Interim order vs final order—Held: An order merely directing recounting and fixing a date for recount without finally adjudicating election dispute is an interim order—However, where Prescribed Authority allows election petition itself and simultaneously directs recounting, such order is final in natu...