A. Customs Act, 1962—Sections 13 and 45(1), (2) and (3)—Pilfered imported goods—Liability of approved custodian—Held—Section 13 absolves the importer from customs duty on pilfered goods, while Section 45(3) fastens an independent statutory liability for such duty upon the person approved as custodian under Section 45(1). Such liability is distinct from the conditional bailee liability under Sections 42 and 43 of the Major Port Trusts Act, 1963. (Paras 6.16–6.23) B. Customs Act, 1962—Section 45(1), (2) and (3)—Major Port Trusts Act, 1963—Sections 42 and 43—Saving clause and non obstante clause—Held—The saving clause in Section 45(1) does not exclude the Commissioner's power to approve a custodian where the other law does not impose corresponding customs-duty lia...
A. Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005—Sections 12 and 18 to 22—Settlement Agreement—Waiver of monetary and maintenance claims—Abuse of process—Held—Where the wife voluntarily executed a Settlement Agreement relinquishing all monetary and maintenance claims and subsequently reaffirmed the same by affidavit while obtaining divorce by mutual consent, revival of claims arising from acts preceding the settlement amounts to abuse of process—Mere allegation of coercion, without seeking setting aside of the settlement or divorce decree, cannot invalidate the settlement. (Paras 8-12) B. Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005—Sections 12 and 18 to 22—Settlement Agreement—Subsequent proceedings—Binding effect of settlement—Held—A validly ...
A. Representation of the People Act, 1951—Sections 81(3), 83(1)(c) and 86—Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961—Rule 94A, Form 25—Election Petition—Copy of affidavit alleging corrupt practices—Attestation and Verification—Effect of Defect— Section 81(3) requires every copy of an Election Petition supplied to the respondent to be attested by the Election Petitioner under his own signature as a true copy; no particular form of attestation is prescribed—Signature of the Election Petitioner at the foot of each page certifying it to be a true copy satisfies the statutory requirement—Different rubber stamps such as “attested to be true copy” and “certified to be true copy”, when conveying the same meaning, do not constitute non-compliance—However, Form 25 under...
A. National Green Tribunal Act, 2010—Sections 15 and 17—Environmental Damage—Yamuna Floodplain—Environmental Compensation—Causation—Polluter Pays Principle— Environmental compensation under the NGT Act can be imposed upon a person only where actual environmental damage is established and a causal link is demonstrated between the person's activity and the resultant degradation—Mere existence of damage at the site is insufficient to fasten liability—Where contemporaneous material established that the Yamuna floodplain was already in a damaged and dilapidated condition before the appellant was handed over the site, and the Tribunal failed to establish that the appellant caused additional damage, liability could not be imposed merely by invoking the polluter pays/no-fault principle&mda...
A. Tamil Nadu Government Servants (Conditions of Service) Act, 2016—Sections 25 and 54—Constitution of India—Article 309—Government Service—Educational Qualification—Open University Degree—Distance Education—Retrospective Application— Section 25 Explanation 1(b), prescribing degree after SSLC and higher secondary course in 10+2+3 pattern, cannot adversely affect degrees obtained prior to commencement of the 2016 Act in view of the saving clause contained in Section 54—Section 25 nowhere requires that the degree must be obtained through regular physical mode and excludes degree obtained through distance education—Appellant, having obtained B.Com. degree through distance education from Madurai Kamaraj Open University prior to coming into force of the 2016 Act, could not be de...
A. Tamil Nadu Town and Country Planning Act, 1971—Section 113-C—Unauthorised Construction—Regularisation—Pending Application—Effect— Where application for regularisation of unauthorised construction/deviations under Section 113-C was pending and the issue regarding validity and scope of regularisation under the Government Orders issued thereunder was itself pending adjudication before the Supreme Court, High Court was not justified in directing immediate demolition merely on the ground that regularisation application was not maintainable—Earlier order of High Court dated 27.09.2023, to which appellants and CMDA were parties, had specifically directed that no coercive steps be taken till the pending proceedings before Supreme Court were decided—Such order continued to govern the parties and c...
A. Advocates Act, 1961—Section 35—Professional misconduct—Advocate-client relationship—Confidentiality and privileged communications—Disclosure to media— Advocate who had represented complainant and received confidential information from her in course of professional engagement, subsequently giving television interviews concerning his relationship with former client, disclosing matters communicated in confidence, permitting recorded conversations and messaging exchanges to be broadcast, and publicly characterising her complaint as false rape case and accusing her of seeking publicity—Such conduct constituted professional misconduct—Advocate's duty of confidentiality does not cease merely because client subsequently names him in an FIR or becomes his adversary—An advocate aggrieved ...
A. Constitution of India—Arts. 226, 136—Public interest—Infrastructure project—Judicial review—Limited Use Subway—Completion of public project— Long-pending project for replacement of Level Crossing No. 81 at Vaniyambadi, initially proposed as ROB, subsequently modified to RUB and ultimately to LUS owing to land-acquisition, technical and cost considerations—Authorities having substantially progressed with land acquisition, design, approvals and tender process—High Court rightly declined to retain writ petition merely for continuous monitoring—Supreme Court, taking subsequent developments and definite assurances of authorities on record, directed expeditious completion of pending processes and implementation of project without avoidable delay. (Paras 4–10, 12–16) B...
A. Constitution of India, 1950—Arts. 233, 217(2)(b) and 124(3)(b)—Judicial service—Entry-level recruitment—Practical experience—Requirement of prior exposure to court functioning—Necessity—Experience of working of courts is indispensable for a person entering judicial service, as a Civil Judge from the very first day is required to deal with questions affecting life, liberty, property and personal rights of litigants—Practical exposure contributes to judicial temperament, patience, empathy, courtroom discipline and appreciation of respective roles of Bench and Bar—Mere academic knowledge or pre-service training cannot wholly substitute such first-hand experience. (Paras 43-47, 59, 91-92) B. Recruitment of Civil Judge (Junior Division)—Three years' practice at Bar—Jud...
A. Code of Civil Procedure, 1908—Section 100—Second appeal—Concurrent findings of fact—Scope of interference—High Court cannot disturb concurrent findings merely by reappreciating evidence and substituting another possible view—Interference permissible only where findings are perverse, based on inadmissible evidence, vital evidence has been ignored, or conclusion is one which no reasonable judicial mind could have reached—Trial Court and First Appellate Court concurrently found alleged relinquishment of proprietary interest by Ramprasad not proved—High Court, in reversing such findings without establishing perversity or error of law, exceeded its jurisdiction—Impugned judgment set aside. (Paras 17, 29-30) B. Madhya Pradesh Land Revenue Code, 1959—Revenue mutation—Effect ...
A. Constitution of India—Arts. 246, 254—Legislative competence—Repugnancy—U.P. Regulation of Urban Premises Tenancy Act, 2021—Presidential assent— Regulation of landlord-tenant relationship in respect of houses and buildings falls within the Concurrent Legislative field and not exclusively within Entry 18 of List II—Where provisions of the U.P. Regulation of Urban Premises Tenancy Act, 2021 were repugnant to the Transfer of Property Act, 1882 and the Provincial Small Cause Courts Act, 1887 read with the U.P. Civil Laws (Amendment) Act, 1972, all referable to the Concurrent List, such repugnancy could prevail in the State only upon compliance with Art. 254(2) by reservation of the State legislation for consideration of the President and obtaining Presidential assent—Impugned Act, having been ...
A. Special Marriage Act, 1954—Section 27(1)(d)—Divorce—Mental cruelty—Conduct of wife—Unsubstantiated grave allegations against husband and his family—Held, where a wife makes serious allegations such as molestation of the minor child by the mother-in-law, misappropriation of her parental property, dowry demands and forcible abortion, but fails to support such allegations by contemporaneous complaints, independent evidence, medical material or documentary proof, and her own admissions in cross-examination materially undermine those allegations, such conduct may constitute mental cruelty—In the present case, the allegations were not merely unproved but were of such a grave nature as to humiliate and seriously demean the husband and his family. [Paras 56(v), 59, 66-72] B. Special Marriage Ac...
A. Provincial Small Cause Courts Act, 1887—Section 25—Code of Civil Procedure, 1908—Order VII Rules 11(a) and 11(d)—U.P. Regulation of Urban Premises Tenancy Act, 2021—Section 38—Eviction Suit—Maintainability and Jurisdiction— Order VII Rule 11(a) and (d) CPC ke application par plaint ko whole as a whole read kiya jana hai; defence ya disputed questions of fact ko ordinarily consider nahi kiya ja sakta—Where plaint discloses landlord-tenant relationship, default, notice and claim for eviction and arrears, it discloses cause of action—Statutory bar under Section 38 must be apparent from plaint itself. (Paras 28–30, 42–43, 50–51) B. U.P. Regulation of Urban Premises Tenancy Act, 2021—Sections 4, 21 and 38—Absence of Written Tenancy Agreement—J...
A. Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881—Section 138—Appeal against acquittal—Scope of appellate interference—An appellate Court, while examining an acquittal U/s 138 of the NI Act, is not required to substitute its own view merely because another view is possible; interference is warranted only where the view adopted by the Trial Court is impossible, perverse, wholly unsustainable or manifestly illegal—Where the Trial Court has taken a reasonable view on the evidence, the acquittal deserves to be maintained. (Para 12 and 25) B. Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881—Sections 118 and 139—Presumption in favour of holder—Acquittal in cheque dishonour case—Standard of appellate scrutiny—The general restrictions governing interference with an acquittal cannot be applied with identical rigour...
A. Specific Relief Act, 1963—Co-sharer—Injunction against construction on joint property—A co-sharer cannot ordinarily be restrained from raising construction on joint property merely because the property has not been partitioned; however, where the construction would diminish the value or utility of the common property, materially prejudice the rights or enjoyment of other co-sharers, or amount to ouster of a co-owner, injunction can be granted. In the present case, defendant’s denial of plaintiff’s co-ownership and proposed construction over the only vacant portion of the joint property would prejudice the rights of the other co-owners and amount to ouster; injunction therefore rightly granted. (Paras 15–19) B. Civil Procedure Code, 1908—Section 100—Second appeal—Substantial quest...
A. Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023—Section 438 (corresponding to Section 397 CrPC)—Revisional jurisdiction—Scope—High Court, while exercising revisional jurisdiction, cannot reappreciate evidence as an appellate court and interfere with concurrent findings unless there is perversity, glaring contradiction, illegality or miscarriage of justice warranting interference. (Paras 12–13, 28–30) B. Indian Forest Act, 1927—Sections 41, 42—HP Forest Produce Transit (Land Routes) Rules, 1978—Rule 20—Conviction for violation of transit requirements—Specific accusation/charge necessary—Where the accused was not specifically informed of the alleged violation of Rule 20, conviction on such ground causes prejudice; prosecution must further establish by reliable and scient...
A. Indian Penal Code, 1860—Sections 366 and 376—Kidnapping/abduction and rape—Appreciation of evidence—Held—Material contradictions between the victim's statement under Section 164 CrPC and her deposition regarding the place of occurrence, coupled with medical and FSL evidence showing no recent sexual intercourse, rendered the prosecution case unreliable. Conviction could not be sustained on such inconsistent evidence. (Paras 8-9, 13) B. Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012—Sections 3, 4, 29 and 30—Age of victim—Presumption—Proof of minority—Held—Presumptions under Sections 29 and 30 cannot dispense with proof of the foundational fact that the victim was a child. Age must be established in accordance with law; a school certificate issued by the Headm...
A. Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881—Sections 138 & 141—Dishonour of Cheque—Sole Proprietary Concern—Separate Arraignment—Not Necessary— A sole proprietary concern has no independent legal or juristic existence apart from its proprietor—the proprietor and proprietary concern are legally one and the same person—therefore, where the cheque is issued from the account of a sole proprietary concern and the proprietor is himself prosecuted, separate arraignment of the proprietary concern as an accused is not necessary—the principle in Aneeta Hada v. Godfather Travels & Tours (P) Ltd. requiring arraignment of the principal offender is applicable where the principal offender is a separate juristic entity and not to a sole proprietary concern. (Paras 17–20) B. Code of Criminal P...
Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881—Section 143(3)—Dishonour of Cheque—Expeditious Trial—Time Limit— In a complaint under Section 138 of the Act, the trial is required to be conducted as expeditiously as possible, with an endeavour to conclude it within six months from the date of filing of the complaint—where the proceedings had remained pending due to the respondent’s non-appearance and pending exemption application, the Trial Court was directed to take necessary measures to secure his presence and endeavour to conclude the trial within six months from production of the certified copy of the order. (Paras 6–7) ...
A. Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881—Section 147—Section 138—Dishonour of Cheque—Compounding After Conviction— An offence under Section 138 is compoundable at any stage, including after conviction and dismissal of appeal or revision—voluntary settlement between the parties can be accepted notwithstanding that no further proceedings remain pending. (Paras 12–15) B. Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023—Section 528—Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881—Section 147—Inherent Powers—Quashing of Conviction and Sentence— The High Court may exercise its inherent jurisdiction to give effect to a settlement and compound an offence under Section 138 even after conviction and sentence have attained finality in revision—upon valid settlement, the conviction and sentenc...