A. Motor Vehicles Act, 1988—Section 166—Compensation—Injury claim—Assessment of compensation— Where the appellant, a practising Advocate, sustained an intracapsular fracture of the neck of the femur in a motor vehicle accident resulting in permanent physical impairment and lifelong discomfort, the Tribunal erred in awarding only Rs.1,50,000/- without adequately considering compensation towards pain and suffering, permanent disability, future medical expenses and other consequential losses—The High Court enhanced the compensation by awarding an additional sum of Rs.2,00,000/- under various heads, including pain and suffering, permanent disablement, future medical expenses and litigation expenses. (Paras 3 to 9) B. Motor Vehicles Act, 1988—Section 166—Assessment of compensation—Perman...

A. Civil Procedure Code, 1908—Order VI Rule 17 & Order VII Rule 11—Amendment and rejection of plaint—Where an application for amendment of the plaint seeks to cure defects relied upon in an application for rejection of the plaint, the amendment application ought ordinarily to be decided first—Rejection of the plaint without considering the pending amendment application is unsustainable. B. Civil Procedure Code, 1908—Order VII Rule 11—Rejection of plaint—Fraud—A plaint alleging that execution of a sale deed was procured by fraud, deception and false promises regarding payment of consideration discloses a triable cause of action—Such allegations cannot be rejected at the threshold merely on the basis of recitals in the sale deed, and the plaint must be read as a whole. C. Trans...

A. Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973—Sections 397 and 401—Limitation Act, 1963—Section 5—Condonation of delay— ejection of a criminal appeal on the ground of a 12-day delay, without considering the merits of the case, was held to be hyper-technical and contrary to the principles of substantial justice—Courts are required to adopt a liberal and pragmatic approach while considering short delays so as to advance the cause of justice rather than defeat it on technical grounds. (Paras 3 and 27) B. Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881—Section 138—Dishonour of cheque—Right of appeal—The right of appeal against a conviction under Section 138 of the Act is a valuable statutory right—Dismissal of the appeal solely on the ground of delay, without adjudicating the merits of the convictio...

A. Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973—Section 125—Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956—Section 20(3)—Maintenance—Major unmarried daughter—Merely because an application for maintenance by a major unmarried daughter was filed under Section 125 CrPC instead of Section 20(3) of the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956, relief cannot be denied where the Court otherwise possesses the jurisdiction to grant such relief—The Family Court, being competent to entertain proceedings under both enactments, rightly awarded interim maintenance, and no interference was called for. (Paras 6, 8, 9 and 15) B. Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956—Section 20(3)—Maintenance of major unmarried daughter—The statutory requirement for claiming maintenance under Section 20(3) is that the majo...

A. Constitution of India, 1950—Articles 14, 15 and 16—Public employment—Arbitrary denial of appointment—Denial of appointment to the post of Special Education Teacher on the ground that the petitioner's qualification was not recognized by the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) was held to be arbitrary and discriminatory, where recognition by the Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI) was the prescribed and relevant eligibility criterion for the post. (Paras 1, 4 to 6, 11, 18 and 19) B. Rehabilitation Council of India Act, 1992—Memorandum of Understanding between NCTE and RCI—Recognition of qualifications—The Memorandum of Understanding between the NCTE and the RCI clearly delineates their respective fields of operation, with the RCI being the statutory authority for regulating and...

A. Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996—Section 9—Interim measures—Dispute arising out of licence agreement—Where the petitioner challenged a demand notice raising concession fee on the ground that the respondent had unilaterally increased the number of train coaches contrary to the terms of the licence agreement, the Court held that an arbitrable dispute existed between the parties and directed that the disputes be resolved through arbitration. (Paras 3, 5 to 8, 11 and 13) B. Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996—Sections 9 and 11—Arbitration agreement—Appointment of Arbitrator—In view of the arbitration clause contained in the licence agreement and the existence of disputes relating to the validity of the demand notice and enhancement of concession fee, the Court appointed a Sole Arb...

A. Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881—Section 138—Dishonour of cheque—Statutory demand notice—Validity—A statutory notice under Section 138 must relate to a legally enforceable debt or liability—Mere demand of an amount less than the aggregate cheque amount on account of admitted part-payments does not, by itself, render the notice invalid, where the notice discloses the basis of computation—Whether the amount demanded represents the legally enforceable debt is a matter to be determined on evidence during trial and not in revisional jurisdiction. (Paras 25, 35, 37 and 40) B. Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881—Section 138—Dishonour of cheque—Demand notice—Validity—The Sessions Court erred in holding the statutory notice invalid solely because the amount demanded was low...

A. Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985—Section 37—Bail—Commercial quantity—In offences involving commercial quantity of narcotic drugs, bail can be granted only after the Court is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for believing that the accused is not guilty of the alleged offence and is not likely to commit any offence while on bail, after affording an opportunity of hearing to the Public Prosecutor. B. Criminal Procedure Code, 1973—Section 50—Constitution of India, 1950—Article 22(1)—Grounds of arrest—The arrested person must be informed of the grounds of arrest to enable an effective defence—No particular format is prescribed, and substantial compliance with the statutory and constitutional requirement is sufficient unless prejudice is demonstrate...

A. Code of Civil Procedure, 1908—Section 115—Madhya Pradesh Public Trusts Act, 1951—Section 2(1)—Civil Revision—Maintainability—The Registrar, Public Trust is neither a "Court" within the meaning of Section 2(1) of the Madhya Pradesh Public Trusts Act, 1951 nor a Court subordinate to the High Court under the Code of Civil Procedure—Since the revisional jurisdiction under Section 115 CPC extends only to orders passed by subordinate Courts, a civil revision against an order of the Registrar, Public Trust is not maintainable. (Paras 9, 15, 16, 18 and 22) B. Madhya Pradesh Public Trusts Act, 1951—Section 28—Powers of Registrar—The conferment of certain powers of a Civil Court upon the Registrar under Section 28 for the purposes of inquiry and investigation does not confe...

A. Specific Relief Act, 1963—Specific performance—Readiness and willingness—In a suit for specific performance, the plaintiff must establish continuous readiness and willingness to perform the essential terms of the contract from the date of its execution till the date of hearing—Financial capacity to perform the contract must be proved by cogent evidence, and mere pleadings or bald assertions are insufficient to satisfy the statutory requirement. (Paras 85 to 87, 92 and 99) B. Limitation Act, 1963—Section 3—Specific performance—Limitation—A suit for specific performance must be instituted within the prescribed period of limitation—Where the cause of action is dependent upon the conclusion of pending litigation, limitation commences upon the expiry of the stipulated period after dis...