A. Limitation Act, 1963—Section 18—Acknowledgment of liability—Balance sheets—Entries in books of account, including balance sheets, may constitute acknowledgment of liability giving rise to a fresh period of limitation—Acknowledgment need not specifically name the creditor or be made in any prescribed format, provided it indicates a subsisting jural relationship when read in conjunction with surrounding circumstances—Balance sheets and accompanying notes, qualifications and auditor’s report to be considered as a whole. (Paras 9-11, 14)B. Limitation Act, 1963—Section 18—Acknowledgment of liability—Running bills and outstanding contractual dues—Defendant-Society’s bank reconciliation statements recording three cheques issued in favour of plaintiff as contractor, coupled with subsequent balance sheets continuously ca...
A. Hindu Succession Act, 1956—Section 8—Succession to property of Hindu male dying intestate—Grandson’s right—Property of a Hindu male dying intestate devolves simultaneously upon Class I heirs to the exclusion of all other heirs—Son’s son, whose father is alive, is not a Class I heir and does not acquire any right by birth in the property inherited by his father under Section 8—Property devolving upon a son under Section 8 is held by him in his individual capacity and not as karta of his own Hindu undivided family—Pre-existing Hindu law recognising a grandson’s right by birth stands modified by the codified statutory scheme. (Paras 34-38)B. Hindu Succession Act, 1956—Sections 6, 8 and 19—Ancestral property—Succession and partition among Class I heirs—Distinction between devolution by succession and coparcenary...
A. Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006—Sections 2(c), 2(o) and 6—Forest rights—Recognition of Forest Dwelling Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers—Eligibility—Claims required to be determined strictly in accordance with statutory three-tier mechanism comprising Gram Sabha, Sub-Divisional Level Committee and District Level Committee—Present occupation or cultivation of forest land, by itself, does not establish statutory entitlement—Forest rights confined to persons satisfying prescribed requirements of primary residence in and dependence upon forest or forest land for bona fide livelihood needs—Persons not satisfying statutory conditions liable to be removed in accordance with law. (Paras 43-55)B. Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwe...
A. Constitution of India—Article 131—Inter-State dispute—Bhakra-Nangal and Beas Hydel Projects—State of Himachal Pradesh—Entitlement to share in power generated—Earlier decree dated 27-9-2011 declaring entitlement of 7.19% of power attributable to composite Punjab and directing Union of India to compute amounts payable—Subsequent proceedings confined to working out energy arrears, capital-cost liability and mode of implementation—Earlier adjudicated rights and findings not open to reconsideration in execution proceedings. (Paras 3, 5.20-5.26, 28-30)B. Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966—Section 78—Bhakra-Nangal and Beas Projects—Apportionment of rights and liabilities—Earlier decree dated 27-9-2011 held that Section 78(1) conferred an enforceable legal right upon Himachal Pradesh—Tentative record dated 17-4-1967 and ...
A. Constitution of India—Articles 32, 141 and 142—Other Backward Classes—Creamy layer—Judgment dated 11-3-2026—Scope and temporal operation—Distinction between binding legal principle and operative relief—Interpretation of Office Memorandum dated 8-9-1993, as clarified by letter dated 14-10-2004, constitutes binding precedent under Article 141—Operative relief in the judgment confined to respondent candidates and intervenors whose claims were before the Court—No direction for retrospective reopening of concluded selections, appointments, service allocations or seniority—Miscellaneous applications cannot be used to seek rehearing or reconsideration of issues already decided. (Paras 11-16)B. Constitution of India—Article 141—Other Backward Classes—Creamy layer—Supernumerary posts—Intervention applications—Par...
A. Constitution of India—Article 14—Compulsory retirement—Discrimination—Challenge on ground that similarly situated employees were retained in service—Compulsory retirement involves individual assessment of each employee’s utility, integrity, efficiency and overall service profile—Non-retirement of another employee having comparable service record does not, by itself, establish discrimination or invalidate the order—Article 14 embodies positive equality and does not permit a claim founded on negative equality or perpetuation of an earlier illegality. (Paras 28-30, 34-36)B. Fundamental Rule 56—Chhattisgarh Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 1976—Rule 42—Compulsory retirement—Scope of judicial review—Order of compulsory retirement is neither punitive nor stigmatic and does not attract principles of natural justice or...
A. Constitution of India—Article 12—‘State’—National Book Trust—Society registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860—Whether ‘State’ within meaning of Article 12—Determination—Mere registration as a society or non-statutory character does not exclude a body from Article 12—Constitutional inquiry depends upon substance of relationship between body and Government, and not its legal form or nomenclature—National Book Trust held to be an ‘other authority’ and consequently ‘State’ within Article 12. (Paras 6-10, 25-27)B. Constitution of India—Article 12—Instrumentality or agency of Government—Tests—Financial, functional and administrative control—Tests laid down in Ramana Dayaram Shetty and Ajay Hasia are indicative and not rigid or conclusive checklist—Cumulative assessment required to de...
A. Code of Civil Procedure, 1908—Order IV, Rule 1—Order VII, Rule 11—Rejection of plaint before registration—Court empowered to reject plaint even before its registration or numbering and at any stage of proceedings—Registration not a condition precedent for exercise of power—However, such power must be exercised strictly within grounds specified under Rule 11. (Paras 8-11)B. Code of Civil Procedure, 1908—Order VII, Rule 11(a) and (d)—Rejection of plaint—Disclosure of cause of action—Meaningful reading—Plaint must be read as a whole, considering all material averments and reliefs—Where cause of action is disclosed and suit does not appear from statements in plaint to be barred by law, rejection at threshold is impermissible—Likelihood of dismissal after trial is no ground for rejection. (Paras 13-16)C. Code of Ci...
A. Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973—Sections 57 and 167—Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023—Sections 58 and 187—Constitution of India—Article 22(2)—Reasonable period of detention—Statutory safeguard—Apart from mandatory 24-hours limit, detention without warrant must not exceed a reasonable period having regard to circumstances of the case—Even where production is technically within 24 hours, Magistrate must examine whether detention exceeded reasonable period and may decline remand—Magistrate duty-bound to record actual time of detention and examine compliance with constitutional and statutory safeguards. (Paras 17-20, 60, 67, 69)B. Constitution of India—Article 22(2)—Arrest and detention—Production before Magistrate within 24 hours—Commencement of limitation—24-hours period commences from the time when ...
A. Indian Penal Code, 1860—Sections 302 and 34—Murder—Conviction of one accused alone when all accused charged with common intention and three acquitted—Prosecution case founded on joint participation of all accused—No independent charge under Section 302 simpliciter against appellant—Conviction of appellant alone under Section 302 amounted to making out a new accusation causing prejudice and was legally unsustainable. (Paras 14-18)B. Indian Penal Code, 1860—Sections 302 and 34—Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973—Section 386(a)—Appeal against acquittal—Reversal—Dying declarations—Multiple dying declarations containing material inconsistencies—Court must examine each declaration on its own merits, surrounding circumstances, medical fitness and possibility of corroboration—Where two declarations were discarded and...
A. Indian Penal Code, 1860—Sections 405 and 409—Criminal breach of trust by public servant—Extra Departmental Branch Postmaster receiving deposits from account holders—Depositors proving payment of money to accused and corresponding entries, stamps and initials in passbooks, but no credit in official records or depositors’ accounts—Entrustment and dishonest misappropriation established—Once entrustment is proved, prosecution need not establish the precise manner of misappropriation, and accused must account for the entrusted money—Subsequent voluntary deposit of embezzled amounts corroborating prosecution case—Mere plea of administrative lapse or work burden rejected—Conviction under Section 409 and sentence of three years’ rigorous imprisonment with fine of Rs 5,000 upheld. (Paras 22-29, 32-34)B. Indian Penal Code, ...
A. Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881—Sections 118(a), 138 and 139—Dishonour of cheque—Legally enforceable debt—Accused admitting issuance of cheque but claiming it was a blank security cheque for loan advanced to third party—Statutory presumptions of consideration and legally enforceable debt arise upon admission of cheque execution—Burden shifts to accused to rebut presumptions by probable defence—Mere denial or statement under Section 313 CrPC insufficient—Failure to examine alleged borrower and absence of complaint for return of security cheque rendering defence improbable—Cheque dishonoured for insufficiency of funds, demand notice duly served and payment not made—All ingredients of Section 138 established—Conviction and sentence of six months’ simple imprisonment with compensation of Rs 60,000 upheld. (Paras 17...
Limitation Act, 1963—Article 14—Commercial suit—Recovery of price of goods supplied—Limitation—Last supply of goods made on 01.03.2020 and last payment received on 24.02.2020—Three-year limitation expiring on 28.02.2023—Supreme Court directions in Suo Motu Writ Petition (Civil) No. 3 of 2020—Exclusion of period from 15.03.2020 to 28.02.2022 and grant of minimum 90 days from 01.03.2022 applicable where limitation expired during the excluded period—Where limitation expires beyond 28.02.2022, balance period or 90 days, whichever is greater, available, but entire excluded period cannot be deducted to extend limitation beyond 28.02.2023—Suit instituted on 03.06.2023 held time-barred—Trial Court’s dismissal upheld and appeal dismissed. (Paras 7-10)...
A. Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881—Sections 118, 138 and 139—Dishonour of cheque—Legally enforceable debt—Accused admitting his signature on cheque for Rs. 2,60,000 issued in favour of complainant—Statutory presumptions of consideration and discharge of liability arising in favour of holder—Accused alleging that he had borrowed only Rs. 1,00,000, repaid the amount with interest and issued signed blank cheque as security—Mere plea of security cheque not sufficient to exclude applicability of Section 138 where underlying liability remains due—Accused required to rebut presumptions by raising probable defence on preponderance of probabilities—Failure to establish repayment through reliable evidence or contemporaneous documents, coupled with absence of reply to statutory demand notice, rendered defence insufficient—Convic...
A. Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881—Sections 118, 138, 139 and 142—Dishonour of cheque—Complaint by proprietor of business concern—Cheque for Rs 3,00,000 issued in favour of Kuldeep Chand and Company towards payment for road-cutting work—Complaint instituted by Kuldeep Chand in his individual name without describing himself as sole proprietor or establishing his connection with the payee concern—Mere assertion of proprietorship in complaint or evidence insufficient without supporting material—Only payee or holder in due course competent to maintain complaint—Failure to establish status as proprietor or nexus with payee concern rendered complaint not maintainable—Dismissal of complaint upheld. (Paras 19-28)B. Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881—Section 138—Territorial jurisdiction—Complaint relating to dishonour of che...
A. Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881—Section 138—Dishonour of cheque—Accused issuing cheque of Rs 1,00,000 towards discharge of liability—Cheque dishonoured for insufficiency of funds and demand notice duly served, but payment not made—Complainant’s unrebutted evidence and statutory presumption establishing offence—Trial Court imposing one year’s simple imprisonment and compensation of Rs 1,50,000—Conviction upheld by Appellate Court in absence of accused and his counsel without appointing legal aid counsel or amicus curiae—Appellate judgment set aside and matter remanded for fresh hearing. (Paras 2-6, 14, 21-23)B. Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973—Section 397—Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023—Section 438—Constitution of India—Articles 21 and 22(1)—Right to legal representation—Criminal appeal—Accu...
A. Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881—Sections 138 and 147—Dishonour of cheque—Compounding of offence during pendency of criminal revision—Conviction and sentence of two years’ simple imprisonment with compensation of Rs 5,00,000 upheld by Appellate Court—Parties entering into voluntary full and final settlement during revision, complainant acknowledging receipt of entire cheque amount and expressing no objection to compounding—Offence under Section 138 compoundable at any stage under Section 147, notwithstanding the stage of proceedings—Delayed compounding subject to guidelines in Damodar S. Prabhu v. Sayed Babalal H., including costs where applicable—Compromise accepted and conviction and sentence set aside, accused acquitted. (Paras 4-12, 18, 23-24)B. Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023—Sections 359 and 528—Neg...
A. Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973—Section 482—Indian Penal Code, 1860—Sections 498-A, 323, 504 and 506—Quashing of criminal proceedings—Matrimonial dispute—Prosecution alleging cruelty, hurt, intentional insult and criminal intimidation against husband—Complaint and charge-sheet examined to determine whether essential ingredients of alleged offences were disclosed—Mere matrimonial discord, successive marriages or institution of proceedings against previous husbands not by themselves sufficient to discredit a complaint—However, allegations found bald, omnibus and devoid of specific acts constituting statutory cruelty, voluntary infliction of hurt, intentional insult or criminal intimidation—Mere filing of charge-sheet incapable of curing absence of foundational allegations&mdash...
A. Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023—Sections 346 and 528—Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881—Section 138—Closure of defence evidence—Accused seeking quashing of order closing his opportunity to lead defence evidence—Several opportunities granted on different dates, but accused repeatedly remained absent and failed to produce witnesses or evidence—Medical documents produced subsequently, including an earlier Doppler report, not establishing incapacity to lead evidence on the dates fixed—No reasonable cause shown for repeated defaults—Section 346 BNSS mandates day-to-day trial and adjournment only for reasons to be recorded—Trial Court justified in closing defence evidence—No ground for exercise of inherent jurisdiction under Section 528 BNSS. (Paras 2-8, 15-18)B. Criminal trial—Adjournments—Fair trial—Right...
A. Code of Civil Procedure, 1908—Order XXXIX, Rule 4—Temporary injunction—Discharge, variation or setting aside—Change in circumstances—Where injunction order has been passed after giving the affected party an opportunity of hearing, it cannot be discharged, varied or set aside on that party’s application unless such relief is necessitated by a change in circumstances or the Court is satisfied that the order has caused undue hardship—Power under the proviso is not available for re-agitating grounds already considered while granting injunction. (Paras 6-8)B. Code of Civil Procedure, 1908—Order XXXIX, Rule 4—Change in circumstances—Meaning and scope—Subsequent communications from bank requiring production of injunction order, mortgage of another property and repayment of loan, along with valuation report of suit proper...