A. Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Act, 1976—Development Control Regulations for Greater Bombay, 1991—Rule 33(7)—Permanent Alternate Accommodation Agreement (PAAA)—Nature and enforceability—Held: A Permanent Alternate Accommodation Agreement (PAAA) executed under the statutory redevelopment scheme is not a mere private contractual arrangement but an integral part of the statutory mechanism governing redevelopment of cessed buildings. MHADA is empowered to enforce the agreement and ensure execution, registration and delivery of permanent alternate accommodation to certified occupants. (Paras 8, 21 to 25) B. Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Act, 1976—Redevelopment of cessed buildings—Occupant—Entitlement of legal heirs—Held: A person recognised as an occupant in the c...
A. Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973—Bail—Economic offences—Interim bail confirmed—Held: Where the accused had remained in custody for about two years, substantially secured the complainant's claim by depositing the balance amount before the Trial Court, and no complaint of misuse of liberty was reported during the period of interim bail, the interim bail deserved to be confirmed and the accused was directed to continue on bail on the same terms during the pendency of the trial. (Paras 5 and 6) B. Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973—Bail—Conditions—Compliance with undertaking—Held: Compliance with the undertaking to deposit the balance amount before the Trial Court, coupled with satisfactory conduct while on interim bail and absence of any adverse material from the State, constituted rele...
A. Motor Vehicles Act, 1988—Sections 165 and 166—Compensation—Expression "arising out of the use of a motor vehicle"—Scope—Murder—Held: The expression "arising out of the use of a motor vehicle" requires the existence of a causal nexus between the use of the vehicle and the death or injury. Mere presence of the deceased in the vehicle before the incident or the vehicle forming part of the surrounding circumstances is insufficient to attract liability under the Motor Vehicles Act. Where the evidence fails to establish any connection between the use of the vehicle and the homicidal death, compensation under Sections 165 and 166 cannot be awarded. (Paras 5 to 14) B. Motor Vehicles Act, 1988—Sections 165 and 166—Standard of proof—Motor accident claims—Held: Pro...
Waqf Act, 1995—Kerala State Waqf Board—Interim directions governing functioning of Board—Scope of judicial intervention—Held: While maintaining the High Court's interim directions restraining the Kerala State Waqf Board from taking policy decisions or incurring capital expenditure without prior leave of the Court, the Supreme Court held that the further direction requiring the Board to function under the supervision of the Joint Secretary to the State Government dealing with Waqf matters was unwarranted and liable to be deleted. The Joint Secretary/Additional Secretary shall, however, continue to function as a member of the Board in accordance with law. The High Court was requested to dispose of the pending matter expeditiously after affording both sides adequate opportunity to present their claims and counterc...
A. Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985—Sections 8, 21 and 50—Search of article carried by accused—Applicability of Section 50—Held: Where the contraband is recovered from an article, such as a water bottle, carried by the accused and not from the accused's person, the safeguards under Section 50 are inapplicable. Nevertheless, where the accused is informed of the right to be searched before a Gazetted Officer or Magistrate, the search satisfies the procedural requirements. (Paras 12 to 14) B. Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985—Section 52A—Representative samples—Non-compliance—Effect—Held: Procedural irregularities in drawing representative samples under Section 52A do not, by themselves, vitiate the prosecution where substantial compliance with...
A. East Punjab Urban Rent Restriction Act, 1949—Section 13—Eviction—Bona fide requirement—Revisional jurisdiction—Code of Civil Procedure, 1908—Section 115—Held:** The landlord's bona fide requirement must be real, genuine and honest, and not a mere pretext for eviction. Once the Rent Controller and the Appellate Authority, upon appreciation of evidence, concurrently record a finding that the requirement is bona fide, the High Court, while exercising revisional jurisdiction under Section 115 of the Code of Civil Procedure, cannot reappreciate the evidence or substitute its own view as if sitting in appeal. Interference is permissible only where the findings suffer from jurisdictional error, procedural illegality, material irregularity or perversity. The landlord's choice of the premises re...
A. Hindu Marriage Act, 1955—Section 13B—Settlement agreement—Maintenance for minor child—Interpretation of settlement clauses—Held: Clause 9 of the Settlement Petition, providing for payment of interim maintenance at the rate of 20% of the father's annual income to the minor son, constituted only an interim arrangement. Upon payment of the lump sum amount of Rs. 1,00,00,000/- in terms of Clauses 8 and 10 of the Settlement Petition, the obligation under Clause 9 stood fully discharged and did not survive as an independent or continuing liability. (Paras 25 to 27) B. Code of Civil Procedure, 1908—Section 36—Execution of consent decree—Scope of executing court—Held: An executing court is bound to execute the decree as it stands and cannot travel beyond its terms or rewrite the sett...
A. Service Law—Departmental proceedings—Reinstatement—Effect of substituted minor penalty—Held: Where an order of removal is ultimately substituted by a minor penalty pursuant to judicial directions, the penalty must relate back to the date of the original removal and cannot be reckoned from the date of the subsequent order. The period of the minor penalty having expired notionally, the employee becomes entitled to consideration for promotion and consequential service benefits in accordance with law. (Paras 20 to 22) B. Service Law—Promotion—Notional promotion—Back wages and pensionary benefits—Held: An employee wrongly kept out of service due to illegal departmental action is entitled to promotion from the date his juniors were promoted, with all consequential benefits. Where such promot...
A. Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973—Section 340 read with Section 195(1)(b)—Initiation of prosecution for perjury—Held: Before directing prosecution under Section 340 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the Court must record a prima facie satisfaction that the party has made a false statement or given false evidence and must further record that it is expedient in the interests of justice to initiate such proceedings—Mere existence of an incorrect or wrong statement is insufficient to invoke Section 340. (Paras 6 to 12, 16) B. Indian Penal Code, 1860—Sections 193, 199 and 200—False statement—Wrong statement—Distinction—Held: There is a material distinction between a wrong statement and a false statement—A false statement necessarily imports a deliberate intention to deceive and ...
A. Criminal Procedure Code, 1973—Section 482 read with Section 397—Maintainability of quashing petition despite availability of revisional remedy—Held, the availability of an alternative remedy of revision under Section 397 of the CrPC does not, by itself, operate as a bar to the exercise of the inherent jurisdiction of the High Court under Section 482 CrPC; the two provisions operate in distinct spheres, and the inherent power, being merely saved and not conferred by the CrPC, cannot be held ousted by the mere availability of a revisional remedy, following Dhariwal Tobacco Products Ltd. v. State of Maharashtra, (2009) 2 SCC 370, Prabhu Chawla v. State of Rajasthan, (2016) 16 SCC 30, and Akanksha Arora v. Tanay Maben, 2024 SCC OnLine SC 3688—Nomenclature of a petition is immaterial, and a High Court may treat a pet...
Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023—Section 447—Criminal Procedure Code, 1973—Section 173(2)—Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988—Section 13(1)(a) read with Section 13(2)—Transfer of pending trials upon investigation being taken over by CBI—Held, where investigation into the offences was, pursuant to directions of the High Court, taken over and completed by the CBI after re-registration of the FIR, and a final report under Section 173(2) Cr.P.C. was filed before the Court of the Special Judge, Anti-Corruption, CBI, Dehradun—the notified Court having jurisdiction to try cases investigated by the CBI—continuation of the connected miscellaneous criminal cases arising out of the earlier charge-sheets before the Court of the Special Judge, P.C. Act, Kumaon Region, Haldwani, would not be ...
Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023—Section 447—Criminal Procedure Code, 1973—Section 125—Transfer of case—Maintenance proceedings—Convenience of applicant residing away from the court of institution—Participation through video conferencing—Held, transfer of proceedings under Section 125 Cr.P.C. from the Family Court, Almora, to the Family Court, Haridwar, sought on the ground of the applicant's alleged permanent shift to Haridwar and the resultant hardship of travel, cannot be granted where the record shows that the applicant has already participated in the proceedings through video conferencing, appeared in person and tendered her evidence before the trial Court despite the claimed shift, and is, in fact, working and residing in District Sirmaur, Himachal Pradesh, and not at Harid...
A. Criminal Procedure Code, 1973—Section 482—Indian Penal Code, 1860—Section 376—Quashing of FIR/charge sheet—Physical relationship on alleged false promise of marriage—Consent—Held, where the complainant and the applicant came in contact through a dating application, developed a relationship over a considerable period during which the applicant frequently visited the complainant, and the first and subsequent instances of physical relations took place with the free consent of the complainant, the subsequent failure of the relationship to culminate in marriage cannot retrospectively convert consensual physical relations into an offence under Section 376 IPC on the false pretext of marriage—Reliance placed on Biswajyoti Chatterjee v. State of West Bengal, (2025) 5 SCC 749, and Samadhan v. Stat...
A. Indian Penal Code, 1860—Section 376, Section 376(2)(j) and Section 511—Rape—Proof of penetration—Attempt to commit rape—Distinction—Victim, a 90-year-old woman suffering from advanced dementia, was incapable of making any statement and died during investigation—Sole eyewitness found accused on top of victim with trousers lowered and victim partially unclothed—Forensic evidence established presence of accused's semen on victim's clothing, but medical evidence did not prove penetration or genital injuries—Held, penetration, however slight, remains the indispensable ingredient of the offence of rape even after the expanded definition under Section 375 introduced by the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013—While penetration may be inferred from surrounding circumstances, suc...
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. 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...