A. Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985—Sections 8(c), 22(c) & 25—Regular bail—Parity and prolonged incarceration—Held: Where co-accused have already been granted bail and accused has remained in custody for more than eighteen months, regular bail can be granted on the principle of parity, particularly when trial is likely to be delayed due to large number of witnesses yet to be examined. B. Criminal jurisprudence—Bail—Delay in trial—Held: Likelihood of prolonged trial owing to non-examination of numerous prosecution witnesses is a relevant consideration while deciding bail applications—Continued incarceration pending protracted trial militates against personal liberty. C. NDPS Act—Bail—Criminal antecedents—Held: Existence of crimina...

A. Civil Procedure Code, 1908—Order XX Rule 12A read with Specific Relief Act, 1963—Section 28—Specific performance decree—Deposit of balance sale consideration—Held: Order XX Rule 12A CPC casts duty upon court passing decree for specific performance to specify period within which purchase money or other sum is to be paid—Where appellate court disposes of appeal concerning decree for specific performance, it should also specify time for deposit—If no period is fixed, deposit must be made within a reasonable time depending upon facts of case. (Paras 32, 33(vii)) B. Specific Relief Act, 1963—Section 28—Extension of time—Nature of power—Held: Court passing decree for specific performance does not become functus officio and retains jurisdiction to extend time for p...

A. Electricity Act, 2003—Sections 2(17), 2(19), 2(3), 14 and 42—Railways—Deemed Distribution Licensee (DDL)—Held: To qualify as a distribution licensee under the Electricity Act, an entity must (i) operate and maintain a distribution system, and (ii) supply electricity to consumers within its area of supply—Indian Railways merely operates an internal electricity network for its own operational consumption and does not supply electricity to consumers—Hence, Railways does not satisfy the statutory requirements of a distribution licensee or deemed distribution licensee under the third proviso to Section 14. (Paras 16–37) B. Railways Act, 1989—Section 11(g) & (h)—Electricity Act, 2003—Sections 12, 14 and 173—Non-obstante clause—Held: Section 11 of the Rai...

A. Service Law—Departmental enquiry—Judicial review—Scope—Held: In departmental proceedings, High Court while exercising jurisdiction under Article 226 cannot reappreciate evidence as an appellate authority—Interference is permissible only where findings are perverse, based on no evidence, or proceedings violate principles of natural justice—Concurrent findings of disciplinary, appellate and revisional authorities based on relevant material ordinarily deserve deference. (Paras 18–20) B. Departmental proceedings—Standard of proof—Held: Strict rules of evidence under the Indian Evidence Act do not apply to departmental enquiries—Charges are to be proved on touchstone of preponderance of probabilities and not beyond reasonable doubt—Relevant material having probat...

A. Indian Penal Code, 1860—Sections 302, 307 & 34—Common intention—Requirement of prior meeting of minds—Held: For invoking Section 34 IPC, prosecution must establish prior concert or meeting of minds and active participation in furtherance of common intention—Mere presence at scene of offence or carrying firearm is insufficient—Where evidence failed to prove that appellant caused fatal injury or shared common intention with principal accused, conviction under Section 302/34 IPC unsustainable. (Paras 14–25) B. Evidence—Dying declaration and injured witness—Evidentiary value—Held: Dying declaration and testimony of injured witness established appellant’s presence at spot but did not attribute fatal injury to him—Evidence showed firearm carried by appel...

A. Code of Civil Procedure, 1908—Order VII Rule 11(a) & (d)—Rejection of plaint—Scope and duty of Court—Held: Court must undertake a meaningful and substantive reading of the plaint along with documents relied upon therein to determine whether a real cause of action exists or whether suit is barred by law—Clever drafting creating illusion of cause of action cannot defeat statutory bar—If plaint is frivolous, vexatious, or barred by law, rejection at threshold is mandatory. (Paras 8.4, 8.9, 9.3–9.5) B. Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act, 1988—Sections 2(9), 4 & 6—Benami transaction—Determination—Held: Where plaint itself discloses that consideration for purchase flowed from plaintiff while property stood in another’s name allegedly due...

A. Limitation Act, 1963—Condonation of delay in criminal appeals—Jail appeal—Held: While considering delay in filing criminal appeal by a convict in jail, courts must adopt a pragmatic and liberal approach—Dismissal of appeal solely on ground of delay, without considering prolonged incarceration and circumstances of prisoner, is unjustified—High Court ought to have condoned delay of 3157 days and heard appeal on merits. (Paras 6–7) B. Constitution of India, 1950—Article 142—Extraordinary powers—Release on bail—Held: Supreme Court, in exercise of powers under Article 142, may grant bail in exceptional circumstances to secure complete justice—Where convict had undergone about 22 years imprisonment, had satisfactory jail conduct, and was never released on parole/f...

A. Constitution of India, 1950—Articles 14, 16, 21A & 309—Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) para-teachers—Regularisation—Held: Para-teachers engaged under SSA/Samagra Shiksha do not possess an enforceable right to automatic regularisation as Assistant Teachers/Sahayak Acharyas—Direct absorption from scheme posts into regular State cadre posts would create a new mode of recruitment contrary to statutory rules framed under Article 309 and the constitutional mandate of equality in public employment under Articles 14 and 16. (Paras 18–19, 21) B. State of Karnataka v. Umadevi (2006) 4 SCC 1—Application—Held: Blanket regularisation through judicial directions is impermissible where it bypasses statutory recruitment rules—Courts under Articles 226 and 142 cannot direct regularisati...

A. Electricity Act, 2003—Sections 61(d), 62 read with DERC (Terms and Conditions for Determination of Generation Tariff) Regulations, 2011—Depreciation—Recovery beyond operational period—Held: Depreciation cannot necessarily be recovered over the entire technical useful life of an asset irrespective of the period during which electricity is actually supplied to consumers—Where power plant ceased supplying electricity after expiry of approved operational/PPA period, consumers cannot be burdened with tariff charges thereafter. (Paras 19–20) B. Electricity tariff—Consumer interest—Paramount consideration—Held: Tariff determination under Section 61(d) is a regulatory balancing exercise between reasonable cost recovery by utility and protection of consumer interest—Consumers c...

A. Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016—Section 7—Financial debt and default—Scope—Held: For initiation of CIRP under Section 7, existence of a clear “financial debt” and “default” is a condition precedent—Where transaction is intertwined with contractual obligations of third parties and property transfer arrangements, it may not constitute a straightforward insolvency default warranting CIRP. (Paras 8, 10–12) B. Insolvency law—IBC not a recovery mechanism—Held: The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code is a collective insolvency resolution framework and not a coercive recovery tool for individual creditors—Where proceedings are primarily intended to compel repayment or recover dues in a contractual dispute, invocation of IBC amounts to abuse of process. (...