A. Criminal Procedure Code, 1973—Section 125—Family Courts Act, 1984—Section 19(4)—Principles of natural justice—Maintenance application—Ex-parte order passed without ensuring proper service of notice through electronic modes (WhatsApp and email) and RAD mode—Held, failure to conclusively verify service status strikes at the root of natural justice, and ex-parte proceedings without proper service of notice constitute a grave material irregularity—Order suffers from patent illegality and procedural irregularity—Revisional jurisdiction is supervisory in nature and does not permit routine re-appreciation of evidence; however, interference is warranted where procedural irregularities and illegality are evident, and Revisional Court can intervene to prevent miscarriage of justice. [Paras 1...

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. 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. 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. Constitution of India, 1950—Article 226—Judicial Review in Academic Matters—Courts, while exercising writ jurisdiction, cannot assume the role of academic experts or appellate authorities to determine equivalence of educational qualifications, particularly in recruitment matters governed by statutory rules and specific advertisements. [Paras 16, 19, 23] B. Recruitment Law—Prescription of Eligibility Conditions—The employer is entitled to prescribe qualifications suited to the nature of the post, and strict adherence to the eligibility criteria mentioned in the advertisement is essential to ensure fairness, transparency, and equality in public employment. [Paras 20, 22, 23] C. Public Service Commission—Role in Recruitment—The Public Service Commission, as a recruiting agency, is bound by t...

A. Motor Vehicles Act, 1988—S.173(1)—Appeal Against Award—Pay and Recover—In an appeal seeking modification of the award to direct the Insurance Company to satisfy the compensation and recover the amount from the owner or driver, the question of applying the ‘pay and recover’ doctrine depends upon the existence of a valid policy and the insurer’s liability towards third parties—Where the policy stood validly cancelled prior to the accident, exoneration of the insurer is justified. [Paras 1, 5, 6, 9] B. Insurance Law—Dishonour of Premium Cheque—Cancellation of Policy—Upon dishonour of the premium cheque, the insurer is entitled to cancel the policy, provided due intimation is given to the insured and the concerned transport authority—Service of notice sent by regist...

A. Madhya Pradesh Uchcha Nyayalaya (Khand Nyaypeeth Ko Appeal) Adhiniyam, 2005—S.2(1)—Appeal Against Order of Single Judge—Where a writ petition is dismissed on the ground that an earlier appeal had been withdrawn without liberty, the effect and nature of the withdrawal order must be carefully examined—If the withdrawal appears to be conditional or qualified, the matter may require fresh adjudication, and remand is justified. [Paras 1, 4, 6] B. M.P. Land Revenue Code, 1959—S.248—Challenge to Tehsildar’s Order—The writ petition seeking quashment of the Tehsildar’s order and consequential reliefs was dismissed on the premise that the order had attained finality owing to the withdrawal of the earlier appellate proceedings. [Paras 2, 4] C. M.P. Land Revenue Code, 1959—S.44(1)&m...

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A. Hindu Marriage Act, 1955—Section 13(1)(ia)—Divorce—Cruelty—Prolonged separation between spouses with no possibility of reconciliation—Marriage reduced to mere “paper marriage”—Held, forcing parties to continue such dead relationship amounts to mental cruelty—Cruelty need not be physical; conduct and refusal to maintain conjugal relations sufficient—Decree of divorce granted. [Paras 12–14] B. Hindu Marriage Act, 1955—Section 25—Permanent alimony and maintenance—Appellant directed to pay lump sum permanent alimony of Rs.20,00,000/- to wife within stipulated time—Further directed to pay monthly maintenance of Rs.10,000/- for minor son till attainment of 21 years—Held, financial arrangements necessary to secure future of spouse and child.&nbs...