Maintainability of Appeal by Complainant under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881—Complainant as Victim under CrPC—Right to Appeal without Leave—Proviso to Section 372 CrPC—In a criminal complaint filed under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881, the complainant, being the aggrieved party who has suffered economic loss due to dishonour of a cheque, qualifies as a ‘victim’ within the meaning of Section 2(wa) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (CrPC)—Consequently, such complainant is entitled to prefer an appeal against an order of acquittal as of right under the proviso to Section 372 of the CrPC without the necessity of seeking special leave to appeal under Section 378(4) of the CrPC (corresponding to Section 419(4) of the Bhartiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023...

A. Constitution of India, 1950—Article 226—Writ Jurisdiction—Regularization of Daily Wage Employees—Petitioner appointed initially on daily wages, terminated, reinstated, and after more than ten years of service, denied regularization and granted “Sthayi Karmi” status with incorrect benefits due to erroneous appointment date—Court examined entitlement to regularization. (Para 2) B. Constitution of India, 1950—Article 226—State Policy—Re-employment of Daily Wage Employees—Services terminated under State policy for daily rated employees appointed post-31.12.1988; subsequent policy led to reinstatement in 2004, illustrating impact of evolving government employment policies. (Para 2) C. Constitution of India, 1950—Article 226—Compliance with Court Directions&m...

A. Criminal Procedure Code, 1973—Section 374—Appeal Against Acquittal—Scope of Appellate Interference—An appellate court should not interfere with an order of acquittal unless the trial court’s approach suffers from manifest illegality, or the conclusions drawn are wholly unreasonable or untenable—Where two views are reasonably possible, the one favoring the accused must prevail. (Para 8) B. Penal Code, 1860—Sections 420, 467, 468, 471, 506-II—Cheating, Forgery, Use of Forged Document, Criminal Intimidation—Burden of Proof—In criminal trials, the prosecution bears the burden to establish guilt beyond reasonable doubt—Where the trial court has acquitted the accused after proper appreciation of evidence, due weight must be accorded to its findings, especially those based o...

A. CPC, 1908—S.100—Scope of Second Appeal—High Court’s interference is limited to substantial questions of law—Findings of fact by lower courts cannot be re-appreciated unless shown to be perverse or contrary to the record. (Para 19, 28–30) B. Madhya Pradesh Bhudan Yagna Adhiniyam, 1953—S.17, 18, 19—Revocability of Gift—Gifts under the Act are irrevocable only upon compliance with procedural safeguards in Sections 17 & 18—A gift made in 1953 without such compliance cannot claim protection under Section 19. (Para 20–21) C. MP Bhoodan Yagna Adhiniyam, 1968 (Amended)—S.33—Bhumiswami Rights—A Bhoodan grantee may acquire Bhumiswami rights after 10 years’ possession, but only if the original gift was valid under the 1953 Act. (Para 22–23) ...

A. Indian Succession Act, 1925—Ss. 28, 29, 32, 24, 3—Applicability—Where no exemption notification under Section 3 is issued by the State Government, the Indian Succession Act applies even to parties belonging to aboriginal tribes—Succession governed by degrees of kindred and consanguinity—Property devolves upon the nearest relative unless displaced by custom or statutory law—Plaintiff established claim as nearest relative. (Paras 18, 19, 21, 27) B. Burden of Proof—Plaintiff must establish title and succession—Defendants' reliance on burden of proof principles was misplaced as plaintiff successfully discharged burden through oral and documentary evidence. (Para 25) C. Civil Procedure Code, 1908—Section 100—Second Appeal—Interference with concurrent findings&mdas...

Income Tax Act, 1961—Sections 133A, 131, 144, 147, 281B—Validity of Survey, Assessments & Evidentiary Value of Impounded Documents—Scope of Interference—Dismissal of Writ and Appeals—The High Court upheld the findings of the ITAT and dismissed writ petition and connected income tax appeals filed by the assessees from the Lunkad Group—It was held that the survey conducted on 02.05.2006 under Section 133A at a common premises housing multiple interconnected companies was valid and lawful—The impounded documents, though not on official letterhead, were corroborated by bank records and revealed a structured method of routing unaccounted income and accommodation entries—The plea that the survey amounted to a 'search' triggering Sections 153A–153D was rejected—Loose papers ...

Central Goods and Service Tax Rules, 2017—Rule 86A—And Circular No. 04/2021, alleging that blocking of Input Tax Credit (ITC) without prior hearing violated natural justice—The petitioner received multiple show-cause notices under Section 74 of the CGST Act for disallowance of ITC transferred from various entities—During these proceedings, ITC amounting to Rs. 6.6 crore was blocked under Rule 86A by the authorities without hearing—The Court examined Rule 86A, which empowers the Commissioner or authorized officer to block ITC if there are reasons to believe the credit was fraudulently availed or ineligible, with a provision for post-decisional hearing and automatic lifting of the restriction after one year—Reliance was placed on K-9 Enterprises v. State of Karnataka wherein the Karnataka High Court uphel...

Motor Vehicles Act, 1988—Section 173(1)—The appellants challenged the compensation of ₹13,85,000/- awarded by the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal, Ujjain in MACC No.271/2016, contending that the tribunal erred in assessing the deceased's income at ₹10,000/- per month by discarding his Income Tax Returns (ITRs)—The deceased, Harinarayan, died in a road accident on 13.05.2016—The High Court found that the tribunal unjustifiably ignored relevant documentary evidence such as ITRs (showing consistent income of over ₹2 lakh per annum), business license, municipal records, and agency ID of SBI Life—Relying on Anjali v. Likendra Rathod (2022) and Malarvizhi (2024), the Court held that ITRs are reliable evidence of income and must be given due consideration—Further, following Magma General Insurance Co...

Madhya Pradesh Uccha Nyayalaya (Khand Nyaypith Ko Appeal) Adhiniyam, 2005—Section 2(1)—The maintainability of a writ appeal at the instance of an intervener or a proposed intervener was challenged on the ground that such an appeal cannot be filed without obtaining prior leave of the Court—The Division Bench held that an intervener or any person claiming to be an "aggrieved person" does not possess an automatic right to file an appeal or writ appeal unless leave to appeal is first sought and granted—The Court clarified that to seek leave, the proposed appellant must demonstrate direct or substantial prejudice to their legal rights or legitimate interest due to the impugned judgment—The Court laid down that intervention is primarily limited to assisting the Court and not for seeking independent relief...

Registration Act, 1908—Section 17—This petition under Article 227 of the Constitution, the petitioner challenged the trial court's order rejecting an application under Order XVIII Rule 17 read with Section 151 CPC seeking re-examination to exhibit a loan agreement dated 29.06.2011—The trial court treated the document as a mortgage deed requiring registration—The High Court held that the document, even if construed as a mortgage-cum-loan agreement, could be exhibited for collateral purposes—specifically, the acknowledgment of loan and personal liability—without enforcing rights over immovable property, in accordance with the proviso to Section 49 of the Registration Act—The Court noted that the document had been properly stamped under Section 35 of the Stamp Act and cited precedents including B...