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Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 — Section 168 — Notional income of skilled worker — Carpenter — Assessment — The appellant, a carpenter aged 38 years, suffered amputation of his right leg below the knee in a road accident in November 2004 — The Claims Tribunal assessed his monthly income at Rs. 3,000/- and the High Court enhanced it to Rs. 5,000/- relying on minimum wages. Held — A carpenter is a skilled artisan who works with precision and manual dexterity — His income cannot be equated with that of an unskilled worker — Where the appellant’s unrefuted evidence showed earnings of Rs. 8,000/- to Rs. 10,000/- per month, and a skilled job always has the potentiality to fetch higher income, the High Court erred in restricting the figure to Rs. 5,000/- — Considering the date of accident, decisions in comparable cases and the fact of the appellant being a skilled worker, his notional monthly income is assessed at Rs. 9,000/- per month. Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 (CrPC) — Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) — Section 304 Part II — Culpable Homicide not Amounting to Murder — Conviction and sentence — Appeal against — Abatement of appeal due to death of co-accused — Death of two appellants during pendency of appeal — Appeal survives only for the third appellant. Uttar Pradesh Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act, 1950 — Section 154 — Transfer of land in contravention of ceiling limit — Not void ipso facto — Capable of ratification — Legality of transfer to be judged by law on date of execution — Sale deed executed on 04.06.1957 — Ceiling limit then was 30 acres, subsequently amended to 12.5 acres retrospectively from 01.07.1952 — Transfer in contravention of Section 154 not void but voidable at instance of Gaon Sabha coupled with liability for ejectment of transferee under Section 163 — No suit filed for ejectment within limitation period. Specific Relief Act, 1963 — Section 16(c) — “Readiness and Willingness” — Relief of specific performance is equitable and discretionary — Plaintiff must specifically aver and prove continuous readiness and willingness to perform obligations — Failure to do so disentitles plaintiff to relief — “Readiness” refers to financial capacity, “Willingness” to conduct and intention — Both cumulatively must be seen — Conduct of plaintiff prior and subsequent to suit, along with attending circumstances, must be considered — Availability of funds must be proved with reference to relevant time, not by documents created much later. Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 — Section 166 and 140 — Compensation for death in motor vehicular accident — Negligence — Truck stationed on road at night without warning lights or indicators — Wagon-R car collided from behind — Held, truck driver was negligent in leaving the vehicle unattended on the road without adequate precautionary measures, which was the proximate cause of the accident.

Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 – Section 34 – Majority award – A dissenting opinion cannot be treated as an award if the majority award is set aside – When a majority award is challenged by the aggrieved party, the focus of the court and the aggrieved party is to point out the errors or illegalities in the majority award

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH M/S HINDUSTAN CONSTRUCTION COMPANY LIMITED — Appellant Vs. M/S NATIONAL HIGHWAYS AUTHORITY OF INDIA — Respondent ( Before : S. Ravindra Bhat and Aravind…

Service Matters

Service Law – Disciplinary proceedings – Penalty Order – Unless punishment imposed is only co-relatable to any of those charges found not proved, the penalty cannot be set aside – Scope of judicial review against a departmental enquiry proceeding is very limited – It is not in the nature of an appeal and a review on merits of the decision is not permissible

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH STATE BANK OF INDIA — Appellant Vs. A.G.D. REDDY — Respondent ( Before : J.K. Maheshwari and K.V. Viswanathan, JJ. ) Civil Appeal No.…

Order XXI of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (CPC) is a complete code for resolving all disputes, including against strangers to the decree. – The Executing Court could not have dismissed the execution petition by treating the decree to be inexecutable merely on the basis that the decree-holder has lost possession to a third party/encroacher.

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH SMT. VED KUMARI (DEAD THROUGH HER LEGAL REPRESENTATIVE) DR. VIJAY AGARWAL — Appellant Vs. MUNICIPAL CORPORATION OF DELHI THROUGH ITS COMMISSIONER — Respondent (…

Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 – Section 5 – Cancellation of bail – Gang-rape of a 15-year-old girl, threat of making video of rape recorded viral and extortion – Accused is the son of sitting MLA would disclose the domineering influence he would wield not only in delaying the proceedings but also in pressurizing the witnesses to either resile from their statement given during the course of investigation or pose threat to them from deposing against accused on their failure to act according to his dictates or induce them to testify as per his dictates or to help the defence of the accused – Bail cancelled – Appeal allowed.

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH BHAGWAN SINGH AND OTHERS — Appellant Vs. DILIP KUMAR @ DEEPU @ DEPAK AND ANOTHER — Respondent ( Before : S. Ravindra Bhat and…

There is no hard and fast rule for determining when a dying declaration should be accepted; the duty of the Court is to decide this question in the facts and surrounding circumstances of the case and be fully convinced of the truthfulness of the same – although the accused has been named in the two dying declarations as a person who set the room on fire yet the surrounding circumstances render such statement of the declarants very doubtful – Appellant directed to be released – Appeal allowed.

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA FULL BENCH IRFAN @ NAKA — Appellant Vs. THE STATE OF UTTAR PRADESH — Respondent ( Before : B.R. Gavai, J.B. Pardiwala and Prashant Kumar Mishra,…

Employees Compensation Act, 1923 – Compensation – the driver was consistently driving the vehicle, there is every reason to assume that long spells of driving was a material contributory factor, if not the sole cause that accelerated his unexpected death at a young age – Such an untoward mishap can reasonably be described as an accident, only attributable to the nature of employment – Compensation granted.

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH SMT. DARIYAO KANWAR & OTHERS — Appellant Vs. M/S UNITED INDIA INSURANCE CO. LTD. & ANOTHER — Respondent ( Before : Hima Kohli and…

Incremental value of land from admitted or proved exemplars till the acquisition is evident – CLU certificate discharges the initial burden of establishing that the land under acquisition is not agricultural land – Therefore, apply the standard deduction 1/3 on exemplar value and are not persuaded to factor incremental increase on the exemplar – Market value of the lands Increased – Appeals allowed in part.

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH BESCO LIMITED — Appellant Vs. STATE OF HARYANA & OTHERS — Respondent ( Before : B.R. Gavai and S.V.N. Bhatti, JJ. ) Civil Appeal…

Partner in firm – Powers u/s 482 of the Cr P C can be exercised by the High Court in case when it comes across unimpeachable and incontrovertible evidence to indicate that the partner of the firm did not have any concern with the issuance of cheques – The case in hand is not of that kind – Impugned order passed by the High Court quashing the summoning order and the complaints against the respondent are set aside – Appeal allowed.

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH RIYA BAWRI ETC. — Appellant Vs. MARK ALEXANDER DAVIDSON & OTHERS — Respondent ( Before : Hima Kohli and Rajesh Bindal, JJ. ) Criminal…

Representation of People Act, 1951 – the election petition contained on affidavit and also a verification. In this very affidavit, the election petitioner has sworn on oath that the paragraphs where he has raised allegations of corrupt practice are true to the best of his knowledge. Though there is no separate and an independent affidavit with respect to the allegations of corrupt practice, there is substantial compliance of the requirements under Section 83(1)(c) of the Act.

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA FULL BENCH THANGJAM ARUNKUMAR — Appellant Vs. YUMKHAM ERABOT SINGH AND OTHERS — Respondent ( Before : Dr Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, CJI. and Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha,…

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