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Environment Law — Environmental Clearance — Prior clearance — Mandatory character — Prior environmental clearance under EIA Notification, 2006 is mandatory, being founded on the precautionary principle and couched in imperative terms — Word “prior” and the graded four-stage screening, scoping, public consultation and appraisal process render an anterior assessment the sine qua non of the clearance regime — Decriminalisation of contraventions under Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Act, 2023 does not alter this mandatory character. Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 — Section 415 — Appeal — Maintainability — Conviction recorded for first time by appellate court reversing acquittal — An appeal under Section 374 CrPC (Section 415 BNSS) is not maintainable against a judgment of conviction recorded by a Sessions Court while exercising appellate jurisdiction and reversing an order of acquittal passed by the Trial Court — No such second appeal is contemplated under CrPC or BNSS — The only remedy available is revision under Section 397 r/w 401 CrPC (Section 438 r/w 442 BNSS) Income Tax Act, 1961 — Section 44B — “Carriage” of passengers — Meaning and scope of — Cruise operations by non-resident shipping entity — Held, the word “carriage” under Section 44B cannot be restrictively construed to mean movement only from Port A to Port B. A round-trip cruise voyage, where passengers have the option to disembark at intermediate ports without compulsion to return to the originating port, constitutes carriage of passengers within the meaning of Section 44B. Provision of incidental on-board entertainment and hospitality does not alter the essential character of the activity as carriage of passengers. Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 (CrPC) — Section 482 — Quashing of FIR — Scope of inquiry — Mini-trial impermissible — At the stage of considering quashing of an FIR, the Court’s inquiry is confined to whether the allegations, taken at face value, prima facie disclose commission of a cognizable offence — Court cannot conduct a “mini-trial” by sifting evidence, assessing probabilities, or evaluating witness credibility — High Court exceeding these limits by examining trap proceedings, absence of personal recovery, and departmental enquiry findings, held impermissible. Succession Act, 1925 — Sections 33, 35 and 38 — Hindu/Christian Succession — Applicability of S. 33 confined to property owned by deceased male; erroneous application by High Court set aside — Where property was purchased and registered in the joint names of two wives, the same is owned by them and not by the husband, notwithstanding that he provided the consideration — Section 33, which governs devolution on intestacy of a male’s property between his widow and lineal descendants, is not attracted to property never vested in the husband’s name — High Court’s application of S. 33 to the entirety of the suit property held misconceived.

It can be seen that 39 years have passed since the date of offence and both the other accused persons have come to be acquitted – There are no criminal antecedents of accused-appellant that have been brought on record – Further, from the record, it cannot be said that the accused-appellant acted in a premeditated manner, whatsoever – Sentence reduced to 3 years from 5 years

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH PRAMOD KUMAR MISHRA — Appellant Vs. THE STATE OF U.P. — Respondent ( Before : Abhay S. Oka and Sanjay Karol, JJ. ) Criminal…

Dispute over the allocation of a residential plot to Mr. ‘K’ and subsequent attempts to cancel the sale deed – Arbitration -‘K’ successors challenged this decision in a writ petition, and the High Court ruled in their favor, finding that the society had failed to provide evidence of the alleged violations – The society appealed this decision, but this Court concluded that their appeal lacked merit and dismissed it.

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH PURUSHOTTAM BAGH SAHKARI AWAS SAMITI LTD. — Appellant Vs. SRI SHOBHAN PAL SINGH AND ANOTHER ETC. — Respondent ( Before : Abhay S. Oka…

Service Matters

Uttar Pradesh Subordinate Offices Ministerial Group “C” Posts of the Lowest Grade (Recruitment by Promotion) Rules, 2001 – Rule 5 – An affidavit revealed vacancies, and in light of this, This Court directed the promotion of four candidates based on their education qualifications – This decision was not to set a precedent, and the appeal was allowed without any cost orders.

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH RAJENDRA PRASAD AND OTHERS — Appellant Vs. STATE OF UTTAR PRADESH AND OTHERS — Respondent ( Before : Abhay S. Oka and Rajesh Bindal,…

Section 162 of the CrPC which prevents a Trial Judge from independently examining the contents of a chargesheet suo motu and himself using the statement of a person examined by the police recorded therein for the purpose of contradicting such person when he gives evidence in favour of the State as a prosecution witness

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA FULL BENCH MUNNA PANDEY — Appellant Vs. STATE OF BIHAR — Respondent ( Before : B.R. Gavai, J.B. Pardiwala and Prashant Kumar Mishra, JJ. ) Criminal…

Service Matters

Considering the facts and circumstances of the case and in order to do complete justice, the appellant will be entitled to all the service benefits including seniority, consequential promotions and pensionary benefits at par with his juniors, though notionally, since he superannuated on 30.06.2007 and has not worked on the promoted post.

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH L.R. PATIL — Appellant Vs. GULBARGA UNIVERSITY, GULBARGA — Respondent ( Before : J.K. Maheshwari and K.V. Viswanathan, JJ. ) Civil Appeal No. 3254…

Hindu Succession Act, 1956 – Section 6 – Devolution of interest in coparcenary property – In order to ascertain the shares of the heirs in the property of a deceased coparcener, the first step is to ascertain the share of the deceased himself in the coparcenary property and Explanation 1 to Section 6 provides a fictional expedient, namely, that his share is deemed to be the share in the property that would have been allotted to him if a partition had taken place immediately before his death

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH DERHA — Appellant Vs. VISHAL AND ANOTHER — Respondent ( Before : C.T. Ravikumar and Sanjay Kumar, JJ. ) Civil Appeal No. 4494 of…

Service Matters

Scientific and Technical Group “A” (Gazetted) posts in the Ministry of Information Technology (in-situ Promotion under Flexible Complementing Scheme) Rules, 1998 – Rule 4(b) – For striking down the provisions of law or for declaring any rules as ultra vires, specific pleading to challenge the rules and asking of such relief ought to be made.

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH UNION OF INDIA AND OTHERS — Appellant Vs. MANJURANI ROUTRAY AND OTHERS — Respondent ( Before : J.K. Maheshwari and K.V. Viswanathan, JJ. )…

NEET PG – Rejection of candidature to Post Graduate Medical Seat – Petitioner is a U.S. National holds an Overseas Citizen of India card by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) – Eligibility to claim the benefit of Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card holder is undeniable – Rejection of her candidature is not supportable in law

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH PALLAVI — Appellant Vs. UNION OF INDIA AND OTHERS — Respondent ( Before : S. Ravindra Bhat and Aravind Kumar, JJ. ) Writ Petition…

Held, a child of a marriage which is null and void under Section 11 of HMA is statutorily conferred with legitimacy – Where a voidable marriage has been annulled by a decree of nullity under Section 12, of HMA a child ‘begotten or conceived’ before the decree has been made, is deemed to be their legitimate child notwithstanding the decree, if the child would have been legitimate to the parties to the marriage if a decree of dissolution had been passed instead of a decree of nullity

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA FULL BENCH REVANASIDDAPPA AND ANOTHER — Appellant Vs. MALLIKARJUN AND OTHERS — Respondent ( Before : Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, CJI., J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra,…

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