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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.

There is not only a grammatical but a legal distinction between “may be proved” and “must be or should be proved” – Facts so established should be consistent only with the hypothesis of the guilt of the accused, that is to say, they should not be explainable on any other hypothesis except that the accused is guilty – – Conviction and sentence set aside – Appeal allowed.

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH KAMAL — Appellant Vs. STATE (NCT OF DELHI) — Respondent ( Before : B.R. Gavai and Prashant Kumar Mishra, JJ. ) Criminal Appeal No.…

An Authorized Officer under the PMLA, 2002 is not duty bound to follow the rigor of Section 41A of the CrPC, 1973 as against the binding conditions under Section 19 of the PMLA, 2002 – – When an arrestee is forwarded to the jurisdictional Magistrate under Section 19(3) of the PMLA, 2002 no writ of Habeus Corpus would lie — Section 167 of the CrPC, 1973 is a bridge between liberty and investigation performing a fine balancing act

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH V. SENTHIL BALAJI — Appellant Vs. THE STATE REPRESENTED BY DEPUTY DIRECTOR AND OTHERS — Respondent ( Before : A.S. Bopanna and M. M.…

Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 – Section 13(1)(e), 13(2) and 19(3) – Once the cognizance was taken by the Special Judge and the charge was framed against the accused, the trial could neither have been stayed nor scuttled in the midst of it in view of Section 19(3) of Act – Order of discharge is set-aside – Appeal allowed.

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH STATE OF KARNATAKA LOKAYUKTA POLICE — Appellant Vs. S. SUBBEGOWDA — Respondent ( Before : Aniruddha Bose and Bela M. Trivedi, JJ. ) Criminal…

Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) – Sections 366, 376, 376(2)(g), 342, 506 and 34 – Rape – Acquittal – Clothes of prosecutrix handed over to the police were having stains of semen, however, no scientific evidence was produced to link the same with the accused – Conviction and sentence set aside – Appeal allowed

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH AVTAR SINGH AND ANOTHER — Appellant Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB — Respondent ( Before : Hima Kohli and Rajesh Bindal, JJ. ) Criminal Appeal…

Government of Kerala covering Medical institutions which included nursing homes, diagnostic centres and pathological laboratories employing 20 or more persons were brought under the ambit of the Employees State Insurance Act, 1948 – High Court rightly held that the provisions of Employees State Insurance Act, 1948 will be applicable to the respondent establishment w.e.f. 06.09.2007 and not from 22.11.2002.

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH E.S.I. CORPORATION, REP. BY THE REGIONAL DIRECTOR — Appellant Vs. M/S. ENDOCRINOLOGY AND IMMUNOLOGY LAB — Respondent ( Before : Hima Kohli and Rajesh…

Only determinations which are fundamental would result in the application of the doctrine of res judicata – Any determination, despite being deliberate or formal, cannot give rise to application of the doctrine of res judicata if they are not fundamental in nature – Term ‘resumption’ not be conflated with the term ‘acquisition’ as employed within the meaning of Article 300A of the Constitution so as to create a right to compensation.

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH YADAIAH AND ANOTHER — Appellant Vs. STATE OF TELANGANA AND OTHERS — Respondent ( Before : Surya Kant and J.K Maheshwari, JJ. ) Civil…

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