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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.

Government Contract and Tender – Government contracts involve expenditure out of the public exchequer – Since they involve payment out of the public exchequer, the moneys expended must not be spent arbitrarily – State does not have absolute discretion while spending public money – All government actions including government contracts awarded by the State must be tested on the touchstone of Article 14

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH M/S INDIAN MEDICINES PHARMACEUTICALS CORPORATION LIMITED — Appellant Vs. KERALA AYURVEDIC CO OPERATIVE SOCIETY LIMITED AND OTHERS — Respondent ( Before : Dr. Dhananjaya…

IMP : Demonetization – Recommendation – Scheme mandates that before the Central Government takes a decision with regard to demonetization, it would be required to consider the recommendation of the Central Board – The word “recommendation” would mean a consultative process between the Central Board and the Central Government.

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA CONSTITUTION BENCH VIVEK NARAYAN SHARMA — Appellant Vs. UNION OF INDIA — Respondent ( Before : S. Abdul Nazeer, B.R. Gavai, A.S. Bopanna, V. Ramasubramanian and…

(IPC) – Ss 302, 211 & 84 – Evidence Act, 1872 – S 105 – the manner of commission, with strangulation of the children one by one; throwing of their dead bodies into the canal; appellant himself swimming in the canal and coming out; and immediately thereafter, stating before several persons that the children had accidentally slipped into the canal – neither Section 84 IPC applies to the present case nor Section 329 CrPC would come to the rescue of the appellant – Conviction and sentence upheld.

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH PREM SINGH — Appellant Vs. STATE OF NCT OF DELHI — Respondent ( Before : Dinesh Maheshwari and Sudhanshu Dhulia, JJ. ) Criminal Appeal…

(CrPC) – Section 482 – Summoning order – Quashing of – When the allegations in the complaint are so absurd or inherently improbable, on the basis of which no prudent person can ever reach a just conclusion that there is sufficient wrong for proceeding against the accused, summons should not be issued – Summoning order quashed.

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH DEEPAK GABA AND OTHERS — Appellant Vs. STATE OF UTTAR PRADESH AND ANOTHER — Respondent ( Before : Sanjiv Khanna and J.K. Maheshwari, JJ.…

Electricity Act 2003 – Section 126 – Kerala Electricity Supply Code, 2014 – Regulation 153(15) – Consumers in excess of the connected load/contracted load would amount to unauthorised use of electricity under explanation (b) to Section 126(6) of the Act 2003 – Regulation 153(15) of the Code 2014 is declared to be invalid being inconsistent with the provision of Section 126 of the Act 2003.

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH KERALA STATE ELECTRICITY BOARD AND OTHERS — Appellant Vs. THOMAS JOSEPH ALIAS THOMAS M. J. AND OTHERS — Respondent ( Before : Dinesh Maheshwari…

Quashing of criminal complaint – gap of more than four years between the initial investigation and the filing of the complaint, and even after lapse of substantial amount of time, no evidence has been provided to sustain the claims in the complaint – law, must always ensure that frivolous cases do not pervert the sacrosanct nature of the law – Criminal complaint quashed

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH HASMUKHLAL D. VORA AND ANOTHER — Appellant Vs. THE STATE OF TAMIL NADU — Respondent ( Before : Krishna Murari and S. Ravindra Bhat,…

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