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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.

Compensation – Claimants shall not be entitled to the same compensation as awarded with respect to the lands acquired after 5 years from the date of acquisition – High Court awarding compensation @ Rs.297/- per sq.yard is unsustainable and it is held that the original claimants shall be entitled to compensation at the rate of Rs.120/- per sq.yard.

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH NEW OKHLA INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY — Appellant Vs. OMVIR SINGH AND OTHERS — Respondent ( Before : M. R. Shah and Hima Kohli, JJ.…

Service Matters

Respondent are directed to appoint the appellants to post of Health Worker (Female) within a period of six weeks, if otherwise, they are found meritorious and fulfilling the other eligibility criteria – However, it is made clear that the appellants shall be entitled to all the benefits from the date of their actual appointments.

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH KUMARI LAXMI SAROJ AND OTHERS — Appellant Vs. STATE OF U.P. AND OTHERS — Respondent ( Before : M.R. Shah and Hima Kohli, JJ.…

Disagree view taken by the High Court that the acquisition is deemed to have lapsed under Section 24(2) of the Act, 2013 on the ground that though the possession of the subject lands has been taken over but the compensation in respect of the subject lands has not been tendered.

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH DELHI DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY — Appellant Vs. CHANDERMAL AND OTHERS — Respondent ( Before : M.R. Shah and S. Ravindra Bhat, JJ. ) Civil Appeal…

(CrPC) – Ss 213 and 313 – (IPC) – Ss 148, 302, 307 r/w section 149 – by reason of omission to frame a proper charge in terms of Section 213 of CrPC, and by reason of not putting important circumstances appearing in the evidence in the statement under Section 313 caused serious prejudice to the accused – Appeal allowed

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH KALICHARAN AND OTHERS — Appellant Vs. STATE OF UTTAR PRADESH — Respondent ( Before : Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Abhay S. Oka, JJ. )…

Refund of any earnest money – The litmus test appears to be that unless a plaintiff specifically seeks the refund of the earnest money at the time of filing of the suit or by way of amendment, no such relief can be granted to him – Prayer clause is a sine qua non for grant of decree of refund of earnest money. HELD nature of ‘earnest money’, the onus to prove that the same was ‘penal’ in nature squarely lies on the party seeking refund of the same –

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH DESH RAJ AND OTHERS — Appellant Vs. ROHTASH SINGH — Respondent ( Before : Surya Kant and Bela M. Trivedi, JJ. ) Civil Appeal…

Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 – Section 24(2) – Lapse of acquisition proceedings – Section 24(2) of the Act, 2013 twin conditions of not taking possession and not tendering/payment of compensation are required to be satisfied – If one of the conditions is not satisfied, the acquisition proceedings are not deemed to have been lapsed under Section 24(2) of the Act, 2013.

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH LUCKNOW DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY — Appellant Vs. MEHDI HASAN (DECEASED) THR. LRS. AND OTHERS — Respondent ( Before : M.R. Shah and M.M. Sundresh, JJ.…

Back wages – Merely because the reinstatement order was under challenge and there was a stay of the order of reinstatement during the pendency of the proceedings before the High Court, it cannot be a ground to deny the wages to the employee when ultimately the order of reinstatement came to be confirmed and attained the finality.

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH D.N. KRISHNAPPA — Appellant Vs. THE DEPUTY GENERAL MANAGER — Respondent ( Before : M. R. Shah and C.T. Ravikumar, JJ. ) Civil Appeal…

(CrPC) – Sections 227, 228, 300 – Applicability of Section 300 of CrPC – Stage of discharge under Section 227 Cr.P.C. is a stage prior to framing of the charge (under Section 228 Cr.P.C.) and it is at that stage alone that the court can consider the application under Section 300 Cr.P.C. – Once the court rejects the discharge application, it would proceed to framing of charge under Section 228 Cr.P.C.

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH CHANDI PULIYA — Appellant Vs. THE STATE OF WEST BENGAL — Respondent ( Before : M.R. Shah and C.T. Ravikumar, JJ. ) Criminal Appeal…

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