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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.

Appeal against acquittal – Dying declaration – the accused is able to create a doubt not only with regard to the dying declaration but also with regard to the nature and manner of death, the benefit of doubt shall have to be given to the accused – Therefore much shall depend on the facts of a case – There can be no rigid standard or yardstick for acceptance or rejection of a dying declaration.

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH NARESH KUMAR — Appellant Vs. KALAWATI AND OTHERS — Respondent ( Before : Navin Sinha and Krishna Murari, JJ. ) Criminal Appeal No. 35…

Permanent Commission for Women Officers (Army) – Evaluation criteria set by the Army constituted systemic discrimination against the petitioners – Pattern of evaluation deployed by the Army, to implement the decision in Secretary, Ministry of Defence v. Babita Puniya, (2020) 7 SCC 469 disproportionately affects women – This disproportionate impact is attributable to the structural discrimination against women, by dint of which the facially neutral criteria of selective ACR evaluation and fulfilling the medical criteria to be in SHAPE-1 at a belated stage, to secure PC disproportionately impacts them vis-à-vis their male counterparts.

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH LT. COL. NITISHA AND OTHERS — Appellant Vs. UNION OF INDIA AND OTHERS — Respondent ( Before : Dr. Dhananjaya Y. Chandrachud and M.…

IBC – Adjudicating Authority cannot interfere on merits with the commercial decision taken by the Committee of Creditors – Limited jurisdiction in matter of approval of resolution plan – Jurisdiction of the Appellate Authority is also circumscribed by the limited grounds of appeal provided in Section 61 of the Code

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA FULL BENCH JAYPEE KENSINGTON BOULEVARD APARTMENTS WELFARE ASSOCIATION AND OTHERS — Appellant Vs. NBCC (INDIA) LIMITED AND OTHERS — Respondent ( Before : A.M. Khanwilkar, Dinesh…

Enquiry at the Stage of Pre-Registration of FIR – Permissibility – Such a preliminary enquiry would be permissible only to ascertain whether cognizable offence is disclosed or not and only thereafter FIR would be registered – Therefore, such a preliminary enquiry would be in the interest of the alleged accused also against whom the complaint is made.

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH CHARAN SINGH — Appellant Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA AND OTHERS — Respondent ( Before : Dr. Dhananjaya Y. Chandrachud and M.R. Shah, JJ. )…

Loan moratorium case – There shall not be any charge of interest on interest/compound interest/penal interest for the period during the moratorium from any of the borrowers and whatever the amount is recovered by way of interest on interest/compound interest/penal interest for the period during the moratorium, the same shall be refunded and to be adjusted/given credit in the next instalment of the loan account – There is no rational to restrict such relief with respect to loans up to Rs. 2 crores only

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA FULL BENCH SMALL SCALE INDUSTRIAL MANUFACTURES ASSOCIATION (REGD.) — Appellant Vs. UNION OF INDIA AND OTHERS — Respondent ( Before : Ashok Bhushan, R. Subhash Reddy…

Service Matters

Suspension – Manipulation in weight measurement – Chairman of the Administrative Committee to be a Disciplinary Authority – Since the Chairman of the Administrative Committee happens to be the Registrar, the decision to impose punishment may not require prior approval

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA FULL BENCH CHAIRMAN ADMINISTRATIVE COMMITTEE U.P. MILK UNION AND DAIRY FEDERATION CENTRALIZED SERVICES — Appellant Vs. JAGPAL SINGH — Respondent ( Before : Uday Umesh Lalit,…

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