Latest Post

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.

(CPC) – Orders 21 Rule 92 and Orders 21 Rule 94 – Once the sale is confirmed and the sale certificate has been issued in favour of the purchaser, the same shall become final.Appeal against the decree passed with the consent of the parties shall be barred.No suit shall lie to set aside a decree on the ground that the compromise on which the decree is based was not lawful.

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA FULL BENCH H.S. GOUTHAM — Appellant Vs. RAMA MURTHY AND ANOTHER ETC — Respondent ( Before : Ashok Bhushan, R. Subhash Reddy and M.R. Shah, JJ.…

Succession Act, 1925 – Section 273(b) – Partition suit – Transfer of – Virtue of Proviso (b) of Section 273 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925, any letters of administration granted by the District Court, Saket cannot have effect in other States unless the value of the property affected by the grant and located beyond the limits of the State, does not exceed Rs.10,000/.

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA SINGLE BENCH RAVINDER NATH AGARWAL — Appellant Vs. YOGENDER NATH AGARWAL AND OTHERS — Respondent ( Before : V. Ramasubramanian, J. ) Transfer Petition (Civil) No.…

Trade Marks Act, 1999 – S 85 and 87 – In the absence of any member, the chairperson may, if the occasion so arises, act as technical or judicial member – Section 87 enables a vice-chairperson, or as the case may be the senior-most member of the board to act as chairperson in the event of a vacancy to that position

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA FULL BENCH THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR PROTECTION OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY (INDIA GROUP) — Appellant Vs. UNION OF INDIA — Respondent ( Before : L. Nageswara Rao,…

Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 – Section 12 – Time limit for arbitral award – Appointment of the Sole Arbitrator is subject to the declarations made under Section 12 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (as amended) Parties are directed to approach the Indian Council of Arbitration within a period of 2 weeks to fix the date of the arbitral proceedings.

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH NATIONAL HIGHWAYS AUTHORITY OF INDIA — Appellant Vs. M/S. PROGRESSIVE CONSTRUCTION LIMITED — Respondent ( Before : Indu Malhotra and Ajay Rastogi, JJ. )…

(CrPC) – Ss 320, 320(2) &320(5) – (IPC) – S 324 – Custodial Death – A case where the accused who were police officers, one of them being in-charge of Station and other Senior Inspector have themselves brutally beaten the deceased, who died the same night – Their offences cannot be compounded by the Court in exercise of Section 320(2) read with sub-section (5).

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH PRAVAT CHANDRA MOHANTY — Appellant Vs. THE STATE OF ODISHA AND ANOTHER — Respondent ( Before : Ashok Bhushan and Ajay Rastogi, JJ. )…

Relief has been sought is (i) cancellation of all the agreements; (ii) refund of moneys to purchasers; and in the alternative (iii) ensuring that the construction is carried out and that the premises are handed over within a reasonable period of time -Entertaining a petition of this nature will involve the Court in virtually carrying out a day to day supervision of a building project

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH UPENDRA CHOUDHURY — Appellant Vs. BULANDSHAHAR DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY AND OTHERS — Respondent ( Before : Dr. Dhananjaya Y. Chandrachud and M. R. Shah, JJ.…

Kerala Private Forest (Vesting and Assignment) Act, 1971 – Section 8 – Kerala Forest (Vesting and Management of Ecologically Fragile Lands) Act, 2003 -It is just and proper that even if the respondents are not compensated for the value of the land, they need to be compensated for the benefits arisen out of the lands for the period they were kept out of possession by action of the respondents, treating it to be vested land under Act, 1971

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA FULL BENCH THE CONSERVATOR AND CUSTODIAN OF FOREST AND OTHERS — Appellant Vs. SOBHA JOHN KOSHY AND ANOTHER — Respondent ( Before : Ashok Bhushan, R.…

Service Matters

Heart ailment – Section 2(i) of the Act takes into account visual disability, locomotor disability, mental illness, mental retardation, hearing impairment and leprosy – A heart ailment is not covered within the definition of disability in the Act – When the 1995 Act was replaced by the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016,

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA FULL BENCH NAWAL KISHORE SHARMA — Appellant Vs. UNION OF INDIA AND OTHERS — Respondent ( Before : Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Dinesh Maheshwari and Hrishikesh Roy,…

You missed