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Presidency Towns Insolvency Act, 1909 — Section 9(2) — “Decree or order” — Whether includes a recovery certificate issued by a Debts Recovery Tribunal under the Recovery of Debts Due to Banks and Financial Institutions Act, 1993 (pre-2016 amendment) — Held, no — Insolvency Act, being weighed with grave civil consequence of “civil death”, must be strictly construed — Expression “decree or order” must bear the meaning assigned under Ss. 2(2) and 2(14), CPC, requiring adjudication by a “court” in a “suit” — A DRT recovery certificate, not being a decree or order of a court within this meaning, cannot found an insolvency notice under S. 9(2) — Ratio of Paramjeet Singh Patheja v. ICDS Ltd., (2006) 13 SCC 322 (rendered qua arbitral awards) held to rest on a wider principle applicable equally to DRT recovery certificates — Impugned judgment of Division Bench, Bombay High Court, affirming Single Judge’s quashing of insolvency notice, upheld. Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995 — Section 47 — Non-discrimination in government employment — Employee acquiring disability during service — Mandatory obligation on employer to shift employee to alternate post with same pay and service benefits, or, failing that, to accommodate on supernumerary post till superannuation — Respondent, a CRPF Constable (Driver), rendered blind/partially blind in 1996 and medically invalidated from service in 1998 without consideration of alternate posting — Held, S. 47 casts a positive and mandatory obligation on employer to protect disabled employee and not await a request for accommodation — Order of medical invalidation dated 11-3-1998 held ultra vires S. 47 and Arts. 14 and 21 of the Constitution — Single Judge’s direction reinstating respondent, upheld by Division Bench, affirmed in principle, though relief modified in view of respondent’s superannuation — Kunal Singh v. Union of India, (2003) 4 SCC 524; Bhagwan Dass v. Punjab State Electricity Board, (2008) 1 SCC 579; Ravinder Kumar Dhariwal v. Union of India, (2023) 2 SCC 209, relied on. State Financial Corporations Act, 1951 — Sections 29 & 30 — Auction sale of mortgaged property by Financial Corporation for recovery of dues — Judicial review of, scope — Borrowers persistently defaulting over eight years despite multiple opportunities, repayment schedules fixed by High Court, and statutory notices — Financial Corporation auctioning mortgaged property after affording repeated chances including a final 21-day matching offer, which borrowers ignored — Held, fairness required of a Financial Corporation cannot be carried to the extent of disabling it from recovering what is due to it; fairness is not a one-way street — Courts have no say in matters between the Corporation and its debtor except where there is (a) statutory violation, or (b) the Corporation has acted unfairly/unreasonably — Writ court/civil court does not sit as an appellate authority over commercial decisions of the Corporation — Absence of prior valuation report, by itself, held insufficient to vitiate auction where borrowers never objected to the basis of sale (BOS — balance outstanding as on date of possession/sale deed) and themselves sought to retain the property on the very same terms — Concurrent findings of Trial Court and High Court setting aside auction sale, reversed. Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 — Sections 19(1) & 21 — “Knowledge that such an offence has been committed” — Meaning and scope — Held, not confined to direct/personal knowledge of commission of offence based on person’s own senses — Includes awareness founded on receipt of credible information regarding commission of offence punishable under the Act — Where such information is received directly from the victim, capable of communicating/reporting/informing, the same is deemed credible — Restrictive construction confining “knowledge” to direct, sensory knowledge would render sub-sections (5) & (6) of S. 19 and R. 4 of POCSO Rules, 2012 non-functional, and defeat the protective purpose of the Act — Person receiving report from victim not obliged to independently verify or investigate truth of allegation before reporting — Conducting a prior “verification exercise” to ascertain correctness of the child’s complaint, and reporting only if own assessment finds signs of assault, is impermissible and defeats the very purpose of the Act, since it may result in disappearance of evidence and delay — Delhi Rent Control Act, 1958 — Section 14(1)(b) — Subletting, assignment or parting with possession — Whether involuntary transfer pursuant to statutory scheme of bank amalgamation attracts the provision — Original tenant-bank (HCB) amalgamated with another bank (PNB) pursuant to a Scheme framed by RBI and notified by the Central Government under S. 45 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 — Consequent thereto, HCB ceased to exist and all its rights, including tenancy rights in the demised premises, vested in PNB, which came into possession without the landlord’s written consent — Held, S. 14(1)(b) is of wide amplitude, covering subletting, assignment, and “any other mode” by which possession is parted with, and does not distinguish between voluntary and involuntary transfers — Once the twin ingredients — transfer of tenancy rights/possession, and absence of the landlord’s written consent — are satisfied, the provision is attracted irrespective of the reasons necessitating the transfer — Contention that a statutory amalgamation stands outside the mischief of the provision, rejected

Presidency Towns Insolvency Act, 1909 — Section 9(2) — “Decree or order” — Whether includes a recovery certificate issued by a Debts Recovery Tribunal under the Recovery of Debts Due to Banks and Financial Institutions Act, 1993 (pre-2016 amendment) — Held, no — Insolvency Act, being weighed with grave civil consequence of “civil death”, must be strictly construed — Expression “decree or order” must bear the meaning assigned under Ss. 2(2) and 2(14), CPC, requiring adjudication by a “court” in a “suit” — A DRT recovery certificate, not being a decree or order of a court within this meaning, cannot found an insolvency notice under S. 9(2) — Ratio of Paramjeet Singh Patheja v. ICDS Ltd., (2006) 13 SCC 322 (rendered qua arbitral awards) held to rest on a wider principle applicable equally to DRT recovery certificates — Impugned judgment of Division Bench, Bombay High Court, affirming Single Judge’s quashing of insolvency notice, upheld.

Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995 — Section 47 — Non-discrimination in government employment — Employee acquiring disability during service — Mandatory obligation on employer to shift employee to alternate post with same pay and service benefits, or, failing that, to accommodate on supernumerary post till superannuation — Respondent, a CRPF Constable (Driver), rendered blind/partially blind in 1996 and medically invalidated from service in 1998 without consideration of alternate posting — Held, S. 47 casts a positive and mandatory obligation on employer to protect disabled employee and not await a request for accommodation — Order of medical invalidation dated 11-3-1998 held ultra vires S. 47 and Arts. 14 and 21 of the Constitution — Single Judge’s direction reinstating respondent, upheld by Division Bench, affirmed in principle, though relief modified in view of respondent’s superannuation — Kunal Singh v. Union of India, (2003) 4 SCC 524; Bhagwan Dass v. Punjab State Electricity Board, (2008) 1 SCC 579; Ravinder Kumar Dhariwal v. Union of India, (2023) 2 SCC 209, relied on.

The precise time at which the notification was uploaded on the e-Gazette was 20:46:58 hours – Since the importers, who had imported goods from Pakistan, had presented their bills of entry and completed the process of “self assessment” before the notification enhancing the rate of duty to 200 per cent was issued and uploaded, the enhanced rate of duty was not attracted – Importers were liable to pay the duty applicable at the time when the bills of entry for home consumption were filed under Section 46 of the Customs Act, 1962

  SUPREME COURT OF INDIA FULL BENCH  UNION OF INDIA AND OTHERS — Appellant Vs. M/S G S CHATHA RICE MILLS AND ANOTHER — Respondent ( Before : Dr. Dhananjaya…

Wherein the circumstances when requirement of Article 14 of the Constitution is to be satisfied is considered in detail – It is articulated therein that equality before the law or the equal protection of laws does not mean identity or abstract symmetry of treatment and that reasonable classification is permitted.

  SUPREME COURT OF INDIA FULL BENCH NATIONAL ALLIANCE FOR PEOPLE’S MOVEMENTS AND OTHERS — Appellant Vs. THE STATE OF MAHARASHTRA AND OTHERS — Respondent ( Before : S. A.…

Decision of National Law School of India University (NLSIU) hold a separate admission test by way of the National Legal Aptitude Test (NLAT) – Quashing of – Home based online examination as proposed by the respondent No.1 University for NLAT-2020-21 could not be held to be a test which was able to maintain transparency and integrity of the examination

  SUPREME COURT OF INDIA FULL BENCH RAKESH KUMAR AGARWALLA AND ANOTHER — Appellant Vs. NATIONAL LAW SCHOOL OF INDIA UNIVERSITY, BENGALURU AND OTHERS — Respondent ( Before : Ashok…

C P C – Or 2, R 2 – Suit to include the whole claim – Plea of Bar – The plea of bar under Or 2, R 2 is a technical plea which has to be pleaded and satisfactorily established. If the plea of bar is not taken, the Court should not suo moto decide the plea. It cannot be raised before Supreme Court if not raised in the High Court.

  SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH B. SANTOSHAMMA AND ANOTHER — Appellant Vs. D. SARALA AND ANOTHER — Respondent ( Before : Uday Umesh Lalit and Indira Banerjee, JJ.…

Vigilantibus Non Dormientibus Jura Subveniunt – The law will assist only those who are vigilant about their rights and not those who sleep over them. Appellate Tribunal was empowered to condone the delay upto a period of period of 45 days – Therefore, the appellants cannot claim the benefit of the order passed by this Court on 23.03.2020, for enlarging, even the period up to which delay can be condoned.

  SUPREME COURT OF INDIA FULL BENCH SAGUFA AHMED AND OTHERS — Appellant Vs. UPPER ASSAM PLYWOOD PRODUCTS PVT. LIMITED AND OTHERS — Respondent ( Before : S. A. Bobde,…

Appellant was working as a typist/data entry operator in court premises in Delhi – High Court clearly erred in holding that compensation for loss of future prospects could not be awarded – High Court halved it to 45% on an entirely wrong application of some ‘proportionate’ principle (following the Pranay Sethi, (2017) 16 SCC 860 principle), which was illogical and is unsupportable in law

  SUPREME COURT OF INDIA FULL BENCH PAPPU DEO YADAV — Appellant Vs. NARESH KUMAR AND OTHERS — Respondent ( Before : L. Nageswara Rao, Krishna Murari and S. Ravindra…

Gift Deed Property – Deficiency in stamp duty on deed – Imposition of extreme penalty HELD Collector is not required by law to impose the maximum rate of penalty as a matter of course whenever an impounded document is sent to him. He has to take into account various aspects including the financial position of the person concerned – It is only in the very extreme situation that penalty needs to be imposed to the extent of ten times

  SUPREME COURT OF INDIA FULL BENCH TRUSTEES OF H.C. DHANDA TRUST — Appellant Vs. STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH AND OTHERS — Respondent ( Before : Ashok Bhushan, R. Subhash…

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