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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.

ACQUITTAL ::: Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) – Sections 34, 394, 460 and 302 – Madhya Pradesh Dakaiti Avam Vyapharan Adhiniyam, 1981 – Sections 11 and 13 – Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 (CrPC) – Section 313 – Evidence Act, 1872 – Sections 27 and 114 -Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) – Sections 34 – Common intention – Prosecution has to establish by evidence, whether direct or circumstantial, that there was plan or meeting of minds of all the accused persons to commit the offence for which they are charged with the aid of Section 34, be it pre-arranged or on the spur of the moment; but it must necessarily be before the commission of the crime.

  SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH SONU @ SUNIL — Appellant Vs. STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH — Respondent ( Before : Sanjay Kishan Kaul and K.M. Joseph, JJ. )…

Service Matters

Bihar Service Code – Rule 73 – Compulsory retirement – Rule 73 of the Bihar Service Code does not prescribe any length of service as criteria for retirement. The prescribed age of retirement for employees of the category to which the Appellant belonged was 58 years, later increased to 60 years. The decision of the respondents to retire the Appellant before he attained the age of 60 years as per his actual date of birth. Matter referred to CJI as difference of opinion..

  SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH GOPAL PRASAD — Appellant Vs. BIHAR SCHOOL EXAMINATION BOARD AND OTHERS — Respondent ( Before : Indira Banerjee and Ajay Rastogi, JJ. )…

Service Matters

Conduct, Discipline and Appeal Rules, 1978 – Rule 34.3 – Payment of gratuity – Employer has a right to withhold gratuity during pendency of the disciplinary proceedings. HELD termination’ and ‘dismissal’ are held to be synonymous but the difference between ‘termination’ and ‘dismissal’ is that dismissal could be on account of misconduct with loss of future employment involving dishonesty or criminality and penal in character but that is not in the case of termination – The “termination” as per Black’s Law Dictionary is the complete severance of relationship of employer and employee which in the instant case could be saved during pendency of the disciplinary proceedings

  SUPREME COURT OF INDIA FULL BENCH CHAIRMAN-CUM-MANAGING DIRECTOR, MAHANADI COALFIELDS LIMITED — Appellant Vs. SRI RABINDRANATH CHOUBEY — Respondent ( Before : Arun Mishra, M.R. Shah and Ajay Rastogi,…

Partnership Act, 1932 – Sections 37 and 48 – Distinction between ‘retirement of a partner’ and ‘dissolution of a partnership firm’ – On retirement of the partner, the reconstituted firm continues and the retiring partner is to be paid his dues in terms of Section 37 of the Partnership Act. In case of dissolution, accounts have to be settled and distributed as per the mode prescribed in Section 48 of the Partnership Act.

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA FULL BENCH GURU NANAK INDUSTRIES, FARIDABAD AND ANOTHER — Appellant Vs. AMAR SINGH (DEAD) THROUGH LRS — Respondent ( Before : N.V. Ramana, Sanjiv Khanna and…

Constitution of India, 1950 – Article 32 – Writ Petition – Conducting “single counselling” for filling up seats in the Post Graduate Medical Courses leading to Degrees and Diplomas and the seats in DNB (Diplomate of National Board) Courses. Admission is now at an advanced stage – HELD This Court do not deem it appropriate to pass any direction for the present year. However, going by the assertions made in the response filed by the Medical Council of India, we may observe that a common counselling or single online counselling in the coming years would definitely take care of any similar grievance.

  SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH ALAPATI JYOTSNA AND OTHERS — Appellant Vs. UNION OF INDIA & OTHERS — Respondent ( Before : Uday Umesh Lalit and Dinesh Maheshwari,…

SC Allows ED to Attach Assets Of JP Morgan And Its Directors To The Extent Of Amounts Allegedly Diverted From Amrapali Homebuyers HELD We lift the embargo created vide order dated 2nd December, 2019 not to attach the property of J.P. Morgan and its Directors. We permit the Enforcement Directorate to attach the Bank Accounts of J. P. Morgan as well as any other property belonging to J.P. Morgan and its Directors to the extent required”

SC Allows ED to Attach Assets Of JP Morgan And Its Directors To The Extent Of Amounts Allegedly Diverted From Amrapali Homebuyers [Read Order] LIVELAW NEWS NETWORK 23 May 2020…

Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 – Sections 34 and 37 – Arbitral award – Construction of the terms of a contract is primarily for an arbitrator to decide, unless the arbitrator construes a contract in a manner which no fair minded or reasonable person would take i.e. if the view taken by the arbitrator is not even a possible view to take.

  SUPREME COURT OF INDIA FULL BENCH PATEL ENGINEERING LTD. — Appellant Vs. NORTH EASTERN ELECTRIC POWER CORPORATION LTD. (NEEPCO) — Respondent ( Before : R. Banumathi, Indu Malhotra and…

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