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Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) — Sections 302, 449, 376, 394 — Appeal against High Court’s upholding of conviction and sentence — Case based on circumstantial evidence — Absence of direct evidence connecting appellant to offense — Falsely implicated — Prosecution failed to establish guilt beyond reasonable doubt — No scientific evidence linking appellant — Important witnesses not associated in investigation or produced in court — Appeal allowed, conviction and sentence set aside. Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 — Section 138 — Dishonour of cheque — Quashing of proceedings — Cheques issued as security and not for consideration — Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) clearly stated cheques were for security purposes to show banks and not for deposit — Complainant failed to read the complete terms of MOU in isolation and misinterpreted it to claim cheques were converted into debt — Court empowered to consider unimpeachable documents at pre-trial stage to prevent injustice — Complaints under Section 138 NI Act liable to be quashed. Insurance Law — Fire Insurance — Accidental Fire — Cause of fire is immaterial if the insured is not the instigator and there is no fraud. The objective of fire insurance is to indemnify the insured against loss by fire. Tender Conditions — Interpretation — Ambiguity — The terms of a tender must be clear and unambiguous — If a tendering authority intends for a specific document to be issued by a particular authority, it must be clearly stated in the tender conditions — Failure to do so may lead to rejection of the bid being deemed arbitrary and dehors the tender terms. Public Interest Litigation (PIL) — Environmental Protection — Monitoring Committee — Powers and Scope — A PIL was filed concerning environmental issues in Delhi, leading to the appointment of a Monitoring Committee. The Supreme Court clarified that the committee was appointed to prevent misuse of residential premises for commercial purposes and not to interfere with residential premises used as such. Their power was limited to making suggestions to a Special Task Force regarding encroachments on public land, not to summarily seal premises.

Common intention–Existence of common intention is a question of fact–Since intention is a state of mind, it very difficult, if not impossible, to get or procure direct proof of common intention–Courts, in most cases, have to infer the intention from the act(s) or conduct of the accused or other relevant circumstances of the case. Murder–Appellant was present at the scene of occurrence and simply watched A1 throwing acid on the deceased without preventing A1 from doing so clearly establishes that the appellant had intended to cause injury to and also disfigurement of the deceased and as such is liable to be punished under Section 326 IPC.

2010(1) LAW HERALD (SC) 236 IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Before The Hon’ble Mr. Justice V.S.Sirpurkar The Hon’ble Mr. Justice Mukundakam Sharma Criminal Appeal No. 1418 of 2004 Bengai…

Amendment of written statement–Petitioners were fully aware of the Will in question, but had not even mentioned the same in their written statement–Petitioners attempted to introduce a new story by way of defence in order to prolong the disposal of the appeal–Amendment of pleadings not allowed.

2010(1) LAW HERALD (SC) 232 IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Before The Hon’ble Mr. Justice Altamas Kabir The Hon’ble Mr. Justice Markandey Katju Special Leave Petition (C) No. 3592…

Impugned judgment of the High Court modified to the extent that the respondents be paid interest at the rate of 10 per cent per annum and not 15 per cent from the date mentioned in the impugned judgment of the High Court–In the event, the amount, is not paid by the State within six months from the date of supply of a copy of this order to it by the respondents, the State shall be liable to pay interest at the rate of 15 per cent per annum as directed by the High Court.   

2010(1) LAW HERALD (SC) 225 IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Before The Hon’ble Mr. Justice Tarun Chatterjee The Hon’ble Mr. Justice Aftab Alam Civil Appeal Nos. 2547 and 2548…

Service Matters

Termination of services–Appellant’s services terminated “for giving wrong information and concealment of facts in attestation form at the time of initial recruitment –Being a Government Servant, appellant protected under Article 311–Belated decision to terminate appellant seven years later,unjustified and violative of Article 311

2010(1) LAW HERALD (SC) 219 IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Before The Hon’ble Mr. Justice R.V. Raveendran The Hon’ble Mr. Justice K.S. Radhakrishnan Civil Appeal No. 8317 of 2009…

Detention–Seizure–Appellant was detained for about 15 hours at the airport–Appellant traveled by air from Hyderabad to Chennai and carried Rs. 65 lakhs- suspicion was created in the mind of the officers on account of appellant carrying an unusually large sum of money in cash–After investigation and verification, nothing found to be amiss or irregular–Investigating Department expressed regret for the inconvenience–However, Premature disclosures or ‘leakage’ to the media in a pending investigation, condemned.

2010(1) LAW HERALD (SC) 213 IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Before The Hon’ble Mr. Justice R.V. Raveendran The Hon’ble Mr. Justice K.S. Radhakrishnan Civil Appeal No. 7914 of 2009…

Civil Procedure Code, 1908, Order 39, Rule 1 and 2 and Section 151–Interim Injunction–High Court set aside the order of injunction passed by the trial Court–Appeal–Object of the Trust in wanting to acquire the suit property was to extend its school unit and if the suit property is allowed to be commercially exploited, the entire object of the suit filed by the appellant Trust will be rendered meaningless–Order of the High Court set aside–Appeal allowed–In the light of the principles of balance of convenience and inconvenience, interim relief should be granted to the appellant Trust.                   

2010(1) LAW HERALD (SC) 209 IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Before The Hon’ble Mr. Justice Altamas Kabir The Hon’ble Mr. Justice Cyriac Joseph Civil Appeal Nos. 8081-8082 of 2009…

Cannot be said that Article 21 been infringed in the matter–Petitioner not rendered remedy-less merely by denial of interim relief–Case not “the rarest of rare” so as to permit the petitioner to bypass the normal procedure of filing appeal against the order of the Single Judge–SC decline to  interfere with the order passed by  the  Single Judge of   the Delhi  High Court–Court  can grant   the relief   in cases:  where manifest injustice has been done:  or where there is manifest illegality or manifest want of jurisdiction.                   

2010(1) LAW HERALD (SC) 196 IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Before The Hon’ble Mr. Justice Tarun Chatterjee The Hon’ble Mr. Justice Surinder Singh Nijjar Special Leave Petition No. 32840…

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