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Constitution of India, 1950 — Article 32 — Writ Petition (Criminal) — Seeking registration of FIR and investigation into attempt to influence judicial outcome — Relief for criminal investigation based on disclosure in a judicial order of NCLAT, Chennai Bench — Issues raised are of vital public importance but deemed capable of administrative resolution by Chief Justice of India — Writ Petition treated as a representation to bring material information for consideration of Hon’ble Chief Justice of India, allowing law to take its course — Petition disposed of on administrative treatment of investigation request. Civil Procedure Code, 1908 — Order XXI Rule 58 — Execution First Appeal — Partition Suit — Preliminary decree for partition — Inter se bidding — Joint owners (siblings) of property in equal shares (1/3rd each) — Property incapable of physical partition — Disposal of property via inter se bidding — Challenge to High Court order disposing of Execution Appeal on ground of offer matching — Where an offer of Rs.6.25 crores was made by the Appellant (Petitioner) and matched by the Respondents (2/3rd owners), the High Court directed Respondents to pay Appellant’s share after adjusting previous deposit — Supreme Court modified the approach, requiring the Petitioner to deposit 2/3rd of the bid (Rs.4.16 Crores) with Registry to demonstrate genuineness, pending further resolution. (Paras 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 of Order dated 25.9.2025; Evidence — Video Conference Deposition — Procedure for Confronting Witness — The Supreme Court clarified and directed that in cases where a witness’s statement is recorded via video conferencing and a previous written statement is to be used for confrontation, a copy of the statement must be transmitted electronically to the witness, and the procedure under Sections 147 and 148 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (or corresponding sections of the Evidence Act) must be followed to ensure fairness and integrity of the trial. Such directions are issued to avoid procedural irregularities and uphold the principles of fair trial, effective cross-examination, and proper appreciation of evidence. Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 (CrPC) — Section 482 [BNSS Section 528] — Quashing of FIR — Abuse of process — Factual matrix for all offences arose from a single transaction — Compromise accepted as genuine for some offences should equally dilute the foundation of other charges based on the same allegations — Continued prosecution for dacoity after settlement for other offences held unjustified and quashed. Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 — Section 38-V(4)(ii) and proviso to Section 33(a) — Tiger Safaris — prohibition in core or critical tiger habitat areas — permitted only on non-forest land or degraded forest land within the buffer, ensuring it is not part of a tiger corridor — establishment must be in conjunction with a fully operational rescue and rehabilitation centre for tigers.

Constitution of India, 1950 — Article 32 — Writ Petition (Criminal) — Seeking registration of FIR and investigation into attempt to influence judicial outcome — Relief for criminal investigation based on disclosure in a judicial order of NCLAT, Chennai Bench — Issues raised are of vital public importance but deemed capable of administrative resolution by Chief Justice of India — Writ Petition treated as a representation to bring material information for consideration of Hon’ble Chief Justice of India, allowing law to take its course — Petition disposed of on administrative treatment of investigation request.

Civil Procedure Code, 1908 — Order XXI Rule 58 — Execution First Appeal — Partition Suit — Preliminary decree for partition — Inter se bidding — Joint owners (siblings) of property in equal shares (1/3rd each) — Property incapable of physical partition — Disposal of property via inter se bidding — Challenge to High Court order disposing of Execution Appeal on ground of offer matching — Where an offer of Rs.6.25 crores was made by the Appellant (Petitioner) and matched by the Respondents (2/3rd owners), the High Court directed Respondents to pay Appellant’s share after adjusting previous deposit — Supreme Court modified the approach, requiring the Petitioner to deposit 2/3rd of the bid (Rs.4.16 Crores) with Registry to demonstrate genuineness, pending further resolution. (Paras 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 of Order dated 25.9.2025;

Negotiable Instruments Act, Section 138–Dishonour of the cheque–Sentence–Appellant facing criminal prosecution for the last 7 years–Appellant a petty businessman–He paid the hefty amount of compensation as a penalty for dishonour of the cheque issued by him.–No material placed on the record to indicate that the appellant had earlier committed any such or similar offence–Substantive sentence of imprisonment, set aside–Sentence of  fine of Rs.1,000/- maintained and imposition of compensation in the sum of Rs.35,000/- also maintained.  

2010(1) LAW HERALD (SC) 188 IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Before The Hon’ble Mr. Justice Tarun Chatterjee The Hon’ble Mr. Justice Surinder Singh Nijjar Criminal Appeal No. 2337 Of…

– Indian Penal Code, 1860, Section 302, 307, 109, 120-B/34–Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act, 1999, Section 3(1) read 2(e), 3(2) read with Section 120-B–Arms Act, Section 3 & 7, Section 25(1A), 25(1B)–Murder–Death sentence–Rarest of rare case-If a person is sentenced to imprisonment, even if it be for life, and subsequently it is found that he was innocent and was wrongly convicted, he can be set free. Of course, the imprisonment that he has suffered till then cannot be undone and the time he has spent in the prison cannot be given back. Such a reversal is not possible where a person has been wrongly convicted and sentenced to death. The execution of the sentence of death in such cases makes miscarriage of justice irrevocable. It is a finality which cannot be corrected.

2010(1) LAW HERALD (SC) 153 IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Before The Hon’ble Mr. Justice S.B. Sinha The Hon’ble Mr. Justice Mukundakam Sharma Criminal Appeal Nos. 85-86 of 2006…

Forensic– Gun Shot Injury–Cartridge of .303 bore can be fired from .315 bore weapon–High Court, therefore, conscious of the fact that in an appeal against acquittal, interference should be minimal and that too in case of perversity of the judgment of the trial Court, held that the finding were indeed perverse and accordingly reversed the judgment of acquittal–Appeal dismissed

2010(1) LAW HERALD (SC) 150 IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Before The Hon’ble Mr. Justice Harjit Singh Bedi The Hon’ble Mr. Justice T.S. Thakur Criminal Appeal No. 1037 of…

Service Matters

General Clauses Act, S.10–ServiceLaw–Computation of time– Medical Certificate–Last Date of Submission–Appellant did not obtain the medical certificate on 14th April as being a gazetted holiday & the previous days were also holidays–His application should have been considered on merit.

2010(1) LAW HERALD (SC) 147 IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Before The Hon’ble Mr. Justice G.S. Singhvi The Hon’ble Mr. Justice Asok Kumar Ganguly Civil Appeal No. 8200 of…

Withdrawal of Suit–Trial court dismissed the suit for partition as withdrawn–In terms of order XXIII Rule 1 of the Code of Civil Procedure, it is the privilege of the plaintiff alone to withdraw the plaint at any stage of the proceedings and the appellant being only one of the defendants having played the fraud in getting the suit dismissed as withdrawn, has no locus to object to the restoration of the suit.

2010(1) LAW HERALD (SC) 143 IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Before The Hon’ble Mr. Justice B. Sudershan Reddy The Hon’ble Mr. Justice J.M. Panchal Civil Appeal No. 8407 of…

Land Acquisition Act, 1894, Section 11A & 6–Land Acquisition–Objections–Notification and the declaration of the acquisition proceedings challenged after the expiry of the period of 2 years–Interim order was passed for four weeks, the same interim order was made final until further orders–Cannot be said that the acquisition proceedings had lapsed due to expiry of two years from the date of publication of the declaration under Section 6 of the Act relating to the acquired lands–Two years from the date of declaration must be computed after excluding the period when parties had approached the court and obtained interim stay of such acquisition notices

2010(1) LAW HERALD (SC) 137 IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Before The Hon’ble Mr. Justice Tarun Chatterjee The Hon’ble Mr. Justice Surinder Singh Nijjar Civil Appeal No. 8235 of…

Service Matters

Central Civil Services Rules, 1965, Rule 10, Sub-rule 6 and 7–Suspension–Delay in reviewing suspension order–suspension of the respondent not extended–Central Administrative Tribunal quashed the suspension order of the respondent as became invalid on the expiry of 90 days from the date of suspension–High Court affirmed the orders of the Tribunal–Appeal–Held, that after the operation of Sub-rule 6 of Rule 10, since the review not been conducted within 90 days from the date of suspension, it became invalid after 90 days as neither was there any review nor extension within the said period

2010(1) LAW HERALD (SC) 130 IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Before The Hon’ble Mr. Justice Altamas Kabir The Hon’ble Mr. Justice Markandey Katju Special Leave Petition (Civil) No. 6661…

Indian Penal Code, 1860, S. 45 and 47–Criminal Procedure Code, 1973, S. 432, 433 and 433A–Premature release–Restriction on powers of remission or commutation in certain cases–A convict awarded life sentence has to undergo imprisonment for at least 14 years–While Sections 432 and 433 empowers the appropriate Government to suspend, remit or commute sentences, including a sentence of death and life imprisonment, a fetter has been imposed by the legislature on such powers by the introduction of Section 433A into the Code of Criminal Procedure by the Amending Act of 1978, which came into effect on and from 18th December, 1978–By virtue of the non-obstante clause used in Section 433A, the minimum term of imprisonment in respect of an offence where death is one of the punishments provided by laws or where a death sentence has been commuted to life sentence, has been prescribed as 14 years.  

2010(1) LAW HERALD (SC) 125 IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Before The Hon’ble Mr. Justice Altamas Kabir The Hon’ble Dr. Justice B.S. Chauhan Special Leave Petition (Criminal) No. 4614…

Service Matters

Service Law–Backwages–Respondent was appointed as a Constable in PAC (Provincial Armed Constabulary)–He was convicted in a criminal case–Therefore, his services were terminated–Later , respondent acquitted from the charges of the Criminal case–Respondent filed writ petition for his reinstatement which was allowed by Single Judge–Respondent accepted that he would not be entitled for back wages–Fact that the respondent would not be entitled to back ages accepted by the respondent–Appeal deserves to be disposed of with clarification that the respondent would not be entitled to back wages–Appellants not been directed by the Single Judge or by the Division Bench to pay back wages to the respondent–Clarified that the respondents would not be entitled to back wages at all

2010(1) LAW HERALD (SC)  124 IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Before The Hon’ble Mr. Justice J.M. Panchal The Hon’ble Dr. Justice Mukundakam Sharma Civil Appeal No. 2816 of 2007…

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