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Insurance Law — Fire Insurance Claim — Assessment of Loss — Survey Report — Admissibility and Weightage — Admissibility of Survey Report as Primary Evidence — In insurance claims, a survey report, prepared by an expert after physical inspection, is considered primary and significant evidence — It cannot be disregarded without strong contrary evidence showing arbitrariness or unreasonableness. Consumer Protection Act, 2019 — Section 2(1)(d) — Consumer — A person purchasing a vehicle for business to earn livelihood is a consumer. — Deficiency in service — No deficiency in service if a vehicle model is not available and another available model is given to the buyer as per mutual understanding and agreement, and the buyer fails to make payments for the second vehicle. Regularisation of contractual/ad hoc employees — Notifications dated 16.06.2014 and 18.06.2014, which sought to regularise the services of Group ‘B’, ‘C’, and ‘D’ employees were found to be valid as they aimed to provide benefits to employees left out from a previous regularisation policy and had clear criteria for eligibility such as working on sanctioned posts and possessing necessary qualifications. Environmental Law and Wildlife Protection — Illegal Sand Mining — Supreme Court’s Suo Motu Cognizance — The Supreme Court took suo motu cognizance of rampant illegal sand mining in the National Chambal Gharial Sanctuary, recognizing its severe impact on wildlife habitats, including endangered Gharials. The Court issued notices to concerned states and authorities, highlighting that such destruction of habitats violates environmental protection laws like the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 and the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 — Clause 25 of Bill of Lading — Interpretation of “can” — A clause stating that disputes “can be settled by arbitration” does not create a mandatory arbitration agreement — It implies a future possibility and requires further agreement between the parties to refer disputes to arbitration, as opposed to a definitive commitment.

Rent–Enhancement of –Enhanced rent was neither arbitrary nor unreasonable as matter purely contractual and the appellants voluntarily entered into the lease/licence with the respondents–Appellants not entitled to seek redress under Article 226 of the Constitution for any breach of the covenants contained in the lease agreements.

2010(1) LAW HERALD (SC) 190 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. 5158 Of…

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…

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