Civil Law - Court Fee – Declaration and Consequential Relief – Mandatory Injunction as Distinct Relief – Challenge to trial court's order directing plaintiff/petitioner to pay ad-valorem court fees for relief of mandatory injunction, separate from the relief of declaration. The trial court found mandatory injunction not to be a consequential relief to the declaration, necessi...
Public Service – Promotion and Direct Recruitment – Applicability of Rules – Appeals challenging the High Court's directive to fill vacancies as per the old rules – High Court applied the principle from Y.V. Rangaiah v. J. Sreenivasa Rao, holding vacancies arising prior to rule amendments should be filled by old rules – Supreme Court reviews and restates the princ...
Insurance Claim – Stolen Vehicle – Technical Grounds for Denial – The insurance company refused to settle the claim due to the non-submission of the duplicate certified copy of the certificate of registration, which the appellant could not produce because the details were locked by the RTO following the theft report. The Supreme Court held that the insurance company should not ha...
Scheduled Castes (SC) Certificate - Validity - Petitioner, belonging to Muslim community, obtained an SC certificate and secured appointment as a Lecturer under the Self-Financing Scheme (SFS) - Respondent-University initiated disciplinary proceedings and dismissed the petitioner on the ground that he obtained the appointment on the basis of a forged caste certificate - Court examined whether the ...
Land Acquisition – Section 24(2) of the 2013 Act – The Supreme Court clarified that the proviso to Section 24(2) of the 2013 Act should be treated as part of Section 24(2), not part of Section 24(1)(b). The deemed lapse of land acquisition proceedings under Section 24(2) occurs if, due to the inaction of authorities for five years or more before the commencement of the Act, neither pos...
Service Law – Judicial Review – High Court’s Scope – The High Court's role in judicial review under Articles 226 and 227 is not to act as an appellate court over departmental enquiries. It is confined to examining whether the enquiry was conducted by a competent authority, following prescribed procedures, and ensuring natural justice was not violated. The High Court can...
Criminal Procedure – Expeditious Trial – Special Courts – The Supreme Court directed a pilot study to test the scheme of employing retired judicial officers and staff to operationalize Special Courts for NI Act cases. The pilot study will be conducted in 25 Special Courts across five states with the highest pendency: Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Delhi, and Uttar Pradesh [Para...
Land Acquisition – Additional Compensation – The Supreme Court upheld the policy decision of the State Government to demand additional compensation from the allottees of land to resolve disputes with farmers. The Court noted that the policy decision was in the larger public interest, aiming to balance the equities between the allottees and the aggrieved farmers. The decision took into ...
Legal Proceeding – Non-Joinder of Necessary Parties – Non-joinder of a necessary party is critical and can render a legal proceeding null and void. Procedural and substantive laws mandate that in the absence of necessary parties, any order passed is a nullity and not binding. The High Court erred in not considering the necessity of impleading the factory's workmen and the Union of ...
Environmental Law – Ex Post Facto Environmental Clearance – Supreme Court holds that ex post facto EC should not ordinarily be granted and certainly not for the asking – However, rigid application of procedural requirements without considering the consequences of shutting down operational units contributing to the economy and providing livelihoods is impractical – Court emp...