Service Law - Recruitment - Uttar Pradesh Industrial Training Institutes (Instructors) Service Rules 2014 - Rules 9(B) and 16(3) - Arbitrariness in selection process - Appellants possessing CITS certificates applied for the posts of Instructors under 2014 and 2015 advertisements - Appellants were excluded from the zone of consideration for failing to secure arbitrary qualifying cut-off marks for interview - High Court dismissed writ petitions upholding the selection process - Supreme Court observed that Rule 16(3)(b)(i) permitted shortlisting of candidates to four times the number of vacancies only if applications were large in number - Selection Committee and State superimposed an unprescribed additional eligibility threshold of cut-off marks - Despite advertised vacancies many eligible candidates were ousted and substantial vacancies remained unfilled - Held - Fixation of cut-off marks was arbitrary and contrary to the recruitment procedure - Rules of the game cannot be changed mid way - Appeals allowed with directions to consider eligible appellants against vacant posts - [Paras 1-25].

Service Law - Estoppel - Selection process - Challenge after participation - State raised preliminary objection that appellants applied under the advertisements with full awareness of the diluted qualification criteria and participated without objection - Held - Objection upheld as no question was raised before participation - However candidate can challenge the process in situations where arbitrariness or illegality is writ large - State committed illegality mid way by fixing unprescribed cut-off marks which vitiated the process - Participation does not preclude relief when such blatant illegality is demonstrated - [Paras 9-11 and 18-19].

Decision: Appeals allowed – Respondents directed to hold interviews for appellants at the earliest and appoint eligible candidates with prospective effect along with consequential benefits including pension and gratuity but excluding back wages – Supernumerary posts to be created if eligible appellants exceed available vacancies.

Service Law - Modified Assured Career Progression Scheme MACPS - Paragraphs 2 5 and 8 - Entitlement to financial upgradation - The respondent joined as Goods Guard and received functional promotions to Passenger Guard and Mail Express Guard reaching the terminal post of his cadre - Upon implementation of the Sixth Central Pay Commission all promotional posts above Goods Guard were merged into a single Grade Pay of Rs 4200 - Respondent claimed 2nd and 3rd MACP upgradations to Grade Pay Rs 4600 and Rs 4800 arguing that movements without change in Grade Pay do not constitute promotions - Tribunal and High Court allowed the claim relying on the illustration to Paragraph 5 of MACPS - Supreme Court held that promotions earned in posts carrying the same Grade Pay in the promotional hierarchy must be counted under Paragraph 8 of MACPS - Guard cadre movements involve formal selection enhanced responsibilities and promotional increments despite same Grade Pay thus qualifying as promotions - Paragraph 5 is merely a transitional provision for pre MACPS ACP grants and does not override Paragraph 8 - A Guard who has traversed the entire promotional hierarchy up to the terminal post of Mail Express Guard exhausts all three MACP slots and cannot claim Grade Pay higher than the highest promotional Grade Pay available in the cadre - Held - Impugned orders of High Court and Tribunal set aside - Appeal allowed without recovery of benefits already paid - [Paras 5-11 34-47 62-67].

Service Law - Departmental Clarifications - Binding nature - Railway Board Circulars RBE No 76/2011 and RBE No 142/2012 - Clarifications issued by administering authority after consultation with nodal department DoPT are integral to the Scheme and binding on all authorities - RBE No 76/2011 categorically applies Paragraph 8 to the Guard cadre and counts the relevant promotions concluding that employees reaching Mail Express Guard have exhausted their MACP entitlement - RBE No 142/2012 provides that MACPS upgradation cannot be to a Grade Pay higher than that available on normal promotion in the hierarchy - Held - Circulars are in conformity with the parent Scheme and must be given full effect - [Paras 48-52 65].

Constitutional Law - Precedent - Constitution of India - Article 141 - Effect of dismissal of Special Leave Petitions in limine - High Court relied on earlier coordinate Bench judgment which was not challenged by the Union and another case where SLP was dismissed with the question of law kept open - Held - Dismissal of SLPs by a non speaking order or an order expressly leaving the question of law open does not constitute a declaration of law under Article 141 - Doctrine of issue estoppel operates between the same parties or their privies but does not foreclose a question of law of general public importance merely because the Government failed to challenge one High Court judgment on that question - Principle of intra court judicial discipline does not constrain the supervisory and corrective jurisdiction of the Supreme Court under Article 136 - [Paras 56-59 65].

Decision: Appeals allowed – The impugned judgments and orders of the High Court and the Central Administrative Tribunal are set aside – The orders of the Competent Authority withdrawing and denying the MACP claims are restored and confirmed – No recovery of any MACP benefits already paid to the respondent shall be made.

Criminal Law - Sanction for prosecution - Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 - Section 19 - Petitioner-State challenged High Court order quashing prosecution sanction against respondent-doctor accused of corruption - Initial sanction was declined by appropriate authorities after detailed analysis of lack of bribe demand and suspicious recovery - Subsequently on pressure from Chief Minister's office sanction was reviewed and granted on the exact same material - High Court quashed the sanction - Supreme Court held that review of sanction without any fresh material is impermissible and amounts to victimization under political dictate - Held - High Court justified in quashing the sanction - special leave petition dismissed with costs - [Paras 1-15].

Criminal Law - Review of sanction - Code of Criminal Procedure 1973 - Section 19 - Power to review refusal of sanction - Sanctioning authority declined prosecution sanction observing that trap and recovery were suspicious and no explicit demand was proved - Later the matter was reconsidered and sanction was granted without any fresh material - Held - a mere change of opinion per se on the same materials cannot be a ground for review or reconsideration of an earlier order refusing to grant sanction - [Paras 5-12].

Decision: Special Leave Petition dismissed – High Court order affirmed – State directed to pay costs of Rs 50,000 each before the High Court and this Court within two months.

Civil Law - Redevelopment of Cessed Building - Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Act 1976 - Section 2(25) - Enforcement of Permanent Alternate Accommodation Agreement PAAA - Appellants are legal heirs of original joint occupant - Developer obtained NOC for redevelopment and executed PAAA promising three flats inclusive of fungible area - Appellants vacated premises and developer completed construction but refused to hand over possession - MHADA ordered execution of PAAA and issued show cause notice - High Court set aside MHADA orders terming PAAA a private arrangement and relegated parties to civil court - Supreme Court reversed High Court holding that PAAA is regulated by statute and DC Regulations facilitating redevelopment - Appellants were consistently recognized as occupants in public notices and certified lists since 2010 - Developer cannot resile from statutory obligations and agreements after securing vacant possession and completing redevelopment based on such consent - Held - High Court erred in restraining MHADA - MHADA orders restored - Developer directed to hand over possession within two months failing which appellants entitled to rental damages - [Paras 2-25].

Civil Law - Occupancy Rights - Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Act 1976 - Section 2(25) - Dispute regarding succession to occupancy rights upon death of original tenant - Developer contended that original tenancy extinguished on death and appellants are not entitled to agreed area - Supreme Court noted that MHAD Act defines occupier broadly to include anyone liable to pay damages for use and occupation - Occupancy is not a statutory tenancy continuing only at the will of the owner - Public notice and MHADA certified list explicitly showed first appellant as joint occupant long before the dispute arose - Held - Appellant entitled to premises as occupant regardless of pending probate proceedings - Developer cannot challenge occupancy status after executing PAAA and obtaining possession from the appellant - [Paras 12-22].

Civil Law - Redevelopment Obligations - Development Control Regulations for Greater Bombay 1991 - Regulation 33(7) - Developer sought to reduce allotted area citing non utilisation of fungible Floor Space Index FSI due to reduction in building height - Supreme Court rejected this contention holding that mere non utilisation of fungible area cannot be a ground to allow the developer to resile from its agreement to allot alternate premises as agreed upon - Subsequent civil suit filed by developer deemed misconceived and mala fide - Held - High Court directed not to proceed with the civil suit filed by the developer - [Paras 5-25].

Decision: Appeal allowed – High Court judgment set aside – MHADA orders revived and restored – Respondents 1 and 2 directed to execute the PAAA and hand over possession of the three apartments within two months failing which appellants would be entitled to damages at the monthly rental value – High Court directed not to proceed with Civil Suit No.4579 of 2026.

Civil Law - Stamp Duty - Indian Stamp Act 1899 - Section 26 - Calculation of stamp duty on mining lease - Appellant executed a limestone mining lease and disputed the stamp duty calculation asserting it should be based on fixed dead rent rather than anticipated royalty - District Collector demanded stamp duty based on anticipated royalty - High Court dismissed the writ petition relying on the proviso to Section 26 of the Stamp Act which independently applies to mining leases - Supreme Court affirmed the High Court order holding that stamp duty on mining leases where value is indeterminate must be calculated based on estimated royalty as per the statutory framework and Form K of the Mineral Concession Rules 1960 - Held - Appellant liable to pay stamp duty computed on the basis of anticipated royalty - appeal dismissed - [Paras 1-15].

Civil Law - Stamp Duty - Indian Stamp Act 1899 - Section 26 - Indeterminate value of subject matter - Proviso to Section 26 specifically deals with mining leases providing that estimated royalty shall be sufficient for determining stamp duty - State Government circular validating stamp duty on the highest of production quantity or dead rent is valid and not ultra vires - Method of calculating stamp duty using anticipated royalty is statutorily backed - Held - Dead rent is merely a minimum guaranteed amount whereas royalty represents actual economic value and whichever is higher must be paid to safeguard state revenue - [Paras 10-14].

Civil Law - Mining Lease - Mineral Concession Rules 1960 - Rule 31 and Form K - Statutory agreement parameters - Parties consciously signed the lease agreement in statutory Form K which explicitly stipulates that anticipated royalty is the yardstick for stamp duty calculation - Held - Appellant precluded from assailing the royalty demanded by the State as the statutory form binds the method of computation - [Paras 12-14].

Interpretation of Statutes - Fiscal Statutes - Indian Stamp Act 1899 - Strict construction - Stamp Act being a fiscal statute must be interpreted strictly and mandatorily to balance public burden against state revenue generation - Held - Provision for calculating stamp duty on estimated royalty in mining leases is clear and unambiguous and must be enforced strictly - [Paras 8-9].

Decision: Appeal dismissed – All necessary consequences to follow – No costs – Pending applications if any stand disposed of.

Civil Law - Motor Accident Claims - Motor Vehicles Act 1988 - Sections 165 and 166 - Arising out of use of motor vehicle - Deceased was last seen in appellant's vehicle and found dead three days later - Criminal trial resulted in acquittal of appellant as last seen theory could not be proved - Tribunal and High Court awarded compensation under Motor Vehicles Act assuming injuries were inflicted inside the vehicle - Supreme Court reversed the concurrent findings noting complete absence of causal relationship between the death and the motor vehicle - No forensic proof recovered from the car and no collision involved - Held - merely because a car was somehow involved in a chain of circumstances leading to death does not attract statutory provisions without establishing a specific link - appeals allowed - [Paras 1-14].

Evidence Law - Standard of Proof - Indian Evidence Act 1872 - Section 3 - Preponderance of probabilities - Distinction between standard of proof in criminal and civil cases reiterated - Standard in criminal cases requires proof beyond reasonable doubt whereas civil claims including motor accident claims operate on preponderance of probabilities - Despite the lighter standard in civil cases a fundamental causal link must still be established - Absent any forensic evidence or direct connection between the vehicle and the death the claim cannot be sustained - Held - relationship specifically involving a motor vehicle was not established - [Paras 11-14].

Civil Law - Accidental Murder - Motor Vehicles Act 1988 - Section 166 - Arising out of - Distinction between murder simpliciter and accidental murder discussed - If dominant intention is to kill a particular person then it is murder simpliciter - If cause of murder is originally not intended and is in furtherance of another felonious act involving the vehicle then it is accidental murder - Facts of present case do not permit distinction between primary and secondary felonious act - Held - relationship between the alleged accidental murder and the motor vehicle was not established hence liability under the Act cannot be fastened - [Paras 9-14].

Decision: Appeals allowed – Judgments of the courts below set aside – Amount of compensation if already paid to the respondents shall not be subjected to any recovery.

Service Law - Scheduled Tribes - Constitution of India - Article 142 - Respondents obtained public employment under reserved category of Gond tribe through caste certificates - High-Power Scrutiny Committee found certificates were obtained by misrepresentation and cancelled them - High Court disposed of writ petitions filed by respondents by protecting their services relying on Dattu Namdev Thakur versus State of Maharashtra and Shalini versus New English High School Association without examining merits of Scrutiny Committee findings - Supreme Court noted that Shalini was expressly overruled in Chairman and Managing Director Food Corporation of India versus Jagdish Balaram Bahira - held that High Court erred in not examining legality of Scrutiny Committee decisions on merits - impugned orders set aside - matters remanded to High Court for fresh disposal - [Paras 1-29].

Service Law - Caste Verification - Constitution of India - Article 142 - Scrutiny Committee - Cancellation of caste certificate - Consequence of invalidation - Respondents continuing in service on interim orders for nearly three decades - Supreme Court directed that respondents may continue to discharge duties pending fresh decision by High Court - if High Court upholds cancellation consequence must follow except that recovery of past payments may be waived due to long service rendered - [Paras 21-28].

Decision: Appeals disposed of – Impugned orders of the High Court set aside – Writ petitions revived and remanded to the High Court for fresh adjudication on merits by February 2027 – Respondents permitted to continue in service subject to final outcome of the remanded proceedings.

Environmental Law - Illegal Sand Mining - Suo Moto proceedings - National Chambal Gharial Sanctuary - Court evaluated compliance reports regarding illegal sand mining threatening endangered aquatic wildlife - Court observed persistent ecological degradation and deficiencies in enforcement - Court noted substantial portions of sanctuary classified as revenue lands hindering Forest Department powers under Indian Forest Act - Court directed States to notify revenue lands as Protected Forests implement Joint Standard Operating Procedures and establish a QR Code based Integrated Public Reporting Mechanism - Court mandated NHAI to operationalise surveillance infrastructure - Held - Comprehensive directions issued to States of Madhya Pradesh Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh to fix administrative accountability dismantle mining syndicates and recover environmental compensation - [Paras 1-22].

Criminal Law - Protection of Forest Personnel - Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023 - Section 218(3) - Court noted increasing attacks on frontline forest personnel discharging bona fide duties - Court observed safeguarding fragile wildlife habitats from organised illegal mining is intrinsically connected with maintenance of public order - Held - States directed to issue requisite notifications under Section 218(3) before next hearing to protect forest officers from unwarranted police action - [Paras 11-19B].

Criminal Law - Enforcement against Syndicates - Preventive Detention - Court observed failure of States to invoke preventive detention laws against kingpins of illegal sand mining - Held - States directed to consider preventive detention laws designate Special Public Prosecutors register cases under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and refer large scale syndicates to Enforcement Directorate and Financial Intelligence Unit to dismantle economic foundations of illegal mining - [Paras 9-19M].

Decision: Comprehensive directions issued to the States of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and the NHAI to curb illegal sand mining, establish surveillance infrastructure, protect frontline forest personnel, and ensure strict law enforcement – Matter listed for further consideration on 11/08/2026.

Tenancy Law - Eviction and Rent Control - East Punjab Urban Rent Restriction Act 1949 - Section 13 - Bona fide requirement - Landlady filed eviction suit against tenant on grounds of non payment of rent and personal necessity for herself and her son - Rent Controller and Appellate Authority concurrently decreed eviction holding the bona fide requirement proved - High Court in revisional jurisdiction reversed the concurrent findings holding that the landlady concealed the availability of a third shop which was being used to store garbage - Supreme Court observed that using an alternate shop for storing waste material does not negate the bona fide need for the tenanted shop to run a boutique - High Court erred in reappreciating evidence and interfering with concurrent factual findings under Section 115 CPC - Held - The final judgment of the High Court is unsustainable and set aside - Eviction decree affirmed - [Paras 1-11].

Civil Law - Bona fide requirement - East Punjab Urban Rent Restriction Act 1949 - Section 13 - Objective test of bona fide need - The degree of intensity contemplated by requires is much higher than mere desire - It must be the outcome of a sincere honest desire in contradistinction with a mere pretence or pretext - Landlord has the right to choose out of more than one accommodation available and the subjective choice must be respected by the court - Concept of bona fide need requires a practical approach instructed by the realities of life - An approach either too liberal or too conservative must be guarded against - [Paras 6-8].

Civil Law - Revisional Jurisdiction - Code of Civil Procedure 1908 - Section 115 - Scope of interference by High Court - Revisional power cannot be equated with appellate power of reconsideration of questions of fact - High Court cannot interfere with concurrent factual findings while exercising revisional jurisdiction unless there is illegal or irregular exercise of jurisdiction by subordinate courts - Errors of facts or law cannot be corrected unless they go to the root of the issue of jurisdiction - High Court committed an error in overturning concurrent factual findings regarding bona fide requirement simply because another view could be taken - Held - High Court order set aside - [Paras 9-11].

Decision: Appeal allowed - High Court judgment set aside - Concurrent findings and orders of the Rent Controller and Appellate Authority affirmed - Respondent directed to deliver vacant and peaceful possession of the demised shop within two months.