Civil Law - Disability Rights - Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act 1995 - Section 47 - Protection against medical invalidation - Respondent appointed as CRPF Driver in 1985 - Developed vision impairment in 1996 - Medically invalidated from service on 11.03.1998 - Appellants rejected representations for full benefits holding disability not attributable to service - Single Judge of High Court allowed writ petition by invoking Section 47 of PwD Act - Directed reinstatement with back wages - Division Bench affirmed findings - Appellants argued before Supreme Court that CRPF was exempted from Section 47 via Notification dated 10.09.2002 and that respondent waived rights - SC observed that Section 47 is mandatory and casts positive obligation on employer to shift disabled employee to alternate post - Held - Notification issued in 2002 cannot retrospectively validate a void order of invalidation passed in 1998 - Order of medical invalidation was ultra vires Section 47 and Articles 14 and 21 of Constitution - [Paras 1-85].

Writ Law - Scope of Jurisdiction - Constitution of India - Article 226 - Relief beyond pleadings - Respondent failed to specifically plead Section 47 PwD Act or pray for reinstatement - Confined prayers to invalid pension - SC held that while High Courts generally confine scrutiny to pleadings - Article 226 confers plenary and equitable power to reach injustice - Technicalities cannot trump substantive justice where suitor is legally entitled to more but claimed less due to ignorance or inelegant drafting - Held - High Court justified in enforcing statutory duty under Section 47 despite skeletal pleadings to prevent perpetuation of injustice - [Paras 34-44].

Civil Law - Doctrine of Waiver - PwD Act 1995 - Section 47 - Relinquishment of statutory rights - Appellants contended respondent waived rights by accepting pension and not seeking reinstatement initially - SC defined waiver as intentional relinquishment of a known right requiring proof of right - knowledge of right - and voluntary abandonment - Found respondent was unaware of Section 47 protection and was not informed by employer - Held - Silence or inaction due to lack of knowledge does not constitute waiver especially for social welfare legislation aimed at public policy - [Paras 45-52].

Civil Law - Prospective Operation - PwD Act 1995 - Section 47 - Exemption Notification - Government issued Notification on 10.09.2002 exempting combatant personnel of CRPF from Section 47 - Respondent ousted in 1998 - SC held delegated legislation is ordinarily prospective unless clear retrospective intention is expressed - Exemption notifications taking cases out of beneficial legislation must be strictly construed - Held - Right of respondent crystallised on date of invalidation and cannot be effaced by subsequent notification - [Paras 53-61].

Decision: Appeal dismissed – Order of reinstatement modified as respondent is now a senior citizen – Awarded lump-sum compensation of Rs. 1,25,00,000 inclusive of back wages, interest, and costs – Appellants directed to transfer amount electronically within eight weeks.

Constitutional Law - Foreigner Status - Foreigners Act 1946 - Section 9 - Foreigners (Tribunals) Order 1964 - Paragraph 3 - Batch of appeals involving declarations of foreigner status rendered in ex-parte or effectively ex-parte proceedings - High Court affirmed these opinions despite procedural defaults or lack of substantive contest - Appellants grouped into categories based on non-appearance - first-time factual appreciation by High Court in writ jurisdiction - and defaults occurring midway through proceedings - Court noted the grave consequences of foreigner declarations including detention - deportation - and potential statelessness - Held - Section 9 places the burden of proof on the proceedee but does not permit mechanical declaration or relieve the Tribunal of its obligation to conduct lawful adjudication - Tribunals must satisfy themselves that minimum requirements of fair adjudication are met including proof of service and application of mind to state evidence even in ex-parte cases - Impugned judgments set aside and matters remitted for fresh adjudication with a direction to decide within six months - [Paras 1-56].

Constitutional Law - Fundamental Rights - Constitution of India - Articles 14 and 21 - Protection to non-citizens - Right to life and personal liberty available to every person within Indian territory - State power to regulate entry and removal of foreigners does not place the person concerned outside the protection of fair procedure - Adjudicatory process must satisfy requirements of fairness - reasonableness - and non-arbitrariness - Held - Even a person whose citizenship is disputed is entitled to the protection of Article 21 - the mere prescription of a procedure does not satisfy constitutional mandates unless it is fair - just - and reasonable - [Paras 19-24].

Evidence Law - Burden of Proof - Foreigners Act 1946 - Section 9 - Scope of statutory burden - Onus lies on the proceedee to prove they are not foreigners - Burden operates within a legal process and does not replace the process itself - Proceedee must be served with "main grounds" of the allegation to meaningfully answer the reference - Held - Statutory burden under Section 9 does not convert the absence of the proceedee into proof of the allegation - Tribunal must independently assess the material provided by the State to ensure the conclusion follows from the record - [Paras 11-18].

Writ Law - Factual Inquiry - Foreigners (Tribunals) Order 1964 - Paragraph 3 - High Court jurisdiction - High Court appreciated documents and material for the first time while declining interference with ex-parte opinions - Factual inquiry regarding ancestry - residence - and identity belongs to the statutory Tribunal - Held - Statutory adjudication cannot be substituted by first-time factual appreciation in writ proceedings - high courts should not ordinarily become the first forum for appreciation of such material when documents were not tested before the statutory forum - [Paras 34-38].

Decision: Appeals allowed – Impugned judgments and tribunal opinions set aside – Matters remitted to concerned Foreigners Tribunals for fresh adjudication – Appellants directed to appear within four weeks – No coercive steps to be taken based on set-aside opinions pending fresh determination.

Criminal Law - Murder - Indian Penal Code 1860 - Sections 302 and 201 - Corpus delicti - Appellant tried and convicted for murder and causing disappearance of evidence of his minor adopted sister left in his sole custody - Deceased went missing for twenty two days without appellant informing anyone - Prosecution relied on testimony of prosecution witness four who was forced at dagger point to help dispose of the body packed in a sack into the river - Trial Court convicted appellant to life imprisonment - High Court affirmed conviction - Supreme Court upheld the conviction holding that non recovery of dead body is not fatal when other cogent evidence exists - Failure of appellant to offer plausible explanation for disappearance of the child from his exclusive custody forms an additional link in the chain of circumstances - Held - Prosecution proved guilt beyond reasonable doubt - Appeal dismissed - [Paras 1-18].

Criminal Law - Corpus delicti - Missing dead body - Prosecution case based on murder of minor girl whose body was thrown into a river and could not be recovered - Non recovery of dead body does not preclude conviction for murder if death and criminal agency are established by direct or circumstantial evidence - Testimony of prosecution witness four clearly established that appellant wrapped the body in a sack and forced him to assist in disposal - Held - The fact of death and disposal was conclusively proved - Conviction can be sustained even if corpus delicti is not traced - [Paras 13-15].

Criminal Law - Circumstantial Evidence - Code of Criminal Procedure 1973 - Section 313 - Explanation of accused - Deceased was in the exclusive custody of the appellant - Child went missing for twenty two days and appellant failed to report to police or relatives - Accused admitted in his statement that deceased resided with him - Appellant utterly failed to provide any justifiable explanation regarding the missing child - Held - Failure to offer plausible explanation for disappearance from exclusive custody constitutes an additional link in the chain of circumstances - [Paras 11-17].

Evidence Law - Reliability of witness - Hostile animus - Contention that prosecution witness four was an interested and planted witness having prior enmity with the appellant - Testimony showed he only accompanied appellant under threat of dagger and did not claim to witness the actual murder - Testimony was consistent with earlier statements recorded by police and magistrate - Held - Witness emerged as reliable and credible and his testimony cannot be discarded solely on grounds of alleged prior enmity - [Paras 8-14].

Decision: Appeal dismissed - Conviction and sentence under Sections 302 and 201 IPC upheld.

Tax Law - Retrospective Amendment - Karnataka Sales Tax Act 1957 - Section 8 - Fifth Schedule - Entry 51 - Appellants engaged in trading imported sugar - Prior to 2001 sugar was exempted under the Fifth Schedule without origin-based restrictions - Original assessments granted exemption - Karnataka Act No. 5 of 2001 retrospectively inserted the words produced or manufactured in India to restrict exemption to domestic sugar - Reassessment proceedings initiated for past periods - Single Judge of High Court struck down retrospective operation as violative of Article 19(1)(g) due to unreasonable burden on dealers who did not collect tax - Division Bench reversed the order and upheld the amendment - Supreme Court held that prior to the 2001 amendment imported sugar was indeed covered by the exemption as the reference to the Additional Duties of Excise Act was for commodity identification only - Further held that while the State has legislative competence under Entry 54 of List II to withdraw exemptions retrospectively the enforcement cannot assume a punitive character - Held - Retrospective amendment is constitutionally valid but no penalty shall be imposed for the pre-amendment period and interest shall run only from the date of lawful demand pursuant to reassessment - [Paras 1-94].

Tax Law - Statutory Interpretation - Karnataka Sales Tax Act 1957 - Fifth Schedule - Entry 51 - Identification vs Origin - Exemption entry referred to sugar as described in the Additional Duties of Excise Act 1957 - State argued this incorporated territorial limitations confining exemption to domestic sugar - Court held that borrowing a description from another enactment for identification does not automatically incorporate the entire scheme or source-based restrictions of that enactment - Object of incorporation was only to define sugar for the purpose of sales tax exemption - Held - Imported sugar was covered by the exemption entry prior to the 2001 amendment - [Paras 53-63].

Constitutional Law - Legislative Competence - Karnataka Act No. 5 of 2001 - Retrospective Taxation - Power to levy tax under Entry 54 of List II includes the power to grant or withdraw exemptions - Exemption is a matter of fiscal policy and does not create an indefeasible right - Retrospective taxation is within legislative power subject to constitutional restraints of reasonableness - Held - Amendment is within legislative competence and is not unconstitutional per se - [Paras 64-71].

Tax Law - Recovery of Tax - Punitive Consequences - Interest and Penalty - Distinction between validation of a defective levy and retrospective withdrawal of a valid exemption - Dealers did not collect tax acting under a valid exemption regime - Penalty presupposes culpability or deliberate breach - Imposing penalty on dealers who complied with the law as it stood is contrary to fairness - Interest in fiscal law is compensatory but assumes a punitive character if applied from the date of original transaction when liability was created retrospectively - Held - Enforcement of retrospective levy modified to exclude penalty and restrict interest from the date of demand - [Paras 72-84].

Decision: Appeals allowed in part – Retrospective amendment upheld as valid – Reassessment for principal tax liability permitted to continue – Penalty for pre-amendment period quashed – Interest to run only from the date of lawful demand post-reassessment – Assessing authority directed to recompute inter-State sales tax liability strictly as per Section 8(2) of the CST Act.

Civil Law - Contractual Terms - Punjab Minor Minerals Concession Rules 1964 - Clause 19 of Form-L - Interest on Security Deposit - Respondent-contractor was high bidder for sand extraction contract and executed agreement in statutory Form-L - Clause 19 expressly stipulated that security deposit shall carry no interest and be refunded within three months of expiry or determination - Contractor defaulted in payments leading to contract termination on 09.03.2000 - High Court held Clause 19 unsustainable in law and against public policy because State charged 24 percent interest on delayed installments while denying interest on security - Supreme Court held that courts cannot rewrite or create a new contract however reasonable it may appear - Clause 19 was an unambiguous term accepted in an open commercial tender - Stipulation is neither immoral nor unlawful and does not violate public policy - Held - High Court erred in declaring Clause 19 unsustainable - Judgment of High Court set aside to that extent - [Paras 1-28].

Civil Law - Commercial Contracts - Judicial Interpretation - Limits of Writ Jurisdiction - Function of a Court is to interpret and enforce terms as agreed between parties - In commercial contracts where parties stand on equal footing the language of the contract must be strictly followed - Parties having accepted terms with eyes open cannot later assail them as unconscionable or oppressive after the contract period has mostly expired - Explicit terms of a contract are the final word regarding the intention of the parties - Held - A Writ Court is not entitled to add new terms to a contract or rewrite the agreement - [Paras 23-25].

Civil Law - Interpretation of Clauses - Interdependent Limbs - Rule of Construction - Clause 19 of Form-L comprises two interdependent limbs - First limb states security carries no interest - Second limb requires refund within three months of determination - Correct interpretation means deposit earns no interest during contract and for the three-month grace period post-termination - State cannot retain interest-free money in perpetuity - If State retains deposit beyond three months the contractor becomes entitled to interest from the date of expiry of the three-month period - Held - Since contract was determined on 09.03.2000 the three-month period expired on 09.06.2000 - Respondent entitled to 9 percent simple interest from 09.06.2000 until date of adjustment or refund - [Paras 29-32].

Decision: Appeals partly allowed – Clause 19 of Form-L declared valid and binding – Direction to pay interest from the date of deposit set aside – Respondent held entitled to simple interest at 9 percent per annum only for the period commencing from 09.06.2000 until the date of appropriation or refund – No order as to costs.

Criminal Law - Dacoity and Murder - Indian Penal Code 1860 - Sections 452, 395 and 396 - Appellants Mohan Babu (A4) and Palani (A3) convicted for house-trespass and dacoity with murder - Sentenced to life imprisonment and other concurrent terms - High Court affirmed the Trial Court judgment in 2008 - Appellants assailed the conviction before the Supreme Court after long periods of incarceration - Supreme Court perused the records and found no grounds to interfere with the concurrent findings of conviction - Held - Appeals dismissed on merits - [Paras 2.1-2.4 and 3.1-3.4].

Criminal Law - Remission and Pre-mature Release - Incarceration Period - Statutory Policy - Mohan Babu (A4) underwent over 14 years of imprisonment and Palani (A3) underwent over 20 years - Supreme Court granted liberty to the appellants to approach the appropriate Government for remission in accordance with prevailing policy - Referenced Suo Motu Writ Petition (Crl) No. 4 of 2021 regarding expeditious disposal of remission pleas - Held - Competent authority directed to decide remission applications within three months strictly in accordance with law and uninfluenced by the dismissal of the present appeals - [Paras 2.5-2.7 and 3.5].

Criminal Law - Interim Bail - Continuous Incarceration - Interim bail granted to Mohan Babu in 2021 and fresh interim bail granted to Palani - Court directed that the interim bail shall remain operative until the competent authority passes final orders on the remission applications - Held - Interim bail to continue to ensure liberty pending administrative decision on remission - [Paras 2.8 and 3.6].

Decision: Appeals dismissed – Conviction and sentences affirmed – Liberty granted to file remission applications – State directed to decide applications within three months – Interim bail to continue until disposal of remission applications.

Civil Law - Service Promotion - CSIR Scientists Recruitment & Promotion Rules 2001 - Rules 7.4 and 7.6 - Promotion from Scientist to Senior Scientist - Respondent completed residency period and sought promotion with effect from 2012 - Assessment Committee awarded 82 percent marks on the Work Report against a threshold of 85 percent - CAT and High Court held that marks of APR/PMS which were above 90 percent and the Work Report score of 82 percent must be averaged to determine suitability - Appellants contended that rules only require consideration of both components and not mathematical averaging - Supreme Court found that the lower forums misconstrued Para 3(b) of the Circular dated 01.06.2011 - Held - The requirement to consider both APR and Work Report does not imply a mandate for averaging - The Assessment Committee of experts has the discretion to evaluate suitability based on the record - Orders of CAT and High Court set aside - [Paras 1-34].

Civil Law - Statutory Interpretation - Literal Rule - CSIR Circular dated 01.06.2011 - Paragraph 3(b) - Interpretation of the word and - Provision states assessment will be based on APR/PMS and Work Report - CAT read the word average into the provision - Supreme Court held that reading words into a statute that are not there is impermissible unless there is a necessary implication or accidental omission - Held - Interpretation adopted by lower forums amounts to adding words to the provision which is contrary to settled law - [Paras 26-28].

Civil Law - Service Law - Expert Committee Discretion - Assessment Committee - Composition and Power - Committee consists of domain experts and Directors to evaluate scientific work - Weightage to be assigned to APR vs Work Report is not specified in the rules - Supreme Court observed that Work Reports are of utmost importance for scientists and weightage depends on the nature of work - Held - In the absence of specific statutory instructions the latitude to determine suitability must be left to the domain experts of the Assessment Committee - [Paras 29-31].

Decision: Appeals allowed – Judgment and orders of the High Court and CAT set aside – Original Application filed by the respondent dismissed.

Criminal Law - Child Sexual Abuse - Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences Act 2012 - Sections 19 and 21 - Mandatory duty to report - Minor girl aged 8 years allegedly sexually assaulted by a senior student in a school classroom - Victim reported the incident to the Headmistress Respondent No 1 who conducted a verification exercise in a teachers room and allegedly noticed redness and sticky substance on victims undergarments - School management held a meeting and decided not to report the matter to parents or police after concluding that children behaved normally and no eyewitness existed - FIR was lodged five months later when victims mother overheard the conversation - Trial Court and High Court discharged the school staff holding that criminal culpability for non-reporting depends on knowledge which was missing as officials found no signs of assault during their own inquiry - Supreme Court held that the expression has knowledge as used in Section 19 of POCSO Act includes awareness based on receipt of credible information from the victim - School authorities have no legal mandate to conduct independent investigations or verification exercises to decide whether an offence has occurred before reporting - Subjective satisfaction or belief of the school official that the complaint is false cannot override the statutory obligation to report - Prompt reporting is a sine qua non for the implementation of the Act to prevent disappearance of evidence - Held - Discharge of Respondent No 1 set aside as she received direct information from the victim - Discharge of other respondents who had no direct communication with the victim and only attended the meeting was upheld in absence of evidence of conspiracy - [Paras 1-66].

Criminal Law - Framing of Charge - Code of Criminal Procedure 1973 - Sections 227 and 228 - Scope of inquiry - At the stage of framing charge the Court is concerned with strong suspicion and not proof - Trial Court cannot act as a post office of the prosecution but must sift evidence only to find if the allegations are groundless - Court must proceed on the assumption that materials brought on record by the prosecution are true - Law does not permit a mini-trial at this stage - Held - The Trial Court erred in weighing the evidence for conviction instead of checking for a prima-facie case - [Paras 20-25].

Evidence Law - Interpretation of Knowledge - Indian Penal Code 1860 - Section 26 - Knowledge vs Reason to Believe - Knowledge is an awareness on the part of the person indicating his state of mind - It is on a higher plane than reason to believe - In POCSO cases knowledge is not limited to direct sensory perception of the crime but extends to awareness through credible communication - Information received directly from a child capable of reporting is deemed credible - Held - To hold otherwise would defeat the purpose of the Act - [Paras 31-56].

Decision: Appeal partly allowed – Discharge order of Respondent No. 1 set aside – Trial Court directed to proceed against Respondent No. 1 under Section 21 of POCSO Act and Section 176 IPC – Discharge of other Respondents affirmed.

Civil Law - Customary Inheritance - Oraon Tribe - Ghardamadship and Male Agnates - Original Plaintiff now represented by legal heirs challenged concurrent findings of the High Court - Trial Court - and First Appellate Court dismissing a suit for land ownership - Dispute centered on whether Punai (deceased) was validly adopted as a ghardamad by his uncle-in-law (Ledura) thereby bypassing the plaintiff's claim as the nearest male agnate - Evidence showed that in Oraon custom daughters have no inheritance rights and property typically goes to the nearest male agnate in the absence of a son or a validly adopted ghardamad - Respondents relied on a partition/lease deed of 1975 to establish title - Supreme Court observed that while the custom of ghardamad exists - the specific adoption of a niece's husband by an uncle-in-law as a ghardamad was not proven as per the requirements of Section 48 Evidence Act - Findings of lower courts held to be perverse for misinterpreting authoritative texts on tribal law and ignoring internal inconsistencies in defense evidence - Held - Judgments of the courts below set aside - Plaintiff suit as nearest male agnate decreed - [Paras 1-14].

Evidence Law - Proof of Custom - Indian Evidence Act 1872 - Section 48 - Essential Attributes - To be valid a custom must be immemorial - reasonable - certain - and continuous without interruption - Burden of proof lies on the party alleging the custom - High Court formulated a substantial question regarding the ability of an uncle-in-law to adopt a ghardamad but failed to answer it merely because findings were concurrent - Court found that the respondents failed to lead evidence to establish such a specific custom - Held - Merely observing that the opposite is not stated in custom is insufficient - A custom once disallowed cannot be revived - [Paras 5-6, 12-13].

Constitution Law - Special Leave to Appeal - Constitution of India - Article 136 - Interference with concurrent findings - Supreme Court ordinarily does not interfere with concurrent findings of fact unless they are perverse - based on no evidence - or ignore material circumstances - Findings in the present case were built on inconsistent testimonies of defense witnesses and a misreading of S.C. Roy’s authoritative work 'The Oraon of Chotanagpur' - Held - The findings were materially affected by violation of rules of law and procedure warranting interference to avoid miscarriage of justice - [Paras 8-8.4, 11-13].

Civil Law - Tribal Property Rights - Nearest Male Agnate - Customary Law of Oraons - Reliance placed on established sources stating that in the absence of male issue or a ghardamad duly adopted by the last male owner or his widow - the property must devolve to the nearest male agnate - Punai was the ghardamad of Bhoula but was allegedly adopted by Ledura (uncle-in-law) - This adoption did not conform to the requirement of being adopted by the last male owner or his widow - Held - In the absence of a direct ghardamad relationship with the owner the male agnate succeeds - [Paras 10.5-13].

Decision: Appeal allowed – Judgments and decrees of the High Court and lower courts set aside – Plaintiff’s suit for ownership of the schedule property decreed.