High Court judgments and orders from across India, with the legal point made clear.
Justices Anu Sivaraman and T. P. Vivekananda set aside both the Deputy Commissioner arbitral award that raised compensation for Ramashettihalli land to the Edenahalli rate and the District Court order that quashed it, holding that neither could stand and that Section 37 does not let the court fix the value itself.
Justice Biswajit Palit ordered the release on bail of a dismissed BSF man serving two years rigorous imprisonment, holding that although review of a Security Force Court verdict under Article 226 is narrow, the length of his detention justified suspending the sentence until the writ is decided.
Justice Ravindra Kumar Agrawal found that the payments the CBI called cheating were reconciled, adjusted and recovered with penal interest by NTPC itself in 1982-83, that the truck owners who said their vehicles never went to Korba had no personal knowledge, and that nobody from NTPC ever complained.
Justice Dr. Anshuman held that an acquittal in a criminal case is by itself no ground to disturb a departmental dismissal that rests on evidence led before the inquiry officer, closing a dispute that began when Rs 1.33 lakh of salary money vanished from a Nazarat locker.
Justice Amit Mahajan held that the Corporate Affairs Ministry order of 17 August 2018 merely reproduced Section 212(1)(c) of the Companies Act, and that the Oversight Committee minutes offered to prop it up rested on a news article, a letter from an MP and inspection reports that had found no fraud. The 2022 prosecution complaint falls with it.
A Madurai Bench of Justices M. Dhandapani and N. Dilip Kumar upheld Rules 35-A to 35-H of the Tamil Nadu Minor Mineral Concession Rules, holding that a district-ring-fenced fund for restoring abandoned quarries is within Section 15 of the MMDR Act and does not duplicate the District Mineral Foundation.
Justices Ilesh J. Vora and R. T. Vachhani dismissed a survivor appeal against acquittal, holding that two written deeds affirming free consent, the testimony of her own father and uncle, and the failure to seize the original agreements left the false promise of marriage case unproved.
Justices M.S. Karnik and Sandesh D. Patil revived a GST appeal dismissed as time-barred, holding that Section 107(1) runs from communication of the order, not from an upload to the Additional Notices and Orders section.
Acting Chief Justice P. Sam Koshy and Justice Narsing Rao Nandikonda held that an officer notified under Rule 12E can issue a scrutiny notice even where the case stands centralised with a different assessing officer.
Justice Ranjitsinha Raja Bhonsale upheld the discharge of two directors from a trespass case, holding that criminal and house trespass need the offender at the spot and that common intention must be pleaded, not presumed.
Justice Ranjitsinha Raja Bhonsale quashed theft and wrongful restraint cases brought against members and staff of a Navi Mumbai society, holding both were offshoots of a civil dispute over maintenance and encroachment.
Justice Arun R. Pednekar upheld the eviction of State Bank of India from its Vile Parle staff quarters, holding that paying rent to the landowner for decades worked an implied surrender up an unregistered chain of sub-leases.
Justice Milind N. Jadhav granted bail to a 29-year-old after appointing a legal aid lawyer for the 16-year-old girl, relying on her own statement while noting she said money may have changed hands between her relatives and the accused.
Justices Kishore C. Sant and Abasaheb D. Shinde dismissed review applications by junior engineers appointed from a wait list, holding that a seniority grievance already answered cannot be reargued as an error on the face of the record.
Justices B.P. Colabawalla and Farhan P. Dubash quashed two refusals of approval under Section 10(23C)(via), holding that a surplus does not by itself show a profit purpose and that penalising a hospital for improving its equipment inverts the test.
Justice Arif S. Doctor dismissed an ex-employee application to recall an ex parte order and imposed costs of 5 lakh rupees, holding that a grievance about the execution of a commission belongs in court, not in a police station.
Justice Juvvadi Sridevi directed AICTE to enable download of an Extension of Approval its own dashboard already showed as issued, and protected admissions made under an interim order.
Justice Milind N. Jadhav released two brothers on bail in a 2021 murder case, holding that the ignominy of a trial that will not conclude in the foreseeable future is itself a ground, without any opinion on the merits.
Acting Chief Justice P. Sam Koshy and Justice Narsing Rao Nandikonda rejected a jurisdiction challenge to a GST order-in-original and sent the assessee to its statutory appeal, with the writ period excluded from limitation.
Justice A. Badharudeen set aside the Government's decision to appoint a Special Investigation Team to enquire instead of registering a case, and directed the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau to register an FIR forthwith.
Justice Sandeep V. Marne confirmed the basement purchaser's membership but confined it to the 59.02 square metres sanctioned as storage, to be treated as residential for redevelopment, and refused a stay.
Justice Amit Borkar declined to decide a Section 11 application either way, holding that an authoritative answer is better than another judgment which may itself lead to another reference.
Justices Rajasekhar Mantha and Anuj Singh affirmed life sentences for a 1985 political killing, holding that separate attribution of every injury to each member of an unlawful assembly is not required.
Justices Anil K. Narendran and Muralee Krishna S. set aside a KAAPA detention, holding the Government acts in a dual capacity and must consider a representation independently without waiting for the Board.
