(1) AADITYA KHAITAN @ ADITYA KHAITAN AND OTHERS Vs. THE STATE OF JHARKHAND AND OTHERS[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 28-04-2025 Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 — Section 482 — Quashing of FIR — Test for Interference — The power under Section 482 Cr.PC to quash an FIR is exercisable when the allegations made in the complaint/FIR, taken at their face value and accepted in their entirety, do not prima facie constitute any offence or make out a case against the accused — The examination is of the complaint as a whole, without delving into the merits, assessing reliability, or conducting a meticulous analysis of the material — India Law Library Docid # 2425107
(2) K. P. TAMILMARAN Vs. THE STATE BY DEPUTY SUPERINTENDENT OF POLICE[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 28-04-2025 Evidence Act, 1872 — Section 154 — Hostile Witness — Evidentiary Value — The evidence of a witness permitted to be cross-examined under Section 154 by the party calling him (often termed ‘hostile’) cannot be discarded altogether as a matter of law — It remains admissible evidence forming part of the record — It is for the Court, exercising prudence and caution, to consider the testimony as a whole, along with other evidence, and determine its credibility and the extent to which it can be relied India Law Library Docid # 2425108
(3) M/S OSWAL PETROCHEMICALS LTD. Vs. COMMISSIONER OF CENTRAL EXCISE, MUMBAI - II[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 28-04-2025 Central Excise Rules, 1944 — Rule 56(2) & 56(4) — Principles of Natural Justice — Re-classification — Test Reports — Where re-classification of goods leading to a higher duty demand is proposed based on chemical test reports, principles of natural justice and the mandate of Rule 56(2) require that copies of such test reports, forming the sub-stratum of the demand, must be furnished to the assessee — Merely providing a gist of the test results, especially within show-cause notices, constitutes a India Law Library Docid # 2425131
(4) CHUNNI BAI Vs. STATE OF CHHATTISGARH[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 28-04-2025 Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) — Sections 299, 300, 302, 304 — Murder vs. Culpable Homicide Not Amounting to Murder — Mens Rea — Intention/Knowledge — All ‘murder’ under Section 300 IPC is ‘culpable homicide’ under Section 299 IPC, but the converse is not true — The critical distinction lies in the degree of mens rea (intention or knowledge). A conviction for murder under Section 302 IPC requires proof beyond reasonable doubt of: (i) intention to cause death; or (ii) intention to cause bodily injury lik India Law Library Docid # 2425132
(5) CONSOLIDATED CONSTRUCTION CONSORTIUM LIMITED Vs. SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGY PARKS OF INDIA[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 28-04-2025 Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 — Sections 34 & 37 — Scope of Judicial Review — Arbitral Award — Plausible View — The jurisdiction of a court under Section 34 of the 1996 Act to set aside an arbitral award is highly restrictive and confined strictly to the grounds enumerated therein (sub-sections (2) and (2A)) — The court cannot act as an appellate body, re-appraise evidence, or substitute its own view for that of the arbitrator merely because a different interpretation or conclusion is p India Law Library Docid # 2425133
(6) OKHLA ENCLAVE PLOT HOLDERS WEL. ASSOCIATION Vs. UNION OF INDIA THROUGH SECRETARY AND OTHERS[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 25-04-2025 Allotment — General Category Allottees — Eligibility Criteria — Multiple Plots within Family — The Court modified its earlier order dated 03.10.2019 concerning eligibility criteria — Accepting the Special Committee's prior observation (in its procedural order dated 04.10.2018) that the restriction limiting eligibility to one plot per family should not disentitle persons who paid the full sale consideration at market rates, the Court permitted those General Category allottees, previously found in India Law Library Docid # 2425093
(7) THE PRINCIPAL CHIEF CONSERVATOR OF FOREST AND OTHERS Vs. SURESH MATHEW AND OTHERS[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 25-04-2025 Government Contracts & Tenders — Judicial Review — Scope of Interference: The power of judicial review in matters relating to government tenders and contracts is circumscribed — Courts should exercise restraint and interfere only if the process adopted or decision made by the authority is vitiated by mala fides, intended to favour someone, or is so arbitrary and irrational that no responsible authority acting reasonably and in accordance with relevant law could have reached it, or if public inte India Law Library Docid # 2425094
(8) CENTRAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION Vs. SURENDRA PATWA AND OTHERS[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 25-04-2025 Banking Law — RBI Master Directions on Frauds — Administrative Action vs. Criminal Proceedings — An administrative action taken by banks under the RBI’s Master Directions (dated 01.07.2016) to classify a borrower’s account as fraudulent stands on a different footing from criminal proceedings (like registration of FIR and subsequent investigation by CBI/Police) initiated based on the detection of fraudulent activity — The former falls within the regulatory domain of the RBI and banks, while the l India Law Library Docid # 2425095
(9) RAJAT GAERA Vs. TARUN RAWAT[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 25-04-2025 Practice and Procedure — Expeditious Disposal — Stay of Trial Proceedings by High Court — Landlord-Tenant Disputes — Where the High Court has stayed the trial or original proceedings in cases, particularly those pending between landlord and tenant, such cases must be heard expeditiously — A stay of the trial inevitably leads to delay in the conclusion of the trial and the entire proceedings thereafter — High Courts should endeavor to dispose of those cases where trial has been stayed by India Law Library Docid # 2425103
(10) SAMAR DEBANGSI Vs. STATE OF WEST BENGAL[CALCUTTA HIGH COURT] 25-04-2025 Penal Code, 1860 — Sections 354 & 376 read with 511 — Outraging Modesty & Attempt to Commit Rape — Proof and Appreciation of Evidence — Appeal against conviction under Ss. 354 & 376/511 IPC — Court analysed evidence of prosecutrix (PW1) and other prosecution witnesses regarding the incident in a sugarcane field — Considered issues of delay in FIR, inconsistencies between FIR and deposition, non-exhibition of injury report, non-seizure of clothes by IO, and alleged land dispute motive India Law Library Docid # 2425160
(11) GOVINDA KRISHNA GUPTA AND OTHERS Vs. SIBA PADA DAS AND OTHERS[CALCUTTA HIGH COURT] 25-04-2025 Transfer of Property Act, 1882 — Section 58(c) — Mortgage by Conditional Sale vs. Sale with Condition of Repurchase — Distinction — A transaction where a sale deed is executed and a separate, contemporaneous agreement for reconveyance is executed between the parties does not constitute a mortgage by conditional sale under Section 58(c) of the TPA, especially in view of the Proviso added by Act 20 of 1929 which requires the condition of repurchase to be embodied in the same document that effects India Law Library Docid # 2425161
(12) SHAKUNTLA DEVI Vs. THE STATE OF UTTAR PRADESH[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 25-04-2025 Penal Code, 1860 — Section 306 — Abetment of Suicide — Ingredients — Course of Conduct — Proximate Cause — To establish the offence of abetment of suicide under Section 306 IPC, the prosecution must prove beyond reasonable doubt that the accused committed an active act or illegal omission which instigated the deceased or intentionally aided the deceased in committing suicide — A continuous course of conduct involving mental and physical torture, cruelty, and harassment (in this case, related to India Law Library Docid # 2425134
(13) M/S SRI VENKATESWARA CONSTRUCTIONS Vs. STATE OF ODISHA AND OTHERS[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 25-04-2025 Tender Law — Interpretation of Conditions — Income Tax Return — “Previous Financial Year” — Due Date for Filing — Section 44AB, Income Tax Act, 1961 — Where a tender notice requires submission of the Income Tax Return (ITR) for the “previous financial year” and the bid submission deadline falls before the statutory due date for filing the ITR for the immediately preceding financial year (especially for assesses subject to tax audit under Section 44AB of the IT Act, 1961, considering applicable e India Law Library Docid # 2425135
(14) MURLIDHAR AGGARWAL (D.) THR. HIS LR. ATUL KUMAR AGGARWAL Vs. MAHENDRA PRATAP KAKAN (D.) THR. LRS. AND OTHERS[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 24-04-2025 Uttar Pradesh Urban Buildings (Regulation of Letting, Rent and Eviction) Act, 1972 — Section 21(1)(a) — Bona Fide Requirement — Assessment by Authorities — Appellate Review — The finding on bona fide requirement of the landlord under Section 21(1)(a) arrived at by the Prescribed Authority after analysing evidence regarding the landlord’s income, financial status, family needs, and lack of alternative business requires cogent and convincing reasons for reversal by the Appellate Authority — The Ap India Law Library Docid # 2425055
(15) THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER AND OTHERS Vs. S. LALITHA AND OTHERS[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 24-04-2025 Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985 — Sections 19, 20 & 21 — Limitation — Exhaustion of Remedies — Effect of Representation — (i) Section 21 prescribes a limitation period of one year for approaching the Tribunal, reckoned from the date of the final order rejecting a statutory remedy (like appeal/revision) or from the expiry of six months after making such statutory representation if no order is passed. India Law Library Docid # 2425056
(16) ASIM MALLIK Vs. THE STATE OF ODISHA[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 24-04-2025 Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 — Section 20(b)(ii)(C) Commercial Quantity — Special Leave Petition — Bail — Grant by Supreme Court — Considerations — Period of Incarceration — In a Special Leave Petition concerning bail for an offence involving commercial quantity under Section 20(b)(ii)(C) of the NDPS Act, where the petitioner had initially been granted interim bail by the High Court, the Supreme Court may grant regular bail considering the significant period of incarcerat India Law Library Docid # 2425057
(17) M/S CHITHRA WOODS MANORS WELFARE ASSOCIATION Vs. SHAJI AUGUSTINE[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 24-04-2025 Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 — Section 2(b) — Civil Contempt — Wilful Disobedience — Failure to comply with a specific monetary direction passed by the Supreme Court (directing payment of arrears of use and occupation charges in instalments), despite seeking and obtaining time or benefit under related court orders (like status quo), constitutes wilful disobedience amounting to civil contempt, especially when the contemnor continues to enjoy the property and its benefits without making payments o India Law Library Docid # 2425096
(18) RAJU NARYANA SWAMY Vs. STATE OF KERALA AND OTHERS[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 23-04-2025 Service Law — Promotion — Indian Administrative Service (IAS) — Chief Secretary Grade — Consideration of Annual Confidential Reports (ACRs/PARs) — ‘Washed Off’ Principle — Adverse entries prior to earlier promotion — In considering promotion to the highest echelons of civil service, the entire service record of the officer may be examined — However, adverse entries recorded prior to an earlier promotion are generally treated as having lost their sting (‘weak material’), unless such entries perta India Law Library Docid # 2424965
(19) MUPPIDI LAKSHMI NARAYANA REDDY AND OTHERS Vs. THE STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH AND ANOTHER[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 23-04-2025 Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 — Section 482 — Quashing of proceedings — Matrimonial dispute — Allegations against relatives of husband — Where allegations against the husband's relatives (appellants residing in Hyderabad) concerning dowry demands related to a marriage based in Guntur are omnibus and general in nature, lacking specific details or dates of their alleged visits or acts of instigation or demand, such prosecution is unsustainable. India Law Library Docid # 2424966
(20) STATE OF HIMACHAL PRADESH Vs. SANJAY KUMAR[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 23-04-2025 Criminal Appeal — Appeal Against Acquittal — Scope of Interference — The Supreme Court ordinarily refrains from interfering with a judgment of acquittal rendered by the High Court, particularly when the High Court’s assessment of the evidence presents a plausible view of the matter. India Law Library Docid # 2424967