(441) A. ANIL KUMAR Vs. LIFE INSURANCE CORPORATION OF INDIA AND OTHERS[ANDHRA PRADESH HIGH COURT] 21-03-2025 Natural Justice in Disciplinary Proceedings — Production of Key Evidence and Witnesses — In a departmental inquiry concerning alleged misappropriation by an employee (cashier), the failure of the disciplinary authority to produce critical documentary evidence (such as the ‘Register of Day to Day Usage of Receipt Stationery’ maintained by the petitioner) and to examine a key witness (like the Head of Department - HOD Accounts, responsible for overseeing stationery and reconciliations) whose testi India Law Library Docid # 2424879
(442) MYNENI SYAMALA Vs. K KALADHAR AND ANOTHER AND OTHERS[ANDHRA PRADESH HIGH COURT] 21-03-2025 Civil Procedure Code, 1908 — Section 100 — Scope of Second Appeal — Substantial Question of Law — The jurisdiction of the High Court under Section 100 of the C.P.C. is confined to entertaining appeals involving a substantial question of law — The Court cannot re-appreciate evidence or interfere with concurrent findings of fact unless the findings recorded by the courts below are manifestly perverse or contrary to the evidence on record — The existence of a substantial question of law is a sine q India Law Library Docid # 2424881
(443) LAKSHMI AGENCIES, RJY, E.G. DIST AND OTHERS Vs. ARYAPURAM COOP URBAN BANK LTD RJY AND OTHERS[ANDHRA PRADESH HIGH COURT] 21-03-2025 Andhra Pradesh Co-operative Societies Act, 1964 — Sections 61, 62 & 76 — Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 — Section 34 — Nature of Proceedings under APCS Act — Proceedings initiated upon reference of a dispute under Section 61 of the APCS Act, 1964, and decided by the Registrar or a person invested with powers or an arbitrator under Section 62 of the APCS Act, 1964, are statutory proceedings governed exclusively by the APCS Act — Such proceedings do not constitute arbitration proceedings u India Law Library Docid # 2424884
(444) SUSHIL KUMAR MORE Vs. SHAIKH ASADUR RAHMAN AND OTHERS[CALCUTTA HIGH COURT] 21-03-2025 Civil Procedure Code, 1908 — Order IX, Rule 13 — Limitation Act, 1963 — Section 5 & Article 123 — Setting Aside Ex-Parte Decree — Condonation of Delay — Sufficient Cause — Applications filed by Defendant No. 2 seeking condonation of 605 days delay in filing, and setting aside of, an ex-parte decree dated 22.11.2022 — Primary grounds were alleged non-service of summons and lack of knowledge of the suit/decree until June 2023 — Court examined whether “sufficient cause” was shown for non-appearance India Law Library Docid # 2425157
(445) DR. BINOY RANJAN ROY Vs. SMT. KABITA SHAW[CALCUTTA HIGH COURT] 21-03-2025 Civil Procedure Code, 1908 (CPC) — Order 6 Rule 17 — Amendment of Plaint — Subsequent Events — West Bengal Premises Tenancy Act, 1997 (WBPT Act) — Section 2(g) — Commercial Tenancy — An amendment application seeking to incorporate the ground that the defendant (heir of the original tenant in a non-residential tenancy) has become a trespasser due to the expiry of the five-year statutory protection period under Section 2(g) of the WBPT Act, 1997, during the pendency of the eviction suit, is mainta India Law Library Docid # 2425214
(446) STATE OF J&K Vs. KHURSHID AHMAD NAQEEB[JAMMU AND KASHMIR AND LADAKH HIGH COURT AT SRINAGAR] 20-03-2025 Constitution of India, 1950 — Article 31(1) and 14 — Defined Pension Rules, 2014 — A cut-off date in a government order introducing pension benefits for a previously non-pensionable entity is not arbitrary or discriminatory simply because it creates two classes of retirees (before and after the date), provided the classification has a reasonable basis and is not capricious or whimsical, especially when implementing a new policy with financial implications — The Division Bench allowed an appeal a India Law Library Docid # 2423786
(447) STATE OF J&K Vs. SAYED SHABIR BUKHARI AND OTHERS[JAMMU AND KASHMIR AND LADAKH HIGH COURT AT SRINAGAR] 20-03-2025 Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 — Sections 161, 272 (1), 342 and 512 — Ranbir Penal Code — Sections 302, 307, 120B, 380, 121 and 124-A — Arms Act, 1959 — Sections 7 and 27 — An appellate court in a criminal acquittal appeal has a circumscribed jurisdiction and will not easily overturn an acquittal unless the trial court’s view is perverse or unsustainable — In cases of circumstantial evidence, a complete and unbroken chain proving guilt is necessary — The Division Bench dismissed a State appeal ag India Law Library Docid # 2423785
(448) MENARUL SHEKH AND OTHERS Vs. THE STATE OF JHARKHAND[JHARKHAND HIGH COURT] 20-03-2025 National Investigation Agency Act, 2008 — Section 21(4) — Explosive Substance Act, 1908 — Sections 3 and 4 — Bail can be granted in cases under the Explosive Substance Act when there is no recovery of explosive substances and the accused have been in custody for a significant period, especially when charges have been framed — The High Court allowed a criminal appeal and granted bail to five appellants accused under the BNS, Arms Act, and Explosive Substance Act — The court noted the absence of r India Law Library Docid # 2423833
(449) SANDEEP KUMAR Vs. STATE OF HIMACHAL PRADESH AND ANOTHER[HIMACHAL PRADESH HIGH COURT] 20-03-2025 Himachal Pradesh Financial Rules, 2009 — An employee who was denied regularization due to a pending criminal case but is subsequently acquitted is entitled to regularization from the date of their initial eligibility with all consequential benefits — High Court allowed a writ petition directing the State to regularize the services of a Patwari, who was initially appointed on a contract basis in 2011, with effect from 01.10.2016 (the date he completed five years of service as per the regularizati India Law Library Docid # 2423797
(450) PAWAN KUMAR Vs. STATE OF H.P.[HIMACHAL PRADESH HIGH COURT] 20-03-2025 Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 — Sections 18(c) and 18-A — The revisional court has a limited scope of interference, primarily to rectify patent defects, errors of jurisdiction, or law, and cannot act as an appellate court — Furthermore, deciding a criminal case against a convicted person in the absence of their counsel, especially when legal aid is available, is not fair or just — High Court dismissed a criminal revision petition against the concurrent conviction under the Drugs and Cosmetics Ac India Law Library Docid # 2423798
(451) BHIMA RAM Vs. STATE OF H.P. AND OTHERS[HIMACHAL PRADESH HIGH COURT] 20-03-2025 Service Law — A Class-IV Government servant appointed on a part-time/daily wage basis prior to 10.05.2001 and regularized on or after 10.05.2001 shall retire at the age of 60 years — Additionally, even after granting the benefit of one year of regular service for every five years of daily wage service, the employee should have completed 10 years of qualifying service for pension — High Court dismissed a writ petition filed by a Class-IV government servant initially engaged on a daily wage basis India Law Library Docid # 2423799
(452) DAIZY KUMAR @ VISHAL AND ANOTHER Vs. STATE OF H.P.[HIMACHAL PRADESH HIGH COURT] 20-03-2025 Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) — Sections 498A and 306 — Cruelty and Abetment to Suicide — To establish offences under Sections 498A and 306, the prosecution must prove beyond a reasonable doubt the acts constituting cruelty and a proximate nexus between the accused's actions and the deceased's suicide, while considering the admissibility and weight of witness testimonies and statutory presumptions — Criminal appeal against conviction under Sections 498A and 306 IPC dismissed, upholding the trial court' India Law Library Docid # 2423800
(453) ASHA CHAUHAN Vs. AMIT KASHYAP AND ANOTHER[HIMACHAL PRADESH HIGH COURT] 20-03-2025 Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 — The expression “consequential benefits” in a court order for retrospective promotion typically encompasses quantifiable financial benefits and the right to be considered for further promotion based on the new seniority, but does not automatically include subsequent promotions to higher grades not specifically directed by the court — Contempt petition dismissed as the retrospective promotion and financial benefits ordered by the court were granted; “consequential be India Law Library Docid # 2423801
(454) SMT. SANTOSH KUMARI Vs. THE H.P. STATE ELECTRICITY BOARDS LTD. AND OTHERS[HIMACHAL PRADESH HIGH COURT] 20-03-2025 Electricity Law — An electricity board has the primary responsibility to maintain HT lines properly and ensure they do not pose a hazard to human life, and the court can direct the board to pay compensation for death caused by electrocution due to its acts of omission — Writ petition disposed of with a direction to the electricity board to pay compensation for the electrocution death of the petitioner's son due to low-hanging HT lines, attributing the incident to the board's omission in maintain India Law Library Docid # 2423802
(455) ROOP CHAND Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB AND OTHERS[PUNJAB AND HARYANA HIGH COURT] 20-03-2025 Service Law — Recovery of Excess Payment — Retired Employee — Group-D Employee — Effect of Undertaking/Affidavit — Where a retired Group-D employee challenges the recovery of excess payment made to him post-retirement during the release of arrears of gratuity and leave encashment, the permissibility of such recovery hinges significantly on whether the employee had furnished an undertaking to refund any such excess payment. India Law Library Docid # 2423899
(456) GURWINDER SINGH Vs. SHARANJIT KAUR[PUNJAB AND HARYANA HIGH COURT] 20-03-2025 Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 — Section 125 — Maintenance — Effect of Permanent Alimony — Held, the object of Section 125 is distinct, aiming at social justice and preventing vagrancy and destitution by providing a speedy remedy for sustenance — The mere fact that the respondent-wife has received a lump sum amount as permanent alimony does not automatically disentitle her from claiming or receiving monthly maintenance under Section India Law Library Docid # 2423955
(457) YASH DEV SINGH SEJWAL Vs. STATE AND OTHERS[DELHI HIGH COURT] 20-03-2025 Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 — Section 198 — Prosecution for Offences Against Marriage (Chapter XX IPC) — Locus Standi — Aggrieved Person — Cognizance of offences under Chapter XX IPC (including Sections 494/495 IPC) can only be taken upon a complaint made by a “person aggrieved” by the offence, subject to specific exceptions enumerated in the proviso to S. 198(1) — Where the husband is the aggrieved person, a complaint filed by his father holding a Power of India Law Library Docid # 2423973
(458) SALEEM Vs. STATE (NCT OF DELHI)[DELHI HIGH COURT] 20-03-2025 Delhi Prison Rules, 2018 — Rules 1178, 1197, 1200 and 1224(iii) — Furlough — Eligibility — Effect of Past Parole Abscondence/Jump — Subsequent Good Conduct — Effect of Warning — While Rule 1224(iii) stipulates ineligibility for furlough for prisoners who absconded during parole/furlough, this bar is not absolute and must be considered contextually — Where a significant period has elapsed since the petitioner jumped emergency parole and was rearrested, and the petitioner has subsequently maintain India Law Library Docid # 2423974
(459) D K SHARMA Vs. STATE OF DELHI[DELHI HIGH COURT] 20-03-2025 Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 — Section 19 — Sanction for Prosecution — Competent Authority — Jurisdictional Prerequisite — Grant of sanction for prosecution under Section 19 of the PC Act by an authority competent to remove the public servant from office is a mandatory and jurisdictional prerequisite — Sanction granted by an authority lacking such competence is invalid ab initio, rendering the entire trial and subsequent conviction void for want of jurisdiction — The question of competence India Law Library Docid # 2423976
(460) PITHAMPUR AUDYOGIK SANGTHAN AND OTHERS Vs. STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH AND OTHERS[MADHYA PRADESH HIGH COURT (INDORE BENCH)] 20-03-2025 Minimum Wages Act, 1948 — Sections 3 & 5 — Revision of Minimum Wages — Uniformity vs. Locality-wise Differentiation — While Section 3(3)(a)(iv) permits consideration of different localities while fixing/revising minimum wages, the Act does not mandate the appropriate government to invariably fix different minimum wage rates for different localities within the State — A uniform revision applicable across the State, based on recommendations of the duly constituted Advisory Board considering releva India Law Library Docid # 2424122