(1) STATE OF HIMACHAL PRADESH Vs. JEET RAM AND ANOTHER[HIMACHAL PRADESH HIGH COURT] 16-09-2026 Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 — Sections 20 and 29 — Search and Seizure — Implausibility of prosecution story — Contraband allegedly recovered from a bag on a motorcycle — Claim that pillion rider alighted and escaped up a steep hillock during a high-speed vehicle chase within 20 meters, while police failed to pursue her and the bag remained balanced on the seat during subsequent flight, held unbelievable — In the absence of independent witnesses, material discrepancies in India Law Library Docid # 2452449
(2) LOKESH SHARMA AND OTHERS Vs. STATE OF HP AND OTHERS[HIMACHAL PRADESH HIGH COURT] 16-09-2026 Service Law — Regularization — Parity with juniors — Himachal Pradesh Recruitment and Conditions of Service of Government Employees Act, 2024 struck down as ultra vires following Devinder Kumar case — Petitioners were appointed on contract basis via direct recruitment in December 2014, whereas PTA-GIA teachers were converted to contract service in January 2015 — PTA-GIA teachers were regularized w.e.f. 01.04.2018 — Held, petitioners being senior even as contract employees cannot be treated preju India Law Library Docid # 2452458
(3) K RASHIK Vs. NATIONAL INSURANCE COMPANY LTD. AND ANOTHER[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 16-09-2026 Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 — Section 166(2) — Territorial jurisdiction of Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal — Option of claimant — Accident occurring in Chittoor, Andhra Pradesh, where claimant and driver also resided — Claim petition filed before Tribunal at Chennai — Insurer raised objection to territorial jurisdiction at the initial stage before the Tribunal — Held, under Section 166(2), a claim application can be filed where the accident occurred, where the claimant resides or carries on busines India Law Library Docid # 2452510
(4) SUNITA LAHU PANCHPANDE Vs. THE DISTRICT COLLECTOR AND OTHERS[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 16-09-2026 Service Law — Appointment — Eligibility Criteria — Anganwadi Supervisor — Recruitment advertisement explicitly required ten years of experience as Anganwadi Sevika in Nashik District, pursuant to Government Resolution dated 17.11.2001 — Appellant possessed the required experience but in Jalgaon District — Divisional Commissioner clarified that experience in the same district was not mandatory — Held, Divisional Commissioner India Law Library Docid # 2452514
(5) ABDUL RAJIK Vs. STATE OF M.P.[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 16-09-2026 Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 — Sections 42 and 50 — Applicability — Search and seizure in open public place — Accused persons apprehended at a public road carrying bags containing suspected contraband (charas) — Held, since the recovery was effected from bags carried by the accused who were intercepted in an open public place, neither Section 42 nor Section 50 of the NDPS Act applies India Law Library Docid # 2452515
(6) ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER OF INCOME TAX AND ANOTHER Vs. M/S. OMAXE LIMITED[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 16-09-2026 Income Tax Act, 1961 — Sections 147, 148, Chapter XIX-A, Section 245D(4) and Section 245-I — Settlement Commission order — Reopening of assessment by Assessing Officer — Conclusiveness and finality — Assessee’s settlement application for India Law Library Docid # 2452516
(7) BHARAT RAJ MEENA Vs. CENTRAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 16-09-2026 Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 — Sections 7, 13(1)(d), 13(2) and 20 — Proof of demand and acceptance — Indispensable foundation — Presumption under Section 20 — Appellant, Divisional Security Commissioner, RPF, convicted for demanding and accepting bribes through intermediaries for transfers — Tainted money recovered from intermediary, not appellant — Trap abruptly closed without tracing money to appellant — Held, proof of demand and acceptance is sine qua non for establishing offences under India Law Library Docid # 2452517
(8) HARI DUTTA SHARMA Vs. STATE OF U.P. AND OTHERS[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 16-09-2026 Banking Regulation Act, 1949 — Section 35-A — Reserve Bank of India Guidelines on Fair Practices Code — Recovery of secured loans — Self-help repossession — Financier's contractual right to repossess a financed vehicle is not an unbridled licence to seize property by force, stealth, or in the dead of night — RBI directions issued under Section 35-A possess statutory force and bind banks and Non-Banking Financial Companies — Lenders cannot resort to undue harassment or use muscle India Law Library Docid # 2452518
(9) VINIT KUMAR AND OTHERS Vs. STATE OF U.P. THROUGH SECRETARY AND OTHERS[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 16-09-2026 Constitution of India, 1950 — Article 32 — Recruitment and Selection Process — Scope of scrutiny confined by interim order — Binding effect inter partes — Petitioners challenged selection of Technician Grade-2 (Trainee) Electrical, alleging higher merit than selected candidates — Interim order recorded that petitioners confined relief solely to claim of higher merit — Held, an order is effective inter partes and binds them until avoided or challenged India Law Library Docid # 2452519
(10) THE STATE OF TELANGANA AND OTHERS Vs. M.A. GARDEN FUNCTION HALL AND OTHERS ETC[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 16-09-2026 Constitution of India — Article 226 — Writ Jurisdiction — Disputed questions of possession — Maintainability of writ petition by lessees — Eviction proceedings under Andhra Pradesh Land Encroachment Act, 1905 — Division Bench held writ court cannot decide disputed possession — Trust withdrew its Special Leave Petition with liberty to institute a civil suit, without interim protection — Lessees claiming through Trust subsequently filed writ petitions seeking protection against dispossession — Hel India Law Library Docid # 2452520
(11) TIGERHILL VINIMAY PRIVATE LIMITED AND OTHERS Vs. PANKAJ LADIA[CALCUTTA HIGH COURT] 16-09-2026 Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 — Sections 118(a) and 139 — Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 (CrPC) — Sections 397, 401 and 482 — Dishonour of cheque — Statutory presumption — Scope of interference — Petitioners admitted issuance and execution of cheque during land purchase negotiations, but claimed transaction was orally cancelled due to defective title — Held, once issuance and signatures on cheque are admitted, statutory presumption arises that it was drawn for consideration and towards dischar India Law Library Docid # 2452525
(12) THAKUR ASHOK KUMAR PRASAD Vs. THE STATE OF BIHAR AND OTHERS[PATNA HIGH COURT] 16-09-2026 Service Law — Disciplinary Proceedings — Natural Justice — Supply of Enquiry Report — Constitution of India, Article 311(2) — Petitioners dismissed under Rule 76 of Bihar Service Code following ex-parte proceedings without receiving enquiry report prior to penalty — Held, receiving enquiry officer's report is an indispensable facet of reasonable opportunity and natural justice — Employee must be given opportunity to controvert findings before disciplinary authority takes decision — Failure to su India Law Library Docid # 2452526
(13) DR. SWAPAN GARAIN Vs. TATA INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND OTHERS[BOMBAY HIGH COURT] 16-09-2026 Central Civil Services (Conduct) Rules, 1964 — Rule 3 and Rule 15 — Central Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, 1965 — Misconduct — Running parallel placement service and engaging in private trade — Professor created an alumni WhatsApp group sharing job opportunities without permission — Inquiry Authority found petitioner guilty of commercial trade — Scope of judicial review — Held, findings were perverse as no evidence showed petitioner charged fees or derived personal ga India Law Library Docid # 2452527
(14) JAYANT MANIKLAL LUNAWAT Vs. PUNE MUNICIPAL CORPORATION AND OTHERS[BOMBAY HIGH COURT] 16-09-2026 Bombay Provincial Municipal Corporation Act, 1949 — Section 77 — Constitution of India — Article 300A — Surrender of land — Development Rights Certificates (DRCs) — Cancellation — Estoppel against Corporation — Petitioner surrendered land for a sewage treatment plant, and the Corporation issued possession receipts for 13,337 sq. mtrs, mutated revenue records, and issued 27 DRCs — Corporation subsequently cancelled 11 DRCs alleging lesser physical utilization within compound wall — Held, Corporat India Law Library Docid # 2452528
(15) THE ORIENTAL INSURANCE COMPANY LIMITED Vs. SHRI HARVANSH SINGH[UTTARAKHAND HIGH COURT] 16-09-2026 Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 — Driving Licence — Validity — Insurer's liability — Insurance company assailed the award on the ground that the driver lacked a valid driving licence as per the R.T.O. report — Perusal of the original report revealed that the licence was indeed issued by R.T.O., Bareilly, and subsequently renewed by R.T.O., Haldwani — Contention of the insurer held contrary to the record — Finding that the driver possessed a valid and effective driving licence affirmed. India Law Library Docid # 2452529
(16) STATE OF GUJARAT AND OTHERS Vs. JYOTIKABEN W-O MOHANLAL CHUNILAL PRAJAPATI AND OTHERS[GUJARAT HIGH COURT] 16-09-2026 Law of Torts — Negligence — Fatal accident — Doctrine of Res Ipsa Loquitur — Duty of care — Deceased accompanied his brother to inspect scrap materials pursuant to a public auction tender — Dilapidated manual gantry crane under State control suddenly collapsed, causing fatal injuries — Contention that deceased was a trespasser rejected as he entered as an invitee under the bid process — Applying res ipsa loquitur, the unexplained collapse of the structure raised an unrebutted presumption of negl India Law Library Docid # 2452531
(17) SMT. AMITA IZARDAR AND ANOTHER Vs. SURENDERA KUMAR KURRE AND ANOTHER[CHHATTISGARH HIGH COURT] 16-09-2026 Civil Procedure Code, 1908 (CPC) — Order 1 Rule 10(2) and Section 114 — Constitution of India — Article 227 — Impleadment of necessary party — Principle of dominus litis — Suit for vacant possession against defendant — Defendant pleaded having transferred physical possession to a third party under an agreement to sell — Trial Court allowed impleadment of third party and rejected review — Held, the general rule that plaintiff is dominus litis is subject to Order 1 Rule 10(2) CPC — When a third pa India Law Library Docid # 2452532
(18) KAMAL UDDIN MAZUMDAR AND OTHERS Vs. THE STATE OF ASSAM AND ANOTHER[GAUHATI HIGH COURT] 16-09-2026 Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) — Sections 148, 149 and 302 — Appreciation of evidence — Related and interested witnesses — Credibility — Accused convicted of murder based on testimonies of victim's wife, son, and sister-in-law — Held, being a close relative does not automatically make a witness interested or untrustworthy — Close relatives are generally reluctant to spare actual culprits and falsely implicate innocent persons — Though testimony of related witnesses requires cautious scrutiny and stricte India Law Library Docid # 2452533
(19) M/S NATIONAL INSURANCE COMPANY LIMITED Vs. MAYA DEVI AND OTHERS[JHARKHAND HIGH COURT] 16-09-2026 Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 — Breach of policy condition — Burden of proof — Driving licence — Pay and recover — Insurer seeking to avoid liability or claim a pay and recover direction must affirmatively establish a fundamental breach of policy conditions by cogent evidence. A mere allegation or the testimony of an investigator who never saw the driving licence is insufficient. Failure to examine licensing officials, produce licence register extracts, or obtain verification reports leaves the plea India Law Library Docid # 2452534
(20) THE STATE OF KARNATAKA AND ANOTHER Vs. SHRI.S C BURMAN AND ANOTHER[KARNATAKA HIGH COURT] 16-09-2026 Karnataka Land Revenue Act, 1964 — Section 136(3) — Revisional jurisdiction — Revenue entries vs Title — Absence of grant records — Respondent claimed title via 1986 sale deed tracing to an alleged 1965 grant — Original grant records unavailable and Darkhast Register showed rejection — Single Judge upheld dropping of revisional proceedings citing long lapse of time — Held: Mutation entries cannot confer title when vendor's title is unestablished. A purchaser cannot acquire better title than the India Law Library Docid # 2452535