(401) DARBARA SINGH AND OTHERS Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB[PUNJAB AND HARYANA HIGH COURT] 18-09-2026 Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) — Sections 307, 34 and 120-B — Sentencing policy — Discretion of Court — Principles governing determination of quantum of sentence — Awarding of sentence is not a mere formality in criminal cases — Discretionary power vested in Court must be exercised by evaluating attending circumstances, including gravity and manner of commission of crime, age, and conduct of accused — Principle of proportionality must be adhered to, balancing deterrence with chances of reformation so th India Law Library Docid # 2453213
(402) BIRMATI Vs. DAYANAND ALIAS DAYA NIDHI[PUNJAB AND HARYANA HIGH COURT] 18-09-2026 Indian Succession Act, 1925 — Section 63 — Indian Evidence Act, 1872 — Section 68 — Proof of execution of Will — Unregistered holographic Will — Requirement of attestation and proof — Deceased executed Will in favour of nephew — Three out of four attesting witnesses examined, confirming testator wrote, signed, and thumb-marked Will in their presence, and they attested in his presence — Signatures further verified by fingerprint and handwriting experts — Non-examination of fourth attesting witnes India Law Library Docid # 2453214
(403) PARAMJIT SINGH Vs. SURINDER KAUR AND OTHERS[PUNJAB AND HARYANA HIGH COURT] 18-09-2026 Indian Evidence Act, 1872 — Sections 68 and 69 — Proof of Will — Suit for declaration of joint ownership and challenge to mutation — Defendant propounded a Will allegedly executed by the deceased father — Original Will neither produced nor proved through secondary evidence — Copy produced did not bear signatures or thumb impressions of the testator or attesting witnesses, and reflected a date after testator's death — Even if attesting witnesses had died, no witness was examined under Section 69 India Law Library Docid # 2453217
(404) MUSLIM ANSARI AND ANOTHER Vs. DEVENDAR SINGH AND OTHERS[JHARKHAND HIGH COURT] 18-09-2026 Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 — Section 166 — Determination of monthly income — Absence of documentary proof or employer's testimony — Deceased aged 19 years was stated to be working as a Rajmistry — Claimants alleged deceased earned Rs. 6,000/- per month without producing wage registers or salary records — Tribunal assessed monthly income at Rs. 4,000/- based on minimum wage notifications prevalent in 2008 — High Court affirmed the assessment, holding that oral evidence of claimants without corrobor India Law Library Docid # 2453269
(405) SHAMBHUNATH MANDAL AND OTHERS Vs. THE STATE OF JHARKHAND[JHARKHAND HIGH COURT] 18-09-2026 Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) — Section 323 — Voluntarily causing hurt — Concurrent findings of fact — Scope of revisional jurisdiction — Petitioners were convicted under Section 323 IPC and sentenced to six months simple imprisonment for assaulting the informant party over a land dispute — Appellate court affirmed the conviction and sentence — Petitioners did not challenge the conviction on merits during revision — High Court held that concurrent findings regarding the guilt of the petitioners warrant India Law Library Docid # 2453270
(406) NARAYAN YADAV @ KAKLA Vs. THE STATE OF JHARKHAND[JHARKHAND HIGH COURT] 18-09-2026 Arms Act, 1959 — Section 25(1-B)(a) — Unlawful possession of ammunition — Search and seizure — Recovery of two live cartridges of .315 bore from the possession of appellant during police apprehension — Appellant challenged conviction on ground that cartridges were not sealed at the spot and Sergeant Major was not examined — Held, evidence proved beyond reasonable doubt that appellant was apprehended and live ammunition was recovered from his possession — Non-examination of Sergeant Major did not India Law Library Docid # 2453271
(407) VEERAMUTHU NAICKER AND OTHERS Vs. RANGARAJU NAIDU AND OTHERS[MADRAS HIGH COURT] 18-09-2026 Hindu Succession Act, 1956 — Section 14(1) — Meaning of "possessed" — Enlargement of limited estate into absolute ownership — Word "possessed" in Section 14(1) is used in a broad sense and does not mandate actual physical possession, encompassing constructive possession and a legal right to possession. Where prior alienations by Hindu widows were declared invalid in earlier court proceedings, the widows' right to possession remained unextinguished. Consequently, the widows were legally possessed India Law Library Docid # 2453310
(408) BALAKRISHNAN Vs. JAYACHANDRAN AND OTHERS[MADRAS HIGH COURT] 18-09-2026 Registration Act, 1908 — Section 17(1)(b) and 49 — Stamp Act, 1899 — Oral partition and Memorandum of Partition (Koor Chit) — Admissibility in evidence — Parties effected an oral partition of joint family properties, which was subsequently reduced to writing in an unstamped, unregistered Koor Chit for the purpose of remembrance — Held, a document that merely acts as a memorandum recording an earlier oral partition does not extinguish or create rights in praesenti — Consequently, such a document India Law Library Docid # 2453311
(409) V.JAYAKUMAR Vs. TAMIL NADU POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD AND OTHERS[MADRAS HIGH COURT] 18-09-2026 Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board Revised Service Regulations, 2010 — Regulations 10(3), 20 and 26(2) — Seniority in promotional post — Belated acquisition of qualification — Petitioner was senior to private respondents as Assistant Engineer, but lacked the prescribed Master's degree for promotion — Private respondents possessing requisite qualifications were promoted earlier to Assistant Environmental Engineer — Petitioner acquired qualification subsequently and sought restoration of original India Law Library Docid # 2453312
(410) DR.MARYKUTTY ABRAHAM Vs. THE BOARD OF GOVERNORS AND ANOTHER[MADRAS HIGH COURT] 18-09-2026 Service Law — Prescription of Qualification and Equivalence — Judicial Review — Scope under Article 226 — Post of Associate Professor — Prescription of qualifications and assessment of whether a candidate adheres to and fulfills them falls squarely within the exclusive domain of the employer — Technical equivalence of educational qualifications and experience is an expert domain, and Courts lack the necessary expertise to evaluate or substitute such determinations — Unless there is an allegation India Law Library Docid # 2453313
(411) ANTHONY IRINEUS CARNEIRO AND ANOTHER Vs. FRANCIS COLACO AND OTHERS[BOMBAY HIGH COURT] 18-09-2026 Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act, 1960 — Section 91 — Civil Procedure Code, 1908 (CPC) — Order VII Rule 10 — Jurisdiction of Co-operative Court — Challenge to meeting notices and resolutions relating to redevelopment — Maintainability — Disputants challenged agenda notices and general body resolutions on grounds of lack of authority, procedural non-compliance, and violation of interim status quo orders — Petitioners sought return of disputes contending redevelopment is not the "business of India Law Library Docid # 2453486
(412) SHANTINIKETAN INDUSTRIAL PREMISES CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETY LTD. Vs. THE DIVISIONAL JOINT REGISTRAR CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETIES, MUMBAI DIVISION AND OTHERS[BOMBAY HIGH COURT] 18-09-2026 Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act, 1960 — Section 6(1) and Section 22 — Registration of Society — Requirement of minimum ten persons — Society registration was cancelled as the proposal lacked the mandatory minimum of ten persons belonging to different families — Held, under Section 6(1), at least ten persons from different families must apply for registration — Qualification to be a member under Section 22 is an additional condition and does not dilute this primary mandate — Repetition of India Law Library Docid # 2453487
(413) INDIAN BANK Vs. SHABBIR ABBAS PATEL AND OTHERS[BOMBAY HIGH COURT] 18-09-2026 Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 — Section 96(4) — Retroactive operation — Interim Moratorium — Personal Guarantor to Corporate Debtor — Section 96(4), inserted by the 2026 Amendment Act w.e.f. 26.05.2026, excludes personal guarantors to corporate debtors from the interim moratorium — Whether prospective or retroactive — Held, Section 96(4) operates retroactively — Although operating in futuro from 26.05.2026, it applies to applications under Sections 94 and 95 pending on that date — Consequ India Law Library Docid # 2453488
(414) THE SWA-GRIHA CHS LTD. Vs. THE STATE OF MAHARASHTRA AND OTHERS[BOMBAY HIGH COURT] 18-09-2026 Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act, 1960 — Sections 9, 17, 18 and Chapter XIII-B — Registration of new society where existing society subsists — Permissibility — Held, Section 9 can be invoked only when no cooperative housing society exists for the building — Harmonious construction of Sections 9, 17, and 18 dictates that where a society already exists, a new society cannot be directly registered under Section 9 to indirectly fragment it — Aggrieved members or residents seeking separation mu India Law Library Docid # 2453490
(415) INDIAN BANK Vs. SHABBIR ABBAS PATEL AND OTHERS[BOMBAY HIGH COURT] 18-09-2026 Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 — Section 96(4) (as amended w.e.f. 26.05.2026) — Exclusion of personal guarantors from interim moratorium — Retroactive operation — Pendency of applications — Sub-section (4) of Section 96 of the IBC applies retroactively to applications under Sections 94 and 95 pending as on 26.05.2026. The expression "is filed" encompasses both pending and future applications. Although operating in futuro from its enforcement date, the amendment immediately extinguishes the India Law Library Docid # 2453491
(416) JAIRAM Vs. SUB-DIVISION MAGISTRATE, MANDAWAR, DAUSA AND OTHERS[RAJASTHAN HIGH COURT (JAIPUR BENCH)] 18-09-2026 Constitution of India, 1950 — Article 21 — Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 (CrPC) — Section 145 — Right to speedy justice — Inordinate delay — Proceedings pending for 63 years before Sub Divisional Magistrate — Systemic apathy and callousness — Original litigants died during pendency — Seeking and granting routine adjournments deprecated — Litigant is entitled to speedy justice as guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution — Inordinate delay of over six decades in deciding summary proceedings India Law Library Docid # 2453503
(417) GULAM MOHD. Vs. GOPAL TRADERS AND ANOTHER[RAJASTHAN HIGH COURT] 18-09-2026 Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 — Section 138 — Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 (CrPC) — Section 311 — Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 — Section 528 — Dishonour of cheque — Production of authenticated bank return memo — Filling lacuna versus curing inadvertent error — Complainant initially produced computer-generated return memo lacking bank seal, marked as Exhibit-2 — Later, complainant produced memo bearing bank seal and signature, marked as Exhibit-9 — Accused objected on ground of fi India Law Library Docid # 2453504
(418) M/S AMALTAS INDIA LIMITED Vs. M/S STAAR DWELLING PRIVATE LIMITED[MADHYA PRADESH HIGH COURT] 18-09-2026 Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 — Section 11(6) and Section 11(6-A) — Scope of enquiry at pre-reference stage — Prima facie existence of arbitration agreement — Respondent contended agreement was an incomplete, undated draft — Held, where execution and signatures on the document are admitted and parties have prima facie acted upon the arrangement, disputed questions regarding its execution, validity, and enforceability cannot be conclusively adjudicated under Section 11 — Judicial interve India Law Library Docid # 2453994
(419) YOGENDRA KUMAR CHADDA THROUGH POA KULDEEP SAHGAL Vs. AAYUKAT AND OTHERS[MADHYA PRADESH HIGH COURT (INDORE BENCH)] 18-09-2026 Civil Procedure Code, 1908 (CPC) — Order 9 Rule 13 — Setting aside ex parte order — Mistake of counsel — Sufficient cause — Two cases filed by the same petitioner were pending before the same Court — Junior advocate inadvertently noted the next date of the other case and erroneously filed an application meant for the subject case therein — Held, a litigant should not suffer for the bona fide mistake committed by their lawyer — Endorsement by the Presiding Officer on the misfiled application subs India Law Library Docid # 2454018
(420) JAGANNATH AND OTHERS Vs. RANGDHARI AND OTHERS[MADHYA PRADESH HIGH COURT] 18-09-2026 Civil Procedure Code, 1908 (CPC) — Order 43 Rule 1(t), Section 104, Order XXII Rule 3 — Maintainability of appeal — Trial Court rejected an application under Section 151 to bring legal representatives of a deceased co-plaintiff on record — First Appellate Court dismissed appeal as not maintainable — Miscellaneous appeal preferred under Order 43 Rule 1(t) — Held, Order 43 Rule 1(t) applies only to orders refusing to readmit or rehear an appeal under Order XLI Rules 19 or 21 — Rejection of an appl India Law Library Docid # 2454019