(441) GEETANJALI KULKARNI Vs. THE STATE OF MAHARASHTRA AND OTHERS[BOMBAY HIGH COURT] 17-09-2026 Service Law — Educational Institutions — Claim for trained graduate pay scale — Acquisition of higher qualification during service — Requirement of appointment against sanctioned post — Petitioner joined as Assistant Teacher with S.S.C. D.Ed. qualification and acquired B.A., B.Ed. during service — Petitioner sought fixation of pension and salary arrears on the basis of B.Ed. pay scale — Held, mere acquisition of higher qualification during service does not automatically entitle a teacher to the India Law Library Docid # 2452676
(442) RAJKUMAR ASSUDOMAL GURBANI Vs. VIJAY GULAB GURBANI AND ANOTHER[BOMBAY HIGH COURT] 17-09-2026 Indian Succession Act, 1925 — Section 63(c) — Evidence Act, 1872 — Section 68 — Proof of due execution of Will — Mental capacity vs. Physical infirmity — Propounder proved execution through two attesting witnesses, including testator's long-standing physician who confirmed testator was of sound disposing mind — Caveators argued testator suffered from prostate cancer and paralysis below waist — Held, physical infirmity does not equate to testamentary incapacity — Law does not require perfect phys India Law Library Docid # 2452677
(443) ASSOCIATED ALCOHOLS AND BREWERIES LIMITED Vs. UNION OF INDIA AND OTHERS[MADHYA PRADESH HIGH COURT] 17-09-2026 Constitution of India — Seventh Schedule, List II, Entries 8 & 51 and List III, Entry 21 — Competition Act, 2002 — Sections 3 and 4 — Madhya Pradesh Excise Act, 1915 — Jurisdiction of Competition Commission of India over potable liquor: Exclusive state legislative power over intoxicating liquors does not oust the jurisdiction of the Competition Commission of India (CCI). The MP Excise Act and the Competition Act operate in distinct fields. Unlike sectors governed by statutory regulators like TRA India Law Library Docid # 2452679
(444) UNITED AIR EXPRESS Vs. SANJAY KUMAR AGARWAL AND OTHERS[CALCUTTA HIGH COURT] 17-09-2026 Tender Law — Public Procurement Policy for Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) — Price Matching — Procedural Impropriety — Tender issued by SAIL on GeM portal mandated that where L-1 was a non-MSE, purchase preference must be extended to an eligible MSE bidder within L1+15% to match the L-1 price. Petitioner, an eligible MSE, was denied price matching due to portal limitations, despite GeM instructing SAIL to conduct the exercise offline. Award of contract to L-1 bidder without offering price mat India Law Library Docid # 2452623
(445) ARTH MICRO FINANCE PRIVATE LTD. AND OTHERS Vs. SHIVALIK SMALL FINANCE BANK LTD[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 17-09-2026 Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 — Section 11 & Section 12 — Unilateral/Biased appointment of Arbitral Tribunal — Objections to appointment — Notice issued appointing Arbitral Tribunal allegedly on consent, but no proof of appellants' consent produced — Appellants raised specific objections pointing out close links and potential bias of Arbitral Tribunal — Undeterred by objections, Arbitral Tribunal passed severe interim orders against India Law Library Docid # 2452686
(446) DIRECTOR GENERAL WORKS CPWD Vs. THE GEN.SEC.ALL INDIA CPWD EMP[DELHI HIGH COURT] 17-09-2026 Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 — Section 25-B — Public Employment — Daily-rated workers — Retrospective Regularisation — Tribunal directed conferment of regular status after one year of initial daily-rated engagement — Held, regular recruitment through prescribed process is the rule in public employment — Casual or daily-rated engagement not against sanctioned posts cannot be regularised merely by efflux of time or completion of 240 days of continuous service — Section 25-B continuous service doe India Law Library Docid # 2452915
(447) MARK SPLENDOUR NONWOVENS (P) LTD. Vs. RAKESH GUPTA[DELHI HIGH COURT] 17-09-2026 Civil Procedure Code, 1908 (CPC) — Section 20(c) — Territorial Jurisdiction — Contractual dispute — Debtor must seek creditor — Place of payment — Defendant contended courts at Bhiwadi alone had jurisdiction as negotiations took place and goods were received there — Held, part of the cause of action arose in Delhi as goods were supplied from Delhi and, in the absence of an agreed place of payment, the debtor was required to pay the creditor at his place of business — Jurisdiction clause on invoi India Law Library Docid # 2452916
(448) PREM MEHANI AND ANOTHER Vs. HARISH BATRA AND OTHERS[DELHI HIGH COURT] 17-09-2026 Civil Procedure Code, 1908 (CPC) — Order 7 Rule 11(a) and (d) — Limitation Act, 1963 — Rejection of plaint — Clever drafting — Limitation bar — Suit challenging consent decree — Plaintiffs claimed rights in suit property under a 2001 family settlement but took no legal steps despite knowledge of the Agreement to Sell in 2006 and a pending specific performance suit in 2008 — Consent decree in the specific performance suit passed in 2012 — Plaint filed in 2013 was a clever attempt to bypass limita India Law Library Docid # 2452919
(449) RITES LTD Vs. ESPAN INFRASTRUCTURE LTD[DELHI HIGH COURT] 17-09-2026 Civil Procedure Code, 1908 — Section 20 — Contract Law — Tender / Pre-award Stage — Forum Selection Clause — Enforceability — Plaintiff challenged forfeiture of earnest money deposit — Trial Court held Delhi Courts had territorial jurisdiction based on Clause 13(b) of tender document conferring jurisdiction on New Delhi Courts — High Court held that Clause 13(b) formed part of Special Conditions of Contract, intended to govern execution and performance of contract upon award — Because plaintiff' India Law Library Docid # 2452920
(450) M/S HI-TECH GEOSYNTHETICS PVT. LTD. Vs. M/S SHUBH CONSTRUCTION CO.[DELHI HIGH COURT] 17-09-2026 Contract Act, 1872 — Section 55 — Delay in performance — Time whether essence of contract — Work Order stipulated completion of construction within 40 days, but work took nearly a year — Parties continued execution and performance of the contract beyond the stipulated period without termination, repudiation, or objection — Mere failure to adhere to the initial time limit does not bring the contractual arrangement to an end when time was not of the essence and performance was mutually extended — India Law Library Docid # 2452924
(451) THE STATE NCT OF DELHI Vs. RAJENDER SINGH AND ANOTHER[DELHI HIGH COURT] 17-09-2026 Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 (CrPC) — Section 378 — Appeal against acquittal — Scope of interference — Acquittal by the Trial Court strengthens the accused's presumption of innocence, creating a double presumption — Appellate Court is slow to interfere and will not substitute its own view merely because an alternative view is plausible — Interference is warranted only when findings are perverse, manifestly illegal, or demonstrably unsustainable — Where the Trial Court's view is a possible and p India Law Library Docid # 2452927
(452) PROSECUTRIX R Vs. STATE OF NCT OF DELHI AND OTHERS[DELHI HIGH COURT] 17-09-2026 Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 — Sections 3(1)(w) and 8(c) — Delay in raising caste allegations — Framing of charge — Minor victim subjected to gang rape — Mere non-mentioning of caste allegations in initial FIR or Section 164 CrPC statement and six-month delay do not justify discarding SC/ST Act provisions, as traumatic bodily offences affect recollection — Unlike Section 3(1)(r), Section 3(1)(w) merely requires knowledge of victim's caste identit India Law Library Docid # 2452930
(453) THE STATE OF HIMACHAL PRADESH Vs. VARINDER VERMA@JATTI AND ANOTHER[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 17-09-2026 Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) — Section 302/34 — Circumstantial Evidence — Standard of proof required to sustain conviction — In a case resting on circumstantial evidence, all incriminating circumstances must be proved beyond reasonable doubt and must be consistent only with the guilt of the accused — The chain of circumstances must be so complete as to exclude every hypothesis consistent with innocence and demonstrate that, in all human probability, the act was committed India Law Library Docid # 2452977
(454) PRADEEP KUMAR Vs. STATE OF U.P. THROUGH SPECIAL SECY. GOVT. OF U.P. CIVIL SECE[ALLAHABAD HIGH COURT (LUCKNOW BENCH)] 17-09-2026 Service Law — U.P. Sainik Schools (Ministerial Establishment) Service Rules, 1970, Rules 4, 12, 18, 20 — Nature of Appointment — Unilateral conversion of regular selection into contractual engagement — Post of House Matron advertised against sanctioned cadre carrying prescribed pay scale — Petitioner duly selected by Selection Committee, but appointment letter stipulated consolidated salary with subsequent artificial breaks — Held, where recruitment is conducted for a sanctioned cadre post under India Law Library Docid # 2452997
(455) HARSHIT MANSUKH PATEL AND OTHERS Vs. STATE OF GUJARAT AND OTHERS[GUJARAT HIGH COURT] 17-09-2026 Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 (CrPC) — Preliminary Inquiry — Adherence to time limits — Delay attributable to applicant — Police authorities are empowered to conduct an inquiry to ascertain whether a prima facie cognizable offence is disclosed before registering an FIR. Where the delay in concluding the preliminary inquiry arose because the applicant sought time and failed to submit requisite account records for nearly two months, the inquiry cannot be termed contrary to the time-bound framework India Law Library Docid # 2453037
(456) STATE OF GUJARAT AND OTHERS Vs. PARGI MANUBHAI MEGHAJIBHAI AND OTHERS[GUJARAT HIGH COURT] 17-09-2026 Service Law — Parity in service benefits — Similarly situated employees — Single Judge directed State to extend benefits to respondents on par with petitioners of an earlier petition, which decision had attained finality up to Supreme Court — State failed to show any distinction between respondents and petitioners of the earlier petition, having not disputed their identical status before Single Judge — Held, when employees are identically situated, State cannot deny them identical benefits — Sin India Law Library Docid # 2453038
(457) STATE OF GUJARAT Vs. HITESH BHUDABHAI MACHHI AND OTHERS[GUJARAT HIGH COURT] 17-09-2026 Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) — Sections 498A, 306 and 107 — Evidence Act, 1872 — Sections 113A and 113B — Cruelty and abetment of suicide — Acquittal confirmed — Allegations of mental and physical harassment for money — Evidence showed deceased and husband resided separately near complainant, contradicting claims of torture by in-laws — No evidence of cruelty, instigation, or proximate quarrel — Material indicated deceased was under depression due to medical expenses for critically ill child — FIR lod India Law Library Docid # 2452980
(458) VIPUL NATVARBHAI SOLANKI AND ANOTHER Vs. STATE OF GUJARAT AND ANOTHER[GUJARAT HIGH COURT] 17-09-2026 Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 — Section 528 — Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 (CrPC) — Section 227 — Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 — Sections 7, 12, 13(1) and 13(2) — Quashing petition — Finality of discharge order — Trial Court partly allowed discharge applications by discharging applicants under Sections 13(1) and 13(2) while rejecting discharge under Sections 7 and 12 — Applicants did not challenge the rejection, allowing the order to attain finality — Contentions regarding lack India Law Library Docid # 2452981
(459) GUJARAT STATE ROAD TRANSPORT CORPORATION Vs. MINOR ROHIT MOHANBHAI MARVADI AND OTHERS[GUJARAT HIGH COURT] 17-09-2026 Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 — Sections 166 and 173 — Rash and negligent driving — Evidentiary value of police investigation records — State Transport bus hit the deceased's motorcycle from behind — Driver claimed the deceased was negligent, but police charge-sheeted the bus driver and he was found guilty in departmental proceedings — Bus driver's testimony was that of an interested witness — Police investigation records, including FIR and charge-sheet, constitute valid, admissible, and reliable pri India Law Library Docid # 2452982
(460) SUPERSCAN IMAGING CENTRES Vs. LH OF NISHANTBHAI SURESHBHAI PATEL AND OTHERS[GUJARAT HIGH COURT] 17-09-2026 Employees Compensation Act, 1923 — Section 3(1) — Murder as an "Accident" — Murder simpliciter vs. Accidental murder — Distinction explained — If the dominant intention of a felonious act is to kill a particular person, it is murder simpliciter; however, if the killing was not originally intended and was caused in furtherance of another felonious act, such murder is an accidental murder — Where an on-duty ward boy was murdered by intruders while they looted money from the employer's clinic, the India Law Library Docid # 2452983