(61) STATE OF PUNJAB Vs. SUKHWINDER SINGH @ GORA[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 24-04-2026 Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 — Section 37(1)(b)(ii) — Grant of bail in commercial quantity cases — Twin Conditions — Mandatory nature — High Court must record satisfaction on reasonable grounds for believing accused is not guilty and not likely to commit offence while on bail — Failure to record satisfaction vitiates bail order India Law Library Docid # 2442711
(62) VINAY RAGHUNATH DESHMUKH Vs. NATWARLAL SHAMJI GADA AND ANOTHER[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 24-04-2026 Civil Procedure Code, 1908 — Order 6 Rule 17 — Amendment of pleadings — Permissibility while considering grant of leave to amend a plaint — Court can examine the merits/demerits of the case — Landlord filed suit for eviction based on bonafide need and other grounds — During appeal, landlord died — Legal heirs sought to amend plaint to incorporate their bonafide need, including that of appellant's wife and son — Trial Court dismissed the suit — Appellate Bench allowed amendment, directing issue o India Law Library Docid # 2442721
(63) HOME CARE RETAIL MARTS PVT. LTD. Vs. HARESH N. SANGHAVI[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 24-04-2026 Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 — Section 9 — Petition under Section 9 at post-award stage by unsuccessful party — Maintainability — Bombay, Delhi, Madras and Karnataka High Courts held such petitions not maintainable — Telangana, Gujarat and Punjab & Haryana High Courts held such petitions maintainable — Supreme Court held that any party to an arbitration agreement, including an unsuccessful party, can invoke Section 9 at the post-award stage, overruling the former judgments India Law Library Docid # 2442722
(64) SHAHID AHMED AND OTHER Vs. UT OF J&K TH. SHO POLICE STATION GOOL[JAMMU AND KASHMIR AND LADAKH HIGH COURT (JAMMU BENCH)] 24-04-2026 Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 (CrPC) — Bail Application — Offences under Sections 376-D, 34, 506 IPC — Court can only check for existence of evidence, not appreciate it — Appreciation of evidence is for the trial court — Discretionary relief of bail should not be granted as a matter of course India Law Library Docid # 2442781
(65) ALTAF AHMAD WAZA Vs. U T OF J&K AND OTHERS[JAMMU AND KASHMIR AND LADAKH HIGH COURT (SRINAGAR BENCH)] 24-04-2026 Preventive Detention — Challenge at Pre-Execution Stage — A detention order can be challenged before execution on grounds other than sufficiency of material for the detention, such as failure to execute the order for a considerable period, which raises doubts about the detaining authority's subjective satisfaction and can render the order unsustainable India Law Library Docid # 2442782
(66) NIKHIL KOL Vs. UNION BANK OF INDIA AND OTHERS[MADHYA PRADESH HIGH COURT] 24-04-2026 Constitution of India, 1950 — Article 226 — Compassionate Appointment — Rejection of claim based on “unsatisfactory service record” of deceased employee held arbitrary and legally unsustainable as the compassionate appointment scheme did not contain any such exclusionary provision — The rejection order was non-speaking and lacked adherence to the policy. India Law Library Docid # 2442785
(67) M/S MARSHAL TRADERS Vs. J&K PROJECT CONSTRUCTION CORPORATION AND ANOTHER[JAMMU AND KASHMIR AND LADAKH HIGH COURT (SRINAGAR BENCH)] 24-04-2026 Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 — Section 11(6) — Appointment of Arbitrator — Referral Court's power is limited to examining the existence and validity of an arbitration agreement and may decline reference only if claims are ex-facie time-barred or non-arbitrable with no doubt of doubt — Any intricacy in evidentiary India Law Library Docid # 2442972
(68) YAWAR AHMAD BHAGAT Vs. UT OF J&K THROUGH P/S YARIPORA[JAMMU AND KASHMIR AND LADAKH HIGH COURT (SRINAGAR BENCH)] 24-04-2026 Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 (CrPC) — Sections 161, 164A, 342, 376, 363 RPC — Sexual Offence — Statutory Rape — Conviction overturned where prosecution failed to prove the prosecutrix was under 18 years of age beyond reasonable doubt, despite her statement of consensual physical relations India Law Library Docid # 2442973
(69) THE STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH AND OTHERS Vs. BUDUMOORI SIMHACHALAM AND OTHERS[ANDHRA PRADESH HIGH COURT] 24-04-2026 Land Assignment — Cancellation and Resumption — State failed to produce evidence of cancellation of assignment deeds (D-pattas) and resumption proceedings, despite assigning lands to landless poor in 1970 — The court drew an adverse inference against the State due to the non-production of crucial records, including cultivation accounts. India Law Library Docid # 2443170
(70) ANJANI TECHNOPLAST LTD. Vs. SHUBH GAUTAM[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 23-04-2026 Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (IBC) — Sections 7, 3(10), 5(7), 5(8) — Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) — Admission of petition — Appeal against NCLAT order setting aside NCLT order and directing admission of Section 7 petition — Held, IBC is not a debt recovery legislation but for reorganisation and insolvency resolution — Initiation of CIRP as a substitute for execution of a civil India Law Library Docid # 2442638
(71) OM PRAKASH CHHAWNIKA @ OM PRAKASH CHABNIKA @ OM PRAKASH CHAWNIKA Vs. THE STATE OF JHARKHAND AND ANOTHER[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 23-04-2026 Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 (CrPC) — Sections 87, 200, 202 — Anticipatory Bail — Private Complaint — Scope of Police Power — In a private complaint, once cognizance is taken and process is issued, the court typically issues summons — The police have no power to arrest the accused unless a non-bailable warrant is issued by the court along with the summons — Even during a magisterial inquiry ordered under India Law Library Docid # 2442640
(72) SUNIL KUMAR Vs. STATE OF HIMACHAL PRADESH[HIMACHAL PRADESH HIGH COURT] 23-04-2026 Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 — Sections 20 & 29 — Grant of regular bail — Petitioner arrested on basis of co-accused's disclosure statement — Commercial quantity of contraband recovered from co-accused, not petitioner — Petitioner's arrest solely on disclosure statement of co-accused raises question of legality — FIR registered about a year ago, trial not commenced, prosecution evidence yet to begin, 38 witnesses to be examined India Law Library Docid # 2442716
(73) PREM LATA BUSHAHRI Vs. M/S HIMACHAL PRADESH COMMERCIAL CORPORATION[HIMACHAL PRADESH HIGH COURT] 23-04-2026 Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 — Section 138 — Dishonour of cheque — Revision against conviction — Accused admitted signature on cheque — Presumption of cheque issued for consideration — Accused failed to rebut presumption — Plea of blank cheque security not proved — Complainant not proved to be money lender — All ingredients of offence satisfied by Trial Court — Appellate Court upheld conviction — Revision court’s scope limited to India Law Library Docid # 2442717
(74) DEEPAK SHARMA Vs. STATE OF HIMACHAL PRADESH AND ANOTHER[HIMACHAL PRADESH HIGH COURT] 23-04-2026 Bhartiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 — Section 483 — Bail — Conditions — Accused incarcerated for over two years and four months — Prima facie doubt about prosecution's case — No cogent material to suggest likelihood of tampering with evidence or influencing witnesses — Prolonged incarceration violates Article 21 of the Constitution India Law Library Docid # 2442718
(75) RAVINDER PANWAR AND OTHERS Vs. VARINDER AND OTHERS[HIMACHAL PRADESH HIGH COURT] 23-04-2026 Civil Procedure Code, 1908 — Section 100 — Second Appeal — Substantial question of law — Scope of — Rehearing of facts and law — Appellate court affirming findings of trial court need not restate evidence, general agreement with reasons ordinarily suffices, India Law Library Docid # 2442719
(76) STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH Vs. ANIRUDDH MUKHERJEE[MADHYA PRADESH HIGH COURT] 23-04-2026 Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 (CrPC) — Section 378(III) — Appeal against acquittal — Appellate court can interfere only if the trial court's view is perverse, based on misreading or omission of material evidence, or if only one conclusion (guilt) is possible from the evidence India Law Library Docid # 2442789
(77) CHALLANI GINNING AND PRESSING FACTORY Vs. KAMAL[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 23-04-2026 Civil Procedure Code, 1908 (CPC) — Order 21, Rule 97 — Execution proceedings — Objections by third parties — The Supreme Court held that Order 21, Rules 97, 98, 99, and 101 lay down a complete code for resolving disputes in execution proceedings when a third party files an objection, without the need for a separate suit. India Law Library Docid # 2442798
(78) MADHU YADAV AND OTHERS Vs. STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH[MADHYA PRADESH HIGH COURT] 23-04-2026 Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) — Sections 120-B, 147, 364, 302 read with 149 — Criminal Trial — Appeals against conviction and sentence — Death of one appellant during pendency of appeal leading to abatement of appeal qua that appellant — Release of other appellants upon completion of sentence leading to their deletion from appeal record. India Law Library Docid # 2442786
(79) MOHAN GADARI AND OTHERS Vs. THE SOUTH EASTERN COAL FIELD LIMITED AND OTHERS[MADHYA PRADESH HIGH COURT] 23-04-2026 Mining — Land restoration agreement — Rights and obligations of parties — Agreement stipulated land restoration within three years after mining — Non-restoration of land prevented cultivation — Petitioners sought damages and rehabilitation based on legitimate expectation. India Law Library Docid # 2442787
(80) MADHU YADAV Vs. STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH[MADHYA PRADESH HIGH COURT] 23-04-2026 Criminal Trial — Evidence — Dying Declaration — An oral dying declaration supposedly made by the deceased to a witness was discarded as unreliable because the witness's testimony was not corroborated by other witnesses present at the time, and the deceased was found unconscious and later declared dead, making it unlikely he could have made a coherent declaration India Law Library Docid # 2442788