Prevention of Money Laundering Act -- Section 50 -- The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has broad powers to summon individuals to give evidence or produce documents during the course of an investigation under Section 50(2) and (3) -- Section 160 of the Cr.P.C., which provides certain protections for women, minors, and the elderly, does not apply to summons under Section 50 of the PMLA.

Appointment of a Junior Officer as Judge Advocate -- A Judge Advocate appointed in a General Court Martial must not be of a rank lower than the officer facing trial unless no officer of equal or superior rank is available -- This reason must be explicitly recorded in the convening order at the time of its issuance.

Jurisdiction and Scope of Rectification under Section 59 of the Companies Act, 2013 -- The expression ‘rectification’ connotes correcting an error in the Register of Members -- If a party claims rectification due to error or omission, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has exclusive jurisdiction to address it.

Criminal Law -- Mere registration of an FIR cannot be interpreted as the initiation of prosecution. The process of prosecution begins only after the submission of a final report or chargesheet under Section 173(2) of the CrPC, 1973, and the court taking cognizance of the offences.

Habeas Corpus as a Discretionary Remedy in Custody Cases -- The writ of habeas corpus is a discretionary remedy, especially in child custody matters -- High Court can decline to disturb the custody of a minor if it is not in the child's best interests, even if the custody is technically illegal.

Scope of Judicial Review - Eligibility vs. Suitability -- Judicial review is limited to issues of eligibility and lack of effective consultation -- The suitability of a candidate for judicial appointment is non-justiciable and cannot be questioned in court.

Criminal Law -- Omission of Direct Involvement (Section 149 IPC) -- mere presence in the unlawful assembly is sufficient to attract liability under Section 149 IPC, even if the accused did not personally inflict the fatal injury.

Service Law -- Leave Without Allowance (LWA) Rules and Termination -- Rule 24A of Kerala Service Rules and Clause 6 of Appendix XIIA permits a maximum of 20 years of Leave Without Allowance (LWA). If an employee does not return immediately after the expiry of the leave, their services shall be terminated after following the procedure in Kerala Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, 1960

Motor Accident – Compensation -- Ownership liability is not confined to the person in whose name the vehicle is registered but extends to the person who is in control or command of the vehicle at the time of the accident.

Civil Law -- Jurisdiction of Execution Court to Extend Time for Deposit -- The Execution Court had jurisdiction to deal with the application for extension of time under Section 28 of the Specific Relief Act, 1963 -- Even if the appellate court passed the decree, the execution proceedings in the trial court are deemed to be in the same suit as per Section 37 of the Civil Procedure Code (CPC).

Karnataka Stamp Act – No instrument chargeable with duty shall be admitted in evidence for any purpose by any person having by law or consent of parties authority to receive evidence, or shall be acted upon, registered or authenticated by any such person or by any public officer, unless such instrument is duly stamped.

Stamp Act – Section 34 of the Act is titled instruments not duly stamped inadmissible in evidence -- This provision bars the admission of an instrument in evidence unless adequate stamp duty and the penalty are paid. Every person so authorised to collect deficit stamp duty and penalty has no discretion except to levy and collect ten-times the penalty of deficit stamp duty.

Criminal Law – Bail -- Balancing Liberty and Fair Trial -- The court recognized the need to balance the petitioner's liberty with the necessity of ensuring a fair trial. However, the court concluded that protective measures could be imposed to prevent witness tampering.

Violation of Fundamental Rights under Article 21 -- The Supreme Court held that once a court concludes that an accused is entitled to bail, it cannot postpone the operation of that order -- Postponing bail, after deciding the accused is entitled to it, may violate the fundamental right to life and personal liberty guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution of India.

Arbitration and Conciliation Act – Applicability of the State Act where award has already been made -- In such cases if no objection to the jurisdiction of the arbitration was taken at relevant stage, the award may not be annulled only on that ground.

Code of Criminal Procedure – It is trite to say that Section 216 is an enabling provision which enables the court to alter or add to any charge at any time before judgment is pronounced, and if any alternation or addition to a charge is made, the court has to follow the procedure as contained therein -- Section 216 does not give any right to the accused to file a fresh application seeking his discharge after the charge is framed by the court, more particularly when his application seeking discharge under Section 227 has already been dismissed.

Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 -- 'stridhan' is the absolute property of the woman, and any claims or recovery actions regarding it must be made by her or with her express authorization -- Criminal proceedings should not be used as a tool for harassment or to settle personal grudges -- Principle that delayed and baseless criminal proceedings constitute an abuse of the process of law.

Delhi Education Rules, specifically Rules 46 and 47, any closure of a recognized school must receive prior approval from the Director (Education) -- This approval is essential for the closure to be legally valid.

Bail is the rule, jail is exception, even under special laws like PMLA -- Any incriminating statements made by an accused in custody under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act are not admissible as evidence -- Liberty of an individual is always the rule and deprivation is the exception. S.45 PMLA, by imposing twin conditions, does not rewrite this principle to mean that deprivation is the norm and liberty is the exception.

Application of Force Majeure Clause in Power Purchase Agreement -- Force majeure clauses must be strictly interpreted, and the burden of proof lies with the party claiming the benefit of the clause.

Special Treatment for Women under PMLA — The proviso to Section 45(1) of the PMLA applies to all women, not just vulnerable ones, allowing them to be granted bail without the stringent twin conditions of the main provision.

Bail — Appeal against denial of — Avoidance of Detailed Discussions on Merits in Bail Applications — Courts should refrain from making detailed observations on the merits of the case during bail hearings to avoid prejudicing the trial. (Paras 3 & 4)

Arbitration and Conciliation Act – Power of the Arbitrator to award pre-reference and pendente lite interest is not restricted when the agreement is silent on whether interest can be awarded [7] or does not contain a specific term that prohibits the same.

Criminal Law -- It is high time that the police officers across the country are imparted proper training in law so as to understand the fine distinction between the offence of cheating viz-a-viz criminal breach of trust -- Both offences are independent and distinct.

Coal Mines (Nationalization) Act – The underpinnings of what was a civil dispute premised on a contract between the parties, breach whereof could at best lead to determination of the contract or even the underlying lease deed, has been painted with the brush of criminality without any justification.

Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act – Statement recorded under Section 67 of the NDPS Act cannot be used as a confessional statement in the trial of an offence under the NDPS Act.

Service Law – Dismissal -- If the court holds that the order though in the form is merely a determination of employment is in reality a cloak for an order of punishment, the court would not be debarred, merely because of the form of the order, in giving effect to the rights conferred by law upon the employee.

Central Civil Services (Pension) Rules – Benefits of the replacement scales of the Revised Pay Rules, 2008 -- The mere classification of employees as 'temporary' or 'permanent' is not merely a matter of nomenclature but carries significant legal implications, particularly in terms of service benefits and protections.

Service Law – Reservation -- Non-fixation of the cut-off marks for the category of persons with benchmark disability falling under an Overall Horizontal Reservation could neither be said to be arbitrary nor violative of the Fundamental Rights.

IPC, 1860; Section 306 — Abetment of Suicide — For an individual to be charged under Section 306 of the IPC, there must be clear evidence that the accused instigated, provoked, or intentionally aided the deceased in committing suicide. Mere mention of a person's name in a suicide note, without substantial evidence of instigation or abetment, does not satisfy the legal requirements to establish a case under this section.

Madhya Pradesh Education Admission Rules – Admission -- No relief of admission can be granted to such a candidate in the very academic year and wherever it finds that the action of the authorities has been arbitrary and in breach of the rules and regulations or the prospectus affecting the rights of the students and that a candidate is found to be meritorious and such candidate/student has approached the court at the earliest and without any delay, the court can mould the relief and direct the admission to be granted to such a candidate in the next academic year by issuing appropriate directions by directing to increase in the number of seats as may be considered appropriate in the case and in case of such an eventuality and if it is found that the management was at fault and wrongly denied the admission to the meritorious candidate, in that case, the Court may direct to reduce the number of seats in the management quota of that year, meaning thereby the student/students who was/were denied admission illegally to be accommodated in the next academic year out of the seats allotted in the management quota.

Family Law – Right to Custody -- Granting temporary custody of a minor child to a relative would not preclude the natural guardian from seeking custody of a minor child.

Right to Privacy of Adolescents – suo moto case – Calcutta HC Judgment containing controversial remarks about Adolescents sexual behavior, set aside by Supreme Court – The High Court acquitted a young man aged 25 years who engaged in sexual activity with a minor girl.

Rape and Murder – Supreme Court has taken suo motu cognisance of the rape and murder of a doctor in RG Kar Hospital in Kolkata – On August 13, the Calcutta High Court directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to take over the investigation, after expressing lack of satisfaction with the Kolkata Police – The High Court passed the order acting on petitions filed by one of the parents of the victim and certain other individuals.

Constitution of India – Article 22(5) – Detention -- Discipline is sine qua non for effective and efficient functioning of the judicial system -- If the courts command others to act in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution and rule of law, it is not possible to countenance violation of the constitutional principle by those who are required to lay down the law.

Service Law – Pay scale -- Employees in question are, therefore, not entitled to have their pay stepped up under the said Government Order because the difference in the pay drawn by them and the higher pay drawn by their juniors is not as a result of any anomaly; nor is it a result of the application of Fundamental Rule 22(I)(a)(1).

Constitution of India -- Art.13 -- Demands for tax under state legislation -- While the States may levy or renew demands of tax, if any, pertaining to Entries 49 and 50 of List II of the Seventh Schedule in terms of the law laid down in the decision in MADA (supra) the demand of tax shall not operate on transactions made prior to 1 April 2005.

Criminal Law – False affidavit -- Mere suspicion or inaccurate statements do not attract the offence under the Section -- It cannot be disputed that the statements made in the affidavit were only to state his version of events and/or deny the version put forth by the complainant.

Criminal Law – Bail – “Bail is the rule and jail is an exception” is a settled law -- The rule also means that once a case is made out for the grant of bail, the Court cannot decline to grant bail -- If the Courts start denying bail in deserving cases, it will be a violation of the rights guaranteed under Article 21 of our Constitution.

Indian Penal Code, 1860 – Section 186 -- Obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions -- Whoever voluntarily obstructs any public servant in the discharge of his public functions, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three months, or with fine which may extend to five hundred rupees, or with both.

Prevention of Corruption Act – Bail -- Right to speedy trial is a facet of liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution -- Supreme court held “It is high time that the trial courts and high courts recognise that the principle of bail is a rule and jail is an exception”.

Rajasthan Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules – Suspension -- It is well settled that if the disciplinary authority accepts the findings recorded by the enquiry officer and passes an order, no detailed reasons are required to be recorded in the order imposing punishment.

Arbitration and Conciliation Act – Where the Court sees no cause to remit the award or any of the matters referred to arbitration for reconsideration or to set aside the award, the Court shall, after the time for making an application to set aside the award has expired, or such application having been made, after refusing it, proceed to pronounce judgment according to the award, and upon the judgment so pronounced a decree shall follow and no appeal shall lie from such decree except on the ground that it is in excess of, or not otherwise in accordance with, the award.

Service Law – Pay scale -- Government Resolution dated 8th February, 1999 interpretation that it protects the status and pay of those employees who had received their time bound promotions prior to 31st December, 1995.

Criminal Law -- Criminal jurisprudence emphasises on the fundamental essence of liberty and presumption of innocence unless proven guilty -- This presumption gets emboldened by virtue of concurrent findings of acquittal.

Indian Arbitration Act, 1940 – Award – Interest -- Neither the Act specifically empowers the Arbitrator or the court to award interest upon interest or compound interest nor there is any other provision which provides for grant of compound interest or interest upon interest.

Motor Accident – Compensation -- Negligence does not always mean absolute carelessness, but want of such a degree of care as is required in particular circumstances -- Negligence is failure to observe, for the protection of the interests of another person, the degree of care, precaution and vigilance which the circumstances justly demand, whereby such other person suffers injury.

Service Law – Appointment -- Equivalence of a qualification is not a matter that can be determined in the exercise of the power of judicial review -- Whether a particular qualification should or should not be regarded as equivalent is a matter for the State, as the recruiting authority, to determine.

Rajasthan Universities Teachers and Officers (Selection for Appointment) Act -- State Government had specifically clarified that the period of ad-hoc service rendered shall not be counted for giving benefit of senior pay-scale under the CAS -- CAS is essentially a policy, and as such, the respondents cannot claim, nor would they have any vested right for claiming that the clauses therein be interpreted in a particular manner.

Central Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules – Condonation of delay -- While deciding an application for condonation of delay, it is well settled that the High Court ought not to have gone into the merits of the case and would have only seen whether sufficient cause had been shown by the appellant for condoning the delay in filing the appeal before it.

Constitution of India – NEET-UG 2024 -- Supreme Court ruled that there was absence of sufficient material indicative of any widespread breach of sanctity in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) 2024 that could justify cancelling the exam -- The top court, however, pointed out the “flip-flops” of the National Testing Agency (NTA) in the conduct of NEET-UG 2024 and asked the Centre’s high-level committee to review the Agency’s operations and recommend reforms.

Gujarat Value Added Tax Act – Tax credit -- Purchase price would not include purchases on which no value added tax was claimed nor granted and the component of value added tax stood already paid on purchases -- Taxable turnover of purchases would have to be calculated after deducting both the components.

Advocates Act -- Bar Council of India (BCI) and State Bar Councils (SBCs) cannot charge more than Rs 700 to enrol them as advocates -- The State Bar Councils cannot have unbridled powers to charge any fees given the express legislative policy under Section 24(1)(f).

Consumer Protection Act -- Refund and Interest on Delayed Possession of Flat -- The interest rate of 9% per annum awarded by the NCDRC was insufficient considering the inordinate delay and the terms of the Agreement -- Clause 7(b) of the Agreement stipulated an interest rate of 12% per annum for delays by the developer.

Road Transport Corporation Act – Pension -- The employees of Roadways who were not holding any pensionable post prior to their deputation or absorption in the Corporation, are not entitled to pension, as their service conditions in the erstwhile Roadways did not provide that they are entitled to pension.

Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act – Taxation -- The true nature of royalty determined under Section 9 read with Section 15(1) of the MMDR Act, 1957 is that it is in the nature of a tax coming within the scope and ambit of Article 366(28) of the Constitution which defines taxation to include the imposition of any tax or impost, whether general or local or special and the word “tax” is to be construed accordingly.

Negotiable Instruments Act – Dishonoured cheque -- The primary liability for an offence under Section 138 lies with the company, and the company’s management is vicariously liable only under specific conditions provided in Section 141.

Service Law – Promotion -- The principle that retrospective seniority cannot be granted to an employee from a date when the employee was not borne on a cadre. Seniority amongst members of the same grade has to be counted from the date of initial entry into the grade.

Indian Contract Act – Corporate debtor -- A holding company is not the owner of the assets of its subsidiary -- Therefore, the assets of the subsidiaries cannot be included in the resolution plan of the holding company.

Civil Law -- Code of Civil Procedure – The rigour of the rule of pleadings is evident from Rule 7 of Order VI, CPC, which mandates that ‘no pleading shall, except by way of amendment, raise any new ground of claim or contain any allegation of fact inconsistent with the previous pleadings of the party pleading the same’.

Civil Law – Limitation -- Grounds of exemption from limitation law -- Where the suit is instituted after the expiration of the period prescribed by the law limitation, the plaint shall show the ground upon which exemption from such law is claimed.

Indian Stamp Act – The expression “lease” under the Stamp Act has a wider meaning as compared to its original meaning contained in Section 105 of the Transfer of Property Act (for short “the TP Act”). If “lease” under Section 2(16) of the Stamp Act includes therein four specified categories of documents set out in sub-clauses (a) to (d), we do not find any such inclusion in Section 105 of the Transfer of Property Act -- It is for this reason, we are of the view that the definition of “lease” for the purpose of the Stamp Act is extensive in nature.

Civil Law – Law is the king of kings, nothing is mightier than law, by whose aid, even the weak may prevail over the strong -- The doctrine of bona fide purchaser for value applies in situations where the seller appears to have some semblance of legitimate ownership rights. However, this principle does not protect a subsequent purchaser if the vendor had already transferred those rights through a prior sale deed.

Arbitration and Conciliation Act -- Appointment of arbitrator -- While considering the issue of limitation in relation to a petition under Section 11(6) of the Act, 1996, the courts should satisfy themselves on two aspects by employing a two-pronged test – first, whether the petition under Section 11(6) of the Act, 1996 is barred by limitation; and secondly, whether the claims sought to be arbitrated are ex-facie dead claims and are thus barred by limitation on the date of commencement of arbitration proceedings -- If either of these issues are answered against the party seeking referral of disputes to arbitration, the court may refuse to appoint an arbitral tribunal.

Bihar City Manager Cadre (Appointment and Service Conditions) Rules – Appointment -- Whether the executive decision will prevail or the statutory regulations -- Apex Court, relying upon the settled law, held that the statutory regulations will prevail.

Constitution of India – Article 341 -- Depriving the members of the Scheduled Castes covered by the lists under Article 341 of the Constitution is a serious issue -- Any person not deserving and not covered by such list if extended such benefit for deliberate and mischievous reasons by the State, cannot take away the benefit of the members of the Scheduled Castes -- Such appointments would under law on the findings recorded would be liable to be set aside.

Punjab Agricultural Produce Markets Act – Market fee and Rural Development fee -- Market fees and Rural Development fees are distinct and, there being no exemption from Rural Development fees mentioned in the 2003 Policy, it only encompasses exemption from Market fees in its ambit -- The two fees under the two different statutory frameworks cannot be equated.

Prevention of Money Laundering Act – Necessity to arrest is not a precondition and safeguard mentioned in Section 19 of the PML Act, albeit treated as a part of the general law and exercise of the power to arrest -- The legislature being aware of this interpretation has not excluded the application of this principle in Section 19 of the PML Act.

Citizenship Act – Equality before law — The State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India. -- Protection of life and personal liberty — No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law.

Code of Criminal Procedure – Section 125 – Maintenance -- Muslim woman can seek maintenance from her husband under Section 125 of the CrPC and said the "religion neutral" provision is applicable to all married women irrespective of their religion.

Land Acquisition Act – Law on reliance of exemplars of unrelated parties and related parties and as to how when there are two exemplars, one between unrelated parties at arm’s length and the other between related parties mentioning a higher value and when both are within reasonable time gap, prudence would dictate and common sense would command the acceptability of the exemplars involving unrelated parties.

Criminal Law -- Extra-Judicial confession -- It is a settled principle of law that extra-judicial confession is a weak piece of evidence -- It has been held that where an extra-judicial confession is surrounded by suspicious circumstances, its credibility becomes doubtful and it loses its importance.

Consumer Protection Act – Trade practice which for the purpose of promoting the sale of any goods by adopting deceptive practice like falsely representing that the goods are of a particular standard, quality, style or model, would amount to “unfair trade practice” within the meaning of Section 2(1)(r) of the said Act.

Criminal Law -- Criminals are not born out but made," the Supreme court said. It further added that the human potential in everyone is good and so, never write off any criminal as beyond redemption -- "This humanist fundamental is often missed when dealing with delinquents, juvenile and adult," the court said.

Limitation Act – Section 4 & 5 -- Period of limitation means the period of limitation prescribed for any suit, appeal or application by the Schedule, and ‘prescribed period’ means the period of limitation computed in accordance with the provisions of this Act.

Criminal Law – Supreme Court says the over-arching postulate of criminal jurisprudence that an accused is presumed to be innocent until proven guilty cannot be brushed aside lightly, howsoever stringent the penal law may be -- The right of the accused to have a speedy trial could be said to have been infringed thereby violating Article 21 of the Constitution.

Criminal Law -- Burden of proving -- When a person is accused of any offence, the burden of proving the existence of circumstances bringing the case within any of the General Exceptions in the Indian Penal Code (XLV of 1860), or within any special exception or proviso contained in any other part of the same Code, or in any law defining the offence, is upon him, and the Court shall presume the absence of such circumstances.

Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act – Bail Application -- Right to a speedy trial is recognised as a fundamental right guaranteed by the Constitution and is closely tied to the right to life and personal liberty,

Criminal Law -- Section 387 IPC -- The words used in Section 387 IPC, i.e., “in order to the committing of extortion” is used for an act committed during act of extortion and for that act of extortion has to be concluded in terms of Section 383 IPC.

Civil Law -- Code of Civil Procedure -- Section 115 -- Declaratory suit -- The prayer of the Plaintiff to recover the possession of suit premises is consequential to the main prayer of declaration of tenancy rights in respect of the suit premises -- Once he succeeds to establish the tenancy rights he is very much entitled to recover the actual possession of tenanted premises, in absence of which declaration of tenancy rights would become a mere formality.

Negotiable Instruments Act – Transfer Petition -- Petitioner can always apply for grant of exemption from personal appearance to the concerned Court.

Civil Law -- Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 -- Suit for recovery of amount -- Court has passed an order staying impugned order, much prior to the interim order of this Court, suit itself was decided finally by passing a decree.

Criminal Law -- Caveat petition -- Medical examination -- Not willing to cooperate with the investigation -- He cannot voice apprehensions about medical facility that he is being referred to without any tenable basis.

Constitution of India -- Tender notice -- Duty of the Court is to confine itself to whether a decision making authority exceeded its powers, committed an error in law, committed a breach of the rule of natural justice, reached a decision which no reasoned tribunal would have reached, or whether if there was an abuse of powers.