Legal Reference Library

The Delhi High Court, in the case of VK Bhatnagar vs Canara Bank and Anr, has directed the bank to compensate the petitioner for the trauma and humiliation caused due to wrongful attachment of his property because of the bank’s negligence arising due to mistaken identity. The petition was filed by VK Bhatnagar, whose property was wrongly attached by Canara Bank for default of payment by a debtor of the same name. The petitioner faced extreme humiliation since not only was the warrant of attachment affixed to his property, but loudspeakers too proclaimed the same. The petitioner then filed objections before the Debt Recovery Tribunal, stating that he had undertaken no financial transactions with Canara Bank and also disclosing his parentage. He also showed that he was a resident of Delhi where as the debtor is a resident of Lucknow. However, no reply was offered by Canara Bank in response to the objections filed. Harassed, the petitioner filed a writ petition against the ban...

In SAVYASACHI K. SAHAI vs Union Of India, the Delhi High Court has dismissed a review petition filed by four applicants who claimed to be the sons of previous Mutawalli or caretakers of the dargah at Amir Khusro Park and, therefore, asserted their right to some construction inside the tikona graveyard park, also known as Amir Khusro park. Mohd Shakeel, Mohd Allauddin and Mohd Mehmood (claiming to be the three sons of the late Mohd Yusuf and the late Mohammed Yunus) and Mohd Nasir (son of Mohd Hakmuddin) had sought review of an order passed by the high court on May 16. Under the said order, the court had observed that the petitioners did not have sufficient documentary evidence to prove their claim and sought a status report from the authorities concerned. What the court said After examining all the submissions and evidence on record, a division bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar held that presumption of possession over an open land always is ...

In N.SATHEESH KUMAR vs FAMILY COURT, NEDUMANGADU, the Kerala High Court has held that if the counsel of a litigant is aggrieved in a cause initiated by his client and if he has an independent cause of action, he can sue in his own name. The counsel for a litigant before the family court had himself challenged before the high court the objection raised by the registry of the court with regard to attestation in in vakalath, which he filed along with the maintenance case. Justice Dama Seshadri Naidu, speaking for the division bench, headed by Justice PN Ravindran, said: “It needs no much cogitation on our part to hold that a counsel cannot carry legal proceedings in his own name in a case initiated by his client. This proposition, however, needs to be qualified. If the counsel is aggrieved and, even in a cause imitated by his client, if he has an independent cause of action, he can sue in his own name.” The court observed that had the registry refused to register or number a cas...

In Rajan Vs. Biju, Kerala High Court has held that in a claim under Section 163A of the Act, dependency has no relevancy because the persons eligible to file an application for compensation for death are the legal heirs and not the legal representatives. The High court also held that the view taken by the Division Bench in Kadeeja v. Kerala State Road Transport Corporation, 2013 is correct and the view of the court in Joseph v. Giji Varghese, 2009 is not a correct proposition of law.

The Karnataka High Court in D. GUNDAPPA vs State of Karnataka has observed that mere non-production of the accused from time to time and failure of the Magistrate to pass express order remanding the accused to custody do not vitiate the proceedings, nor does it confer a right on the accused to seek for his release on bail. The Bench comprising Justice H.G. Ramesh And Justice John Michael Cunha however clarified that the production of the accused before the Magistrate as mandated in section 167(2)(b) and section 209 CrPC is a rule and non-production of the accused is only an exception and it is only when the physical production of the accused is not possible on account of his hospitalization or such other unavoidable reasons, the Magistrate cannot refuse to extend the remand merely on ground of non-production of the accused. In such event, it is incumbent on the Investigating Officer to make necessary requisition supported by genuine documents for the satisfaction of the learned Mag...

Madurai Bench of the High Court of Madras in S.Robinson Vs 1.Tamil Nadu State Information Commission has held that the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005 cannot be invoked at the first instance, if an effective alternative remedy is available to obtain such information. “Although the learned counsel appearing for the petitioner has elaborately made his submission and taken this Court through the Scheme of RTI Act, particularly, Sections 4, 8 and 22 of the RTI Act, I am unable to persuade myself that RTI Act can be invoked for all purposes regardless of the fact that there is existence of alternative effective mechanism provided under the respective departments for seeking information. If such recourse is encouraged and entertained it will destroy the very frame work of the respective mechanism which provides for furnishing information under the respective department,” Justice V. Parthiban observed. The Court was hearing a Petition filed by Mr. S. Robinson, challenging an order...

In AVTEC Limited v. DCIT, the division of the Delhi High Court held that AO is bound to look at the litigation history of the assessee and cannot expect the assessee to inform him.  In the instant case, the Petitioner, engaged in the business of manufacturing and selling of automobiles, power trains and power shift transmissions along with their components, approached the High Court challenging the re-assessment order passed against them. For the year 2006-07, the Petitioner entered into a Business Transfer Agreement with Hindustan Motors Ltd, as per which, the Petitioner took over the business from HML.  While filing income tax return for the said year, the petitioner claimed the expenses incurred in respect of professional and legal charges for the purpose of taking over of the business from HML as capital expenses and claimed depreciation. Though the above claim was denied by the AO, the ITAT allowed the claim on second appeal filed by the assessee. Though the departm...

In CIT v. M/S Rama Educational Society, the division bench of the Allahabad High Court held that benefit of section 80G of the Income Tax Act cannot be granted to assessee merely on ground that it satisfies all the conditions prescribed under section 10(23)(c) of the Income Tax Act. While quashing the ITAT order, the bench confirmed the order of the CIT denying exemption to the assessee for want of regular maintenance of Books of Accounts. Respondent-assessee, a society running a Dental College and Research Centre had availed exemption under s. 80 G of the IT Act. On expiry of the exemption, they made an application for renewal of the same. However, the Commissioner rejected the application on grounds that the department recovered and seized unaccounted cash amount belongs to the assessee during a search and the assessee was not properly maintaining its books of accounts. He was of the opinion that the exemption is not available to the assessee as they does not satisfies condition (iv)...

In a significant judgement, the , has held that private self financing Colleges cannot withhold certificates of students, for payment of amount. The practise of withholding the certificates, and non-issuance of transfer certificate to students, to coerce them into meeting unconscionable demands like paying entire course fee for leaving the course midway, or to force them to serve the institution after completion of course, etc is very rampant. In clear unambiguous terms, the Court has held that such practise is illegal and opposed to public policy. Often faced with the supreme bargaining position of the Colleges, the students often execute bonds authorising colleges to do so. But, such bonds have no validity in the eyes of law. It was held that :- “The agreements obtained by the College from petitioners authorising them to withhold the certificates of the petitioners cannot be accepted as an approved social conduct and the same, in that sense, is unethical. Further, agreements of tha...

In N.K. Bhasin vs Union of India, the division bench of the Allahabad High Court upheld the constitutional validity of provisions of Finance Act, 1994 imposing Service Tax on rented immovable property. While dismissing a bunch of writ petitions, the Court also confirmed the vires of connected circulars passed by the Ministry of Finance. The petitioners in the instant case, approached High Court challenging the constitutionality of Sections 75(A)(6)(h) and 77 of Finance Act, 2010 and Sections 65(90)(a) and 65(105)(zzzz) read with Section 66 of Finance Act, 1994 as amended by Finance Act, 2007 and Finance Act, 2010. They urged that the provisions are illegal, arbitrary and lacking legislative competence infringing Articles 14, 246 and 265 of Constitution of India. They further impugned the validity of circulars dated 04.01.2008 and 22.05.2007. The bench noticed that a similar issue was raised before various High Courts wherein these Courts upheld the validity of the above provision...

In  Finolex Cables Limited Vs. Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd., the two companies had entered into a contract and MTNL had invoked BG because of non-delivery. The question before the Delhi High Court was whether the invocation of the BG by MTNL in terms of Clause 7.4 of the PO was justified. The High Court opined - 41. MTNL has no explanation whatsoever for suddenly springing on FCL the unilateral invocation of the BG which it made FCL renew from time to time. There was no loss suffered by MTNL on account of the failure of FCL to supply the cables. Merely because Clause 7.4 of the PO entitles MTNL to seek LD up to a maximum of 10% cannot justify the amount it sought to recover, namely, the entire sum of Rs.36,75,300, which according to the learned Arbitrator was approximately 10% of the contract value. 42. The law in relation to LD has been explained by the Supreme Court in its decision in Kailash Nath Associates v. Delhi Development Authority (supra). In para 43 of the s...

High Court of Delhi Louis Vuitton v. Gaurav Bhatia and Ors. MANU/DE/1443/2017 23.05.2017 Intellectual Property Rights Damages have to be actual and not superfluous, Courts are not supposed to do guess work and grant damages Present suit has been filed by Plaintiff seeking permanent injunction against Defendants, restraining them from infringing its trademark, copyright and also from passing off goods of Plaintiff as that of theirs and for rendition of accounts and damages. It is submitted that, act of Defendant offering counterfeit products of Plaintiff which are identical to product of Plaintiff amounts to infringement of its trademark.  Suit has been filed by a duly authorized person. Various documents showing registration of trademark in favour of Plaintiff proves that, Plaintiff is registered owner of trademark Louis Vuitton and logo "Toile Monogram" pattern. Documents on record also conclusively show that, Defendants 1 and 2 have been indulg...

The Karnataka High Court, in the case of M/s Uttam Industrial Engineering Ltd vs M/s Shree Basaveshwar Sugars Ltd, has held that a winding-up petition has serious ramifications on the financial standing of a company and cannot be used in cases where there is a bona fide dispute regarding the amount owed by one party to the other and in such cases the company court should relegate the matter either to the civil court or arbitral tribunal. In this case, Uttam Industrial Ltd entered into a contract with Basaveshwar Sugars Ltd to provide machinery and equipment for a sugar plant. The petitioner fulfilled part of its obligation and demanded payment for the same. There was a dispute regarding the amount to be paid by the respondent company to the petitioner company. However, though the respondent company had initially agreed to pay a specified amount upon reconciliation of their accounts, they subsequently refused to pay the same. Therefore, a winding-up petition was filed before the h...

In H.P. State Cooperative Bank Ltd. Vs. State of H.P., the Himachal Pradesh High Court held that dues to the State shall have priority. Referring to various judgments, the court said - “126. While enacting the DRT Act and the Securitisation Act, Parliament was aware of the law laid down by this Court wherein priority of the State dues was recognised. If Parliament intended to create first charge in favour of banks, financial institutions or other secured creditors on the property of the borrower, then it would have incorporated a provision like Section 529-A of the Companies Act or Section 11(2) of the EPF Act and ensured that notwithstanding series of judicial pronouncements, dues of banks, financial institutions and other secured creditors should have priority over the State’s statutory first charge in the matter of recovery of the dues of sales tax, etc. However, the fact of the matter is that no such provision has been incorporated in either of these enactments despite conf...

The Delhi High Court, in the case of Poonam Jain vs Union of India & Ors, noted that a person being prosecuted against has a right to be provided with all the material relied upon by the prosecuting agency to prosecute her/ him. In the instant case, a search was conducted at the residences of the petitioners and their statements were recorded and several documents were seized. They were issued show cause notices under Section 276 C(1) and Section 277 of the Income Tax Act, Section 181 of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 50 and 51 of the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act. They sought to be provided with a copy of their statements and the documents seised. However, the same was denied to them. A bench comprising Justice S Muralidhar and Justice Anil Kumar Chawla noted that a person against whom a prosecution is being initiated cannot be denied a copy of the material relied upon to prosecute her/ him. “9. …The basic principle o...

High Court of Rajasthan Pinki v. State of Rajasthan and Ors. MANU/RH/0319/2017 12.05.2017 Criminal Court has power to direct further investigation in interest of complete and fair investigation Present criminal misc. petition under Section 482 of Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (Cr.P.C.) has been preferred for quashing of FIR registered as well as proceedings in furtherance thereof for offences under Sections 191, 192, 196, 197, 200, 420, 467, 468, 471, 474 and 120B  of Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC). Matter pertains to contest of election by Petitioner as a member of Panchayat Samiti, Jaswantpura. It is alleged in FIR that, alongwith nomination paper, a certificate of Gujarat Higher Secondary Education Board, Gandhi Nagar, Examination Wing, Vadodara was submitted by contestant, present petitioner. Petitioner was elected as member of Panchayat Samiti, and thereafter, again filed a nomination paper for election of Pradhan, Panchayat Samiti, Jaswantpura on 07th February, ...

High Court of Punjab and Haryana Satnam Kaur v. Gurjeet Singh MANU/PH/0385/2017 12.05.2017 Family Power to transfer a case must be exercised with due care, caution and circumspection Applicant-wife, by way of instant transfer application under Section 24 of Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (CPC), seeks transfer of a petition under Section 9 of Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 titled as Gurjeet Singh v. Satnam Kaur filed by respondent-husband from SAS Nagar (Mohali) to Moga. It is relevant to note that, Applicant-wife, along with her minor child, is living with her parents at Moga. Since, Applicant-wife is not working, she is dependent on her parents. Respondent-husband is not paying any amount of maintenance either for Applicant-wife or for minor child. Distance between Mohali and Moga is more than 150 kilometers. Other litigations between the parties, at instance of Applicant-wife, are also pending at Moga. In view of undisputed fact situation of case, Present Court concluded that,...

High Court of Tripura Kalpana Majumder and Ors. v. Sankar Debnath and Ors. MANU/TR/0077/2017 08.05.2017 Motor Vehicles FIR is not a substantive piece of evidence; it can be used only for purposes of corroboration or contradiction of maker only Aggrieved by nil award passed by learned Member, Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, present appeal is preferred by appellant-claimants. Appellant claimed that, accident occurred due to rash and negligent driving of driver of said Mahindra Maxx. Police registered a case under Sections 279 and 304-A of Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) against driver of offending vehicle. Appellants, therefore, filed claim petition claiming a compensation of Rs. 26,44,000/- for death of deceased. Deceased was stated to be a fisherman at time of accident and was earning Rs. 9,000/- per month as an income. He was also stated to be 50 years of age, when he met the accident. Claim petition was opposed by owner of vehicle, who is Respondent No. 1 herein, by filin...

High Court of Delhi Quippo Oil and Gas Infrastructure Ltd. v. Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited and Ors. MANU/DE/1260/2017 08.05.2017 Commercial Public interest or change in policy may be sufficient to negate concept of legitimate expectation. Petitioner, a public limited company, engaged in providing oil and gas rigs on rent with related services, claim that a direction should be issued to ONGC to consider its bid for a tender bearing No. P26AC16006 dated 05th December, 2016 and also seeks a direction restraining ONGC from awarding letter of intent to M/s. Globe Ecologistic Private Limited for said tender. Second Respondent herein owns 100% share holding in Petitioner company and is its ultimate holding company for all practical purposes, including financial criteria mentioned in tender. It is urged that, no other corporate entity holds any share in Petitioner-Company other than second respondent. ONGC had issued a tender for hire of services for 2D seismic data ac...

High Court of Allahabad Boney Kapoor and Ors. v. State of U.P. and Ors. MANU/UP/1018/2017 08.05.2017 Criminal Affidavit could only be considered as piece of evidence, when statute permits so Applications under Section 482 of Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (Cr.PC) have been filed with prayer to quash proceedings of Criminal Complaint Case pending before Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, under Section 51 read with Section 63 of Indian Copyright Act, 1957 and Section 403 read with Section 120-B of Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC), and summoning order as well as bailable warrant issued and non-bailable warrant passed by Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate. Complaint was filed on basis of infringement of copy right. As was evident in instant matter, script "Raja Bhai IPS" is said to be prepared by opposite party No. 2, (complainant) and same is said to have been sent to Applicants for filmisation. Case of complainant is that, Applicants did not make film, when op...