Criminal Procedure Code, 1973, S.451—Release of Property—Court is not merely required to determine the source from which the property was seized— A claim of title to the goods which have been seized is a relevant consideration while passing an order under Section 452

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Indian Penal Code, 1860, S.376—Rape—Consensual Sex—Live-in Relation— Quashing—Held; (i) If the accused has not made the promise with the sole intention to seduce the prosecutrix to indulge in sexual acts, such an act would not amount to rape. (ii) The acknowledged consensual physical relationship between the parties would not constitute an offence under Section 376 of the IPC.

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Election—Two Third majority—If figure of majority comes to fraction, then fraction has to be treated as one and can never be rounded off to lower number because votes cannot be treated as fraction.

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Maintenance—Woman who is not legally wedded wife can claim maintenance under Domestic Violence Act if not entitled to maintenance under S. 125 Cr, P. C

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Cheating—Merely because the accused has not paid the amount due and payable under the agreement; no offence u/s 406 & 420 IPC is made out-Dispute is of civil nature—Complaint quashed.

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Possession--Plaintiff filed suit for possession on basis of title--Plaintiff has to prove his title--Weakness of the defence or the failure of the defendants to establish the title set up by them, would not enable the plaintiff to a decree--Appeal dismissed

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Eviction--Bona fide requirement-- It is always the privilege of the landlord to choose the nature of the business and the place of the business.

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Appointment--An ad hoc appointee appointed for a period of three months as Stenographer, whose term is further extended, should not be allowed to continue in the public interest when he failed in the test.

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Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, S.I66--Accident-Claim Petition-Claims Tribunal is empowered to treat the report of the accident on its receipt as if it is an application made by the claimant for award of the compensation to him under the Act by virtue of Section 166 (4) of the Act and thus has jurisdiction to decide such application on merits in accordance with law.

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Indian Penal Code, 1860, S.302--Murder--Death Sentence converted into life imprisonment-Duty is on the State to show that there is no possibility of reform or rehabilitation of the accused—When the offence is not gruesome, not coldblooded murder, nor is committed in a diabolical manner, the court will impose life imprisonment

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Quashing—Petition for quashing is maintainable even after the charge sheet is filed Quashing—Trend in business circles to convert purely civil dispute into criminal cases is growing—It should be deprecated and discouraged

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Cheating—Promotion of quick money scheme by knowingly making false representation of doubling the money—Offence of cheating made out.

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Theft of electricity by a company--Prosecution of directors of company-- It was obligatory on the part of the complainant not only to make requisite averments in the complaint petition but also to prove that any of the Directors who had been prosecuted for alleged commission of the aforementioned offence was incharge of and was otherwise responsible for the conduct or the affairs of the Company

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Common intention--In order to bring in the concept of common intention it is to be established that there was simultaneously consensus of the minds of the persons participating in the act to bring about a particular result.

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Decree against dead person--Death of defendant pending appeal--An application made for substitution of legal representatives, but no order passed by Court through inadvertence--Decree drawn against dead defendant--Decree executable against legal representatives--It was essentially a technical error--Held, act of court should do no harm to a litigant-- Civil Procedure Code, 1908, Section 47--Civil Procedure Code, 1908, Order 23 Rule 2.

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Written Statement--Acceptance of--Trial Court can accept written statement after 90 days.

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Election symbol--A recognized political party would have a right of exclusive use of the symbol but the Symbols Order makes it very clear that such right to use the symbol can be lost with the dismal performance of the party.

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Award—Clause in agreement for no increase in price during stipulated time of completion—Delay attributed to company giving contract—Contractor entitled to increase in price after stipulated time.

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Criminal Law--Bail--Grant of--Though detailed examination of the evidence and elaborate documentation of the merits of the case is to be avoided by the Court while passing orders on bail applications, yet a court dealing with the bail application should be satisfied as to whether there is a prima facie case, but exhaustive exploration of the merits of the case is not necessary

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During pendency of appeal bail allowed in the year 2006--The incident is 30 years old and after being released in 2006 on bail, it will not be proper to send the accused back to jail, more particularly, because nothing has been stated against him regarding his indulgence in any criminal activity--Sentence reduced to already undergone--Penal Code, 1860, Section 326.

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Dishonour of cheque--First notice remained unserved--Second notice after second prosecution, withdrawn as was wrongly addressed--Third notice after third presentation valid--As earlier two notices did not gave any cause of action

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Murder--Acquittal--There is a time gap of eight hours between the time of the occurrence and the lodging of the FIR. Murder--Acquittal--Version of P.W.s that they identified the accused in moonlight--Not believed

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Rape--Accused took away prosecutrix--In absence of marriage, a person will be guilt of abduction and rape.

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Murder--Husband gave single blow to wife--Act was committed without premeditation, in a sudden fight in the heat of passion upon a sudden quarrel--Conviction altered from Section 302 I.P.C to 304 Part-I I.P.C.

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Summoning of Additional Accused—Court cannot mechanically issue process under Section 319Cr.P.C. whenever in a statement recorded before the Court, name of any person is taken Summoning of Additional Accused—Mere mention of name of appellant for first time in court without any substantive evidence does not justify allowing of application u/s 319 Cr.P.C

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Contempt of Courts Act, 1971, S. 12--Criminal contempt-Posting of derogatory remarks against Judge of High Court on social media/ facebook-Appellant was sentenced to undergo simple imprisonment for one month—Held; it was not a case where the contempt action should have been taken against the appellant who is an Advocate—Impugned order of High Court set aside.

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Murder—Death Sentence—Special Leave Petition filed in those cases where death sentence is awarded by the courts below, should not be dismissed without giving reasons

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Pay parity--Senior cannot be paid lesser salary than his juniors--Writ--When writ petition is jointly filed, the prayer therein should not be confined to one petitioner alone only.

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Transfer of Suit--Suit for damages filed at Chennai by husband--Suit transferred to Kolkata where wife residing with 2 years old child.

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Arbitrator--Appointment of--An application/petition without approaching the authority nominated and agreed upon by the parties is not maintainable--In instant case ICC was nominated but was not approached.

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Re-summoning--There must be substantive evidence against a person in order to summon him for trial u/s 319 of Cr.P.C., although he is not named in charge-sheet or he has been discharged from the case, which would warrant his prosecution thereafter with a good chance of his conviction.

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Relation witness--If witness is related to the deceased, his evidence has to be accepted if found to be reliable and believed because he would inter alia be interested in ensuring that real culprits are punished.

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Succession—Life Interest—Testator of suit property gave ownership rights to his children and life interest to his wife by way of right to live in the suit house and collect rent for her maintenance—Such "life interest" does not get ripen into an "absolute interest".

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Attempt to Murder--A single blow of sickle inflicted by appellant on back of deceased--Doctor opinion that deceased did not died due to direct result of injury--Reduction of charges proper.

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Decree remains valid unless set aside. Executing Court reduced to interest from 18% to 14%--High Court further reduced the same to 9%--Executing Court cannot go beyond decree--Executing Court to execute the same as it is.

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Accident Law--Compensation--Criteria--For arriving at just compensation, it is necessary to ascertain the net income of the deceased available for the support of himself and his dependents at the time of his death and the amount, which he was accustomed to spend upon himself--This exercise has to be on the basis of the data, brought on record by the claimant, which again cannot be accurately ascertained and necessarily involves an element of estimate or it may partly be even a conjecture

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Land and Property Law--Allotment of Plot--Cancellation of--Predecessor-in-interest of appellant not eligible for allotment of plot under scheme for rehabilitation of locally displaced persons--Notwithstanding the fact that transfer of plot in favour of appellant is duly approved by Trust, appellant did not acquire any independent right in the plot and be only acquired whatever rights the transferor or original allottee had therein--Defect in allotment made in original allottee's favour on account of her ineligibility to avail scheme was inherited by appellant as her transferee

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Exparte decree--Remedies available to defendants--He may file a suit contending that decree was obtained fraudulently or he may file application under Order 9 Rule 13 C.P.C. or he may prefer an appeal from exparte judgment--He may also file a review petition.

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Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, S. 166--Accident-More than claimed-There is no restriction that the Court cannot award compensation exceeding the claimed amount, since the function of the Tribunal or Court is to award "just compensation"

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Agreement to Sell—Increase in Price—Mere escalation of price is no ground for interference with concurrent findings of court below granting the decree. Abatement of Appeal—Omission to implead legal representatives of a deceased defendant, would not lead to abatement of appeal as a whole by itself.

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Murder—Death Penalty—The conduct of the convict in prison cannot be lost sight of and is a relevant mitigating factor Duty of Court—It is duty of Court to be constitutionally correct even when its view is counter-majoritarian the public opinion Murder—Death Sentence—Possibility of Reform—Probability and possibility of reform of a criminal can be done properly only through psychological/psychiatric evaluation--Media Trial-It has almost become a trend for the investigating agency to present their version and create a cloud in the collective conscience of the society regarding the crime and the criminal

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Unlawful Assembly—Sessions Judge acquitted all the six accused persons under Section 148/149 IPC-No appeal filed by the State-­High Court was not justified in convicting the appellant under Section 148/149 IPC-Appellant acquitted

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Grievous Hurt—Reduction in Sentence- Submission that one appellant is 80 years of age and other appellant is 70 years of age—Occurrence was of year 1992—In the interest of justice imprisonment of two years reduced to period already undergone of about fifteen months

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Criminal Complaint--Preliminary Inquiry under Section 202 Cr.P.C.--Although an accused has no right to participate unless the process is issued, he may remain present either in person or through a counsel or a agent with a view to be informed of what is going on. Cognizable Offence--Information to police--Even in a case where no action is taken by police, the informant's remedy lies under Section 190 and 200 of the Cr.P.C.

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Appointment of Judge--Once the Government on being satisfied that a suitable candidate who was earlier appointed as an Additional Judge is suitable for appointment as a permanent Judge, the elaborate consultation has not been considered necessary--Chief Justice of High Court not required to consult collegium of High Court.

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Contempt--When the court either suo motu or on a motion or a reference, decides to take action and initiate proceedings for contempt, it assumes jurisdiction to punish for contempt--The exercise of jurisdiction to punish for contempt commences with the initiation of a proceeding for contempt and if the order is passed not discharging the rule issued in contempt proceedings, it would be an order or decision in exercise of its jurisdiction to punish for contempt--Against such order, appeal would be maintainable.

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Dying declaration recorded by Magistrate have greater significance over dying declaration recorded by head constable.

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Service Law—Teaching Experience—Study Leave—Period of study leave cannot be counted towards teaching experience

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Service Law—Higher Qualification—Possession of higher qualification does not always mean that candidate has requisite prescribed lower qualification for the post Service Law—Qualification—It is no part of the role or function of judicial review to expand upon the ambit of the prescribed qualifications

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Arbitrator—Appointment of—Challenge to—When an arbitrator was allegedly appointed against the terms of the agreement (arbitration clause) the provisions of 5.11(6) cannot be invoked to challenge such appointment Arbitrator—Appointment of—Amendment of 2015—General conditions of the contract cannot be taken to be the agreement between the parties so as to apply the provisions of the amended Act

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