Court has consistently held, right to property requires, procedural safeguards be followed to ensure fairness and non-arbitrariness in decision-making especially in cases of acquisition by State. Therefore, delay in approaching Court, while a significant factor, cannot override necessity to address illegalities and protect right to property. Court must balance need for finality in legal proceedings […]
Read more "Right to Property II"Hon’ble Justice J.B. Pardiwala described, ‘tenure’ is derived from Latin: ‘tenere’, which means ‘to hold’.”[1] In a ‘tenure’ what does one even ‘hold’ considering Hon’ble Justice Dr. D.Y. Chandrachud himself declares, “We may not be masters of our destiny. Nor can we control what life has in store. What we can determine is how we […]
Read more "Justice Dr. D.Y. Chandrachud’s Tenure"A proposition traceable to Forbes v. Git, [1922] 1 AC 2564 was approvingly taken note of by a Three-Judge Bench of this Court in Radha Sundar Dutta v. Mohd. Jahadur Rahim, AIR 1959 SC 24. “If in a deed an earlier clause is followed by a later clause which destroys altogether the obligation created by […]
Read more "Earlier Clause v. Later Clause"02-11-2018 – 15-05-2023 The rule flowing from the maxim ‘generalia specialibus non derogant’ has been i) considered in Hari Shankar Jain, (1978) 4 SCC 16 and ii) explained in Mary Seward v. Owner of “Vera Cruz”, (1884) 10 AC 59, 68. Pharmacy Council of India v. Dr. S.K. Toshniwal Educational Trusts, [Transfer Petition (Civil) Nos. 87-101 of 2014]. […]
Read more "Random Collectibles of Justice M.R. Shah at Supreme Court"A wide variety of rival submissions have been presented before us on whether Consumer Fora had been justified in awarding and approving ‘compound interest’. An attempt to seek ‘compound interest’ in such real estate dealings did not meet with approval of this Court and in Ireo Grace Realtech Pvt. Ltd. v. Abhishek Khanna, (2021) 3 […]
Read more "Compound Interest"While, prima facie, said classification seems reasonable, the devil lies in the details. Courts have now adopted proportionality test [Om Kumar v. Union Of India, (2001) 2 SCC 386]. A classification should come with safeguards against its potential abuse [Gujarat Mazdoor Sabha v. State of Gujarat, (2020) 10 SCC 459]. The said notification by way […]
Read more "Pushtaini, Non-Pushtaini Landholders"That legislation can be struck down on ground of manifest arbitrariness is no longer open to any doubt, as has been held in Shayara Bano v. Union of India, (2017) 9 SCC 1. _____ Section 3(2) of The Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act, 1988 is declared as unconstitutional for being manifestly arbitrary. Section 3(2) of The Benami […]
Read more "The Doctrine of Manifest Arbitrariness"Nemai Chandra Kumar v. Mani Square Limited, 2015 (2) SCALE 657 concluded, Nemai Chandra Kumar & Ors. were “Thika Tenants” within the meaning of Section 2(5) of The Calcutta Thika Tenancy Act, 1949. It was held, “Any Structure” includes both ‘Kutcha’ (temporary) or ‘Pucca’ (permanent) Structure. Mani Square Limited’s Review Petition (Civil) No. 1483 of 2015 succeeded […]
Read more "Thika Tenancy IV"Since 2019, Courts where IPR cases are being listed in Delhi: District Judges/ADJs (Non-Commercial) for suits valued below Rs. 3 Lakhs; District Judges/ADJs (Commercial) for suits valued between Rs. 3 Lakhs till Rs. 2 Crores; Commercial Division of High Court (Original Jurisdiction) for suits above Rs. 2 Crores. Can District Judges (Commercial) entertain IPR suits […]
Read more "[Intellectual] Forum Shopping III"Ultimately, question of ‘residence’ in every case depends on facts. But, ‘resides’ usually means something more than a flying visit or a casual stay [Jagir Kaur v. Jaswant Singh, (1964) 2 SCR 73]. V. Prakash could least be said to be a person visiting India casually or as a transit tourist. Term in question about […]
Read more "Resides in Madras Presidency"Law recognizes three types of possession – of an owner, as a tenant and permissive possession, possession which otherwise would be illegal or of a trespasser. We are concerned with permissive possession. The possession of Rajendra Prasad Agarwal and Meera Agarwal in a room of an Old Age Home is of a licensee permitted to […]
Read more "Care for Elders ≠ Old Age Home"Court in a series of decisions has reiterated, Courts should not rush in where even scientists and medical experts are careful to tread. We cannot evolve a judicial policy on medical issues. However, Court certainly must defend assertion of fundamental rights against Executive tyranny draped in disciplinary power [Pyarali K. Tejani v. Mahadeo Ramchandra Dange, […]
Read more "Dialogic Jurisdiction III / The Revival of Ray LXXXIV"While right to property is no longer a fundamental right [The Constitution (Forty Fourth Amendment) Act, 1978], right against deprivation of property, unless in accordance with procedure established by law, continues to be a constitutional right under Article 300-A. Nobody can be deprived of liberty or property without due process or authorization of law. The […]
Read more "Right to Property I"A party should not be penalized for failing to adopt legal proceedings when facts or documents have been wilfully concealed from him. A party who had acted fraudulently should not be given benefit of limitation, running in its favor, by virtue of such frauds [Pallav Sheth v. Custodian, (2001) 7 SCC 549]. Section 17 of […]
Read more "Referred to Larger Bench XXVII: The Drastic Power of Rejecting a Plaint IV"Predominantly, Indian Judiciary has time and again reiterated, ‘forum shopping’ take several hues and shades but concept of ‘forum shopping’ has not been rendered an exclusive definition in any Indian statute. Indian Judiciary’s observation and obiter dicta has aided in streamlining concept of ‘forum shopping’ in Indian legal system. Court has condemned practice of ‘forum […]
Read more "Forum Shopping II"It is well settled, Doctrine of Lis Pendens is based on ground, decision of a Court in a suit should be binding not only on litigating parties but also on those who derive title pendente lite. _____ Doctrine of Lis Pendens is based on maxim ‘pendente lite nihil innovetur’ which means ‘pending litigation, nothing new […]
Read more "The Doctrine of Lis Pendens"The question had been floating for a while. It was January 1, 2019 when I wondered who amongst then Chief Justices of HCs, if elevated, could be our 51st CJI. January 18, 2019 – we finally received an answer. CJI No. 51 would be Hon’ble Justice Sanjiv Khanna who wasn’t ever a Chief Justice of […]
Read more "The Nature of Judicial Power: Article No. 1101"It manifests, legislative intent is to make The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 applicable not only to projects which were yet to commence after RERA became operational but also to bring under its fold ongoing projects. The distinction between retrospective and retroactive has been explained in Jay Mahakali Rolling Mills v. Union of […]
Read more "Retrospective v. Retroactive II"Suresh Lohiya v. State of Maharashtra, (1996) 10 SCC 397 struck a ‘discordant note’, drawing a distinction between ‘nature’s gifts’ such as charcoal, mahua flowers or minerals and articles produced with aid of human labour which, according to it, was not included in ‘forest produce’ under The Kerala Forest Act, 1961. Suresh Lohiya did not […]
Read more "Nature’s Gifts"Two-Judge Bench of Mathew Varghese v. M. Amritha Kumar, (2014) 5 SCC 610 has heavily relied on Three-Judge Bench of Narandas Karsondas v. S.A. Kamtam, (1977) 3 SCC 247. Court held, there was no reason as to why general principle laid down in Narandas Karsondas, with reference to Section 60 of The Transfer of Property […]
Read more "The Revival of Ray LXXII"
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