Legal News & Views

The Hyderabad High Court has made it clear that serving a notice on a house owner is enough and there was no provision in the law which mandates notice to tenants in case dilapidated buildings are to be demolished. The Visakhapatnam Greater Municipal Corporation had served a notice on a building owner, directing him to demolish his house within seven days on the ground that the building was in a dilapidated condition. However, Gottumukkala Peddi Nagaraju, a tenant, moved the High Court stating that he has been residing in the house for 15 years and the notice was in violation of the principles of natural justice and against the provisions of the Hyderabad Municipal Corporation Act, 1955. He further alleged that with an intention to vacate him from the house the owner, in collusion with the corporation, decided to demolish the house. On February 6, Justice A. Rajasheker Reddy, while ordering status quo, directed the corporation to produce the inspection report to ascertain on wha

The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has ruled that a buyer of a land need not pay fee again to the revenue authorities for sub-division of immovable property and issue of patta. A division bench, comprising of Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice S.Tamilvanan, held that once the application, along with fee, is collected with the document for registration of immovable property, the registration department should forward the same to the Revenue Department for sub-division survey work and patta issue to the owner (buyer) of the land. The court was passing orders while closing a petition by Madurai-based Consumer Rights Protection Council Secretary O Paramasivam challenging levy of fees by both Registration and Revenue departments. The Inspector of Registration had stated that patta transfer application in prescribed form is tendered along with documents presented for registration and forwarded by the sub- registrar to the tehsildar in whose jurisdiction the property

The Supreme Court has ruled that a husband's illicit relationship with another woman may not amount to 'cruelty' towards his wife and count as a ground for abetment to her suicide. The case from Gujarat has striking facts. The husband and wife had a strained relationship and were contemplating divorce. The wife was resigned to her fate and had told her sister that she was facing breakdown of marriage. She had also said that she would leave her marital home. But, later, she consumed poison and committed suicide. The prosecution had accused the husband and his parents of cruelty and alleged that the woman was driven to suicide as her husband was having an illicit relationship with another woman. The trial court and the high court had convicted the accused. After hearing appellant's counsel H A Raichura, a bench of Justices S J Mukhopadhaya and Dipak Misra said, "In the present case, in fact, there is no demand of dowry. If the evidence is appropriately appreci

State governments cannot amend a procedural law with retrospective effect to provide for quota in posts after commencement of selection process, the Supreme Court on Wednesday held. "In any case, the State Government cannot pass any order amending a procedural law regarding reservation in the matter of selection to posts, with retrospective effect, once the procedure of selection starts," a bench of justices S J Mukhopadhya and V Gopala Gowda said. The verdict came on a batch of appeals filed against the 2004 judgement of the Andhra Pradesh High Court. The High Court had upheld the finding of the Andhra Pradesh Administrative Tribunal saying the government can amend the procedural law with retrospective effect to provide reservation in the selection process to fill up certain posts. The state government, in pursuance of 1975 'Presidential Order', had said that 70 per cent of "non-gazetted category posts other than Lower Division Clerk or equivalent post

An insurance company cannot deny compensation to the third party claimant on the grounds that the insured vehicle, involved in a road accident, was being driven by a person who did not possess a valid driving licence, a Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT) has ruled. "Recovery of compensation is the statutory right of the third party applicant. The insurance company, at the most, is entitled to recover the amount of compensation from the insured but, cannot avoid its liability to pay compensation to the third party," MACT member V P Avhad ruled on February 11 while relying on a couple of judgments in 2013 by the Bombay high court and the Supreme Court. The tribunal directed the United India Insurance Company to pay Rs 6.39 lakh compensation to the husband and two sons of a 48-year-old woman who died of injuries sustained in a road accident caused by a speeding car near HA ground in Pimpri in March 2013. The company also has to pay 7.5% p.a. interest from August 3, 2013

Right to information is recognized under the Consumer Protection Act (CPA). If an insurance claim is partially repudiated, the insured has a right to know how the claim has been computed and the reason why it has been rejected, either fully or partially. If this information is not given, it may be a pointer that the insurance company has not computed the claim properly. Case Study: Rohit Patel, a businessman and former president of the Indian Merchant Chamber, frequently travels abroad. He was insured under Tata AIG's Travel Guard Annual Platinum Policy valid from May 13, 2010 to May 2, 2011. During a trip to USA, Patel fell sick and had to be hospitalized. ON August 28, 2010, a surgical procedure known as Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) with balloon extraction of bile duct stones with stent placement was performed on him under anaesthesia. The three-day hospitalization expenses came to US$ 23360.56. The claim was submitted to Tata AIG, and he presumed

A well qualified wife is not entitled to remain idle and harass her husband by claiming maintenance when she is capable to earn; she is not entitled to take advantage when she is in the wrong. This is what a family court said while rejecting the plea for maintenance from her estranged husband. From the evidence placed before it, the court held, "It is clear that the wife has a good capacity to earn, thus she is not liable to get maintenance from her husband." What were wife's grounds for demanding maintenance? The woman had recently approached the court, seeking maintenance. Her application claimed that she was tortured at the hands of her in-laws, so she was staying separately in her maternal house since 2011. Her parents had to bear her additional expenses, the application claimed, and demanded maintenance from her husband. What did she say to establish husband's riches? She further claimed that her husband and his family had an affluent, business backgroun

Demand for dowry can be made at any time and not necessarily before marriage, the Supreme Court has said while upholding the life term awarded to a man for poisoning and burning his wife to death in 1997. A bench of justices MY Eqbal and Pinaki Chandra Ghose rejected the plea that the accused did not demand any dowry before marriage and seeking it after tying the nuptial knot was out of question. Referring to an earlier judgement, it said the social evil of dowry is prevalent in Indian society and the defence that it was not sought before the marriage "does not hold water. The demand for dowry can be made at any time and not necessarily before marriage." The apex court dismissed the plea of Uttarakhand native Bhim Singh and his family members noting that there was no missing link in the circumstantial evidence brought by the prosecution. "There must be a chain of evidence so complete as not to leave any reasonable ground for the conclusion consistent with the in

Insurance can’t be claimed for tsunami triggered by an earthquake, ruled the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission while dealing with a case of submergence of a dredger (equipment used for excavation in water bodies to remove sediments  from the floor) due to tsunami at Krishnapatnam port in Nellore. The commission ruled in favour of United Insurance stating that the loss is caused due to earthquake, which is an excepted clause. The  port had sought Rs 1.53 crore compensation The case had begun in 2006, and the final judgement was given on January 30, 2015. The dredger taken on hire had gotten submerged in the sea on December 26 in 2004, due to the tsunami that hit India. The company’s insurance claim was turned down. The insurance firm said since the damage was solely due to the earthquake, the claim was admissible under the policy. Article referred: http://www.deccanchronicle.com/150211/nation-current-affairs/article/insurance-claim-damage-due-tsunami-struck-down

Your property details, investments and assets can be accessed by your spouse under the Right to Information Act (RTI). The Central Information Commission (CIC) passed the judgment on Friday while dealing with the case of an applicant — an estranged wife and an alleged victim of domestic violence. Overruling arguments that income details of a person is "personal information", it directed the Delhi Transco, where her husband works, to provide his relevant details to her as it constituted her right to life. So far such information has been considered exempt under the RTI Act and treated as private or third party information. In this particular case, the applicant had sought to know the details of his husband's property, including that given in dowry, and action taken against him for attempting to commit bigamy and abandoning her without any financial support. Ruling that the larger public interest overrides exemption under privacy of an individual, information commi

A man cannot refuse maintenance to his estranged wife having no source of income as that amounts to economic abuse, a Delhi court has held. Setting aside a trial court order dismissing the plea of a woman seeking maintenance from her estranged husband, Additional Sessions Judge Pulastya Pramachala observed that in the absence of any evidence, it cannot be said that no case of domestic violence was established. 'Not maintaining wife is economic abuse' "The admitted facts are sufficient to show that appellant (wife) had no source to maintain herself, though the respondent (husband) was having sufficient means to live a comfortable life. He, therefore, cannot refuse to maintain his wife. "His pleadings also show that he was not willing and interested to maintain the appellant, which in itself is sufficient to show that he has caused economic abuse upon the appellant," the court said. It said that the trial court had overlooked the complete definition of domest

The courts have been staunch supporters of enforcing arbitration awards but, as David Owens argues in our latest alternative dispute resolution series article, there are limits. It has been a truth universally acknowledged in recent years that the English courts are prepared to go to almost any lengths to facilitate the enforcement of arbitration awards. It therefore comes as something of a surprise that recent developments in the case of Cruz City 1 Mauritius Holdings v Unitech Ltd [2013] EWHC 1323 (Comm) appear to place a limit on what will be allowed. The case relates to a slum clearance and redevelopment project in Mumbai that went badly wrong. Cruz City was investing in the scheme, and Unitech are one of India's largest real estate and development companies. Under the terms of the arbitration agreement between them, Cruz City commenced a number of LCIA arbitrations against Unitech in London. It was largely successful, and in July 2012 obtained a decision that Unitech shou

A builder is liable to provide facilities as per agreement within the stipulated time, or compensate the consumer. Case Study: Hussainee Lilamwala, a businessman, wanted to lead a peaceful retired life away from Mumbai, yet not too far off. He came across a Tata Housing Development project in Boisar, Thane district. The brochure stated that the project was being undertaken by a quality conscious developer, and that it was conceptualized, designed and implemented in association with best-in-the-business architects and landscape designers. The brochure assured timely possession of flats, affording a new lifestyle in a township with amenities that every flat purchaser always wanted and at a price that was never thought possible. Lilamwala booked two flats in the project. But Lilamwala's dreams received a blow when he did not get the flats' possessions by Decemeber 30, 2011, as per the agreement. The possession was given on March 26, 2013, but without the promised facilities,

Differential tariffs over subscribers making calls from one private provider to other private service provider and from private network to BSNL/MTNL held arbitrary Supreme Court: While deciding that whether the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal was right in terming the action of the private telecom service providers (forming the appellant association) for levying differential tariffs for calls made from their network to the BSNL/MTNL networks compared to the calls made from one private telecom service provider to the other, as discriminatory, the Court upheld the decision of the Tribunal and stated that such classification of subscribers into two categories on the basis of calls made by them from private network to another private network and from private network to BSNL/MTNL network is arbitrary and fails to satisfy the test for reasonable classification laid down in State of West Bengal v. Anwar Ali Sarkar, AIR 1952 SC 75. In the instant case, the appellant rais

Extent of allowing stipulated liquidated damages by way of penalty in absence of evidence of actual loss, discussed Supreme Court: Deciding the pivotal question as to when and to what extent can the stipulated liquidated damages for breach of a contract be held to be in the nature of penalty in absence of evidence of actual loss and to what extent the stipulation be taken to be the measure of compensation for the loss suffered even in absence of specific evidence, the Court held that in a given case, when highest limit is stipulated instead of a fixed sum, in absence of evidence of loss, part of it can be held to be reasonable compensation and the remaining by way of penalty. The bench of T.S Thakur and A.K. Goel, JJ further held that the party complaining of breach can certainly be allowed reasonable compensation out of the said amount if not the entire amount. If the entire amount stipulated is genuine pre-estimate of loss, the actual loss need not be proved. Burden to prove that

Wife cannot oust her husband from the home on the ground that she pays EMI for the home loan Family Court, Mumbai: Dealing as to whether a wife who pays EMI of home loan can oust her husband from the flat in dispute on the grounds which are daily wear and tear of a matrimonial relationship, a bench of P.L. Palsingankar J rejected the application of wife and refused to consider her prayer for injunction against the respondent. In the instant case, the petitioner-wife filed an interim application with a prayer that the respondent-husband be directed to vacate the flat in dispute on the ground that the petitioner is paying EMI of the home loan and also alleged cruelty perpetrated on her by the respondent. The respondent contended that the petitioner pays EMI for home loan but he incur monthly expenses of Rs 90,000/- towards family expenses, and if a relief in nature sought is granted then injustice would cause to him. The Court found that the grounds mentioned by the petitioner in

M/s. Chakrabarty Medical Centre vs. TRO (ITAT Pune) Property introduced by a partner into firm becomes the asset of the firm even if there is no registered deed. Though the asset is held by the firm as a depreciable asset and though the investment in s. 54EC bonds is made in the names of the partners, the firm is eligible for s. 54EC exemption (i) Under s. 239 of the Indian Contract Act and s. 14 of the Indian Partnership Act, for the purpose of bringing the separate properties of a partner into the stock of the firm it is not necessary to have recourse to any written document at all, that as soon as a partner intends that his separate properties should become partnership properties and they are treated as such, then by virtue of the provisions of the Contract Act and the Partnership Act, the properties become the properties of the firm and that this result is not prohibited by any provision in the Transfer of Property Act or the Indian Registration Act. The legal position, theref

Vardhman Developers Ltd vs. ITO (ITAT Mumbai) Expenditure towards repair and renovation of leased premises is capital in nature. Method for allocation of common expenses to different WIP projects of a builder explained (i) Expenditure towards false ceiling, fixing tiles/flooring, replacing glasses, wooden partitions, replacement of electrical wiring, earthing, replacement of G.I. pipes, plumbing and sanitation lines, plaster and painting of walls of leased premises cannot be regarded as ‘current repairs’. ‘Repairs’, though a term of wider scope, yet cannot extend beyond that of the term itself. A repair, by definition, is toward the maintenance and preservation of an ‘existing’ asset. Surely, the advantage or asset, in terms of its functional utility and capacity for the business, needs to be maintained, so that expenditure for retaining the same is essentially revenue expenditure, which, again, by definition, does not lead to or result in an enhancement or improvement. The premis

 In a boost for the BJP government in Maharashtra, Bombay high court on Thursday dismissed a bunch of petitions challenging a state notification, which required developers or land owners to set aside 20 % of the plot for affordable housing. Developers had moved the HC contending that the notification amounted to "compulsory acquisition of land" by the state, which it was not empowered to do. A bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and M S Sanklecha upheld the notification's validity in public interest. The challenge to the notification was filed by prominent developer D B Realty and others. Their primary contention was that the government had no power to bring in acquisition of land or rights to the land except under the Land Acquisition Act. The matters were heard at length last year and the state through then advocate-general Darius Khambata put up a stiff fight to justify its decision and oppose the petitions. Khambata had argued that the state was empowered to permit