Legal News & Views

The Madras High Court has ruled that an employee removed from service due to conviction in a corruption case by the trial court is entitled for back wages if he wins his appeal in an appellate court. Besides if the employee wins the appeal on merit, he is entitled for continuity of service also, justices S Manikumar and C T Selvamof the Madurai bench said, dismissing a writ appeal by Executive Officer of Mamsapuram Panchayat against a single judge's 2013 order to reinstate an employee who was dismissed in 2008. Article referred: http://www.hindustantimes.com/tech/telcos-must-pay-subscribers-for-call-drops-delhi-high-court/story-w85YAINAbaXi6ArL7lLHhM.html

Supreme Court in Sadhu Saran Singh vs. State of UP, taking note of the reluctance of people to come forward to give statement in respect of criminal cases, said that prosecution case cannot be doubted merely on the ground of absence of Independent witness. Apex Court Bench comprising of Justices Dipak Misra and N.V. Ramana set aside the order of acquittal by the High Court. The Trial Court in this case had convicted the accused and had imposed death sentence on two accused. The relative of the deceased had appealed, after taking leave of the Court, against the acquittal by the High Court. Article referred: http://www.livelaw.in/death-from-trial-court-acquittal-from-high-court-and-life-sentence-from-supreme-court/

Supreme Court has, in Nandram vs. M/s Garware Polyster Ltd., held that a complaint against termination of an employee of a company is not only maintainable in a Labour court having jurisdiction of the place where the employee was working, when the termination was ordered, but also the Labour court having jurisdiction of the place where the decision to terminate the employee was taken by the management of Company. Article referred: http://www.livelaw.in/complaint-against-termination-of-employee-is-also-maintainable-in-the-place-where-the-management-decided-termination-sc/

In a landmark pronouncement of the Delhi High Court, a Division Bench of Justice Gita Mittal & Justice PS Teji has dismissed an appeal filed by The Pradeshiya Industrial & Investment Corporation of UP Ltd (PICUP) holding it as being”completely devoid of factual or legal merit.” Briefly, a property was mortgaged with PICUP by M/s Pacquik Industries Ltd. Another creditor of Pacquik Industries, one Sh. Darshan Khurana offered to make the payment of the OTS amount of about Rs. 2.20 Crores, on the behalf of Pacquik Industries to PICUP to have the title deeds of the property released to him to secure his interest. This request of Pacquik and Sh. Darshan Khurana was conveyed to PICUP vide letters, courier and facsimile communication. The management of PICUP, internally, objected to the title deeds being released to a third party, however chose to remain silent and accepted the amount, instead of conveying their decision either to Pacquik or Sh. Darshan Khurana. The entire hierarchy o...

The Kerala High Court in G. Madhavan Nair v Union of India & others (W.P(c) No:30342 of 2014) has ruled that Kerala High Court cannot assume Jurisdiction, based on the mere fact  that the alleged cause of action was communicated  through website and it was accessed in Kerala. Article referred: http://www.livelaw.in/court-cannot-assume-jurisdiction-based-on-the-fact-that-the-alleged-cause-of-action-was-communicated-through-website-and-it-was-accessed-in-its-jurisdiction-kerala-hc/

In an important judgment, the Madras High Court has ruled that money demanded by a man from his in-laws for doing business does not come under the category of 'dowry'. Disposing of a dowry harassment petition, Justice C T Selvam of the Madurai bench on Wednesday said money demanded by a person from his wife and in-laws for investing in business cannot be construed as dowry demand and tried under Section 4 of Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961. He said it was necessary for a complainant to prove that money was demanded only as dowry. Article referred: http://zeenews.india.com/news/tamil-nadu/money-demanded-to-run-business-is-not-dowry-madras-hc_1859349.html

Employees dismissed from service after the conclusion of disciplinary proceedings initiated against them are also entitled to encashment of ‘Earned/Privilege Leave’ that they had accumulated to their credit over the years, the Madras High Court Bench here has ruled. Justice D. Hariparanthaman passed the order while allowing a writ petition filed by the dismissed General Manager of Thanjavur District Central Cooperative Bank since he was denied the benefit on the ground that it would be accorded only to those who retire from service on attaining the age of superannuation. The judge came to the conclusion after taking a cue from a decision rendered by a Full Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court on November 9, 2012 wherein it was held that employees can encash their earned leave on the day of retirement irrespective of the pendency of disciplinary proceedings. Article referred: http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Madurai/dismissed-staff-entitled-to-encashment-of-elpl-hc...

While dismissing a revision petition filed by a multiplex in Jaipur challenging the orders of District Forum and Rajasthan Consumer Commission, vide which the multiplex was directed to return the amount charged more than maximum retail price of packaged drinking water to the Complainant along with Rs 6,500 as compensation, NCDRC also imposed further costs of Rs five lakh upon the multiplex. Earlier, the complainant went to see a movie in Big Cinemas in Jaipur where he purchased a bottle of water for which he was charged Rs 30 whereas the MRP of the bottle was Rs 16. Article referred: http://blog.scconline.com/post/2016/02/22/costs-of-five-lakh-imposed-upon-big-cinemas-and-reliance-media-works-ltd-for-charging-more-than-mrp-of-packaged-drinking-water/

While observing that the theft of a vehicle is required to be reported to the insurance company immediately after the theft is detected otherwise the insurer is not liable to reimburse the insured for such a loss, NCDRC upheld the repudiation of insurance claim by insurance companies in two separate cases of theft of vehicle. This order was pronounced by the Commission during the hearing of two revision petitions. Subject matter of both the petitions was similar i.e. theft of vehicle and repudiation of claim by insurance companies on the ground of delay in intimation of the theft to the insurance company. In one case complainant purchased a truck dumper and got the same insured with the Reliance General Insurance Co. Ltd. for the period from 10.10.2010 to 09.10.2011. During the subsistence of the insurance policy, the vehicle was stolen between 06.6.2011 to 07.6.2011 and a report with the concerned police station was lodged on 07.6.2011 itself. The intimation to the insurance company h...

“It cannot be made a ‘rule of thumb’ that every NRI cannot own a property in India. NRIs do come to India, every now and then. Most of the NRIs have to return to their native land. Each NRI wants a house in India.  He is an independent person and can purchase any house in India, in his own name,” observed NCDRC while directing Supertech Ltd to pay around Rs 64 lakh to two NRIs for denying possession of a flat in Greater Noida in Uttar Pradesh. Article referred: http://blog.scconline.com/post/2016/02/16/non-resident-indians-can-also-purchase-house-in-india/

Madras High Court has observed that a person who enjoyed the benefit of an interim order, is liable to compensate the other party, when the main case is decided against him. Division Bench comprising of Justices V.Ramasubramanian and N.Kirubakaran made this observation in S.Ramesh vs. M/s.Cethar Ltd. The writ petition seeking police protection, filed by Management of a company was allowed, by a final order by single bench subject to the condition that the total amount of around Rs.80, 00,000/-, available partly with the Indian Bank and available partly with the Advocate commissioner shall be disbursed to the 130 permanent employees of the company with the assistance of the learned counsel for the Union. The Single Judge also held that the workers have no right to take the law into their hands and obstruct the goods being taken out, thereby infringing the rights of third party customers.  The police was also directed to give protection to the management to remove the materials. Aggr...

A two Judge Bench of the Supreme Court has reiterated that to enable the police to start investigation, it is open to the Magistrate to direct the police to register an F.I.R. and even where a Magistrate does not do so in explicit words but directs for investigation under Section 156(3) of the Code, the police should register an F.I.R. Article referred: http://www.livelaw.in/sc-reiterates-that-registration-of-fir-is-mandatory-when-a-magistrate-orders-investigation-us-1563-of-crpc/

Tenants protected from creditors In a judgment that grants relief to tenants, the Supreme Court has declared that the provisions of the Securitisation Act (Sarfaesi) cannot be used to override the provisions of the Rent Control Act. The Supreme Court, while setting aside judgments in several cases of the Bombay High Court, underlined that the Rent Control Act is a social welfare legislation and must be construed as such. In the case, Vishal Kalsaria vs Bank of India, the court further explained that while Sarfaesi is concerned with non-performing assets of banks and financial institutions, the Rent Control Act governs the relationship between a tenant and the landlord and specifies the rules of ejectment with respect to tenants. The banks had proceeded to take possession of the properties of landlords, who had defaulted on payments for the loans taken by mortgaging the properties. The tenants were caught in between. "If the contentions of the banks are to be accepted," ...

The term 'grocery' would include soft drinks and bottled water, not merely food items, the Supreme Court stated extending the meaning of the word grocery. This interpretation would benefit manual labourers in Maharashtra, as the court has dismissed the appeal, PepsiCo India Holding P Ltd vs Grocery Market & Shops Board, against the Bombay high court judgment. The loaders got only wages and were deprived of provident fund contribution, paid holidays, house rent, workmen's compensation, bonus and other medical benefits. It was to protect such workers that the welfare legislation titled Maharashtra Manual Workers Welfare Act and a scheme were introduced. When the authorities applied the law to PepsiCo, which produces soft drinks like Pepsi, Mirinda, 7 Up and mineral water, it objected to it and moved the Bombay high court. PepsiCo's argument was that the expression grocery would only comprise articles, which are required as daily necessities such as oil and grain in ho...

The debt recovery tribunal and the appellate tribunal "misdirected themselves" by pursuing the grandchildren of a guarantor when there was no evidence that they had inherited the estate of the guarantor, the Delhi High Court stated last week in the case, Rohini Kanoi vs Allahabad Bank. In this case, a firm took loan from Allahabad Bank which was not repaid. The bank took the firm and the guarantors to the tribunal. Since one guarantor had died, his grandchildren were also made parties by the tribunal. They challenged their impleadment, that too after ten years. The high court stated that the tribunal could not make the grandchildren suffer the trial on a "bald assertion", after a long delay, that the bank had learnt that they had inherited the estate of the guarantor. Article referred: http://www.business-standard.com/article/opinion/mediation-by-expert-body-better-sc-116021400757_1.html

Death or injury resulting from negligence of a worker in the course of employment is no reason to deny compensation under the Employees Compensation Act, the Supreme Court asserted in the case, Jaya Biswal vs IFFCO Tokio General Insurance. Negligence is a factor under the Motor Vehicles Act, but not relevant in the Employees Compensation Act. In this case, a young truck driver died in an accident. His dependants approached the Commissioner of Compensation. He awarded Rs 10.75 lakh. The insurance company appealed to the Odisha high court. It reduced the compensation by half, "in the interest of justice". The parents appealed to the Supreme Court. It castigated the high court for reducing the amount by merely claiming that it was in the interest of justice. The apex court awarded Rs 11 lakh with 12 per cent interest. Moreover, the court stated that "in light of the unnecessary litigation and hardship of the dependants in spending on litigation to get the compensation we de...

The question whether cheques that bounced were issued in discharge of a debt/liability or it was only a security resurfaced in the Supreme Court in its judgment, Don Ayengia vs State of Assam. In this case, two parties agreed on building a multi-storied tower but later terminated the project. Don had given Rs 10 lakh to the other partner and he wanted it back. The partner issued a promissory note offering to pay the amount in a month. He also issued five cheques as 'security'. The payment was not made on time and the cheques were tendered to the bank, which rejected them due to 'insufficiency of funds'. Don prosecuted his partner and the trial court sentenced him to one year simple imprisonment and imposed compensation of Rs 12 lakh. On appeal, the district court changed the order to a fine of Rs 2,000 and payment of Rs 12 lakh. The Gauhati high court set aside all these orders maintaining that the payment was as security. Therefore, Don appealed to the Supreme Court. I...

A Division Bench of Kerala High Court comprising of Justice P.R.Ramachandra Menon and Justice Anil.K Narendran in P.J. Jose & Ors. v. Vanchankal Niyas & Ors [M.A.C.A.No. 2482 of 2009] has held that an accident arising out of non wearing of helmet does not lead to an inference to the case of contributory negligence on the part of the person causing accident, so as to limit his claims arising out of such accident. The deceased, who was a student in Coimbatore met with an accident on 11/05/2007, while travelling in his motor cycle. The accident occurred due to the collision of the motor cycle driven by the deceased with a jeep owned, driven, and insured by respondents 1 to 3 respectively. The deceased died due to the fatal injuries arising out of the accident on the same date. In the claim filed before the tribunal by his legal heirs, his claim was limited by the tribunal due to the fact that he had not put on a helmet at the time of accident and this would result in contributory ...

A trial court has expressed concern over laws for protection of women being "blatantly abused and misused" against the in-laws. The court made the observations while granting relief of possession of property to a 70-year-old widowed woman who had accused her estranged daughter-in-law of illegally entering and staying in her house. "The case reflects the manner in which the special laws for protection of women are being blatantly abused and misused only to silence the in-laws. Courts cannot permit such an abuse. Needless to say, courts of law would certainly and effectively step in for redressal to stop this inappropriate and illegal conduct," Additional District Judge Kamini Lau said. Article referred: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Women-abusing-law-to-silence-in-laws-Court/articleshow/50858252.cms

The apex consumer forum has imposed an exemplary cost of Rs 1.56 lakh on a Gujarat-based hotel for charging customers Rs 5.5 above the Maximum Retail Price (MRP) of a soft drink. The National Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission (NCDRC) imposed the cost reiterating earlier judicial rulings barring hotels and eateries from charging above the MRP. Article referred: http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2010-12-27/news/28392816_1_mrp-consumer-forum-hotel

Supreme Court Today delivered a landmark Judgment holding that Chairman, Directors and Officers of Global Trust Bank Ltd. (a private bank before its amalgamation with the Oriental Bank of Commerce), can be said to be public servants for the purposes of their prosecution in respect of offences punishable under Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. The Two Judge Bench held that by virtue of the provisions of Section 46A of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 prosecutions launched against the accused officials are maintainable in law. Article referred: http://www.livelaw.in/breaking-prosecution-for-corruption-pc-act-against-officials-of-private-bank-is-maintainable-as-they-are-deemed-public-servants-sc/

The Supreme Court today upheld a decision of the Kerala High Court which had held that the Public Service Commissions (PSC) are within the purview of the RTI Act and are bound to provide scanned copies of answer sheets of the written test, copy of the tabulation sheet and other information sought under the Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI Act). The judgment was delivered by a Division Bench of Justices MY Eqbal and Arun Mishra. The Kerala High Court in its judgment delivered on March 9, 2011, had held that the RTI Act will apply to State Information Commissions. In the process, the High Court had turned down the contention that the concept of “information” for the purpose of the RTI Act  has to be restricted to such information falling within the ambit of fundamental right to information as part of the fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression under Article 19 (1) (a). Article referred: http://keralalawyer.com/article/public-service-commissions-within-rti-am...

The Punjab and Haryana high court has held that mutual consent divorce orders passed by the court cannot be annulled by an assertion of any party later that the decree was meant to be a sham for facilitating employment in a foreign country. Dismissing a petition filed by a woman from Sonipat district in Haryana, Justice K Kannan of the HC held that marriage was the only contract that couldn't be annulled by mere wish of parties outside the court. The woman had claimed that she had agreed for a divorce by mutual consent after her husband convinced her that by dissolving the marriage, his prospects of going abroad and securing necessary travel documents would brighten. Article referred: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chandigarh/Courts-cant-annul-decree-of-divorce-by-mutual-consent-HC/articleshow/50828085.cms

Observing that private individuals can refuse to receive registered post but a Postmaster cannot, the Madras High Court Bench here has criticised the Postmaster at Bodinayakanur in Theni district for having refused to receive an application addressed to him by a cable television operator seeking renewal of his registration under the Cable Television Network (Regulation) Act, 1995. A Division Bench of Justices V. Ramasubramanian and N. Kirubakaran said: “The application for renewal of registration sent on October 8 should not have been returned by the Postmaster with an endorsement ‘Refused.’ The conduct of the Postmaster in refusing to receive a registered post is wholly unacceptable.” Article referred: http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Madurai/postmaster-cannot-refuse-to-receive-registered-post/article8186138.ece?textsize=large&test=1

Tournier v. National Provincial and Union Bank of England The United Kingdom Court of Appeal in 1923 determined that the duty of confidentiality owed by a bank to its clients was not absolute. Rather, it was qualified by four caveats: disclosure compelled by law; public duty to disclose; interests of bank require disclosure; disclosure is made with express or implied consent of customer. The matter arose after the Defendant learned of Plaintiff using his income for purposes other than paying off the debt owed to it. Pursuant to enquiries by Defendant, certain information regarding Plaintiff’s account was divulged to other parties. Though the Court expressed qualifications to confidentiality, it nonetheless was unequivocal that “it is an implied term of a banker’s contract with his customer that the banker shall not disclose the account, transactions relating”. The Court ordered trial afresh, with the jury made aware of the legal duties of the bank.

The Delhi high court has ruled in a landmark verdict that the eldest woman member of a Hindu undivided family can be its karta (manager of the family and its properties). Extending the meaning of Section 6 of the Hindu Succession Act, which brings women on a par with men with regard to inheritance in a Hindu undivided family (Huf), Justice Najmi Waziri said the rights of a female family member cannot be curtailed when it comes to management of the property. “It is a rather odd proposition that while females can have equal rights to inheritance in an Huf property, this right can nonetheless be curtailed when it comes to management of the same. The clear language of Section 6 of the Hindu Succession Act does not stipulate any such restriction,” the high court said in its verdict dated December 22, 2015. Article referred: http://www.hindustantimes.com/india/eldest-woman-member-can-be-karta-of-hindu-joint-family-rules-delhi-hc/story-n2g4AFxoSGhMOJB4S2axoO.html