Legal News & Views

The Supreme Court of India has set aside a Madras High Court judgment in the case Tamil Nadu Mercantile Bank Ltd vs State. After this decision by the apex court, trial courts are now allowed to proceed with the prosecution of former directors of the bank who allegedly colluded with managers of five different firms to commit fraud against the bank. SC says, bank fraud not just a civil dispute. According to the charge sheets in the case, the managers of the five  firms were maintaining current account with the bank since 2000, and they collectively siphoned around INR 2.51 crore from the bank with the help of the other accused, sources informed. The fraud which was first discovered in June 2003, deployed the following modus operandi: The accused managed to encash cheques at the bank’s Tiruppur branch despite the drawers accounts not having the requested amount. Apparently, the branch manager facilitated the transactions using the Local Bill Discounting provisions. Later, aft...

The Nation Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission directing a payout of a record Rs 5.90 crore compensation to the next of kin of a Delhi man who died in a lift mishap a decade ago has given a great boost to the cause of several consumers and lawyers fighting similar battles between the city's consumer forums. Last week the national commission had directed OTIS, RAW and Military Engineering Services (MES) to pay the compensation to the family of Vipin Handa (46), Director with the Research & Analysis Wing (RAW) who was crushed to death after the stalled lift that he was being helped out of starting moving downwards. On March 20, 2003 Handa was in the lift with 12 other officers after finishing a meeting at the Research Analysis Wing (RAW) office, Lodhi Road, Delhi when it stalled between the seventh and sixth floors. While one person was rescued just before Handa, the others got out of the lift when it opened on the sixth floor. In 2005, his wife Rashmi Handa and two child...

The Supreme Court  announced on Tuesday that payments deferred or delayed to landowners will attract higher compensations, and would make such aquisitions void. In a significant judgment, the Supreme Court has held that if compensation for land acquired under the 1894 act has not been paid to the land owner or deposited with a competent court and retained in the treasury, then the acquisition would be deemed to have lapsed and would be covered under the 2013 law entitling the landowners to higher compensation. However, the only rider is that such an award of compensation should be five years or more prior to the enactment of The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, which was notified on Jan 1, 2014. "The deposit of compensation amount in the government treasury is of no avail and cannot be held to be equivalent to compensation paid to the landowners/persons interested," said a bench of Justice R.M.L...

The Supreme Court has said that Indian courts have the jurisdiction to restrain foreign arbitration cases from going ahead, but permitted a dispute over the Board of Control for Cricket in India's media rights between World Sport Group (Mauritius) and MSM Satellite (Singapore) to be decided by the Singapore-based International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). A single judge of the Bombay High Court had on September 17, 2010 referred the row to the ICC for arbitration, but a division bench had stalled the process on an appeal. A two-judge top court bench, led by Justice AK Patnaik, restored the singlejudge order on January 24, 2014. The issue relates to the Indian Premier League's media rights. World Sport had first sought ICC arbitration. The top court rejected the contention that because an agreement provided "that any party may seek equitable relief in a court of competent jurisdiction in Singapore, or such other court that may have jurisdiction over the parties, the Bomb...

An insurance company's delay in meeting the just dues of a medical insurance policy holder resulted in it being forced to pay him nearly double the sum. The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, Kolkata, Unit - II, even issued a warrant of arrest against a divisional manager of the United India Insurance Company Ltd after which the company paid the entire sum due along with costs and damages. Had the company heeded the decision of the insurance ombudsman, it would have got away by paying the policy holder only Rs 18,855. By forcing him to approach the consumer court, the company ended up paying an additional Rs 18,250 in costs and punitive damages. Sugata Shankar Roy, an advocate, who was the complainant in this case held a medical insurance policy of Rs 50,000. After hospitalization, the insurance company reimbursed only Rs 17,884. Not satisfied with this he approached the insurance ombudsman who ordered on November 16, 2012, that an additional Rs 18,855 was due to...

The Supreme Court has awarded an additional Rs 75,000 to an unmarried embroidery worker who lost a leg in a road accident, saying “loss of marriage prospects” should be taken into account while calculating damages in such cases. Justices S.J. Mukhopadhyaya and V. Gopala Gowda also awarded Sanjay Kumar Rs 1 lakh for “loss of amenities”, enhancing the total amount to Rs 14.59 lakh, after the bench had nearly doubled the Rs 6.35-lakh compensation fixed by Delhi High Court. Kumar, a bachelor, had sought additional compensation on the ground that the accident had hurt his marriage prospects but the high court had declined to consider the plea. The top court disagreed. “On the point of loss of marriage prospects, we feel that it is a major loss, keeping in mind the young age of the appellant…” the bench said, adding the high court had “gravely erred in not awarding adequate compensation separately under this head”, clubbing it instead under “loss of future enjoyment of life” an...

The Supreme Court has ruled that a written undertaking given by a borrower that he would not dispose of his properties during the currency of the loan cannot be enforced, unless it is registered. Even if it is written on a stamped paper, the undertaking will not create a charge on the properties. In this case, Haryana Financial Corporation vs Gurcharan Singh, the proprietor of a steel manufacturing unit took a loan which it could not repay. The corporation sold his properties and appropriated the proceeds on the ground that the proprietor had given an undertaking that he would not dispose of his properties during the pendency of the loan. The proprietor moved the court and won. Dismissing the appeal of the corporation, the Supreme Court clarified there will be no charge on the properties, unless there is deposit of title deeds or an undertaking through a registered document. Article referred: http://www.business-standard.com/article/opinion/cancellation-of-licences-upheld-114011...