Kerala High Court Seeks Action Taken Report Against Vlogging Inside Driver Cabins Of Moving Buses, Heavy Vehicles

The Kerala High Court recently underscored the rampant issue of contract carriages and other heavy good vehicles openly flouting the safety standards prescribed by the Central Government.The Division Bench of Justice Anil K. Narendran and Justice Muralee Krishna S. on Wednesday (November 19) remarked that a lot of these vehicles are not adhering to the lighting installation requirements and...

J&K&L High Court Grants Bail In NDPS Case; Says Single-Tested Bottle Cannot Represent Entire Recovery Without Batch-Level Uniformity

The High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh has held that when the seizure memo does not mention the batch number or composition of multiple recovered bottles of a pharmaceutical preparation, a single tested bottle cannot be presumed to represent the contents of all bottles.The Court observed that the prosecution must demonstrate uniformity across bottles before relying on...

“Trial Within Trial Not Permitted”: Calcutta High Court Says Co-Defendant Cannot Respond To Counter-Claim By Another Defendant

The Calcutta High Court has held that a co-defendant cannot file a written statement in response to a counter-claim raised by another defendant, ruling that the CPC does not permit such inter se litigation within a single suit.Justice Aniruddha Roy, dismissed an application by the first defendant, KERALA STATE ELECTRONICS DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION LTD (KELTRON), seeking leave to file a...

Amount Recovered In Civil Suit Can Be Adjusted Against Criminal Compensation In NI Act Cases: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court recently allowed the plea of a man, convicted for cheque dishonour, to set off the amount recovered from him in a civil suit relating to the same cheques, against the compensation to be paid in the criminal proceedings under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act 1881.Justice Manoj Kumar Ohri observed,“Since Section 357(5) CrPC allows the Court to adjust any...

International Tax Cases Not Exempt From Faceless Reassessment Regime: Bombay High Court Quashes S.148 IT Act Notice

The Bombay High Court quashed the reassessment notice issued under Section 148 of the Income Tax Act, 1961, stating that the reassessment notice did not follow the mandate that the Faceless Assessing Officer only has the jurisdiction to reopen the assessment and not the Jurisdictional Assessing Officer. It was further stated that even international taxation matters could be made subject...

Service Tax | Once Pre-Deposit Condition Is Fulfilled, Appeal Must Be Heard On Merits: Jharkhand High Court

The Jharkhand High Court held that once an appeal was dismissed for non-compliance with the mandatory pre-deposit of the Service Tax amount, the Appellate Authority does not become functus officio and was competent to decide the appeal on merits if the mandatory condition of pre-deposit of 7.5% of the Service Tax amount was subsequently complied with by the assessee. A Division...

Dispute Over Property Used Exclusively For Trade Constitutes Commercial Dispute Even If Situated In Residential Area: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court held that a dispute arising from a lease agreement under which premises were used actually used for running a retail showroom qualifies as a commercial dispute under section 2(1)(c)(vii) of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015 even if the property is situated in a residential zone under the Municipal Law. A Division Bench of Justice Anil Kshetrapal and Justice...

'Known Face In Content Creation Field': Delhi High Court Passes John Doe Order Protecting Personality Rights Of Raj Shamani

The Delhi High Court has passed a john doe order protecting the personality rights of podcaster Raj Shamani, observing that he is a known face in India, especially in the field of content creation. Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora observed that Shamani has gained goodwill and reputation over a course of a successful career and that prima facie, he enjoys publicity rights with respect to...

Threat To Legal Heir's Life Not Necessary To Transfer Arms License If Licensee Is Over 70-Yrs Or Held License For 25+ Yrs: Karnataka High Court

The Karnataka High Court has held that when an application under Rule 25 of the Arms Rules, 2016, is made during the lifetime of the licensee, so long as the licensee is aged more than 70 years or has been holding the firearm licence for more than 25 years, he can nominate any of his legal heirs for transfer of licence and transfer of arm and there will be no requirement for the transferee...

Courts Can't Create Exceptions For 'Near Majority Consensual Relationships' When Consent Irrelevant Under POCSO Act: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court has observed that Courts cannot create exceptions for “near majority consensual relationships” when consent of a person below the age of 18 years is irrelevant for the purpose of POCSO Act.“Under the POCSO Act, read with the then prevailing provisions of the IPC, any sexual act with a person under 18 is criminalised per se, without importing “consent” as...

Wife Can't Be Denied Maintenance Citing Desertion Unless Allegation Is Judicially Established: Patna High Court

The Patna High Court has reaffirmed that allegations of desertion cannot defeat a wife's claim of maintenance under Section 125 CrPC unless the allegations are conclusively established in matrimonial proceedings.The petition arose out of an order passed by the Family Court directing the petitioner to pay maintenance of ₹22,000/- per month to his wife. The husband challenged the order,...

Madras High Court Restrains Makers Of “Aromaley” Film From Using Scenes And Background Music Of “Vinnaithandi Varuvaya” Movie

The Madras High Court has temporarily restrained the makers of the new Tamil movie “Aromaley” from using the scenes and background music from the 2010 Tamil movie “Vinnaithandi Varuvaya”. Justice N Senthilkumar passed the interim orders on a plea moved by RS Infotainment, producers of Vinnaithandi Varuvaya. The production company had submitted that it had produced the...