Decree For Specific Performance Can't Be Granted Based On Oral Agreement Unless Proved By Cogent Evidence: Kerala High Court

The Kerala High Court recently established that a decree for specific performance cannot be granted based on an oral agreement unless there is cogent evidence to prove such agreement in the first place.Justice K. Babu observed that the plea of an oral contract for reconveyance can be accepted only if there is cogent and convincing evidence to establish it."The First Appellate Court lost sight...

Mere Association With Terrorist Organisation Not Offence Under UAPA: Chhattisgarh HC Grants Bail For Alleged Payment Of Extortion Money To Banned Outfit

Granting bail to two accused under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 1967, the Chhattisgarh High Court recently reiterated that mere association with a terrorist organization as a member or otherwise would not be sufficient to attract the offence under Section 38 unless the association intends to further its activities.A Division Bench of Justices Sanjay Agrawal and Rajani Dubey made...

Pendency Of Proceedings Before DRT, SARFAESI Or Other Fora-Not A Bar For Initiating CIRP: NCLAT Chennai

The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal ("NCLAT"), Chennai Bench, comprising of Justice M. Venugopal (Judicial Member) and Kanthi Narahari (Technical Member), while adjudicating an appeal in Mr. Amar Vora v City Union Bank Ltd, has held that a petition can be moved under Section 7, 9, or 10 of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 ("IBC"), even when proceedings with respect to the...

'Young Person, Was Barely 18 Yrs At Time Of Offence': Calcutta High Court Commutes Life Sentence Awarded To Convict For Raping 7 Yr Old Girl

The Calcutta High Court has recently commuted the sentence of life imprisonment awarded to a man convicted of raping a 7 year old girl after taking into account that the convict had no criminal antecedents and that he had already suffered incarceration for about 18 years. A Bench comprising Justice Bivas Pattanayak and Justice Joymalya Bagchi opined that although in the instant case a...

Ordinarily Bail Shouldn't Be Granted To Accused If Court Is Of Prima Facie View That He Acted With Cruelty: Punjab & Haryana High Court

Stressing that cruelty is one of the factors in deciding on bails, the Punjab and Haryana High Court recently observed that ordinarily, once the courts form a prima facie opinion that the accused acted with cruelty, then such an accused should not be granted bail.Underscoring that a cruel person is more likely to create a lot of insecurity in any society, the Bench of Justice Anoop...

Delhi High Court Directs All Jail Superintendents To Ensure Forwarding Legible Scanned Copies Of Petitions/ Documents

The Delhi High Court has directed all the Jail Superintendents in the city to take proper care to ensure that legible scanned copies of the petitions or documents are forwarded to the Court.Noting that there is an issue of non-availability of good scanners, Justice Talwant Singh also asked the Director General of Tihar Prisons to take a call on the same."A copy of this order be sent to the...

"Justice Muralidhar Is Not Only A Dreamer; He Is An Achiever": Justice L. Nageswara Rao

Justice L. Nageswara Rao, Judge, Supreme Court of India participated in an event organised by the Orissa High Court on Saturday to inaugurate Vulnerable Witness Deposition Centres (VWDCs), virtual court-rooms and e-filing stations in District Court complexes of Odisha. A one-day training workshop was also inaugurated to train the stake-holders about the functioning of VWDCs. The...

Applicability Of GST On Royalty Paid For Mining Limestone: Meghalaya High Court Stays GST Recovery

The Meghalaya High Court bench headed by Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice W. Diengdoh has stayed the recovery of GST on royalty paid for mining limestone. The issue raised was in respect of the applicability of goods and services tax on royalty paid for mining limestone in the State. The petitioner/assessee agreed that the larger issue as to whether tax had to be paid on...

Compensation Received For Cancellation Of Coal Blocks Under Supreme Court Order, Not Liable To Pay Service Tax: Kolkata CESTAT

The Kolkata Bench of Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) has ruled that compensation received under a statute for cancellation of coal blocks/mines vide an order of the Supreme Court, cannot be considered as a taxable service of tolerating a situation and is thus not exigible to Service Tax. The Bench, consisting of members P.K. Choudhary (Judicial Member)...

SCN Issued By DRI Was Without Authority of Law: Chhattisgarh HC Stays Proceedings

The Chhattisgarh High Court bench of Justice Parth Prateem Sahu has quashed the show cause notice which was issued by the DRI and stayed the proceedings.The petitioner/assessee submitted that pursuant to the arrest made by DRI of two persons at Railway Station-Raipur. The DRI searched the house of the petitioner on the same date and seized gold bars, silver ingots, fine silver,...

Order X CPC | Oral Examination Of Any Party To Suit Regarding Controversy Involved Therein Is A Matter Of Discretion: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court has observed that under Order X of the Code of Civil Procedure, the question of whether any of the parties to the suit is required to be orally examined on any aspect relevant to the controversy is a matter of discretion.Order X of the Code provides for the examination of parties by the Court. Justice C Hari Shankar observed thus:"A bare reading of Order X of the CPC makes...

Persons Not Responsible To Company For Conduct Of Its Business Can't Be Prosecuted For Violation Of Contract Labour Abolition Act: Jharkhand HC

The Jharkhand High Court recently noted that a perusal of Section 25 of the Contract Labour (Regulation & Abolition) Act, 1970 indicates that every person in charge of and responsible to the company for the conduct of its business at the time of the commission of the offence (of engaging contract labour) shall be deemed to be guilty of the offence. However, in the absence of a...