Custom Authorities Don’t Have Any Power To Seal Immovable Property: Bombay High Court

The Bombay High Court recently held that the Custom authorities do not have any power to seal the premises of a person allegedly involved in smuggling goods.A division bench of Justice Sunil B Shukre and Justice Kamal Khata in a writ petition held, “…we find that there is no power available with the custom authorities to seal premises of any person, which are nothing but a form of...

Inadvertence To Produce Document Not Substantial Cause To Invoke Order XLI Rule 27 CPC: Jammu & Kashmir High Court

The Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court has recently ruled that inadvertence on the part of a party to produce a document before the Court cannot be construed as a substantial cause within the meaning of Rule 27 of Order XLI of the Civil Procedure Code(CPC) to allow application for production of additional documents."Mere fact that certain evidence is important per se is not in itself...

Orissa High Court CJ Muralidhar Lauds Justice Anoop Chitkara Of Punjab & Haryana HC For Using ChatGPT While Writing Bail Order

Chief Justice of the Orissa High Court Dr. Justice S. Muralidhar on Wednesday launched free Wi-Fi and e-inspection of records facilities for the advocates of the High Court in the presence of the Judges, the Advocate General and the Bar members. While addressing the gathering, he talked about the highly-advanced AI tool, Chat Generative Pre-Trained Transformer (ChatGPT). He said it...

Kerala High Court Refuses To Quash Defamation Case Against Elected Members Of Governing Committee Of St John's Orthodox Church, Ayroor

The Kerala High Court on Monday refused to quash the complaint against the elected members of the governing committee of the Parish of St.Johns Salem Orthodox Church, Ayroor, for the alleged defamatory statement against other members of the Parish in the representation submitted to the Metropolitan Bishop.Justice K. Babu observed that the facts of the present case do not fall within the ambit...

Legally Free Certificates For Adoption Issued By CWCs Prior To Dissolution In August 2022 Valid In View Of Status Quo Order: Jammu & Kashmir High Court

The Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court on Monday held that Legally Free Certificates for adoption issued by the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) in Srinagar before dissolution in August 2022, are legally valid in view of status quo order passed by a single Judge.Due to the interim direction, the dissolved CWCs are in position and exercise all the powers conferred upon CWCs under the...

Minimum Period Of 7 Days To Respond Is Mandatory, Non-Compliance is To Reassessment Proceedings: Punjab & Haryana High Court

The Punjab & Haryana High Court has held that a minimum period of seven days to respond as provided under Section 148A(b) of the Income Tax Act is mandatory in nature and non-compliance in this regard would be fatal to the reassessment proceedings.The division bench of Justice Ritu Bahri and Justice Amarjot Bhatti set aside the order under Section 148A(d) and consequential notice...

Refund Can’t Be Withheld On The Ground That Assessee Is Selected For Scrutiny Assessment; Delhi High Court Sets Aside Order Withholding Refund Due To OYO

The Delhi High Court has set aside the Revenue Department’s order withholding a refund of over Rs. 33 Crores due to OYO Hotels and Homes Pvt Ltd, while directing the department to reconsider OYO’s representations seeking disbursal of the refund amount, bearing in mind the provisions of Section 241A of the Income Tax Act, 1961. The bench of Justices Rajiv Shakdher and Tara...

‘Misuse’ of CM Disaster Relief Fund: Kerala Lok Ayukta Refers Complaint Against Chief Minister, Others To Full Bench After Difference Of Opinion

The Lok Ayukta on Friday referred the case against the Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and the former Ministers alleging misuse of amount in the Chief Minister Disaster Relief Fund (CMDRF) to a Full Bench comprising the Lok Ayukta and both the Upa-Lok Ayuktas.‘Misuse’ of CM Disaster Relief Fund: #Kerala Lok Ayukta Refers Complaint Against Chief Minister @pinarayivijayan, Others To Full...

ITAT Allows Section 54F Deduction Though Capital Gain Scheme Account Was Not Opened

The Chennai Bench of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) has allowed the deduction under section 54F though the capital gain scheme account was not opened.The two-member bench of V. Durga Rao (Judicial Member) and G. Manjunatha (Accountant Member) has observed that even though the assessee has not invested the sale proceeds in Capital Gain Account Scheme, but complied with the...

Witchcraft Double Murder: Orissa High Court Issues Notice To Life Convicts Proposing To Impose Higher Punishment

While upholding conviction of three persons for double murder on suspicion of witchcraft, the Orissa High Court has issued notice to them proposing to impose higher sentence than life imprisonment which was imposed by the Trial Court.Expressing doubt over adequacy of the sentence for such ghastly crime by means of beheading, the Division Bench of Justice Debabrata Dash and Justice...

Delhi High Court Asks Vivo To Pursue Remedies Before PMLA Appellate Tribunal In Plea Against Freezing Of Debt Accounts By ED

Hearing the plea moved by Vivo India against the order of Enforcement Directorate to debit freeze its bank accounts, the Delhi High Court has directed Chinese smartphone manufacturer to pursue its appellate remedies before the Appellate Authority under Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. Justice Prathiba M Singh noted that Vivo India has preferred an appeal before the Appellate...

Mumbai Metro: Bombay High Court Dismisses Plea Against Line 4; Says No Legal Error In Alignment, Acquisition Proceedings

The Bombay High Court on Thursday rejected a challenge to alignment of Mumbai's Metro Line 4 observing that the petitioners attempted to stall and delay the project of public importance under the garb of enforcing their private rights.A division bench of acting Chief Justice SV Gangapurwala and Justice Sandeep V Marne stated that the petitioners raised baseless arguments and made MMRDA...