State Can't Treat Natural Water Bodies As Disposable Property Merely Because It Owns Them: Allahabad High Court

Ownership by State doesn't confer unrestricted right to alienate a natural water body, Court said.

Unregistered Relinquishment Deed Cannot Be Revived By Paying Stamp Duty: Rajasthan High Court

While reiterating that paying the deficit stamp duty could not automatically cure the defect of non-registration, Rajasthan High Court opined that to burden a civil court to impound an insufficiently stamped document, which was already judicially pronounced as inadmissible for being un-registered, was a futile academic exercise and merely a dilatory tactic. The bench of Justice Sameer...

Summary Revenue Proceedings Require Greater Adherence To Procedure: Allahabad High Court Sets Aside Land Map Correction Orders

The Allahabad High Court has held that revenue authorities acting under Section 28 of the U.P. Land Revenue Act, 1901 cannot, while correcting a village map, act on a disputed measurement and take away part of one plot to make good an alleged shortfall in the plot next to it. The summary character of such proceedings, it held, calls for closer compliance with the statutory procedure, not...

'Jagirdar Has No Title, Land Vests In Govt' : Supreme Court Rejects Claims To 550 Acres Miyapur Land In Telangana

The Supreme Court on Thursday (29 October) dismissed appeals claiming title over lands in Miyapur, Telangana, and upheld the declaration that the government is the rightful owner. It also held that a jagirdar is not a title holder, that the lands vested in the State government when jagirs were abolished in 1949, and that the revenue entries relied on by one set of claimants were bogus and...

Writ Court Can't Decide A Party's Eligibility On Oral Submission Made Across The Bar: Allahabad High Court

The Allahabad High Court has held that where a writ petition turns on disputed or unverified facts going to the eligibility of a third party, the Court must ordinarily call for a counter-affidavit before recording a finding of fact against a party who has had no opportunity to place his version on record. Setting aside a Single Judge's order to that extent, it held that the eligibility of...

Gujarat High Court Restores Meat Ban Near Somnath Temple Hours After Single Bench Quashed It

The single bench had found the ban to be disproportionate, and opined that consumption or non-display of meat was not an essential religious practice.

"Matter Of Serious Concern": Bombay High Court Flags Misuse Of Former CJ's Name By Special Officer In Trust Matter

The Bombay High Court has quashed a communication issued by a Special Officer in the name of the then Chief Justice, directing the withdrawal and suspension of a list of recommended trustees of a Nashik temple trust, holding that the officer had acted with gross impropriety and contrary to law. The Court observed that the Special Officer had misused the name of the Chief Justice and that...

Land Acquisition Can Be For 'Public Purpose' Even If Private Entity Derives Incidental Benefit: Chhattisgarh High Court

The Chhattisgarh High Court has held that land acquisition for railway connectivity to a Gati Shakti Multi-Modal Cargo Terminal constitutes a public purpose, even if a private company operating the terminal derives incidental or consequential benefit from the project. The Court observed that Section 20-D of the Railways Act, 1989, gives landowners the right to raise objections and have...

Rajasthan High Court Refuses To Stay Restriction On SC Migrants Claiming Reservation In Panchayat Elections

The Rajasthan High Court has refused interim relief to a woman who migrated from Haryana to Rajasthan, declining to stay a restriction that bars her from claiming reservation benefits in Panchayat elections on the basis of her caste certificate.The division bench of Justice Sudesh Bansal and Justice Anuroop Singhi rejected the stay application filed by the woman, who sought permission to...

Allahabad High Court Imposes ₹5 Lakh Costs On Landowners For Concealing Facts To Secure Release Of Acquired Land

In case of fraud, Court held, authority can recall its order even without statutory power of review.

Patna High Court Upholds ₹5 Lakh Compensation To L-1 Bidder Disqualified Over Condition Absent From Notice Inviting Tender

The Patna HC has upheld an award of Rs.5 lakh as compensation to an L-1 bidder who was arbitrarily excluded from a tender process for failing to comply with a condition that was not prescribed in the Notice Inviting Tender (NIT). The Court clarified that the compensation did not constitute contractual damages, as the relief was granted for arbitrary exclusion from the tender process.A...

Delay In Appeal Under S. 74 Of 2013 Land Acquisition Act Cannot Be Condoned: Supreme Court Disagrees With Precedent

The 120-day timelimit for filing the appeals is inflexible, the Courtsaid.