Supreme Court Weekly Digest With Nominal And Subject/Statute Wise Index [July 10 – 16, 2023]

SUBJECT WISE INDEXAdvocateSupreme Court 'shocked' to see lawyer filing Article 32 petition against state to recover legal fees. Vijay Kumar Shukla v. State of U.P., 2023 LiveLaw (SC) 523Civil LawConcealment of material facts from the Court - A litigant can be nonsuited in case he is found guilty of concealing material facts from the court or misstating the same. (Para 54) State of Orissa v. Laxmi Narayan Das, 2023 LiveLaw (SC) 527 : 2023 INSC 619Revenue Dept can't recover refunded cess amount because refund was based on a judgment which was later overruled. Commissioner of CGST and Central Excise (J&K) v. Saraswati Agro Chemicals Pvt. Ltd., 2023 LiveLaw (SC) 522Order VII Rule 11 CPC - Appropriateness of prayer sought is not an issue to be considered while deciding application seeking rejection of plaint. Sajjan Singh v. Jasvir Kaur, 2023 LiveLaw (SC) 517Contempt of CourtUnconditional Apology - The Supreme Court granted relief to the Chairman & Managing Director and the General Manager (Human Resources) of the National Thermal Power Corporation Ltd, who were sentenced to 2 months simple imprisonment by the Telangana High Court for contempt of Court. Setting aside the High Court judgment in an appeal filed by the NTPC officers, held that in a case of contempt, even if the High Court came to a conclusion that there was a deliberate and willful disobedience of the order of the court, it could have considered the unconditional apology tendered by NTPC and concluded the matter. (Para 14) Gurudeep Singh v. Regonda Srinivas, 2023 LiveLaw (SC) 530 : 2023 INSC 617Timeline stipulated by court but the process of recruitment is the prerogative of appellant. The judgment by the High court in 2021 did not debar NTPC from issuing a fresh notification. It only directed them to finish the recruitment process within 2 months. Therefore, it would not constitute a contempt of court. In the absence of a specific direction to the effect that the recruitment be concluded in pursuance of the notification of 2017 alone, we are unable to hold that issuance of a fresh recruitment notification would constitute contempt of court. (Para 13) Gurudeep Singh v. Regonda Srinivas, 2023 LiveLaw (SC) 530 : 2023 INSC 617Criminal TrialBallistic expert evidence - In cases where injuries are caused by firearms, the opinion of the ballistic expert is of a considerable importance where both the firearm and the crime cartridge are recovered during the investigation to connect an accused with the crime. Failure to produce the expert opinion before the trial court in such cases affects the creditworthiness of the prosecution case to a great extent. (Para 23, 24) Pritinder Singh @ Lovely v. State of Punjab, 2023 LiveLaw (SC) 516 : 2023 INSC 614Circumstantial Evidence - The circumstances from which the conclusion of guilt is to be drawn should be fully established - Circumstances concerned “must or should” and not “may be” established -There is not only a grammatical but a legal distinction between “may be proved” and “must be or should be proved” - The facts so established should be consistent only with the hypothesis of the guilt of the accused, that is to say, they should not be explainable on any other hypothesis except that the accused is guilty - The circumstances should be of a conclusive nature and tendency and they should exclude every possible hypothesis except the one sought to be proved, and there must be a chain of evidence so complete so as not to leave any reasonable ground for the conclusion consistent with the innocence of the accused and must show that in all human probability the act must have been done by the accused - However strong a suspicion may be, it cannot take place of a proof beyond reasonable doubt. (Para 5-8) Pritinder Singh @ Lovely v. State of Punjab, 2023 LiveLaw (SC) 516 : 2023 INSC 614Extra judicial confession - Extra-judicial confession must be established to be true and made voluntarily and in a fit state of mind. The words of the witnesses must be clear, unambiguous and should clearly convey that the accused is the perpetrator of the crime. The extrajudicial confession can be accepted and can be the basis of conviction, if it passes the test of credibility. The extra-judicial confession should inspire confidence and the court should find out whether there are other cogent circumstances on record to support. (Para 12) Pritinder Singh @ Lovely v. State of Punjab, 2023 LiveLaw (SC) 516 : 2023 INSC 614Murder case based on circumstantial evidence - Death caused by firearms - In view of the serious doubt with regard to the credibility of the witnesses on the issue of extra-judicial confession and last seen theory, the failure to examine Ballistic Expert would be a glaring defect in the prosecution case - Prosecution has failed to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt and, as such, the accused are entitled to benefit of doubt - Accused acquitted. Pritinder Singh @ Lovely v. State of Punjab, 2023 LiveLaw (SC) 516 : 2023...

Supreme Court Weekly Digest With Nominal And Subject/Statute Wise Index [July 10 – 16, 2023]

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