(721) THE STATE BY INSPECTOR OF POLICE Vs. MADHUSUDAN G.S. AND OTHERS[KARNATAKA HIGH COURT] 23-09-2026 Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 (CrPC) — Sections 227 and 228 — Framing of charge and discharge — Scope and judicial scrutiny — At the stage of considering a discharge application, the Court has the power to sift and weigh the evidence for the limited purpose of finding whether a prima facie case is made out. The Court is not required to accept the prosecution's allegations as gospel truth if they contradict common sense or broad probabilities. The Judge is duty-bound to evaluate the material on r India Law Library Docid # 2454056
(722) DEBARATI BHUNIA CHAKRABORTY Vs. SUMAN SANKAR BHUNIA[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 23-09-2026 Guardianship and Wards Act, 1890 — Sections 7 and 25 — Custody of minor children — Paramount consideration of welfare and best interests of children — Appellant-mother served as primary caregiver of minor children for years, establishing deep emotional bonds — Family Court and High Court erred in declaring respondent-father as sole custodian and branding mother's career moves India Law Library Docid # 2453190
(723) DR. JAYA THAKUR AND OTHERS Vs. UNION OF INDIA AND ANOTHER[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 23-09-2026 Constitution of India, 1950 — Article 145(3) read with Order 38 of the Supreme Court Rules, 2013 — Reference to Constitution Bench — Split verdict by Division Bench on whether the challenge to the constitutional validity of the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023 involves a substantial question of law as to the interpretation of the Constitution requiring a reference to a larger bench. In view of India Law Library Docid # 2453191
(724) MAHANADI COALFIELDS LTD AND OTHERS Vs. M/S GSCO (GURMEET SINGH AND COMPANY) INFRASTRUCTURE PVT. LTD.[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 23-09-2026 Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 — Section 34(3) — Limitation for filing application to set aside arbitral award — Arbitral award was passed on 25.10.2021 and applications under Section 34 were filed on 08.12.2021 — Petitions were filed well within the three-month period prescribed under Section 34(3) of the Act — High Court's finding that the applications were barred by limitation is contrary to admitted facts India Law Library Docid # 2453192
(725) O.P. MEHTA Vs. MOHINDER KALTA AND OTHERS[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 23-09-2026 Public Interest Litigation — Maintainability — Tenders and Government Contracts — Comparative assessment between competing bidders — High Court in a PIL quashed the award of tender for road construction and directed re-tendering — Held, validity of a tender involving inter-se comparative claims between competing tenderers generally cannot be raised India Law Library Docid # 2453193
(726) ASL ENTERPRISES LTD. AND OTHERS Vs. THE STATE OF JHARKHAND AND ANOTHER[JHARKHAND HIGH COURT] 23-09-2026 Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 — Section 528 — Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) — Sections 406, 420 and 506/34 — Quashing of criminal proceedings — Amicable settlement — Dispute predominantly civil and private in nature — Parties arrived at a compromise with the intervention of well-wishers and informant agreed not to proceed further — Offences alleged were neither heinous nor involving mental depravity — Possibility of conviction rendered remote and bleak — Continuation of criminal proceedings India Law Library Docid # 2453268
(727) PAWAN KUMAR Vs. THE STATE OF JHARKHAND AND OTHERS[JHARKHAND HIGH COURT] 23-09-2026 Coal Bearing Areas (Acquisition & Development) Act, 1957 — Section 14(i) — Rehabilitation and Resettlement Policy, 2012 — Land Looser Scheme — Clubbing of holdings — Entitlement to employment — Land measuring two acres was acquired by Central Coalfields Limited — Scheme mandated one employment for every two acres acquired — Petitioner's family holding 83 decimals clubbed land with co-tenants holding 1.17 acres to satisfy the scheme's requirements — Agreement executed providing compensation and e India Law Library Docid # 2453278
(728) THE PRINCIPAL COMMISSIONER OF INCOME TAX-1 Vs. MAHALAXMAI INFRA PROJECTS LTD.[BOMBAY HIGH COURT] 23-09-2026 Income Tax Act, 1961 — Section 260A — Scope of appellate jurisdiction — Substantial question of law — High Court's jurisdiction under Section 260A cannot be exercised as a general appellate forum to re-appreciate evidence or substitute its view on concurrent findings of fact recorded by lower authorities — A question of law is substantial only if it is debatable, not previously settled by binding precedent, and has a material bearing on the rights of the parties — Unless findings are shown to be India Law Library Docid # 2453457
(729) SARYU YADAV Vs. THE STATE OF JHARKHAND[JHARKHAND HIGH COURT] 23-09-2026 Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 (CrPC) — Section 82 — Proclamation for person absconding — Essential statutory requirements — Recording of satisfaction — Time and place for appearance — High Court held that a court issuing proclamation under Section 82 of Cr.P.C. must explicitly record its satisfaction that the accused is absconding or concealing himself to evade arrest — Furthermore, the court must specify the time and place for appearance of the accused within the order itself — Failure to recor India Law Library Docid # 2453262
(730) RAJBIR SINGH Vs. PRINCIPAL COMMISSIONER OF INCOME TAX, PANCHKULA AND OTHERS[PUNJAB AND HARYANA HIGH COURT] 23-09-2026 Income Tax Act, 1961 — Section 119(2)(b) — CBDT Circular No. 9/2015 — Condonation of delay for filing revised return claiming refund — Scope of inquiry — Competent authority is required to examine whether the refund claim is correct and genuine, and whether the assessee faces genuine hardship on merits — Rejection cannot be made mechanically based solely on subordinate reports or on the ground that favorable appellate orders in similar cases were not appealed by the Department due to low tax eff India Law Library Docid # 2453514
(731) RIJWAN Vs. INCOME TAX OFFICER, WARD-3(5), GURGAON[PUNJAB AND HARYANA HIGH COURT] 23-09-2026 Income Tax Act, 1961 — Section 249(2) and (3) — Limitation — Condonation of delay in filing first appeal — Sufficient cause — Appeal filed with a delay of 441 days — Assessee attributed delay to counsel's bereavement and subsequent liver and heart ailments — Unsubstantiated and generalized assertion without any medical certificate or proof for an eleven-month period failed to discharge the burden of showing sufficient cause — Courts cannot extend limitation on equitable grounds where delay is in India Law Library Docid # 2453518
(732) G DEVDAS @ DEVADASAN GOVINDAN Vs. STATE OF HARYANA AND ANOTHER[PUNJAB AND HARYANA HIGH COURT] 23-09-2026 Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 (CrPC) — Section 482 — Non-appearance of accused — Cancellation of bail and forfeiture of surety bonds — Trial Court cancelled bail, forfeited bonds, and issued warrants of arrest after petitioner failed to appear — Petitioner pleaded inadvertence due to age-related ailments and undertook to regularly appear and cooperate with trial — Held, issuance of arrest warrants and cancellation of bail should not be mechanical or disproportionate when the accused voluntarily India Law Library Docid # 2453524
(733) HARKISHAN LAL THROUGH HIS LRS Vs. STATE OF HARYANA AND OTHERS[PUNJAB AND HARYANA HIGH COURT] 23-09-2026 Haryana Ceiling of Land Holdings Act, 1972 — Section 18(6) — Suo motu revisional power — "At any time" — Meaning of — Financial Commissioner's power to call for records "at any time" cannot be exercised indefinitely — Expression "at any time" inherently requires the exercise of revisional jurisdiction within a reasonable period — When statutory provisions prescribe short limitation periods for appeal and revision, it is unreasonable to hold that revisional authority has unbridled power to entert India Law Library Docid # 2453526
(734) AGRI S.S.KRISHNAMURTHY Vs. THE SECRETARY AND OTHERS[MADRAS HIGH COURT] 23-09-2026 Constitution of India, 1950 — Articles 212 and 194 — Scope of Judicial Review — Procedural Irregularity vs. Want of Jurisdiction — Validity of Assembly Resolution — Petitioner challenged inclusion of a tribunal clause in an Assembly Resolution, alleging non-compliance with amendment procedures under Rule 104 of Legislative Assembly Rules — Held, Article 212 bars judicial scrutiny of legislative proceedings on grounds of procedural irregularity — Non-compliance with rules of internal procedure do India Law Library Docid # 2453314
(735) SHRI MAHESH VARMAN AND OTHERS Vs. COMMISSIONER OF CUSTOMS[CUSTOMS, EXCISE AND SERVICE TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL, CHENNAI] 23-09-2026 Customs Tariff Act, 1975 — CTH 7204 and CTH 7302 — Section Note 8(a) to Section XV — Classification of used rails and sleepers — Declared as Heavy Melting Scrap under CTH 7204, reassessed under CTH 7302 — Expert opinion confirmed goods were extensively rusted, cut, edge-damaged, unfit for re-use, and suitable only for melting or re-rolling — Goods do not fall under CTH 7302 merely due to original manufactured form if they ceased to be usable as railway material — Goods satisfied statutory defini India Law Library Docid # 2453318
(736) M/S. TOYOTA KIRLOSKAR MOTOR PVT. LTD. Vs. THE COMMISSIONER OF CUSTOMS[CUSTOMS, EXCISE AND SERVICE TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL, CHENNAI] 23-09-2026 Customs Act, 1962 — Classification of goods — Motor vehicle parts — Burden of proof — Department sought to reclassify 226 imported motor vehicle parts from residuary CTI 87089900 to CTI 87082900 as body parts — Held, the burden of establishing that goods fall within a proposed tariff entry lies squarely upon the Revenue — The Adjudicating Authority examined merely 15 articles without analyzing objective characteristics, Section and Chapter Notes, or placing relied-upon website material on record India Law Library Docid # 2453319
(737) M/S. CANBANK FACTORS LIMITED Vs. COMMISSIONER OF GST AND CENTRAL EXCISE[CUSTOMS, EXCISE AND SERVICE TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL CHENNAI] 23-09-2026 Finance Act, 1994 — Banking and Other Financial Services — Factoring services — Exemption under Notification No. 29/2004-ST — Taxability of "Bank Charges" — Adjudicating authority confirmed service tax on amounts accounted under the ledger head "Bank Charges" — Held, internal ledger nomenclature does not alter substantive character of receipts — Amounts representing interest on cheque discounting are exempt under Notification No. 29/2004-ST — Actual expenses recovered on reimbursable basis canno India Law Library Docid # 2453320
(738) NATIONAL INSURANCE CO. LTD. Vs. MR. ASHOK KUMAR[DELHI STATE CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL COMMISSION] 23-09-2026 Consumer Protection Act, 1986 — Section 15 — Condonation of delay — Sufficient cause — Appeal filed with a delay of 22 days — Appellant contended delay occurred due to obtaining legal opinions from Regional Office and senior counsel — Relying on Supreme Court precedent defining sufficient cause as absence of negligence or lack of bona fides, Commission held that satisfactory explanation was furnished by appellant — Delay of 22 days in filing the appeal was condoned. India Law Library Docid # 2453438
(739) ANIL AHLUWALIA Vs. STATE NCT OF DELHI AND OTHERS[DELHI HIGH COURT] 23-09-2026 Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 — Sections 438(3) and 528 [Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 (CrPC) — Sections 397(3) and 482] — Maintainability of petition under inherent powers after dismissal of revision — Statutory bar against second revision — What is explicitly prohibited by law under Section 438(3) BNSS cannot be granted backdoor entry by invoking inherent powers under Section 528 BNSS — High Court must exercise inherent powers sparingly and cautiously — Routine interference would re India Law Library Docid # 2453080
(740) PUNE MUNICIPAL TRANSPORT Vs. SUCHITRA ASHOK DHUMAL AND OTHERS[BOMBAY HIGH COURT] 23-09-2026 Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 — Claim Petition — Pleadings and Evidence — Variance between pleadings and proof — Transport undertaking pleaded in its written statement that the deceased scooterist was following the bus, slipped, and fell on the road — During evidence, undertaking's witnesses introduced a new theory of a collision between a bicycle and the scooter — Held, evidence must be confined to the pleadings — The newly introduced theory of collision between bicycle and scooter, neither pleaded India Law Library Docid # 2453489