(341) V.S.R. MOHAN RAO Vs. K.S.R. MURTHY AND OTHERS[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 15-05-2025 Andhra Pradesh Land Grabbing (Prohibition) Act, 1982 — Section 2(d), 2(e), 2(cc), Section 10 — “Land Grabber” and “Land Grabbing” — Meaning and Scope — Act’s purpose to curb land grabbing by unscrupulous persons — Defines “land belonging to a private person” inclusively — Defines “land grabber” and “land grabbing” broadly to include various unauthorized activities for illegal possession — Ingredients of “land grabbing” include factum of taking possession unlawfully and mens rea/intention to ille India Law Library Docid # 2425731
(342) EBY CHERIAN Vs. JEREMA JOHN[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 15-05-2025 Child Custody — Interim Arrangements — Overseas Parent — Rotating Employment — Family Court requiring fresh application for overnight custody each time appellant visited India — High Court upholding this arrangement — Held, unduly burdensome and impractical — Child Welfare paramount consideration — Meaningful contact with both parents essential — Where non-custodial parent demonstrates consistency, pays maintenance, and arranges professional life around child’s calendar, procedure should not imp India Law Library Docid # 2425732
(343) HANSURA BAI AND ANOTHER Vs. STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH AND ANOTHER[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 15-05-2025 Criminal Procedure — Investigation — Transfer of investigation — Credibility of investigating agency — Impeachable conduct — Power to transfer sparingly used for justice and public trust — Allegation of investigating agency being privy to dispute raises doubts on credibility, justifying transfer — Local police accused of custodial death of victim; investigating the act themselves — This situation invokes the maxim ‘nemo judex in causa sua’ (no one should be a judge in his own cause) — Investigat India Law Library Docid # 2425733
(344) VIRENDER PAL @ VIPIN Vs. STATE OF HARYANA[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 15-05-2025 Penal Code, 1860 — Section 304-B — Dowry Death — Proof — Essential ingredients are unnatural death of a woman within seven years of marriage, subjected to cruelty or harassment for dowry, and such cruelty or harassment was soon before death — Evidence of dowry demands, ill-treatment, and circumstantial evidence from parental relatives supporting conviction — Demand for money to secure employment, even if not traditional dowry, considered related to marriage terms and within the ambit of Section India Law Library Docid # 2425734
(345) IN RE: CONSTRUCTION OF MULTI STOREYED BUILDINGS IN FOREST LAND MAHARASHTRA[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 15-05-2025 Forest Act, 1878 — Section 34 — Reserved Forest — Notification dated 1st March 1879 declared land in Survey No. 20, Village Kondhwa Budruk, Pune District as Reserved Forest — Subsequent de-reservation of portion in 1934 left 29 Acres 15 Gunthas (11.89 ha), renumbered as Survey No. 21, as Reserved Forest — Forest Department records consistently show this status, despite Revenue Department recording it as “Government Grazing Ground” — Numerous letters by Forest Department India Law Library Docid # 2425717
(346) ISHWAR CHANDA SHARMA Vs. DEVENDRA KUMAR SHARMA AND OTHERS[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 15-05-2025 Societies Registration Act — Constitution of society — Dispute regarding validity of elections — Referral to Prescribed Authority under Section 25 — Prescribed Authority’s decision on validity of election. India Law Library Docid # 2425718
(347) M/S. INTERSTATE CONSTRUCTION Vs. NATIONAL PROJECTS CONSTRUCTION CORPORATION LTD.[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 15-05-2025 Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 — Section 37 — Appeal against Section 34 order — Setting aside of Arbitral Award concerning interest calculation — Scope of challenge — Division Bench of High Court restricted challenge to interest issue, specifically method of calculating interest including interest on interest rather than rate or entitlement to pre-reference interest — Held, challenge appropriately limited to the interest aspects of the India Law Library Docid # 2425719
(348) M/S GAYATRI PROJECT LIMITED Vs. MADHYA PRADESH ROAD DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION LIMITED[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 15-05-2025 Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 — Section 34 — Setting aside of arbitral award — Madhya Pradesh Madhyastham Adhikaran Adhiniyam, 1983 — Applicability to works contracts involving State Government or public undertaking — Relationship between Central Act and State Act — MP Act, 1983 is a special Act providing for compulsory arbitration in specific works contracts, operating irrespective of an arbitration clause — Features of MP Act, 1983 Tribunal distinct from Arbitration Act, 1996 Tribunal India Law Library Docid # 2425720
(349) POWER GRID CORPORATION OF INDIA LIMITED Vs. MADHYA PRADESH POWER TRANSMISSION COMPANY LIMITED AND OTHERS[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 15-05-2025 Electricity Act, 2003 — Section 79 — Functions of Central Commission — Regulatory and adjudicatory powers — Central Commission (CERC) is vested with both decision-making and regulation-making authority under Sections 79 and 178 respectively, distinct functions; former administrative/adjudicatory, latter legislative; but relationship needs harmonious reading; CERC’s regulatory powers under Section 79(1) are of ad hoc nature for specific parties and situations to fill regulatory gaps, not solely a India Law Library Docid # 2425721
(350) M/S DHANBAD FUELS PRIVATE LIMITED Vs. UNION OF INDIA AND ANOTHER[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 15-05-2025 Commercial Courts Act, 2015 — Section 12A — Pre-institution mediation and settlement — Mandatory nature — Suit not contemplating urgent interim relief shall not be instituted without exhausting pre-institution mediation — Legislative intent to promote alternative dispute resolution and decongest courts — Mandatory nature of Section 12A established. India Law Library Docid # 2425722
(351) IN RE : ALARMING RISE IN THE NUMBER OF REPORTED CHILD RAPE INCIDENTS[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 15-05-2025 Suo Moto Proceeding — Child Rape Incidents — Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO Act) — Alarming rise in child rape incidents prompting suo moto cognizance by Supreme Court — Directions issued regarding timely completion of investigations and trials under POCSO Act — Emphasis on setting up exclusive/designated special Courts for POCSO cases in districts with high pendency, funded by Central Government, including support staff and infrastructure India Law Library Docid # 2425723
(352) NATIONAL SPOT EXCHANGE LIMITED Vs. UNION OF INDIA AND OTHERS[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 15-05-2025 Constitution of India, 1950 — Article 142 — Powers of Supreme Court — Scope and ambit — Plenary and curative nature — Not limited by statutes but exists to do complete justice — Wide amplitude but tempered by restraint — Cannot ignore substantive statutory rights or supplant substantive law — Should not be exercised when it directly conflicts with express statutory provisions dealing with the subject, unless balancing equities or ironing out creases in a cause or matter arising out of such statu India Law Library Docid # 2425724
(353) SOUTH DELHI MUNICIPAL CORPORATION OF DELHI Vs. SMS LIMITED[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 15-05-2025 Concession Agreement — Dispute Resolution Clause — Whether constitutes an arbitration agreement — Interpretation of — Essential ingredients of valid arbitration agreement are clear intent to arbitrate, binding adjudicatory process culminating in final and binding decision, and compliance with arbitral norms including impartiality, party autonomy in arbitrator appointment, and adversarial process — Article 20 titled “Mediation by Commissioner” refers disputes to MCD Commissioner or his appointee India Law Library Docid # 2425725
(354) NAGARAJAN AND ANOTHER Vs. STATE OF TAMIL NADU AND OTHERS[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 15-05-2025 Criminal Law — Sentencing — Probation — Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954 (PoFA Act) — Section 20AA — Exclusion of Probation Act, 1958 and Section 360 Cr. PC — Applicability of Section 20AA to offences committed under the PoFA Act between 1976 (introduction of Section 20AA) and 2006 (repeal by Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006) — Express exclusion by Section 20AA is clear and unambiguous, admitting no absurdity — Courts must be subservient to legislative wisdom — Benefit of probation u India Law Library Docid # 2425726
(355) MOHIT KUMAR Vs. VERSUS STATE OF UTTAR PRADESH AND OTHERS[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 15-05-2025 Recruitment Process — Terms of Advertisement — Non-compliance — Consequence — Where an advertisement for public employment stipulates specific requirements, such as the format of a caste certificate for claiming reservation benefits, non-compliance with such terms by an aspirant is likely to result in adverse consequences, including the rejection of the claimed status by the selecting body/appointing authority. India Law Library Docid # 2425727
(356) RAJESH ETC. Vs. UNION OF INDIA ETC.[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 15-05-2025 Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 — Section 49-B — Prohibition of dealing in trophies, animal articles etc. derived from scheduled animals — Seizure of tiger skin, antler horns, claws, teeth, bones, and skulls from accused in a car in the presence of independent witnesses — Evidence of uninterested neutral witnesses (Petrol Pump Manager and officer requisitioned from Labour Commissioner) corroborating recovery and arrest at the spot — Substratum of witness testimonies not dislodged in cross-exami India Law Library Docid # 2425728
(357) HANSA DEVI AND OTHER Vs. SBI GENERAL INSURANCE COMPANY LIMITED AND ANOTHER[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 15-05-2025 Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 — Compensation — Fatal accident — Deceased, a truck driver, aged 28 years — Income — Tribunal awarded compensation based on monthly salary of Rs. 10,000/- with 40% future prospects — High Court reduced salary to minimum wages of Rs. 4,076/- with 40% future prospects — Supreme Court restored the Tribunal’s assessment of income of Rs. 10,000/-, reasoning that an unskilled labourer in 2004 was held to earn Rs. 4,500/-, hence a driver of a heavy vehicle in 2014 would reasona India Law Library Docid # 2425729
(358) THE TATA AIG GENERAL INSURANCE CO. LTD. Vs. SURAJ KUMAR AND OTHERS[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 15-05-2025 Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 — Compensation — Role of Insurer — Liability to Indemnify — An insurer’s liability is to indemnify the insured’s estate in monetary terms, based on pecuniary compensation awarded by the Tribunal — Monitoring the victim’s future well-being or ensuring proper functioning of prosthetic limbs and wheelchairs is not the insurer’s duty or an obligation that can be cast upon it — High Court’s direction to provide such services set aside. India Law Library Docid # 2425730
(359) NANDINI SUNDAR AND OTHERS Vs. STATE OF CHATTISGARH[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 15-05-2025 Writ Petition — Salwa Judum and Special Police Officers — Directions by Supreme Court — Whether previously issued directions in a pending writ petition necessitate continued pendency despite compliance reports filed by respondents India Law Library Docid # 2426259
(360) NAGALAND PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION (THROUGH ITS CHAIRMAN) AND ANOTHER Vs. SMT. PHUHOLI SEMA AND OTHERS[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 15-05-2025 Nagaland Public Service Commission (Chairman, Members & Staff) Regulations, 2008 — Regulation 19 — Conditions of service for NPSC staff — Applicability of other rules — Regulation 19 requires a specific order from the Governor to adopt other rules, including the Nagaland Government Servants Service Conduct Rules, 1968 — In the absence of such a specific order, provisions of the Service Conduct Rules, 1968 are not applicable to NPSC staff — Disciplinary proceedings initiated based India Law Library Docid # 2426261