(21) M/S. CARBORANDUM UNIVERSAL LTD. Vs. ESI CORPORATION[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 18-12-2025 Employees’ State Insurance Act, 1948 — Section 45A — Determination of contributions in certain cases — Preconditions for invoking Section 45A — Section 45A is a special provision for best-judgment assessment applicable only when an employer fails to submit, furnish, or maintain returns, particulars, registers, or records as required by Section 44, OR obstructs an Inspector or official in discharging duties India Law Library Docid # 2437089
(22) PUNIMATI AND ANOTHER Vs. THE STATE OF CHHATTISGARH AND OTHERS[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 18-12-2025 Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) —Section 302 read with Sections 149 and 148 — Murder —Conviction affirmed by High Court — Appeal to Supreme Court — Sufficiency of evidence — Role of interested/related witnesses — Deposition of PW-4 (mother of deceased and alleged eyewitness) scrutinized closely — Material contradictions found in PW-4’s evidence regarding the manner of assault and who informed her — Failure India Law Library Docid # 2437090
(23) RADHIKA T. Vs. COCHIN UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND OTHERS[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 18-12-2025 Cochin University of Science and Technology Act, 1986 — Section 31(10) and 31(11) — Selection and Appointment — Validity of Rank List and Communal Rotation — Harmonious Construction — Section 31(10) stipulates that the Rank List remains valid for two years, and vacancies arising during this period "shall be filled up from the list so published" — Section 31(11) mandates that "Communal rotation shall be followed category-wise" — These sub-sections operate in distinct spheres but India Law Library Docid # 2437076
(24) RANJEET BABURAO NIMBALKAR Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA AND ANOTHER[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 18-12-2025 States Reorganisation Act, 1956 — Section 51(3) — Appointment of additional places of sitting for High Court — Scope and Nature of Power — Section 51(3) confers an independent, statutory, and continuing power upon the Chief Justice of a High Court, with the approval of the Governor, to appoint additional places of sitting for the Judges and Division Courts for the more convenient transaction of judicial India Law Library Docid # 2437077
(25) BHARAT MITTAL Vs. STATE OF RAJASTHAN AND OTHERS[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 18-12-2025 Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 — Sections 138, 141 and 148 — Dishonour of cheque — Interpretation of 'drawer' in Section 148 — Whether an Appellate Court can mandate a deposit under Section 148 against a convicted director or authorized signatory when the company is unavailable for prosecution due to a legal impediment (like winding up) — Conflict in interpretation — The penal nature of Section 138 proceedings is intertwined with compensatory/remedial objectives, warranting a India Law Library Docid # 2437078
(26) RAMESH KUMAR JAIN Vs. BHARAT ALUMINIUM COMPANY LIMITED (BALCO)[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 18-12-2025 Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 — Sections 5, 34, and 37 — Scope of Judicial Intervention — Minimal Judicial Intervention — The Act mandates minimal judicial intervention; judicial interference is limited to the grounds explicitly stipulated in the Act, primarily where the award is against the public policy of India, the fundamental policy of Indian Law, or suffers from patent illegality — Courts India Law Library Docid # 2437079
(27) MANOJ @ MUNNA Vs. THE STATE OF CHHATTISGARH[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 18-12-2025 Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) — Section 302 and 201 — Circumstantial Evidence — Conviction based solely on 'last seen together' theory — Held, conviction cannot be based solely on the circumstance of 'last seen together'; this circumstance alone is insufficient unless the time gap between the last seen and the discovery of death is very small and the prosecution establishes a complete chain of circumstances pointing India Law Library Docid # 2437080
(28) THE STATE OF TELANGANA REPRESENTED BY FOREST DIVISIONAL OFFICER Vs. MIR JAFFAR ALI KHAN (DEAD) THR. LRS. AND OTHERS[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 18-12-2025 Telangana Forest Act, 1967 — Applicability of — Hyderabad (Abolition of Jagirs) Regulation, 1358F, and Atiyat Enquiries Act, 1952 — Adjudication of title to land proposed for Reserved Forest — Forest Settlement Officer (FSO) jurisdiction under Section 10 is summary in nature and limited to admitting or rejecting a claim of right in or over land, not determining complex questions of title or invalidating India Law Library Docid # 2437081
(29) BHAGYASHREE BISI Vs. ANIMESH PADHEE[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 18-12-2025 Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 — Dissolution of Marriage — Desertion — Setting aside of decree — Appeal against concurrent decrees of divorce granted on the ground of desertion — Parties agreeing to dissolution by mutual consent before the Supreme Court — Decree granted on the ground of desertion set aside and marriage dissolved by the Supreme Court in exercise of powers under Article 142 of the India Law Library Docid # 2437082
(30) JATINDER KUMAR Vs. JEEWAN LATA[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 18-12-2025 Constitution of India, 1950 — Article 142 — Divorce — Exercise of plenary power by Supreme Court — Irretrievable breakdown of marriage — Parties living separately for close to two decades (about twenty years) — Differences irreconcilable and no possibility of reconciliation despite referring to mediation — Continuance of marital bond served no meaningful purpose and prolonged agony — Marriage India Law Library Docid # 2437083
(31) STATE OF KARNATAKA AND OTHERS Vs. GANDHI JEEVAN COLLECTIVE FARMING CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETY LIMITED[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 18-12-2025 Forest Conservation Act, 1980 — Section 2 — Restriction on dereservation or use of forest land for non-forest purpose — Lease for agricultural purposes — Grant of lease of 134 acres of forest land to a Cooperative Society for agricultural purposes was illegal, uncalled for, and resulted in deforestation — Cultivation is a "non-forest purpose" and requires prior approval of the Central Government under Section 2 — India Law Library Docid # 2437084
(32) KIRAN Vs. THE STATE OF KARNATAKA[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 18-12-2025 Criminal Law — Murder — Conviction — Evidence — Hostile witness — Dying declaration — Appreciation of evidence — Accused, a relative by marriage, killed the victim (a widow with five children) by setting her ablaze after she spurned his sexual advances — Witnesses, including the victim's daughter, turned hostile — Conviction upheld based on medical evidence (60% burns leading to death) and two dying declarations (one recorded by Head Constable, another by Magistrate), both India Law Library Docid # 2437085
(33) SIDDHANT MAHAJAN AND OTHERS Vs. THE STATE OF RAJASTHAN AND OTHERS[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 18-12-2025 Education Law — Medical and Dental Education — Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) Admissions — Academic Year 2016-17 — Legality of admissions granted after lowering minimum National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) percentile — Revised BDS Course Regulations, 2007, Regulation II(5)(ii) Proviso — NEET is the sole basis for admissions to medical and dental courses to uphold academic standards and merit — India Law Library Docid # 2437086
(34) TELANGANA STATE LEVEL POLICE RECRUITMENT BOARD Vs. PENJARLA VIJAY KUMAR AND OTHER ETC.[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 18-12-2025 Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (as amended by The Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019) — Sections 14 and 15 — Driving Licence Renewal — Police Recruitment — Interpretation of ‘continuously’ possessing a valid driving licence — Recruitment Notifications for Driver posts required candidates to possess a valid Light Motor Vehicle (LMV)/Heavy Motor Vehicle (HMV) Licence 'continuously for a period of India Law Library Docid # 2437087
(35) BABURAM GAUTAM AND OTHERS Vs. STATE OF U.P. AND ANOTHER.[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 18-12-2025 Constitution of India, 1950 — Article 142 — Power of Supreme Court to pass decree for dissolution of marriage — Invocation of extraordinary power — Marriage irretrievably broken down — Where parties (husband and wife) reach mutual settlement for divorce, including financial settlement (Rs. 30,00,000/-) and withdrawal of all pending civil and criminal cases arising from the matrimonial dispute, the Supreme Court can invoke power under Article 142 to dissolve the India Law Library Docid # 2437492
(36) K. S. DINACHANDRAN Vs. SHYLA JOSEPH AND OTHERS[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 17-12-2025 Succession Act, 1925 — Section 63 — Indian Evidence Act, 1872 — Section 68 — Proof of Will — Requirement of attestation — Will excluding one legal heir (daughter) — One attesting witness (DW-2) examined — DW-2 must speak not only to the execution by the testator and his own attestation, but also to the attestation by the other witness — Failure of the Trial Court and High Court to find the Will proved India Law Library Docid # 2437048
(37) OBALAPPA AND OTHERS Vs. PAWAN KUMAR BHIHANI AND OTHERS[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 17-12-2025 Civil Procedure Code, 1908 (CPC) — Suit for Permanent Injunction — Dismissal of Suit — Reversal by High Court — Scope of Interference by Supreme Court — Where the Trial Court dismissed a suit for permanent injunction on grounds of failure to establish title and uncertainty in property identification, and the High Court reversed this relying on unproven and unauthenticated documents/surveys (like a BDA survey not proved or authenticated, and a letter without a clear seal or legible India Law Library Docid # 2437049
(38) SHAIK SHABUDDIN Vs. STATE OF TELANGANA[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 17-12-2025 Criminal Law — Conviction — Circumstantial Evidence — Last Seen Together Theory — Must establish acquaintance between accused and deceased for theory to apply as a circumstance linking chain; mere fact of accused and deceased being in the same vicinity shortly before the crime, without proven acquaintance, is insufficient to propound the ‘last seen together theory’ as a conclusive link, though presence in same India Law Library Docid # 2437050
(39) M/S ANDHRA PRADESH POWER GENERATION CORPORATION LIMITED (APGENCO) Vs. M/S TECPRO SYSTEMS LIMITED AND OTHERS[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 17-12-2025 Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 — Section 11(6) and 11(6-A) — Appointment of Arbitral Tribunal (AT) — Scope of Judicial Scrutiny — The enquiry under Section 11 is confined to a prima facie determination of the existence of an arbitration agreement, and no further — The referral court must refrain from entering into contentious factual or legal issues related to authority, capacity, arbitrability, maintainability, or merits of claims, adhering to the principle of minimal judicial India Law Library Docid # 2437051
(40) SRINIBAS GORADIA Vs. ARVIND KUMAR SAHU AND OTHERS[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 17-12-2025 Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 — Section 2(s) — Definition of "workman" — Determination of status — Key determinant is the essence and nature of duties performed, not the designation or nomenclature given by the employer — Courts must look at the kind of primary duties performed (manual, skilled, clerical, etc.) rather than attaching undue importance to the employee's title (e.g., Cashier India Law Library Docid # 2437091