(41) KKH FINVEST PVT. LTD. AND ANOTHER Vs. ASHIESH SHUKLA AND OTHERS[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 05-08-2026 Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 — Section 11 — Group of Companies Doctrine/Veritable parties — Non-signatory to arbitration agreement — Held, non-signatory may be treated as a "veritable party" to an arbitration agreement where its legal relationship with signatory parties and involvement in performance of the underlying contract indicates intention to be bound — Participation of non-signatory in negotiation, performance India Law Library Docid # 2448557
(42) KAVITHA KURUGANTI Vs. PEPSICO INDIA HOLDINGS PVT. LTD.[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 05-08-2026 Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Act, 2001 — Sections 34(h) and 39(1)(iv) — Revocation on ground of vexatious action against farmers — Suits filed by breeder against individual farmers alleging infringement, whether vexatious/predatory so as to attract revocation under S. 34(h) — Held, mere filing of suits for protection of statutory rights conferred under the Act cannot per se be held intimidatory or vexatious — Allegation of vexatious suits India Law Library Docid # 2448639
(43) AMRAVATI MUNICIPAL CORPORATION Vs. GANESH DADARAO ANASANE AND OTHERS[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 04-08-2026 Environmental Law — Solid Waste Management Rules, 2026 — Institutionalisation & Environmental Compensation — Environmental governance requires institutionalizing enforcement mechanisms beyond framing rules — Under Rules 17 and 18, a Central Implementation Committee must be constituted to supervise implementation and formulate structured, objective guidelines for levying India Law Library Docid # 2448521
(44) K. BHARATHAMMA Vs. BANDARU SAKKU BAI AND OTHERS[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 04-08-2026 Civil Procedure Code, 1908 (CPC) — Order 18 Rule 17 & Section 151 — Scope and Parameters for Recalling Witness and Reopening Evidence — The power to recall and examine a witness under Order 8 Rule 17 is a discretionary power-cum-facilitator vested primarily in the court to clarify doubts or seeking clarifications regarding evidence already led — It cannot be routinely invoked at the instance of a party at the fag end of a trial to fill up lacunae, omissions, or gaps in evidence, nor to permit fu India Law Library Docid # 2448522
(45) KUNTEGOWDA Vs. THURUBAIAH[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 04-08-2026 Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 — Sections 138, 118(a) and 139 — Presumption of Legally Enforceable Debt & Rebuttal by Accused — Once the execution of a cheque and the drawer's signature are admitted or proved, statutory mandatory presumptions arise under Sections 118 and 139 that the cheque was issued for consideration and in discharge of a legally enforceable debt — The burden shifts to the accused to disprove these presumptions by leading cogent direct or indirect India Law Library Docid # 2448523
(46) NATIONAL INSURANCE CO. LTD. Vs. SMT. THUNGALA DHANA LAXMI AND OTHERS[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 04-08-2026 Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 — Sections 146, 147, 196 and 207 — Motor Insurance — Uninsured Vehicles & Mandatory Coverage — Public Interest Directions for Integration of Technology and Policy Reforms — Despite statutory mandate under Section 146 of the MVA, over 56% of vehicles on Indian roads remain uninsured, severely impeding prompt compensation to accident victims and drawing affected families into prolonged litigation — Recognising the safety of commuters India Law Library Docid # 2448524
(47) GOVERNMENT OF INDIA AND ANOTHER Vs. SRI DEVRAJ URS MEDICAL COLLEGE[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 04-08-2026 Constitution of India, 1950 — Article 141 — Judicial Precedents — Retrospective Application — Judicial declarations of law by the Supreme Court operate retrospectively unless expressly stated to be prospective — The 11-Judge Bench decision in T.M.A. Pai Foundation (31.10.2002) declaring the subvention scheme unconstitutional took immediate retrospective effect, terminating executive India Law Library Docid # 2448517
(48) ARJUN JANI @ TUNTUN Vs. STATE OF ORISSA[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 04-08-2026 Criminal Law — Access to Justice for Indigent Convicts — Constitutional Courts must adopt a proactive, liberal approach to condone inordinate delays in appeals filed by incarcerated, marginalized convicts to safeguard fundamental rights — High Court erred in refusing to condone a 3157-day delay in a jail appeal where the convict had already served 12 years of life imprisonment. India Law Library Docid # 2448518
(49) SPO/CONSTABLE IRB SATPAL SINGH Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB AND OTHERS[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 04-08-2026 Probation of Offenders Act, 1958 — Section 12 — Effect of Probation on Service Career — Release of a convict on probation under Section 3 or 4 of the 1958 Act does not obliterate conviction — The "disqualification" under Section 12 refers strictly to statutory disqualifications under other laws and does not bar disciplinary action, removal from public service, or override constitutional provisions like Article India Law Library Docid # 2448519
(50) DELHI TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY Vs. B.S. RAWAT[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 04-08-2026 Service Law — Resignation — Unauthorized Acceptance & Doctrine of Ratification — An unauthorized acceptance of resignation by an incompetent authority takes effect and becomes valid from its inception once ratified by the competent authority, as ratification operates retrospectively under the doctrine of relation-back (ratihabitio mandato aequiparatur) — Where an employee voluntarily India Law Library Docid # 2448520
(51) DR. LOKESH B.H. AND OTHERS Vs. STATE OF KARNATAKA AND ANOTHER[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 03-08-2026 Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) — Section 498A — Applicability to "Live-In Relationships" / "Relationships in the Nature of Marriage" — Purposive Interpretation — Scope of the term "Husband" — Criminal liability for domestic cruelty — The term "husband" occurring in Section 498A IPC is not restricted strictly to a man in a legally solemnized or valid marriage — Keeping in view the social and reformative India Law Library Docid # 2448450
(52) GAYATREE PATTNAIK FOR SHREEJITA PATTNAIK Vs. ARUNDHATI SAHOO AND ANOTHER[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 03-08-2026 Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 — Child victims — Special category — Claims involving children suffering catastrophic permanent disability form a distinct category; compensation cannot be confined to conventional heads but must account for lifelong deprivation, future care, loss of amenities, marriage prospects and destruction of quality of life. India Law Library Docid # 2448451
(53) SURAJ BHAN AND OTHERS Vs. ASHVARYA ESTATE PVT. LTD. AND OTHERS[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 03-08-2026 Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Act, 1953 and Haryana Common Lands (Regulation) Act, 1961 — Section 2(g)(1) — Vesting of shamilat deh — Effect of — On promulgation of 1953 Act, all land classified as shamilat deh vested absolutely in gram panchayats without exception, extinguishing pre-existing proprietary rights — No notice or hearing to proprietors was required before India Law Library Docid # 2448452
(54) NIRMALA BAI DEVIDAS CHAVHAN Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA AND OTHERS ETC.[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 03-08-2026 Penal Code, 1860 — Section 302 r/w S. 149 — Identical/stereotyped ocular testimony — Effect on conviction based on unlawful assembly — Where six witnesses to a sudden, violent group assault gave testimony correspondingly identical as to the name of every assailant, the weapon carried by each, the victim held by each and the precise body part struck, such completeness of correspondence bears the India Law Library Docid # 2448453
(55) MAHENDRA SINGH Vs. THE STATE OF CHHATTISGARH[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 31-07-2026 Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 (CrPC) — Section 299 — Evidence recorded against absconding accused — Use in subsequent trial — S. 299(1) contains two distinct parts: first, proof of jurisdictional facts (accused absconding and no immediate prospect of arrest) enabling recording of witness evidence in the accused's absence; second, the conditions under which such evidence may be used against the India Law Library Docid # 2448335
(56) V.N.A.S. CHANDRAN Vs. S. VENILA AND OTHERS[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 31-07-2026 Specific Relief Act, 1963 — Section 20 — Specific performance — Discretionary and equitable relief — Clean hands — Grant of specific performance is discretionary, not automatic even where a valid contract subsists; a plaintiff must approach the Court with clean hands. Where the plaintiff's spouse lodged a criminal complaint seeking recovery of the advance paid, alleging the vendor fraudulently suppressed a India Law Library Docid # 2448336
(57) HIMANSHU CHORDIA Vs. STATE OF RAJASTHAN AND ANOTHER[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 31-07-2026 Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 (CrPC) — Section 125(4) — Bar of adultery — Effect on interim maintenance — Stage of adjudication — The bar under S. 125(4) applies equally to interim and final maintenance; if a S. 125(4) application demonstrates adultery ex facie or the fact is admitted, interim maintenance stops forthwith. Where proof requires evidence to be led in accordance with law, interim India Law Library Docid # 2448337
(58) NISHA Vs. MUNICIPAL COUNCIL SANGRUR AND OTHERS[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 31-07-2026 Constitution of India, 1950 — Article 226 — Maintainability of writ petition — Disputed questions of fact — Effect of long pendency — Where a writ petition seeking compensation had remained pending for over a decade and a half before being dismissed on the ground of "disputed questions of fact," relegating the claimant to a fresh remedy before the Civil Court after such efflux of time would render the claimant remediless — On this short ground alone, interference with the impugned India Law Library Docid # 2448338
(59) TEHRI HYDRO DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION LTD. Vs. S.P. SINGH AND OTHERS[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 31-07-2026 Court Fees Act, 1870 — Section 8 — Appeal against statutory benefits under Land Acquisition Act — Whether attracts ad valorem court fee — Appeal under Section 54, Land Acquisition Act, 1894 challenging grant of additional amount under Section 23(1-A), solatium under Section 23(2) and statutory interest under Section 28, without disputing market value — Held, such statutory benefits are integral and inseparable India Law Library Docid # 2448339
(60) G. SAMINATHAN AND ANOTHER Vs. THE STATE, REPRESENTED BY THE SUB-INSPECTOR OF POLICE AND ANOTHER[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 31-07-2026 Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) — Sections 405 and 406 — Criminal Breach of Trust — Entrustment — Refundable security deposit paid under Joint Development Agreement (JDA) — Held, mere payment of refundable security deposit as consideration for GPA does not amount to "entrustment" of property — FIR and chargesheet silent on manner of misappropriation/conversion — Bald, omnibus allegation of dishonest India Law Library Docid # 2448340