Supreme Court Judgments 2009

C.M. Girish Babu v C.B.I., Cochin, High Court of Kerala 24/2/2009.
Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 - section - and 13(2) read with 13(1)(d) - conviction under - was acquitted of the charge under Section 120B of the IPC -the appellant preferred an appeal to the Kerala High Court at Ernakulam, which dismissed the appeal by its judgment dated 28th November, 2007. However, the Appellate Court reduced the substantive sentence to that of one year only. The High Court acquitted the first accused of all the charges against which State preferred no appeal. This appeal is brought, by special leave against the judgment of the High Court - Leave granted

Anand Kumar Appellant versus State of M.P. 20/2/2009.
Indian Penal Code, 1860 - section 306 and Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 - section 4 - conviction under - appeal under an abetment of suicide as visualized by Section 306 of the IPC but in Section 113-B which is relatable to Section 304-B the word `may' has been substituted by `shall' and there is no reference to the circumstances of the case. Admittedly, the conviction of the appellant has been recorded under Section 306 which is relatable to Section 113-A and though the presumption against an accused has to be raised therein as well, the onus is not as heavy as in the case of a dowry death - Leave granted

Krishan Gopal and another v Sandhya Devi and others 18/2/2009.
Motor accident - negligent driving - compensation - High Court held that respondent's son died due to the rash and negligent driving of the Appellant No.2 herein, while he was driving the scooter owned by the Appellant No.1 (father of Appellant No.2) and that both of them were jointly and severally liable to pay compensation of Rs.2 lakhs, together with interest at the rate of 9 per cent per annum w.e.f. 6th October, 1999, till deposit of the amount - the appellants have filed the instant appeal against the said decision of the High Court -the reversal of the Award of the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal by the High Court cannot be said to be perverse or without any basis - Leave granted

Usha Rajkhowa and others v M/s. Paramount Industries and others 17/2/2009.
Motor accident - contributory negligence - compensation - the Tribunal limited the appellants' entitlement to 50% of assessed claim amount and granted compensation of Rs.6,56,300/- on the ground that there was contributory negligence on the part of the driver of the Car, who lost his life in accident. He was the husband of appellant No. 1 and the father of appellant No. 2. The Car was insured by respondent No. 3 Oriental Insurance Company Ltd. -the compensation was correctly assessed - would not confirm the theory that the accident took place because of the contributory negligence and would choose to award full compensation to the appellants. - Leave granted

Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply & Sewerage Board & others v P. Satyanarayana Rao 16/2/2009.
Regularisation of the services of the workmen - stay - granting of - the Division Bench of the High Court, however, granted stay of payment of arrears till the disposal of the appeal. That being the position, this Court grants the stay against the regularization of the services of the workmen till the disposal of the appeal as well - refusal to stay against regularisation of the services of the workmen stands set aside and interim order is granted in the manner indicated till the disposal of the appeal.

State of M.P. v Abdul Kadir and another 13/2/2009.
Madhya Pradesh Prisoners (Release on Probation) Act, 1954 and the Rules made thereunder - writ petition by life convict - plea in the writ petition was that his case had been recommended by the District Magistrate and the Superintendent of Police but the Probation Board in its meeting held on 24.1.2001 did not recommend his case for release on probation - order passed in writ petition challenged in Letters Patent Appeal - dismissal - appeal by State - since the High Court has not considered the issues in the proper perspective, this Court sets aside the impugned order of the Division Bench and direct it to re-hear the LPA on condonation of delay, keeping in view the parameters indicated by this court in Arvind Yadav's case 2003(6) sec 144.

Vinodan v Vishwanathan 12/2/2009.
Partition of a building constructed on a small piece of land between brothers - a serious endeavour has been made by this Court to amicably settle the matter - this Court is granting long time to the appellant to vacate the portion of the building in his possession to avoid any inconvenience to the appellant. In case the appellant after one year of receiving the entire amount of Rs.5,50,000/- does not vacate the portion of the building in his possession, in that event, the Subordinate Court is directed to ensure that the possession is taken from the appellant and handed over to the respondent. Perhaps this solution may lead to ultimate peace between the families of two brothers.

State of Maharashtra Etc. v Dhanendra Shriram Bhurle Etc. 11/2/2009.
Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 - sections 10, 13, 18 and 29, Arms Act, 1959 - section 3 and 4 - Indian Penal Code, 1860 - sections 34 and 120B - trial under - challenge in these appeals is to the order passed by a learned Single Judge of the Bombay High Court, Nagpur Bench, granting bail to the respondents - since the High Court had not kept the relevant parameters in view, while granting bail, the impugned order is set aside - the trial court to complete the trial as early as practicable preferably within six months from the date of receipt of this court's order. - Leave granted

Prasad @ Hari Prasad Acharya v State of Karnataka 9/2/2009.
Indian Penal Code, 1860 - sections 447, 376(2)(g) and 506 read with section 34 - conviction under - challenge in this appeal is to the judgment of a learned Single Judge of the Karnataka High Court upholding the conviction of the appellant - impugned judgment set aside and matter remitted to the High Court. - Leave granted

State of Maharashtra v Krishnarao Dudhappa Shinde 5/2/2009.
Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947 - section 5(1)(e) - conviction under - respondent a government servant was Inspector of Police when raid was conducted in his house - was sentenced to undergo minimum sentence of one year and was directed to pay a fine of Rs.2,50,000/- - the High Court did not examine the other aspects and only dealt with the applicability of Section 5(1)(e) of the Act on the factual position - matter remitted to the High Court.

Ajab Singh and others v Antram and others 3/2/2009.
Uttar Pradesh Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act, 1950 - consolidation proceedings under - revision application under - one of the grievances which has been raised by the appellants herein is that the order of Consolidation Officer dated 23.12.1981 and that of the Settlement Officer, Consolidation dated 29.11.1982, have been upset by the Deputy Director, Consolidation while entertaining a revision filed by the contesting respondents on 10.8.1993, which according to the appellant, is barred by limitation - Leave granted