Constitution (42nd Amendment) Act, 1976

The Supreme Court examined the constitutionality of the Tamil Nadu Stage Carriages and Contract Carriages (Acquisition) Act, 1973, which sought to nationalise stage and contract carriage services and their assets. Operators challenged the Act as violative of Articles 14, 19 and 31, alleging it was confiscatory and lack…

The State of Uttar Pradesh initiated disciplinary proceedings against Ram Prakash Singh, an Assistant Engineer, alleging embezzlement of Panchayat funds. The enquiry officer prepared a report without examining any witnesses, without furnishing the report or supporting documents to the respondent, and the disciplinary a…

The Supreme Court examined the constitutional validity of provisions in the Kerala and Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Acts that taxed cooked food sold in luxury or star‑rated hotels while exempting the same in modest eating houses. Hoteliers challenged the classification as hostile discrimination violating Article 14. Th…

The petitioners, owners of vacant urban land, challenged the Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation) Act, 1976 on grounds that several provisions violated Articles 14, 19(1)(f) and 31(2) of the Constitution and the basic structure doctrine. The Court examined the artificial definition of "family" in s.2(f), the compensatio…

The case arose from a reference concerning whether statutes placed in the Ninth Schedule after the Kesavananda Bharati judgment (24 April 1973) can enjoy absolute immunity from judicial review under Article 31B. The petitioners argued that such immunity would violate the basic structure doctrine by abrogating fundament…

Sri M. Narasimha Prasad, a Civil Judge (Junior Division) of Karnataka, was suspended on allegations of gross misconduct and subjected to departmental inquiries. The Full Court of the Karnataka High Court, after finding several serious charges proved—particularly pronouncing the operative portion of judgments without th…

The respondent, a bank employee, was found guilty of financial irregularities, fraud and misappropriation and was punished with a reduction of pay after a departmental enquiry. The High Court set aside the punishment on the ground that the enquiry report had not been served to the employee, alleging a breach of natural…

Kailash Chandra Ahuja, a technical officer of Haryana Financial Corporation, was dismissed after a disciplinary inquiry in which the Inquiry Officer’s report was not furnished to him before the disciplinary authority imposed the penalty. The High Court set aside the dismissal on the ground that non‑supply of the report…