Supreme Court Rules, 1966

A prisoner, Nathu @ Parasram, filed a Special Leave Petition (SLP) from jail, attaching a certified copy of the High Court judgment. The Supreme Court Registry delayed the first listing by sending for records from lower courts and awaiting translation of vernacular documents into English. The Court examined Order 21, R…

The appellants challenged the acquisition of land under the Rajasthan Land Acquisition Act, claiming that a subsequent order dated 4 November 1985 had regularised the conversion of agricultural land to non‑agricultural use and vested title in them. They relied on this order, which was produced for the first time before…

The Supreme Court examined an application for restoration of a Special Leave Petition that had been dismissed for non‑prosecution. The petition was drafted by Advocate Vikas Mahajan and filed by Advocate‑on‑Record D.B. Vohra, who merely lent his name and did not take any responsibility for the case, including failing t…

Gaurav Jain filed a public‑interest writ under Article 32 seeking separate educational institutions and other relief for children of prostitutes. A two‑judge Division Bench (Ramaswamy J and Wadhwa J) delivered differing judgments: Ramaswamy J ordered the establishment of a committee and measures to eradicate prostituti…

M.S. Ezhlitassan filed a suit for defamation which was dismissed, appealed and obtained a decree for damages. The respondent appealed, the High Court reversed the decree and dismissed the suit. While the appeal before the Supreme Court was pending, the appellant died. His grandchildren filed petitions to be substituted…

The petitioners, Dr. Vijay Kumar Rathuria and another, filed two Special Leave Petitions seeking an interim order that the status quo of their postgraduate studies at Medical College, Rohtak be maintained as of 1 October 1982. A dispute arose over whether their provisional admissions had been cancelled before that date…

The State of Himachal Pradesh sued the Union of India and five other parties seeking its share of electricity generated by the Bhakra‑Nangal and Beas hydro‑electric projects, claiming entitlement based on the submergence of its territory and the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966. The Court examined whether the suit was b…

The Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) amended its Rule 18 to introduce a "One Bar One Vote" principle, restricting voting rights to advocates who regularly practice before the Supreme Court. Two SCBA members, B.D. Kaushik and A.K. Manchanda, challenged the amendment and obtained an interim injunction restraining its…

The Supreme Court upheld the conviction of several accused who, amid a long‑standing family feud, assaulted and murdered Jagbandhan and Randhir and injured Mithan. The prosecution proved the offences under Sections 302, 149, 148 and 323 of the IPC using eye‑witness testimony, medical evidence and the existence of a com…

In Shantilal Manganlal & Anr. v. Chunnilal Ranchoddas (1984), the petitioners filed a review application against the Supreme Court's order dismissing their Special Leave Petition, but the review petition contained no substantive grounds and merely promised to file them later. The petition was filed on 9 January 1984, a…

The Collector of Central Excise, Madras filed statutory appeals against orders of the Customs, Excise and Gold Control Appellate Tribunal and sought condonation of delay for those appeals. A Single Judge of the Supreme Court dismissed the condonation applications under Order VI Rule 2(14) of the Supreme Court Rules, 19…

The petitioners, led by Ram Jethmalani, sought a writ directing the Union of India to recover unaccounted money of Indian citizens held in foreign banks and the Court had earlier appointed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by two retired Supreme Court judges. The Union of India filed Interlocutory Application N…

The Supreme Court examined affidavits filed in a contempt petition where the complainant alleged non‑compliance with a prior court order. Both the complainant’s affidavit and the accused’s reply affidavit were found to be vague, lacking specific facts, and not verified in accordance with Order XI Rules 5 and 13 of the …

The Union of India filed a review petition challenging the Supreme Court’s judgment in Sandur Manganese & Iron Ores Ltd. v. State of Karnataka, alleging that it was not given a chance to be heard because the special leave petition was not served and that the judgment misquoted the Expert Committee’s report. The petitio…

The Supreme Court entertained a writ of habeas corpus filed by Sebastian M. Hongray seeking the production of two missing persons, C. Daniel and C. Paul, who were alleged to be unlawfully detained. The respondents – the Union of India, the Ministry of Defence and the commanding officer of the 21st Sikh Regiment – faile…

The petitioners, married on 30‑Nov‑2008, filed a dissolution suit under Section 13‑8(1) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955. The Delhi Family Court ordered them to wait six months before filing a second motion under Section 13‑8(2). The wife filed a writ petition under Article 32 of the Constitution seeking a decree of div…

Northern India Caterers (India) Ltd., which runs a hotel and restaurant, challenged a Delhi sales‑tax assessment on the ground that meals served to casual diners were taxable as a sale. The Supreme Court had earlier held that such service was not a sale because diners could not take away unconsumed food and the transac…

The petitioner filed a transfer petition under Article 139A(1) of the Constitution seeking to move a writ petition pending before the Rajasthan High Court to the Supreme Court, alleging that the High Court petition raised the same questions as a Special Leave Petition (SLP) already pending before this Court. The petiti…

The petitioner, Remdeo Chauhan, was convicted of murder and sentenced to death, which was later commuted to life imprisonment by the Governor of Assam after a recommendation from the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). Relatives of the victims challenged the commutation, arguing that the NHRC lacked jurisdiction a…

The petitioners, members of the Sikh community, challenged their detention under the National Security Act, 1980, by filing writ petitions under Article 32 of the Constitution. Justice Venkataramiah observed that these matters were not ordinary criminal cases but involved serious questions of national security and the …

The appellant was convicted under Section 302 IPC for allegedly setting a maid on fire by pouring kerosene on her, leading to her death. The prosecution's case relied on the victim's multiple dying declarations and circumstantial evidence, as there were no eye‑witnesses. The appellant contended that the Supreme Court, …

The petitioner, Chhidda Singh, filed a review petition (No. 315 of 1998) after the Supreme Court dismissed his Special Leave Petition (C) No. 6347 of 1997, which challenged orders of the Deputy Director of Consolidation and the High Court. The review petition merely reproduced verbatim the same grounds that had been ra…

Ramakrishna Hegde filed a defamation suit in the Bombay High Court against Dr. Subramaniam Swamy, seeking Rs 1 crore in damages for alleged defamatory statements made at a Delhi press conference. Swamy petitioned the Supreme Court under Section 25 of the Code of Civil Procedure for transfer of the suit to the City Civi…

The Supreme Court examined a batch of land acquisition proceedings under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, where the Delhi Administration and DDA sought to enforce acquisition of land in several villages. The Court held that claimants who did not file objections to the Section 4 notification cannot challenge the Section …

The petitioners filed review applications under Article 137 of the Constitution seeking to set aside death sentences imposed by the Supreme Court in three criminal appeals. They argued that because one of the three judges on the bench had either acquitted the accused or suggested life imprisonment, the death penalty sh…

Northern Plastics Ltd imported 59 rolls of photographic colour film in January 1989. Customs authorities detained the goods, alleging mis‑declaration and denial of exemption, and on 14 September 1989 ordered their confiscation. While the matter was pending before the Supreme Court, the customs department sold the goods…

Two election petitions were filed challenging the election of Dr. Shanker Dayal Sharma as President of India. Petition 1, filed by Mithilesh Kumar Sinha, claimed his nomination was wrongly rejected for not having the required ten proposers and ten seconders and argued that the signatures of common electors should remai…

The State of Madhya Pradesh filed an original suit under Article 131 of the Constitution challenging the Central Government's notifications issued under sections 58(3) and 58(4) of the Madhya Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2000, which dissolved the M.P. Electricity Board and apportioned its assets. In 2009, the State soug…

Ashoka Kumar Thakur filed writ petitions challenging the 93rd Constitution Amendment (which inserted Article 15(5)) and the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006. The Union of India argued that the matters raised substantial questions of law and constitutional interpretation, invoking Ar…

The Supreme Court reviewed a 1997 decision that allowed reservation for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes in a single‑post cadre by means of a rotating roster. The Court examined whether such reservation, either directly or via roster rotation, is constitutionally permissible under Articles …

The petition, filed by a social welfare organisation, alleged that thousands of migrant workers in stone quarries and crushers in Faridabad were subjected to inhuman conditions, forced labour and bondage, violating their fundamental rights under Articles 21 and 23 of the Constitution. The Court treated the letter addre…

The petitioner sought clarification of a Supreme Court order dated 21‑04‑2009, which recorded his statement that he would not press the prayer for mesne profits. The lower courts had awarded mesne profits of Rs.30 per month (with 10% increase every three years) and interest, while the petitioner had given up his claim …

In the 1987 Presidential election, R. Venkataraman was declared elected. Candidate Mithilesh Kumar filed an election petition under the Presidential and Vice‑Presidential Elections Act, 1952, alleging that a whip issued by the Congress (I) party amounted to undue influence and vitiated the election. The petition, howev…

Patnaik & Co., an automobile dealer, claimed a loss of Rs.53,650 on the sale of its subscription to the Orissa Government Loan 1972, arguing it was a revenue loss deductible against future profits. The Income Tax Officer treated it as a capital loss, but the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal held it was a business loss bec…

The Supreme Court dismissed a Special Leave Petition filed by Dharmabir and another appellant challenging their conviction for murder under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code and the imposition of life imprisonment. While upholding the conviction and sentence as beyond judicial interference, the Court expressed conce…

The appellants filed criminal appeals under Section 10 of the Special Courts (Trial of Offences Relating to Transaction in Securities) Act, 1992, but had not surrendered to their sentences. The Court examined whether Order XXI Rule 13A of the Supreme Court Rules, 1966, which requires surrender before an appeal can be p…

The State of Haryana sought review of a Supreme Court judgment that confirmed the conviction of Prem Chand and others for rape under IPC Section 376 but reduced their sentences from ten to five years by invoking the proviso to Section 376(2) on the basis of the victim's conduct. The Court examined the scope of review i…

The State of Uttar Pradesh charged Laloo and three others with the murder of Babu Jaleshwar Singh on 24 September 1974. The prosecution relied on the testimony of three eye‑witnesses (PW1‑3), corroborative statements of PW5 and PW6, medical evidence of a fatal neck wound, and a First Information Report (FIR) prepared b…

The State of Karnataka appealed to the Supreme Court under Article 136 for special leave to challenge the Karnataka High Court's dismissal of its appeals against the conviction of Surender Kotiankar under Sections 408 and 477A of the Indian Penal Code. The High Court had rejected the State's request for enhanced senten…

The Calcutta Municipal Corporation filed a special leave petition challenging the High Court’s order that quashed prosecution of Pawan K. Saraf for alleged adulteration of compounded asafoetida under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954. The trial court had relied on a Public Analyst’s report finding the sampl…

The President of India referred the conduct of the Haryana Public Service Commission Chairman Mehar Singh Saini and three members to the Supreme Court under Article 317(1) for alleged misbehaviour, including irregular selections, use of bogus certificates, and refusal to cooperate with vigilance investigations. The Cou…

The Manesar Industrial Welfare Association, representing beneficiaries of land acquired for the Haryana Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSI/DC), challenged a High Court order that enhanced compensation based on sale deeds of two private companies. The Supreme Court upheld that order, but the Asso…

Ranveer Yadav, a witness in a criminal trial, along with five others disrupted court proceedings, forcing the judge to leave the courtroom. The High Court, acting under Section 15(2) of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971, held Yadav to be the main culprit and convicted him of criminal contempt under Section 2(c)(ii), sen…

M. Satyanarayana, a meritorious student, applied for admission to the MBBS first year under the special category for sons of political sufferers/freedom fighters as defined in Rule 4(iii) of the Karnataka Medical Colleges (Selection of Candidates for Admission) Rules, 1984. His father had participated in the 1942 movem…

The applicant, who was the respondent in a civil appeal, filed an application for clarification of a judgment dated 2 August 2005, claiming financial hardship and seeking recovery of a balance after his pension was attached. The opposing party argued that the application was in substance a review of the judgment. The S…

In the 2012 presidential election, petitioner Purno Agitok Sangma challenged the election of Pranab Mukherjee on the ground that Mukherjee held two "offices of profit" – Chairman of the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) and Leader of the House in the Lok Sabha – at the time of filing his nomination, which would disqua…

Amar Singh filed a writ petition under Article 32 alleging that his telephone conversations were intercepted by the Government of India and the Delhi administration at the behest of a political party, and sought an injunction and damages. The petition relied on annexes that were later shown to be forged and were obtain…

Hyderabad Industries Ltd. and another imported asbestos fibre before 1986 and were demanded additional customs duty under Section 3(1) of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975. The appellants argued that the fibre, obtained by merely separating it from the parent rock, was not a manufactured article and therefore not liable to …

Bolin Chetia, a losing candidate in the Assam Legislative Assembly election, appealed to the Supreme Court under Section 116A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 after his election petition was dismissed by the High Court. The Court considered whether a statutory first appeal of right must automatically be ad…

The Supreme Court considered a review petition filed by R.D. Chauhan, who claimed he was a juvenile at the time of committing murder under Section 302 IPC and therefore could not be sentenced to death. The petition argued that the trial and appellate courts failed to apply the Juvenile Justice Act, 1986, and that the c…

The Supreme Court considered whether a writ petition under Article 32 could be filed to challenge a Supreme Court judgment after a review petition had been dismissed, and whether the Court could correct such a judgment using its inherent powers. It held that a final order of the Supreme Court is not amenable to a writ …

The petitioners, undertrials, alleged that police blinded them while in custody and sought compensation under Article 21. They requested CID reports and related documents, which the State refused to produce citing protection under Sections 162 and 172 of the Criminal Procedure Code. The Supreme Court held that the repo…

Metal Box India Ltd., a manufacturer of metal containers, sold its goods to Ponds (I) Ltd., a wholesale buyer, under agreements that allowed interest‑free advances and trade discounts. The tax authorities treated the contract price as the net price after discounts and omitted the value of the advances, leading to a sho…

Eight persons were tried by a Sessions Court in Madhya Pradesh for murder and related offences under the Indian Penal Code. The High Court set aside their convictions, and the State appealed, but only four of the accused were impleaded as respondents in the appeal. The Supreme Court, in a 2008 judgment, reversed the ac…

The Supreme Court examined two sets of review petitions filed under Article 137 and Order XL of the Supreme Court Rules: one by four convicts sentenced to death for offences under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) and the Indian Penal Code, and another by the State challenging the finding …

The Supreme Court reviewed a petition filed by Kamlesh Verma seeking a review of its July 6, 2012 order that quashed FIR No. RC 0062003A0019 against Mayawati, finding that the order was correctly based on the earlier judgment that the 18 September 2003 direction did not authorize a separate FIR on disproportionate asse…

The petitioners Vikram Singh, Jasvir Singh and a third accused were convicted under Sections 302, 364A, 201 and 120B of the IPC and sentenced to death, with the death sentence of the female co‑accused later commuted to life imprisonment. They filed review petitions challenging the Supreme Court’s 2010 judgment on groun…

The Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) had been directed by the Supreme Court in 2011 to identify regular practitioners for voting rights under the "One Bar One Vote" principle. While the Implementation Committee was carrying out this task, the SCBA held a General Body Meeting on 16 January 2012 that passed resolutio…

The State of Gujarat and an accused, Tulsibhai Bhikhabhai Tadvi, filed applications seeking modification of a Supreme Court judgment that ordered a fresh trial of the Zahira Habibullah Sheikh case outside Gujarat. They contended that such a transfer was unlawful, alleging lack of a specific prayer, violation of Section…

The case arose from a complaint alleging that a senior police officer, V. Dinesh Reddy, had amassed disproportionate assets, which was later claimed to be forged and signed by a fictitious MP. An investigation led to a charge sheet against Umesh Kumar under IPC sections 468, 471, 120‑B and 201, and the appellant sought…

The petitioners, accused in the 2008 Ahmedabad‑Surat bomb blast cases, sought transfer of the Sessions trial from Gujarat to another state under Section 406 of the CrPC, alleging bias by police, jail authorities and the judiciary and a hostile communal atmosphere that would deny them a free and fair trial. The State op…

The respondent, a former Munsif in the Bihar State Judicial Service, was dismissed, reinstated, and later suspended, after which he was posted as an Additional Munsif. He repeatedly sought promotion to higher judicial posts on the basis that his juniors had been promoted between 1971 and 1978, filing numerous writ peti…

The Supreme Court dismissed a review petition and several writ petitions filed by Lily Thomas and others seeking to set aside the earlier judgment in Sarla Mudgal’s case, which held that a Hindu husband who converts to Islam without dissolving his first marriage commits bigamy under Section 494 IPC. The Court held that…

The appeal concerned whether vacancies for Regional Transport Officer in Andhra Pradesh could be filled by transferring Section Officers of the Secretariat and Superintendents of the State Transport Authority, as permitted by Rule 3(a) of the Andhra Pradesh Transport Service Rules and paragraph 5(2) of the 1975 Preside…

The case arose when a two‑judge bench of the Supreme Court, disagreeing with a prior three‑judge decision in Nityananda Kar v. State of Orissa, ordered that the matter be placed before a five‑judge bench. The petitioners challenged whether such a referral was permissible under the Constitution and Supreme Court Rules. …

The Supreme Court upheld a 2002 decree that mandated the State of Punjab to complete the Sutlej‑Yamuna Link (SYL) canal within one year, directing the Union of India to intervene if Punjab failed. Punjab’s subsequent suit challenging the decree, the constitutionality of Section 78 of the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966…

The petitioners, convicted under IPC 498‑A and the Dowry Prohibition Act, had their appeal dismissed and filed a revision petition under CrPC ss. 397 and 401 before the Jharkhand High Court. The High Court refused to register the revision because the petitioners had not surrendered to custody as mandated by Rule 159 of…

Cine Exhibition Pvt. Ltd. filed Interlocutory Applications No.5 and 6 under Order XVIII Rule 5 seeking clarification or modification of a Supreme Court judgment dated 11 January 2012. The applications aimed to alter specific paragraphs, obtain official records, and modify operative directions concerning the Gwalior Dev…

The Supreme Court reviewed its own September 2012 judgment that upheld Sections 12(5), 12(6), 15(5) and 15(6) of the Right to Information Act, 2005, on the ground that the earlier decision contained a manifest error of law. The Court held that the provisions merely require persons of eminence with wide knowledge and ex…

The petitioner filed Special Leave Petition (SLP) No.7735 of 2010 against respondent Surjit Singh, who had actually died on 09‑06‑2009, a fact discovered only later. The petitioner then moved Interlocutory Application (I.A.) No.2 seeking substitution of the deceased respondent’s legal representatives and I.A. No.3 seek…

National Fertilizers Ltd. (NFL) paid $38 million for urea to a Turkish company, Karsan, but never received the product. The manager of Karsan, Tuncay Alankus, was extradited to India and faced criminal proceedings. The Supreme Court, on 4 September 2006 and again on 14 December 2006, restrained Alankus from withdrawing…

The Supreme Court examined a writ petition filed by Suraz India Trust, which had repeatedly approached the Court with 64 public‑interest litigations and several contempt petitions, none of which resulted in any relief. The Court found that the Trust’s actions amounted to an abuse of the judicial process, wasting valuab…

The petitioners challenged the amendment to Order XL, Rule 3 of the Supreme Court Rules, which allows review petitions to be disposed of by circulation without oral arguments, alleging violations of Articles 14, 19, 21 and the right to a public hearing under Article 32. The Court examined whether the rule was ultra vir…