A C GUPTA

The State Bank of Saurashtra extended a cash‑credit facility to Harilal Adatia on two securities: a pledge of 5,000 tins of groundnut oil and a personal guarantee by Chitranjan Rangnath Raja. The bank negligently lost the pledged oil tins while they were in its custody. After the principal debtor’s death, the bank sued…

The appellants claimed ownership of certain paragana watan lands that had been resumed under the Bombay Pargana and Kulkarni Watans (Abolition) Act, 1950. The respondent, a descendant of the original watandar, applied for regrant of the lands under section 4 of the 1950 Act, while the appellants contested his entitleme…

The appellants claimed that a 1927 transfer of two plots of land, recorded as a sale, was in fact a mortgage, and sought debt adjustment under section 4 of the Bombay Agricultural Debtors Relief Act, 1947. The trial court held the transfer was a mortgage but dismissed the claim, invoking protection for the respondents …

The Supreme Court examined the constitutional validity of the Life Insurance Corporation (Amendment) Act 1981, the accompanying Ordinance and the Bonus and Dearness Allowance Rules, which sought to retrospectively nullify the 1974 settlements granting cash bonuses to Class III and IV employees of the Life Insurance Cor…

The appellant, M. Ramakrishnan, married in June 1960 and later inherited agricultural land from his mother who died in April 1962. The land bequeathed to his wife, Devika, was treated as part of the family holding and a surplus land determination was made under the Tamil Nadu Land Reforms (Fixation of Ceiling on Land) …

The case concerned a family governed by the Madras Aliyasantana Act who filed a suit for partition of a Kutumba. Defendants 22, 23 and 24, all male Nissanthathi Kavarus, were allotted a joint share of the property. After the deaths of defendants 23 and 24, their representatives claimed a one‑third share of the joint al…

Nasir Ahmed challenged a notice issued under section 7 of the Administration of Evacuee Property Act, 1950, which declared him and his deceased brother evacuees. The notice, dated 11 March 1954, alleged they were evacuees under clause (iii) of section 2(d) but the subsequent declaration also invoked clauses (i) and (ii…

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued several promotion schemes for its staff, culminating in Administration Circular No. 6 (1979) which relaxed eligibility criteria for stenographers and personal assistants. During the pendency of a reference before the National Industrial Tribunal concerning a dispute over promotion…

The case involved a dispute over a letter of credit issued by United Commercial Bank (UCB) for the sale of mustard oil by Godrej Soaps Ltd. to the Bihar State Food & Civil Supplies Corporation. The seller presented documents that the bank deemed discrepant because the railway receipts described the oil as "unrefined" c…

The Surat Municipal Corporation declared its intention to make a town planning scheme under the Bombay Town Planning Act, 1954, which included land leased by Prakash Amichand Shah. The Town Planning Officer awarded compensation for the loss of Shah's lease, which Shah contested as inadequate and appealed to the Board o…

Sada Kaur, a widow of a Dhaliwal Jat from Tehsil Muktsar, remarried her deceased husband's younger brother in the Karewa form. The brothers of the deceased sued for a declaration that her remarriage caused forfeiture of her life interest in her first husband's estate, seeking a two‑thirds share. The central issue was w…

The Supreme Court examined the validity of Rule 3(d) of the Andhra Pradesh Police Service Rules, 1966, which grants credit for past service in Category III when an officer is appointed to Category II, thereby affecting seniority. Deputy Superintendents of Police who were directly recruited or transferred challenged the…

The Supreme Court considered two appeals by employers challenging the calculation of gratuity under Section 4(2) of the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972. The employers had computed the fifteen days' wages component as half of the employee's monthly salary, assuming a 30‑day month, while the employees argued that monthly w…

Firestone Tyre & Rubber Co. dismissed 102 workmen for alleged "go‑slow" after a strike. A settlement led to 76 being temporarily re‑employed and 25 remaining dismissed. The Industrial Tribunal was asked to adjudicate reinstatement of 12 of the 25 workmen (demand 1(A)) and the status of the 76 (demand 1(B)). The Tribuna…

Brooke Bond India Ltd. and its workmen’s unions were involved in a government‑referenced industrial dispute. The Rashtriya Union’s negotiation committee signed a memorandum of settlement on 16 March 1978, which was later filed for an award. The union’s executive committee subsequently resolved to reject the agreement, …

The State of Uttar Pradesh sued Kishori Lal for the shortfall of Rs 20,100 that arose when the excise licences he won at a public auction were resold at a lower price because he failed to deposit one‑sixth of the bid amount as required by the Excise Rules. The respondent argued that no contract was completed under Arti…

The landlord sought eviction of a shop in Ambala Cantonment on the ground that the tenant, Gurcharan Singh, had sub-let the premises without his written consent, invoking Section 13(2)(ii)(a) of the East Punjab Urban Rent Restriction Act, 1949. The Rent Controller and appellate authority held that sub‑letting had occur…

Mohan Lal was employed as a salesman by Bharat Electronics Ltd. from 8 December 1973 and his services were terminated on 19 October 1974. The Labour Court held that the termination was a lawful dismissal on probation and not retrenchment. On appeal, the Supreme Court examined whether the termination fell within the def…

The widowed Bishan Devi and her four minor children claimed Rs.50,000 as compensation for the death of the husband, who was run over by a truck allegedly driven in a rash manner. The truck’s owner and the insurer contended that the vehicle had been stolen and was driven by an unlicensed, unauthorized driver, invoking S…

The State of Uttar Pradesh levied a vend fee on the wholesale sale of denatured spirit and sought to validate the levy through the Uttar Pradesh Excise (Amendment) Act, 1972 and its 1976 re‑enactment. Licensees challenged the fee, arguing that the State lacked legislative competence, that the fee was an excise duty pro…

The respondent, Mohd. Nizam, sent thirty value‑payable parcels from India to Pakistan in 1949. The addressees in Pakistan paid the amounts, but because the money‑order service between the two countries was suspended on 19‑September‑1949, the money was never transferred to India. Nizam sued the Union of India for the su…

Dr. Md. S. Iskender Ali was appointed as a temporary medical officer in the Oil and Natural Gas Commission on a one‑year probation that could be extended at the authority's discretion. During his probation a departmental enquiry was initiated for alleged negligence, but it was not pursued and no punishment was imposed.…

The appellants, originally appointed as Inspectors of Police in 1953, were promoted in 1965 to officiate as Deputy Superintendents of Police in temporary posts. In 1974 a gradation list placed them below direct recruits, leading to a writ petition in the Patna High Court, which ordered a fresh list. Subsequently, the B…

The plaintiff, who inherited a building leased to the defendant in 1940, served a notice to quit and filed an eviction suit in March 1964, relying on the exemption in Section 30(iii) of the Tamil Nadu Buildings (Lease and Rent Control) Act, 1960. In June 1964 the Amendment Act removed that exemption and, under Section …

The Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) supplied naphtha from its refinery at Barauni, Bihar to the fertilizer plant of Indian Explosives Ltd. at Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh via a pipeline, under a contract that required delivery against indents addressed to IOC's Kanpur installation. The Uttar Pradesh tax authorities treated the s…

Jethabhai Khatau & Co. sued Luxmi Narayan Cotton Mills Ltd. for a decree of Rs. 2.85 lakh. The decree amount was to be paid from a fixed deposit of Rs. 8.40 lakh held by Grindlays Bank on behalf of a receiver. The High Court issued several interim orders directing the bank to pay the amount, but the bank failed to comp…

The Supreme Court examined the selection process for admission to the Government Medical College, Jammu for 1979‑80, where the State had reserved seats for various categories including "rectification of regional imbalance", areas adjoining the line of control, bad pockets, social castes, wards of medical staff and stud…

The Supreme Court dismissed an appeal by independent candidate Raghbir Singh Gill challenging the setting aside of his election to the Council of States on grounds of tampered postal ballot papers. The High Court had found that four postal ballots, originally cast for Akali candidate Gurcharan Singh Tohra, were altered…

Kathiawar Industries Ltd operated a salt manufacturing plant where raw (uncrushed) salt was produced outside Jaffrabad Municipality and then transported into the municipality's octroi limits for crushing before export. The municipality demanded octroi on the salt, asserting that the salt, once brought into the area for…

The appellant, Ebrahim Sulaiman Sait, was elected to the Lok Sabha from Manjeri, Kerala, but his election was declared void by the Kerala High Court on the ground that a speech he made during the campaign promoted religious enmity, violating Section 123(3A) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. The appellant c…

The plaintiff, a landlord, leased two plots of land to the defendant, who was permitted to erect buildings. The defendant built a three‑storey structure on one plot but repeatedly defaulted on rent and tax payments, leading to forfeiture of the lease. The landlord sued for ejectment of both the land and the superstruct…

The Collector of Raipur published a preliminary electoral roll for the municipal elections and issued a notice under Rule 4(1) allowing claims or objections within 20 days, although Rule 4(3) prescribed a 30‑day period. Several petitioners discovered the discrepancy only in early December and filed a writ petition unde…

Madura Coats Ltd., an industrial establishment in Tamil Nadu, faced a strike by its workmen from 21 January to 5 February 1976 over a bonus dispute. The strike included 26 January, a national holiday, for which the employer withheld wages. The Inspector of Factories ordered payment of wages for that day under the Tamil…

The respondent’s ancestor was an Assamidar who held a parcel of land in Srinagar until the Maharaja’s Durbar resumed it in 1894, recording it as "Khalsa" state land and paying only rent, with no compensation. Sixty years later the respondent sought compensation, prompting the State to initiate a fresh land‑acquisition …