Court : Supreme Court of India
Reported in : AIR1980SC185; 1980CriLJ196; (1980)1SCC264; [1980]1SCR673
D.A. Desai, J.1. Nemo tenetu prodere-no man is bound to accuse himself-which finds constitutional recognition in Article 20(3) of the Constitution, conferring immunity from compelling an accused person to be a witness against himself by giving self-incriminating evidence, has been put into forefront to support a prayer for quashing the search warrant issued by the Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Alwaye, on 4th January 1977 directing the Deputy Superintendent of Police, Alwaye, to search the premises styled as the Office of H.M.D.P. Sabha ('Sabha' for short), Moothakunam, and to seize the books, documents and papers as set out in the application for issuance of search warrant. The Magistrate had before him a complaint filed by the first respondent Ramakrishnan against the petitioner and 5 others for having committed offences under Sections 403, 409, 420 and 477A read with Section 34, Indian Penal Code. Original accused 1, and accused 2 the present petitioner, were respectively President and ...
Tag this Judgment!Court : Supreme Court of India
Reported in : AIR1980SC1896; (1980)ILLJ137SC; (1980)2SCC593; [1980]2SCR146
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal Nos. 1212, 2089 and 2237 of 1978. From the Judgment and order dated 15-6-1978 of the Gujarat High Court in Special Civil Application No. 1150 of 1976. Y.S. Chitale, J.C. Bhatt, A.K. Sen, J.M. Nanavati, D.C. Gandhi, A.G. Menses, K.J. John and K.K. Manchanda for the Appellants in C.A. 1212 and 2237/78 and RR. 1 in CA 2089. V.M. Tarkunde, Y.S. Chitale, P.H. Parekh and N.J. Mehta for the Appellant in CA 2089 and R. 1 in CA 1212. M.C. Bhandare and B. Datta for the Intervener in CA 1212 (Ahmedabad Nagar Employee Union). R.K. Garg, Vimal Dave and Miss Kailash Mehta for the Intervener Gujarat Steel Tubes Mazdoor Sabha in CA 1212. The Judgment of V.R. Krishna Iyer, and D.A. Desai, JJ was delivered by Krishna Iyer, J.A.D. Koshal, J. gave a dissenting Opinion. KRISHNA IYER, J.-Every litigation has a moral and, these appeals have many, the foremost being that the economics of law is the essence of labour jurisprudence. The case in a nutshell- An affluent ...
Tag this Judgment!Court : Supreme Court of India
Reported in : AIR1980SC962; 1980CriLJ690; 1980Supp(1)SCC92; [1980]2SCR380
CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Criminal Appeal No. 562 of 1979. From the order dated 17-9-1979 of the Special Court at New Delhi in Criminal Case No. 1/79. P. R. Mridul, and O. P. Sharma for the Appellant. Soli J. Sorabjee, Solicitor General of India, R. N. Sachthey, Girish Chandra, Bipin Behari Lal and Miss Niklam Grover for the Respondent. The Judgment of S. Murtaza Fazal Ali and A. P. Sen, JJ. was delivered by Fazal Ali, J. D. A. Desai gave a separate opinion and P. N. Shinghal, J. gave a dissenting opinion. FAZAL ALI, J.-This appeal is directed against an order dated 17th September 1979 passed by Justice Joshi, Special Judge appointed under the Special Courts Act, 1979 (No. 22 of 1979) (hereinafter to be referred as the 'Act') by which the learned Judge directed a charge to be framed against the appellant under s. 120B of the Indian Penal Code read with s. 5 ( 1 ) (d) and s. 5 (2) of the Prevention of the Corruption Act, 1947 and also under s. 5(2) read with s. 5(1)(d) of the sa...
Tag this Judgment!Court : Supreme Court of India
Reported in : AIR1980SC1173; 1980Supp(1)SCC298; [1980]2SCR1130
D.A. Desai, J.1. On a certificate granted by the Full Bench of the High Court of Kerala, original plaintiff, a Hindu widow who was seeking partition of a share to which her deceased husband was entitled, having lost in both the Courts, has filed this appeal. The High Court granted the certificate under Article 133(1)(c) of the Constitution as in its opinion the following substantial questions of law arise from the judgment rendered by it:1. Whether under the Mitakshara Law the parties are governed by customary law, and, in the absence of any rule of customary law on the point in question, by Mitakshara Law property can be divided, albeit by a family settlement, between two artificial units of a joint family, one comprising the sons of a father by his first wife, the first wife and his step mother, and the other comprising his son by his second wife and the second wife so as to constitute each unit into a coparcenary with rights of survivorship between its members; and2. Whether the use...
Tag this Judgment!Court : Supreme Court of India
Reported in : AIR1980SC946; 1980CriLJ684; (1980)3SCC311; [1980]2SCR1172; 1980(12)LC474(SC)
O. Chinnappa Reddy, J. 1. The Advocate-General of Bihar is the appellant in this appeal under Section 19 of the Contempts of Courts Act, 1971. Respondent No. 1, Madhya Pradesh Khair Industries, represented by respondent No. 2, Om Prakash Agrawal, were the highest bidders at an auction held by the Divisional Forest Officer, Garhwa South, of four forest coupes in the State of Bihar. Under the terms of the agreements the respondents were required to deposit 25% of each of the four bids as security. The respondents were, however, able to make the deposit in respect of one coupe only and not in respect of the other three coupes. The respondents requested for tune. Thereafter, there was a long course of correspondence with which we are not now concerned. Finally, on January 28, 1970, the Conservator of Forests determined the agreements. On February 28, 1970, respondent No. 1 served a notice on the Divisional Forest Officer Garhwa South, intimating him that they had filed an application under...
Tag this Judgment!Court : Supreme Court of India
Reported in : (1982)3SCC24; [1983]1SCR145a
R.S. Sarkaria, J.1. This reference to the Constitution Bench raises a question in regard to the constitutional validity of death penalty for murder provided in Section 302, Penal Code, and the sentencing procedure embodied in Sub-section (3) of Section 354 of the CrPC, 1973.2. The reference has arisen in these circumstances :Bachan Singh, appellant in Criminal Appeal No. 273 of 1979, was tried and convicted and sentenced to death under Section 302, Indian Penal Code for the murders of Desa Singh, Durga Bai and Veeran Bai by the Sessions Judge. The High Court confirmed his death sentence and dismissed his appeal.3. Bachan Singh's appeal by special leave, came up for hearing before a Bench of this Court (consisting of Sarkaria and Kailasam, JJ.). The only question for consideration in the appeal was, whether the facts found by the Courts below would be 'special reasons' for awarding the death sentence as required under Section 354(3) of the CrPC 1973.4. Shri H.K. Puri, appearing as Amicu...
Tag this Judgment!Court : Supreme Court of India
Reported in : AIR1981SC178; 1980Supp(1)SCC720; [1981]1SCR1
E.S. Venkataramiah, J.1. The above six appeals by certificate and Civil Appeals Nos. 494-496 of 1975 arise out of a common judgment dated December 15, 1972 of the High Court of Judicature at Patna passed in First Appeals Nos. 85 to 87, 130, 131 and 134 of 1966. After the above six appeals and Civil Appeals Nos. 494-496 of 1975 were heard together for sometime, we found that the above six appeals i.e. Civil Appeals Nos. 114-119 of 1976 could be disposed of by a separate judgment. We, therefore, proceeded with the consent of the learned Counsel for the parties to hear fully Civil Appeals Nos. 114-119 of 1976. By this common judgment, we propose to dispose of the above six appeals. The further hearing of Civil Appeals Nos. 494-496 of 1975 is deferred.2. The question which arises for our consideration in the above Civil Appeals Nos. 114-119 of 1976 is whether the appellants and others either claiming under the appellants or alongwith them are entitled to an estate popularly known as 'Betti...
Tag this Judgment!Court : Supreme Court of India
Reported in : AIR1981SC1298; (1982)1CompLJ1(SC); 1981(2)SCALE959; (1981)3SCC333; [1981]3SCR698
1. These three appeals by special leave arise out of a judgment of a Division Bench of the High Court of Madras dated October 6, 1978 allowing an appeal against the judgment of a learned Single Judge, dated May 17, 1978 in Company Petition No. 39 of 1977. The main contending parties in these appeals are : (i) the Needle Industries (India) Limited and (ii) the Needle Industries-Newey (Indian Holdings) Limited. These two companies have often been referred to in the proceedings as the Indian Company and the English Company respectively, but it would be convenient for us to refer to the former as 'NIIL' and to the latter as the 'Holding Company'. The Holding Company has been referred to in a part of the proceedings as 'NINIH'.2. In Civil Appeal 2139 of 1978, which was argued as the main appeal, NIIL is appellant No. 1 while one T.A. Devagnanam is appellant No. 2. The latter figures very prominently in these proceedings and is indeed one of the moving spirits of this acrimonious litigation....
Tag this Judgment!Court : Supreme Court of India
Reported in : AIR1981SC1786; 1981(3)SCALE1169; (1981)4SCC8; [1982]1SCR187
Fazal Ali, J.1. This appeal by special leave is directed against an Order dated January 15, 1981 of the Division Bench of the Bombay High Court by which the appeal filed by the appellant against the Order of the Trial Judge was dismissed on the ground that the appeal was not maintainable as the Order impugned was not a judgment within the meaning of clause 15 of the Letters Patent of the High Court.2. After hearing counsel for the parties at great length we passed the following Order on April 22, 1981:We have heard counsel for the parties at great length. In our opinion, the appeal before the High Court was maintainable and the High Court should have entertained and decided it on merits. We, therefore, allow this appeal, set aside the judgment dated January 15, 1981 of the Division Bench of the Bombay High Court and remand the case to the same and decide it on merits. The High Court will dispose of the appeal as quickly as possible. The interim order passed by this Court on February 16...
Tag this Judgment!Court : Supreme Court of India
Reported in : AIR1982SC149; 1981Supp(1)SCC87; [1982]2SCR365
P.N. Bhagwati, J.1. These writ petitions filed in different High Courts and transferred to this Court under Article 139 of the Constitution raise issues of great constitutional importance affecting the independence of the judiciary and they have been argued at great length before us. The arguments have occupied as many as thirty five days and they have ranged over a large number of issues comprising every imaginable aspect of the judicial institution, Voluminous written submissions have been filed before us which reflect the enormous industry and vast erudition of the learned Counsel appearing for the parties and a large number of authorities, Indian as well as foreign, have been brought to our attention. We must acknowledge with gratitude our indebtedness to the learned Counsel for the great assistance they have rendered to us in the delicate and difficult task of adjudicating upon highly sensitive issues arising in these writ petitions. We find, and this is not unusual in cases of th...
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