Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 — S. 34: Objections to the award: Law summarised relating to Court’s power to review awards under S. 34, as existing prior to amendment made to S. 34 by Act 3 of 2016 with retrospective effect from 23-10-2015. [Batliboi Environmental Engineers Ltd. v. Hindustan Petroleum Corpn. Ltd., (2024) 2 SCC 375]
Consumer Protection Act, 1986 — S. 22 — Causation/Assessment of Loss/Surveyors, Investigators and Loss Assessors: NCDRC cannot selectively rely on portions of expert reports which supported its conclusions. [S.S. Cold Storage (India) (P) Ltd. v. National Insurance Co. Ltd., (2024) 2 SCC 467]
Evidence Act, 1872 — S. 32(1) — Conflicting dying declarations — One exonerating accused and one inculpating him: Matters to be considered for determination of which dying declaration is to be believed, illustrated. [Surjit Singh v. State of Punjab, (2024) 2 SCC 411]
Income Tax Act, 1961 — S. 153-A r/w Ss. 132 & 132-A and Ss. 147 & 148 — Block assessment — Scope of assessment under S. 153-A: Assessment under S. 153-A, in respect of completed assessments/unabated assessments is not permissible, when no incriminating material found during the course of search under S. 132 or requisition under S. 132-A. [CIT v. Abhisar Buildwell (P) Ltd., (2024) 2 SCC 433]
Income Tax Act, 1961 — S. 153-A r/w Ss. 132, 132-A, 147 and 148 — Block assessment — Scope of assessment under S. 153-A: Assessment under S. 153-A, in respect of completed assessments/unabated assessments is not permissible, when no incriminating material found during the course of search under S. 132 or requisition under S. 132-A. [CIT v. King Buildcon (P) Ltd., (2024) 2 SCC 465]
Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 — Ss. 53, 3(30), 3(31) and 5(21) — Review against judgment and order dt. 6-9-2022, Rainbow Papers, (2023) 9 SCC 545: Tenability of contention of petitioners/interveners that the Court in the impugned judgment had failed to consider the waterfall mechanism contained in S. 53, as also failed to consider other provisions of IBC, in review application based on observations made by coordinate Bench in Raman Ispat, (2023) 10 SCC 60, determined. [Sanjay Kumar Agarwal v. State Tax Officer, (2024) 2 SCC 362]
Insurance — General Insurance — Motor Vehicle Insurance — Accident Insurance — BMW Secure Policy: The question of liability under BMW Secure arises only when the liability of the insured under the new motor vehicle policy is established. Therefore, it must be established that the insurer has accepted the case regarding the total loss of the insured vehicle. [Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Mukul Aggarwal, (2024) 2 SCC 344]
Insurance — Life Insurance — Life insurance claim — Insurance policy — When becomes effective — Date on which the policy is issued, as opposed to date of proposal or date of issuance of receipt — Relevance of: The date of issuance of the policy would be the relevant date for all purposes and not the date of proposal or the date of issuance of the receipt. Also, even if backdating of policy has been done, the date of issuance of policy would still be the relevant date. [Reliance Life Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Jaya Wadhwani, (2024) 2 SCC 427]
Penal Code, 1860 — S. 497 — Offence of adultery: While striking down S. 497 IPC in Joseph Shine, (2019) 3 SCC 39 declaring offence of adultery as unconstitutional, said judgment of Supreme Court, held, was not at all concerned with provisions relating thereto under Army Act, 1950, Navy Act, 1957 and Air Force Act, 1950. [Joseph Shine v. Union of India, (2024) 2 SCC 334]
Penal Code, 1860 — S. 53 Secondly r/w S. 45 — Life imprisonment: Power to pass a modified sentence of life imprisonment, specifying a minimum non-remittable term of imprisonment in excess of 14 yrs, held, is available to High Courts and Supreme Court even in cases where the law does not prescribe the death sentence as one of the punishments and limits the maximum punishment to imprisonment for life with nothing further. [Ravinder Singh v. State (NCT of Delhi), (2024) 2 SCC 323]
Penal Code, 1860 — Ss. 376 and 506 — Rape on ground of false promise of marriage — Requirements of: In this case, consensual relationship culminating in solemnisation of marriage being established from notice issued by advocate of victim, and victim’s own statements, held, allegation of rape, not tenable, hence, FIR quashed. [Ajeet Singh v. State of U.P., (2024) 2 SCC 422]
Registration Act, 1908 — S. 47 — Effective date of operation of sale deed: If, in a given case, a sale deed is executed and entire agreed consideration is paid on or before execution of sale deed, after it is registered, held, it will operate from date of its execution. Thus, held, in such a case interpolations unilaterally made in the sale deed after its execution, but before its registration will have no effect, as the sale deed as it stood at the time of its execution will operate. [Kanwar Raj Singh v. GEJO, (2024) 2 SCC 416]
