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Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Summary and Ratio of Delhi High Court Cases- I



Hi Everyone
From now on, we will be publishing short notes and ratios of various Delhi High Court Judgments. We hope that this research work will be useful for lawyers as well as academicians. For now, due to obvious reasons and time constraints, it is not possible to give a designed outlook to these cases. The cases we are going to put up now are the latest High Court Judgments. This is just the beginning. Stay tuned for more updates.
RAKEYSH OMPRAKASH MEHRA & ANR VS GOVT OF NCT OF DELHI & ANR.[1]
An FIR was filed against “Delhi 6” for using casteist remarks and discrimination against Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The court quashed the FIR holding :
“Though censorship of films constituting prior restraint is justified under the Indian constitution, yet the censors have to make a substantial allowance in favour of freedom, thereby leaving a vast area for creative art to interpret life.
It has to take into consideration what effect the movie is likely to produce on the minds of its viewers for whom the movie was intended.”
AAKASH Juvenile through his father MALKHAN SINGH VS. N.C.T OF DELHI & ANR.[2]
While deciding the procedure that a Juvenile Justice Board should adopt in order to compute the age of a person when it is not known. It was held “that medical opinion from the Medical Board should be sought only when matriculation certificate or equivalent certificate or the date of birth certificate from the school first attended or any birth certificate issued by a corporation or a municipal authority or a panchayat or municipality is not available.”
The statute requires the court or the Board only to make an:
“inquiry” and in what manner that inquiry has to be conducted is provided in the JJ Rules.
They are not expected to conducted a ‘trial’ as contemplated under the Criminal Procedure Code.
GLAXO GROUP LIMITED & ORS vs. MR. RAJESH BANSAL & ORS[3]
a decree of permanent injunction was passed and a cost of Rs. 5 Lakhs was imposed in a suit filed by Glaxo Group Ltd. for infringement of trademark of ‘betnovate’ by using the term ‘benate’ by the defendant.
Thus holding the use of the term amounted to infringement of the trade mark and was done in order to encash the goodwill of the company.
LETS ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY SERVICES PVT. LTD. Vs. MANOJ DAS[4]
A Petition was filed for the appointment of an arbitrator on the basis of an unsigned draft agreement, which was recorded in emails.
It was held that “the provisions of Section 7 of the Act envisage that the existence of an Arbitration Agreement can be inferred from a document signed by the parties, or an exchange of letters, telex, telegrams, or other means of telecommunication which provide a record of the Agreement.”
It is clear that in the absence of signed agreement between the parties, it would be possible to infer from various documents duly approved and signed by the parties in the form of exchange of e-mails, letter, telex, telegrams and other means of telecommunication.
PARAMJEET SINGH vs STATE[5]
A father killed his 12 year old daughter, and caused grave injuries on his two other children and wife. The Court held upholding his conviction, and rejected his plea of insanity holding :
“Crimes are often committed or are a result of mental disorder/abnormality as in the cases of a serial killers like David Berkowitiz but the test of “insanity” as a legal term is restrictive and more precise. The legal test is that the accused because of disease of mind should be crippled by defect of reason from knowing the nature and quality of the act he was doing or if he did know it, then he did not know that it was wrong (morally) or was contrary to law.”
“the appellant was mentally disturbed and had quarrelsome nature, but it cannot be said that he was incapable of understanding the nature and character of his acts and consequences thereof qua to him and others.”
“The fact that he was mentally disturbed did not mean that he was in the state of confusion or suffering from mental debility to the extent required and mandated by Section 84 IPC.”
M/S. RALSON INDUSTRIES LTD. Vs. M/S. ADHUNIK TRANSPORT ORGANISATION LTD.[6]
Whether all suits would be barred against a sick company under SICA?
 Allowing the present review application, it was held that unless the dues are admitted by the sick company in a sanctioned scheme or is admitted before the court where the same suit is filed, no permission is required under Section 22 of SICA. It was held that before Section 22 could be invoked, the proceedings against the company are necessarily to be of the nature of ‘execution, distress or the like’.
All suits including that of recovery are not hit by Section 22 (1) of the SICA, but, only those suits which have the effect of execution, distress or like action against the properties of sick company, which would be hit by this provision.
INDIA TRADE PROMOTION ORGANISATION vs. INDIA INTERNATIONAL TEXTILE MACHINERY EXHIBITIONS SOCIETY[7]
The dispute in the appeal pertained to as to which whether Article 24 or 113 of the Limitation Act would apply. Article 24 states that limitation would be 3 years from receipt of the money, whereas Article 113 states that limitation would be 3 years from the date of right to sue. It was held that Article 24 ought to apply wherever the defendant has received money which in justice and equity belongs to the plaintiff under circumstances which in law render the receipt of it, a receipt by the defendant to the use of the plaintiff.
Meaning thereby, that the plaintiff should have a right immediately on tendering the money to seek refund there and then.
When it was pure and simple, a deposit, in anticipation of a contract and when given, it was not the intention of the plaintiff to take it back. That is the true test to determine whether Article 24 applies.
SMT. REKHA CHANDRA vs. NATIONAL BANK FOR AGRICULTURE & RURAL DEVELOPMENT AND ORS[8]
The petitioner had challenged her transfer orders by which she was being shifted from Delhi to Goa. The court refused to interfere in the petition on the following grounds -
“It is settled law that employment carries with it an obligation to serve the employer at whichever place the employee is required to be posted in accordance with the exigencies of service or administrative requirements.”
“Orders of transfer are ordinarily not interfered by the court save in grave exceptions or in ex facie violations of the rules or policies of an organization. If courts would start interfering in transfer orders, no organization will be able to function effectively.”
CHAMAN LAL & ORS. Vs. CENTRAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION[9]
The petitioners where convicted in the trial court and were sentenced to imprisonment for 5 years. They had appealed against this conviction, the said appeal was admitted although not decided. Meanwhile they had undergone 2 years in Jail. The court granted them bail and held
“while admitting the appeal, we tell the appellant that we have admitted your appeal inasmuch as we find prima facie merit in the same but unfortunately, we have no time to hear your appeal for quite a few years and, therefore, till the time we hear your appeal you must remain in jail, even though you may ultimately prove to be innocent. What confidence would such administration of justice inspire in the minds of the public.”
“It is therefore, absolutely essential that the practice which this Court has been following in the past must be reconsidered and so long as this Court is not in a position to hear the appeal of an accused within a reasonable period of time, the Court should ordinarily, unless there are cogent grounds for acting otherwise, release the accused on bail.”
SATNAM DASS NARANG vs. D.D.A.[10]
An allotment letter was issued by DDA, which was served by DDA at the address given by the allottee. However the allottee had by that time shifted to a new address. Thus the allottee remain unserved and the allotment of the plot was challenged. The court dismissed the challenge holding
“Once the appellant had shifted from the Faridabad House, he ought to have informed DDA about change of his address and sought incorporation of the new address in its record. It is not as if the appellant was not aware of the necessity to intimate change of address to the respondent.”
“Similarly, on his being transferred from the dispensary in South Patel Nagar, the appellant should have intimated DDA about change of his occupational address so that in the event of allotment, the demand letter could be sent to him either at his residential address or at his occupational address. Having not done so, the appellant was clearly negligent in taking care of his own interests.”
“DDA had issued advertisements in leading newspapers, along with the registration numbers of those whose demand-cum- allotment letters were received back unserved is to bring it to the notice of the registrants, particularly those whose addresses have changed that the allotment letters dispatched to them having been received unserved, they should immediately contact DDA to make payment and obtain possession of the flat allotted to them.”
“But, the obligation of DDA, in our opinion does not extend beyond sending such letters to the last residential and last occupational address disclosed by the registrants to it and no external enquiry needs to be made.”
SUGEETA CHHABRA vs. HARISH NAYAR[11]
An application under Order 6 Rule 17 was filed by the defendant in order to change his stand taken in the written statement, wherein he had admitted that the suit property was a self-acquired property, to say that it was an HUF property.
The court dismissed his application holding :
“if permission is granted to the defendant to amend the written statement, as prayed for, then it shall cause serious injustice to the plaintiff inasmuch as it will result in permitting the defendant to take contradictory and inconsistent pleas in negation of the position taken in his original written statement.”
“This would amount to permitting the defendant to change the very nature of his original defence and set up an entirely new case, which had not been taken by him in the written statement as originally filed. In fact, it is not merely a case of taking inconsistent pleas or addition of new grounds of defence, but an attempt on the part of the defendant to build up an entirely different and mutually incompatible defence.”
DALJIT SINGH vs. GOVT. OF N.C.T. OF DELHI & ORS.[12]
A retired government servant was granted only a package deal amount instead of the total medical cost incurred by him in the hospital. He challenged the said decision of the government claiming the full reimbursement.
Held that “merely because the Government does not revise the package deal amount under the Medical Attendance Rules from time to time a person cannot be denied actual medical costs, and there has to be reimbursement of the actual medical expenses incurred.”




[1] W.P.(CRL) 1188/2009 & CRL.M.A. 9918/2009
[2] CRL. REV. P. 510/2012
[3] CS(OS) No. 1013/2007
[4] ARB.P. 250/2012
[5] Crl. Appeal No. 586/2012
[6] REVIEW APPLN. 1/2013, C.M. 2 & 3 of 2013 in CM(M) 1010/2012
[7] RFA (OS) 10/2007
[8] W.P. (C) No.2673/2012
[9] CRIMINAL M.B. NOS.1044/2011, 1045/2011, 1046/2011, 1047/2011 IN CRIMINAL APPEAL NO.757 OF 2011
[10] LPA NO. 16/2013
[11] I.A. No.8998/2012 CS(OS) No. 1342/2011
[12] WP(C) No.16651/2006

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