L-NLProc/TathyaNyaya-and-FactLegalLlama-NyayaScrape-Datasets huggingface dataset:
M.D., Karnataka Handloom Dev. Corpn. ... vs Sri Mahadeva Laxman Raval

Karnataka Handloom Development Corporation Limited is the appellant in this appeal. The appellant-Corporation is a Public Sector Enterprise established by the Karnataka State Government to promote and assist the growth and development of the Handloom Industry outside the Cooperative sector in the State.

The respondent was appointed for various spells of fixed periods on a fixed honorarium as an expert weaver to train the weavers in the unorganized sector. The respondent was appointed on contract basis for a period of 200 days only, on a fixed pay of Rs.400 per month with a stipulation that the contract of appointment automatically expires on the 201st day.

The State Government introduced "VISHWA" programme to train and TO rehabilitate the weavers. The respondent was appointed specifically under the scheme on contract basis in February, 1993 for a period of 3 months on different terms of pay of Rs.1,000/- per month. He was again appointed on contract basis for a period of 9 months as per the terms set out in the letter of appointment. After the expiry of the contract of appointment, on 31.08.1994, he was not appointed again. Being aggrieved, the respondent raised an Industrial Dispute. The Labour Department referred the dispute under Section 10(1)(c) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 (hereinafter called "the I.D. Act") for adjudication, inter alia, on the question (a) whether the Project Administrator Handloom, Banhatti is justified in refusing employment to the workman. The appellant-Corporation, inter alia, contended that: 1) the I.D. Act does not apply to the respondent and 2) the respondent, his father and his wife have been doing business with the appellant at the relevant time and that the respondent was independently doing the weaving business and 3) the respondent was engaged on contract basis for fixed periods only and later under a specific scheme/Vishwa programme introduced by the State and that the scheme has already been closed and as such there are no funds for continuing with the said scheme.

If you are agreeable to the above terms and conditions, you are requested to sign the duplicate copy hereof and send it to us in token of having accepted the appointment and report for duty to the Project Administrator, intensive Handloom Development Project, Banhatti, after communicating your acceptance. If you fail to convey your acceptance and report for duty as advised above, it will be presumed that you are not interested to accept the appointment order and the appointment order will be revoked without further reference to you.
Kores (India) Ltd vs Bank Of Maharashtra & Ors

2. The Bank of Maharashtra filed an appeal before the Division Bench. By an interim order dated 4.4.1996, the Division Bench appointed a receiver, the Court Receiver, High Court of Bombay, for the industrial undertaking. The court also directed the receiver to appoint the appellant as his agent in respect of the property on usual terms and conditions without security. The undertaking including the machinery which was already in possession of the appellant as a lessee, was permitted to be continued in the possession of the appellant. Subsequently, the Division Bench confirmed the order appointing the receiver. It noticed the contention of the appellant that the court receiver was not entitled to claim from the appellant anything more than what the appellant was liable to pay to M/s Jyoti Chemicals. The Division Bench did not answer that contention but directed the appellant to make that submission before the receiver and observed that the receiver was bound to take all relevant materials into consideration. The order also directed that the appellant should continue to pay a sum of Rs. 20 lakhs per year to the receiver who in turn would pay over the said amount to Citi Bank. The order also directed that the receiver should separately fix and collect royalty in respect of the plant and machinery located in the State of Andhra Pradesh. By a subsequent order, the order was modified by substituting the figure of Rs. 19 lakhs per year as against Rs. 20 lakhs per year as payable by the appellant since Rs. 1 lakh out of Rs. 20 lakhs was to be adjusted out of the sum of Rs. 11 lakhs paid as security.

10. It is seen that the appellant had deposited a sum of Rs. 34,99,232.87 on 12.10.2004 in the light of the order passed by the Debts Recovery Tribunal and the extension of time granted by this Court for making that payment. Out of this amount, the Debts Recovery Tribunal will disburse to the Bank of Maharashtra royalty at the rate of Rs.5 lakhs per year for the relevant period and refund the balance to the appellant. If the amount deposited had earned any interest, the interest on the sum of Rs. 5 lakhs per year will also be disbursed to the respondent Bank. Since the appellant had surrendered the premises on expiry of the term on 30.9.2000, the above adjustment would put an end to the obligation of the appellant imposed by the court on appointing a receiver at the instance of the Bank of Maharashtra. The balance amount with interest, if any, would be refunded to the appellant.

11. The appeal is thus allowed as above to the limited extent with a direction to the parties to suffer their respective costs in this Court.
M/S. Ambica Construction vs Union Of India

Pursuant to a Tender Notice, issued by the respondent for certain new works, additions, alterations, repair and maintenance works in the Mancheswar Complex, the appellant submitted its tender on 2nd September, 1992. The appellant's tender was duly accepted by a letter dated 14th September, 1992 with the stipulation that the work was to be completed in all respects by 30th June, 1993. It was also indicated that the work orders were to be issued within 7 days from the date of receipt of the acceptance letter. A formal contract was executed between the parties on 4th March, 1993 and the said agreement provided that the General Conditions of Contract and Standard Specifications of the South Eastern Railways shall be applicable to the contract. Clause 63 of the General Conditions of Contract provides for settlement of disputes by Arbitration.

By a letter dated 17th January, 1996, the appellant called upon the respondent to make payment of a sum of Rs.8,73,168/- and Rs.1,31,642/- which, according to the appellant, was due from the respondent to the appellant under the contract, failing which the respondent was requested to appoint an Arbitrator for adjudication of the disputes which had arisen between the parties. In view of the failure of the respondent either to pay the dues, as demanded, or to appoint an Arbitrator, the appellant filed an application under Section 11 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (hereinafter called "the 1996 Act") before the Calcutta High Court for reference of its claims in terms of its letter dated 17th January, 1996 to arbitration and for appointment of an Arbitrator. No reply was filed by the respondent to the said application but during the pendency thereof, the respondent refunded to the appellant, the security deposit of Rs.79,000/-. The same was received by the appellant under protest.

As no objection was taken by the respondent to the appellant's application under Section 11 of the 1996 Act or with regard to the submission of the No Claim Certificate by the appellant at the time of receiving the security deposit, the learned Single Judge of the Calcutta High Court, by his order dated 20th February, 1998, directed the matter to be placed before Hon'ble the Chief Justice for naming an Arbitrator for adjudication of the disputes. On 12th March, 1998, the Chief Justice appointed one Shri Subrata Bagchi as Sole Arbitrator to go into the disputes between the parties. The Arbitrator came to a finding that the No Claim Certificate had been signed by the appellant under duress and coercion but disallowed the various claims of the appellant amounting to Rs.10 lakhs. However, the Arbitrator awarded a sum of Rs.1,03,000/- as costs to the appellant.

The Union of India filed a Review Petition, being GA No.1265 of 2005, for review of the aforesaid judgment dated 16th March, 2004 but the same was also dismissed on 23rd September, 2004. SLP (C) No.2753 of 2005 is directed against the order passed on the Review Petition.

The appeals are accordingly allowed. The impugned judgments in the two appeals are both set aside. There will, however, be no order as to costs.
Kansing Kalusing Thakore And Ors vs Rabari Maganbhai Vashrambhai And Ors

In this PIL, the following question of law of great public importance arise for consideration of this Court which is, "whether the High Court failed to appreciate that the process for rehabilitation was under a policy decision of the Government of Gujarat and the lands being allotted to the appellants as an administrative act, which allotments was in lieu of the lands of the appellants acquired by the Government decades earlier, the judicial interference in the decision making process and policy of the Government not warranted in the facts of the case."

On 09.08.2004, the Deputy Collector passed 3 separate orders. He verified individual cases and took a final decision after consultation with the Collector whereby the reserved lands at survey Nos. 125 and 126 of village Rasana Nana were directed to be granted over to the appellants who also paid the occupancy price subsequently. It is stated that the order of the Deputy Collector was in furtherance of the policy decision of the State and was part of an Administrative Act. The appellants' claims were based upon the principles of legitimate expectation and the reliefs claimed by them were equitable in nature.

4. Exceeding 15 Acres. 5 Acres.

Upto 9 Acres.

In our opinion, none of the appellants have violated any of the rights guaranteed to the petitioners in the writ petition either under the Constitution or under any other law and hence the PIL filed by the respondents herein is not at all maintainable and is liable to be dismissed. Now that the civil appeals are allowed, we direct the respondent-authorities to grant possession of the land immediately to the appellants without insisting for any undertaking from the appellants as directed by the High Court in its impugned judgment. Since the patience of the appellants have been tested for so long by the State Government and other authorities and also the public interest litigant, it is not proper for the government and other appropriate authorities to ask the appellants to wait for any longer.

We direct the government and the other appropriate authorities to immediately handover possession of the land allotted to them by way of rehabilitation.

Accordingly, we dismiss the writ petitions filed by the respondents and allow the above civil appeals and set aside the order impugned in these civil appeals passed by the High Court of Gujarat. However, we order no costs.
Rishikesh Sharma vs Saroj Sharma

The husband is the appellant before us. The respondent is his wife. They got married according to the Hindu rites and customs in the year 1972. After three years of marriage a daughter was born of the wedlock. Because of the misunderstanding between them the respondent started living separately from her husband from the year 1981 onwards and is working in the Social Forestry Department. The respondent also filed several criminal proceedings against her husband with which we are not concerned in this appeal.

In the year 1989 the appellant filed a petition for a decree of dissolution of marriage on the ground of mental cruelty and the respondent having deserted him without any reasonable cause. The District Judge, Gwalior, dismissed the petition filed by the husband for dissolution of the marriage. The Appellant filed a first appeal in the High Court under Sec. 28 of the Hindu Marriage Act. The High Court also dismissed the appeal of the appellant. The appellant has therefore questioned the correctness of the order passed by the High Court in the above appeal.

In our opinion it will not be possible for the parties to live together and therefore there is no purpose in compelling both the parties to live together. Therefore the best course in our opinion is to dissolve the marriage by passing a decree of divorce so that the parties who are litigating since 1981 and have lost valuable part of life can live peacefully in remaining part of their life.

In the result, the appeal filed by the husband stands allowed. There will be a decree of dissolution of marriage in favour of the husband.

No costs.
Lekha vs P. Anil Kumar

The present appeal is directed against the order of the High Court of Kerala allowing matrimonial appeal for the custody of the child of the respondent by reversing the finding of fact arrived at by the trial Court. The trial Court, after considering the evidence on record and interviewing the child, came to the conclusion that for the welfare of the child the custody should be given to the mother and dismissed the original petition of the respondent-father filed under the Guardians and Wards Act holding that he is not entitled for the custody of the child. On appeal, the High Court reversed the finding of the trial Court and directed to give the custody of the child to the father without interviewing the child. The High Court also permitted the respondent to take the child to Gulf.

As indicated hereinbefore, we have spoken to the child who, in our view, is intelligent and appears to be capable of expressing his preference. In fact, he has in no uncertain terms indicated his desire to stay with his mother. His mother's second marriage, instead of proving to be a disadvantage, has proved to be beneficial for the child who seems to be happy and contented in his present situation and we do not think it would be right to unsettle the same. The High Court committed a grave error in not ascertaining the wishes of the minor, which has consistently been held by the Courts to be of relevance in deciding grant of custody of minor children. We are, therefore, inclined to restore the order passed by the Family Court and to give custody of the minor boy to his mother, but as indicated hereinbefore, we do not want the child to grow up without knowing the love and affection of his natural father who too has a right to help in the child's upbringing. We are of the view that although the custody of the minor child is being given to the mother, the child should also get sufficient exposure to his natural father and accordingly we permit the respondent to have custody of the child from the appellant during Onam and other important festivals and during the school vacation. We make it clear that the appellant-mother shall hand over the child to the respondent-father during every mid summer vacation for about a month without adversely affecting the child's education. The appellant should not also prevent the respondent-father from coming to see the child during weekends and the appellant should make necessary arrangements for the respondent to meet his child on such occasions. The appellant should not also prevent the child from receiving any gift that may be given by the respondent- father to the child.

In the result, the above civil appeal stands allowed and the judgment and final order passed by the High Court of Kerala in matrimonial appeal No. 208 of 2005 is set aside. However, there will be no order as to costs.
Kalyan Singh vs State Of Madhya Pradesh Th. Secy. (Home)

2. The incident occurred at about 4.30 p.m. on 31.7.1989. The first informant Gyan Singh, who is the brother of the deceased, had gone to take bath at the well of one Dangal Singh Yadav. Allegedly Gyan Singh, who was also coming to the well for taking bath, found that his brother had been taking bath using soap on his body when Budh Singh armed with 12 bore double barrel rifle, Kalyan Singh armed with 12 bore double barrel rifle, Ashok Yadav armed with Topidar rifle of Kalyan and Gulab and Dashrath armed with rifles reached the spot and surrounded the well. The appellant herein is said to have given an exhortation pursuant whereto Budh Singh fired at Durga Singh Rawat (the deceased) from behind resulting in his death. The learned Trial Judge disbelieved that part of the prosecution story whereby Kalyan Singh, Ashok Kumar and Gulab Singh were roped in, inter alia on the ground that Gyan Singh (PW-1) stated in his deposition that Kalyan Singh said: "hit sale main" "he should not escape", but the statement of Munna Lal (PW-2) is that Kalyan Singh said to Budh Singh: "hit sale main", and thus there was contradiction between the statements of PW-1 and PW-2.

4. The High Court, however, reversed the said findings on the premise that the findings of the learned Trial Judge are perverse and contrary to records. The High Court did not interfere with the judgment of acquittal passed in favour of Gyan Singh and Ashok Kumar. The only ground which weighed with the High Court was the deposition of the witnesses to the effect that Kalyan Singh asked Budh Singh : "Hit Sale Ko, enemy should not escape. The High Court unfortunately did not notice that the learned Trial Judge analysed the evidence of the said witnesses in great details and found inconsistencies therein. The learned Trial Judge stated, it will bear repetition to state, that he did not accept the prosecution case so far as Kalyan Singh is concerned as also on the ground that the depositions of the prosecution witnesses who were inimically disposed towards Kalyan Singh.

6. We, therefore, having regard to the fact situation of the instant case, are of the opinion that as two views are possible, the High Court should not have interfered with the judgment of acquittal passed by the learned Sessions Judge.

We, therefore, set aside the impugned judgment and allow this appeal. The appellant is in jail, he is directed to be released forthwith if not required in connection with any other case.
M/S. Reliance Salt Ltd vs M/S. Cosmos Enterprises & Anr

The 1st Respondent herein was appointed as a Consignment Agent by an agreement dated 23.12.1993 in regard to the sale of products of the Appellant Company-plaintiff, namely, Salt and Tea in South and Central Bihar. In terms of the said agreement it was required to furnish a Bank Guarantee for a sum of Rs.5 lakhs. The transactions between the parties started in January, 1994. Some of the clauses in the said Bank Guarantee are as under :

In the said suit, whereas Appellant filed a written statement, the Bank did not choose to file any. The suit was decreed on contest against Appellant and ex parte against Respondent No.2. An appeal taken therefrom by Appellant before the Patna High Court being First Appeal No.28/1997 was dismissed by a learned Single Judge by an order dated 31.7.2000. An intra-court appeal was filed as against by Appellant, which was found to be not maintainable, purported to be in view of the amended provisions of Section 100-A of the Code of Civil Procedure.

Paragraphs 11, 16 and 19 of the pleadings and the evidences adduced on behalf of 1st Respondent, thus, were confined to the issue of inferior quality of supply, late supply and short supply of consignments.

Submission of Mr. Ranjit Kumar that after the judgment of the High Court the 1st Respondent has got all documents released, cannot be a ground to refuse invokation of Bank Guarantee by Appellant, if it was otherwise entitled thereto.

We, therefore, are of the opinion that the impugned judgments cannot be sustained. They are set aside accordingly. The appeal is allowed. This order shall not, however, come in the way of Respondents to file a suit for accounts or take other measures which are available to them in law. Respondent No.1 shall pay and bear the costs of Appellant in the appeal. Counsel fee assed at Rs.10,000/-.
Union Public Service Commission vs L.P. Tiwari & Ors

Shri L.P. Tiwari, respondent No.1 in the first matter and Shri DP. Dwivedi, respondent No.1 in the second matter, were serving as State Service Forest Officers in the post of Assistant Conservator of Forests in the office of the Divisional Forest Officer, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. Both the said officers became eligible to be promoted to the Indian Forest Service under the provisions of the I.F.S. (Appointment by Promotion) Regulations, 1966 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Regulations') Regulation 3 of the said Regulations provides for the appointment of a Selection Committee consisting of the Chairman of the Union Public Service Commission or where the Chairman is unable to attend, any other Member of the Union Public Service Commission along with the following members as far as the State of Madhya Pradesh is concerned:-

From the submissions made and the materials on record, we are satisfied that the methodology which has been evolved and included in the Regulations for grading the eligible officers have been religiously followed by the Selection Committee which did not call for any interference by the Tribunal. The High Court has merely followed the decision of the Tribunal without independently applying its mind to the facts involved. We accordingly allow the appeal and set aside the judgment of the High Court impugned in this appeal as also that of the Tribunal.

There will, however, be no order as to costs.
Parme Hansda And Another vs State Of Bihar (Now Jharkhand)

The prosecution case in brief is that Jharia Kisku, father of the first informant, had gone to Simlong Hatia on Monday and when he did not return by night, then on the next day at about at 8 A.M., Prame Hansda (appellant No.1) informed the first informant that his father Jharia Kisku was caught while he was committing theft of one Bati in his house in the night of Monday and thereafter he was tied with a rope. Thereafter the first informant and others went to Baraghaghari and they found Jharai Kisku tied at the house of the Pradhan. On their arrival a Panchayat was called for. It was stated that after committing theft of one Bati, Jharia Kisku was trying to flee away and thereafter he was caught and he was assaulted and tied with a rope. A sum of Rs.100/- was also imposed as fine by the Panchayat. On enquiry from Jharia Kisku, it was found that he was brutally assaulted by the appellants by Lathi and Danda by levelling false allegation of theft against him and he was tied with a rope. The first information report was lodged accordingly. The police investigated into the case and submitted a charge sheet in the case against the appellants. The appellants appeared before the Additional Sessions Judge where charge was framed under Sections 342 and 304 of the Indian Penal Code to which they pleaded not guilty.

Against the aforesaid judgment, an appeal was filed in the High Court which was dismissed on 5.5.2003 by the impugned judgment. Hence, the present appeal.

From a perusal of the portion of the FIR extracted above, it seems that the deceased was attacked by other villagers with lathi and danda. Thus the possibility that the deceased was beaten up by other villagers and not by the appellants cannot be ruled out. Hence, in our opinion the appellants are entitled to the benefit of doubt.

We have carefully perused the evidence also in this case. There are no eye witnesses to the incident. No doubt, some of the witnesses have deposed before the trial court that it was the appellants who beat the deceased, in view of the version given in the FIR (mentioned above) the evidence on this point cannot be said to be totally reliable.

The appellants have already undergone imprisonment for 5 years.

For the reasons given above, the appeal is allowed. The conviction and sentence of the appellants are set aside. The appellants are directed to be released forthwith if not wanted in connection with any other case.