Patna High Court Weekly Round-Up: January 22 - January 28, 2024

Sri Vishnupad Bhagwan Through His Next Friend Sri Kanhaiya Lal Gurda And Others Vs. The Bihar State Board Of Religious Trust And Others 2024 LiveLaw (Pat) 11

Amit Kumar vs The State of Bihar and Ors 2024 LiveLaw (Pat) 12

Dr. Uday Chandra Mishra vs. The State of Bihar 2024 LiveLaw (Pat) 13

National Insurance Co. Lt vs The State of Bihar and Ors 2024 LiveLaw (Pat) 14

Amit Lodha vs The State Of Bihar 2024 LiveLaw (Pat) 15

Judgements/Orders This Week

Gaya's Vishnupad Temple Is A Public Trust, Not Private Property Of Gayawal Brahmins: Patna High Court

Case Title - Sri Vishnupad Bhagwan Through His Next Friend Sri Kanhaiya Lal Gurda And Others Vs. The Bihar State Board Of Religious Trust And Others

Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Pat) 11

The Patna High Court has held that the Vishnupad temple, the centre for Hindus' Shraddha rites in the state's Gaya district, is a religious public trust and not a private property of the GayawalsBrahmins (the traditional priests of the temple).

“Considering the aforesaid facts and circumstances particularly the origin of temple, the right exercised by the devotee with regard to worship, nature and extent of gift/contribution made by the public and the dictum laid down in the aforesaid decisions, there is hardly any room for doubt that Vishnupad temple is a religious public trust and not a private property of the Gayawals Brahmins,” observed a bench of Justice Sunil Dutta Mishra while dismissing the second appeal filed on behalf of a group of Gayawal Pandas.

Patna HC Quashes FIR Against Professor Falsely Accused Of Failing To Join Exam Evaluation Centre, Imposes 25K Cost On State Board For 'Harassment'

Case Title: Amit Kumar vs The State of Bihar and Ors

LL Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Pat) 12

The Patna High Court has quashed an FIR against a teacher who was falsely accused by the Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) for allegedly not joining the allotted evaluation center for the evaluation of answer booklets for the Intermediate 2019 Annual (Philosophical) Examination

Furthermore, the court has imposed costs on the BSEB for its involvement in the unfounded allegations.

Justice Rajeev Ranjan Prasad observed, “This Court is of the considered opinion that lodging of the FIR in the given circumstances is nothing but a tool of sheer harassment to the petitioner. The petitioner is a Professor and is facing the investigation for the last four years in a case in which there is no criminality involved.”

Order Holding Regularisation Of Service Illegal 5 Yrs After Retirement Was Unjustified: Patna HC Provides Relief To Padmabhushan Singer Sharda Sinha

Case Title: Dr. Uday Chandra Mishra vs. The State of Bihar

LL Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Pat) 13

Patna High Court last week granted relief to the 71-year-old, Indian folk and classical singer, Padmabhushan Sharda Sinha while setting aside the government order on the basis of which the payment for pension and other retrial benefits of the singer was stopped by her employer, Lalit Narayan Mithila University (LNMU), Darbhanga.

Justice Harish Kumar while allowing two writ petitions filed by Sinha and another LNMU professor, Dr. Uday Kant Mishra, observed, “If an employee has been accorded all the benefits of a regular employee, viz, regular salary in the prescribed pay- scale, increment, promotion leading to regularization and unconditional superannuation with all the retiral benefits, he is obviously a regular holder of the post.”

“If their services is to be terminated or regularization is to be cancelled, State Government should have resorted to statutory rules and regulation, applicable to them. Thus, once a right has been created or vested in favour of the petitioners, that cannot be divested unilaterally, in such a casual and cavalier manner without giving any show cause notice or proper opportunity of hearing,” Justice Kumar added.

Patna High Court Imposes Fine Of Rs. 5,000 On GST Officer For 'Forcible And Illegal Recovery' Amid Non-Functional GST Tribunal

Case Title: National Insurance Co. Lt vs The State of Bihar and Ors

LL Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Pat) 14

In a recent ruling, the Patna High Court slapped a fine of Rs 5,000 on a Goods and Services Tax ( GST ) officer for forcible and illegal recovery of the full tax amount from a man waiting to avail the statutory remedy of appeal before GST tribunal which has not been made functional in Bihar.

The court has directed the department to reimburse the entire collected tax within 2 weeks. The ruling was issued by a division bench led by Chief Justice K Vinod Chandran and Justice Rajiv Roy, granting relief to the National Insurance Company's Patna regional office.

The Court observed, “In the present case, also we direct the entire amounts recovered as on 07.01.2023, be refunded to the assessee within a period of two weeks from today, failing which interest shall run at the rate of 12 per cent per annum. If the amounts are satisfied within two weeks, as directed hereinabove, it is made clear that if eventually the demand is confirmed against the assessee, there shall not be any interest claimed under the statute between the date on which the amounts were credited by the bank and the date of refund as directed hereinabove; since the State had the benefit of the amounts in its coffers. If the liability is set aside then for the period the assessee was deprived of the amounts peremptorily recovered, the petitioner shall be entitled to claim interest from the department.”

Patna High Court Refuses To Quash FIR Against IPS Amit Lodha In Disproportionate Asset Case, Directs State To Conclude Investigation In 6 Months

Case Title: Amit Lodha vs The State Of Bihar

LL Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Pat) 15

While rejecting Bihar Cadre Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Amit Lodha's plea to quash the first information report (FIR) related to a Disproportionate Asset (DA) case lodged against him by the Special Vigilance Unit (SVU), the Patna High Court has directed the SVU to take the investigation of this case to its logical end within six months

Lodha, a 1998 batch IPS officer, currently posted as the Inspector General, State Crime Records Bureau, Bihar, Patna, had in December, 2022 filed a criminal writ petition before the court to quash the FIR lodged against him on December 7, 2022.

Justice Rajeev Ranjan Prasad observed, “In the present case, as per the allegations and the evidences which have been collected so far, it is contended that the petitioner has accumulated assets valued more than 7 crores even as his total income from all legal sources would not be more than 2 crores in gross without any deductions. The investigation of the case is still pending and the SVU has come out with a statement in its report that the investigation will take at least six more months.”

Other Developments

Patna High Court Records 112.12% Case Clearance Rate In 2023; District Judiciary Records 84.56%

The Patna High Court has exhibited commendable efficiency in case disposal, and managed to clear a substantial number of cases filed in the year 2023.

According to official statistics, the High Court successfully disposed of 138,845 cases out of the 123,830 cases instituted during the year, resulting in an impressive Case Clearance Rate (CCR) of 112.12%.

Comparing this to the previous year, the CCR stood at 112.84, with the High Court resolving 122,122 cases out of 108,224 filed. This indicates a consistent commitment to timely and effective case resolution by the judiciary.