Nominal Index [Citation 76 - 90]Rashmi Developments Pvt. Ltd. v. Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai and Ors. 2023 LiveLaw (Bom) 76Anjuman Moinut Tulba & Ors v. Education Officer Primary & Ors 2023 LiveLaw (Bom) 77Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing Co. Ltd. v. State of Maharashtra and Ors. 2023 LiveLaw (Bom) 78Bombay Lawyers Association v. Jagdeep Dhankad 2023 LiveLaw (Bom)...
Nominal Index [Citation 76 - 90]
Rashmi Developments Pvt. Ltd. v. Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai and Ors. 2023 LiveLaw (Bom) 76
Anjuman Moinut Tulba & Ors v. Education Officer Primary & Ors 2023 LiveLaw (Bom) 77
Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing Co. Ltd. v. State of Maharashtra and Ors. 2023 LiveLaw (Bom) 78
Bombay Lawyers Association v. Jagdeep Dhankad 2023 LiveLaw (Bom) 79
National Highways Authority of India v. State of Maharashtra and Ors. 2023 LiveLaw (Bom) 80
Vaishali Chaburao Katore v. State of Maharashtra and Ors. 2023 LiveLaw (Bom) 81
Chandaba w/o. Gangaram Pauyed v. State of Maharashtra 2023 LiveLaw (Bom) 82
Percept Finserve Pvt Ltd & Anr. v. Edelweiss Financial Services Ltd 2023 LiveLaw (Bom) 83
RMS v. MOP 2023 LiveLaw (Bom) 84
Yasin Gulab Shikalkar v. Maruti Nagnath Aware and Ors. 2023 LiveLaw (Bom) 85
Ashokrao s/o Uttamrao Pawar v. State of Maharashtra 2023 LiveLaw (Bom) 86
Sudam s/o. Ganpat Kothambire and Ors. v. State of Maharashtra and Ors. 2023 LiveLaw (Bom) 87
Hasmukh Solanki v. State of Maharashtra 2023 LiveLaw (Bom) 88
M/s. Ashok Commercial Enterprises and Anr. v. Rajesh Jugraj Madhani 2023 LiveLaw (Bom) 89
Harikesh @ Guddu Madan Kattilwar v. Deputy Police Commissioner 2023 LiveLaw (Bom) 90
Reports/Judgments
High Court Directs MCGM Commissioner To Decide Fate Of Proposed 'Floating Hotel' In Mumbai
Case Title: Rashmi Developments Pvt. Ltd. v. Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai and Ors.
Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Bom) 76
The Bombay High Court directed the Commissioner of Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) to take a final decision regarding grant of permission for construction of a Floating Hotel (Floatel) anchoring off the Raj Bhavan.
The court directed the Commissioner to first decide whether he has exclusive jurisdiction to decide the matter or whether recommendations from the three-member committee formed by the High Court are required.
The Commissioner has to decide the NOC application within four weeks from the date of his decision regarding jurisdiction and within eight weeks from the date of submission of all relevant papers and representation by the petitioner company.
Case Title: Anjuman Moinut Tulba & Ors v. Education Officer Primary & Ors
Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Bom) 77
The Bombay High Court directed the civic body of Malegaon city in Maharashtra to conduct surprise inspections at 27 government aided schools and ascertain if they had operational kitchens and storage rooms to provide midday meals for its students.
A division bench of Justices GS Patel and Neela Gokhale was hearing the schools’ petitions seeking directions to the municipal corporation to re-start supplying uncooked grains instead of asking schools to take cooked meals from the centralized community kitchen chains.
“We are not allowing you to outsource the cooking. You don't have the fundamental right to poison children because you are a minority institution…We cannot take the risk,” Justice Patel said refusing to even consider the proposition that the schools may by supplied food grains and outsource the cooking.
After hearing all the parties the bench noted in the order, “In the state there is no absolute prohibition on schools preparing its own midday meal. It is equally not necessary for schools to have the infrastructure to prepare their meals and can receive the midday meals.”
Case Title: Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing Co. Ltd. v. State of Maharashtra and Ors.
Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Bom) 78
The Bombay High Court green flagged the bullet train project and refused to set aside the acquisition of Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing Co. Ltd's plot at Vikhroli.
"There are no irregularities in the acquisition...Project is of paramount importance...Public interest would prevail over private interest," a division bench of Justices RD Dhanuka and MM Sathaye observed. The court has also refused to stay the project.
Godrej had challenged the award and compensation of Rs 264 crore by the deputy collector on September 15, 2022 for acquiring 39,252 sqm (9.69 acre) of company land for the Mumbai - Ahmedabad bullet train project. The company claimed the amount was a fraction of the initial offering of Rs. 572 crores.
Case Title: Bombay Lawyers Association v. Jagdeep Dhankad
Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Bom) 79
The Bombay High Court on Thursday dismissed a PIL against the Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar and Law Minister Kiren Rijiju for their constant public criticism of the judiciary’s ‘collegium system’ and remarks against the basic structure doctrine.
Petitioner - the Bombay Lawyers Association sought to restrain them from discharging their duties claiming that the two have disqualified themselves from holding constitutional posts of Vice President and Minister of the Union Cabinet through their conduct, having expressed lack of faith in the Constitution of India.
The petitioner has called the attack on the judiciary as a frontal attack on the constitution and narrated several instances.
“For reasons to be recorded separately PIL is dismissed,” the division bench of ACJ SV Gangapurwala and Justice Sandeep Marne said.
Case Title: National Highways Authority of India v. State of Maharashtra and Ors.
Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Bom) 80
The Bombay High Court allowed felling of mangrove trees within the construction zone of the Vadodara Mumbai expressway observing that the proposed expressway will benefit large sections of the population. The court noted that NHAI has acquired permission from all authorities subject to stringent conditions. For example, the ministry of environment has required compensatory afforestation and to develop a separate nursery to raise at least 1 lakh seedlings of forest species.
Case Title: Vaishali Chaburao Katore v. State of Maharashtra and Ors.
Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Bom) 81
The Bombay High Court held that a child who was born after the cut-off date but passed away before nomination, would not be counted to disqualify the parent from contesting panchayat elections under the Maharashtra Village Panchayat Act, 1959.
Justice Arun R. Pedneker of the Aurangabad Bench set aside the authorities’ order disqualifying a woman on the ground that she had more than two children after the cut-off date.
Case Title: Chandaba w/o. Gangaram Pauyed v. State of Maharashtra
Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Bom) 82
The Bombay High Court held that dismissal of a compensation enhancement claim only because the claimant did not lead evidence cannot be termed a decision on merits. Observing thus, the High Court set aside the reference court's dismissal of five claims under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894.
Justice Sharmila U. Deshmukh of the Aurangabad bench observed that the reference Court has to consider factors under Section 23 of the Act to decide the claim.
SPA Which Gives Option To Resell Shares To Vendor, Not A ‘Forward Contract’: Bombay High Court
Case Title: Percept Finserve Pvt Ltd & Anr. v. Edelweiss Financial Services Ltd
Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Bom) 83
The Bombay High Court ruled that a Share Purchase Agreement (SPA), which gives an option to the purchaser to require the seller/vendor to repurchase the shares on the occurrence of a contingency, does not constitute a ‘forward contract’ and thus, the same is enforceable.
The bench of Justices K. R. Shriram and Rajesh S. Patil, was dealing with an arbitral award, where the Arbitral Tribunal had ruled that the option contained in the SPA was unenforceable since it constituted a contract in derivatives which was not traded on a stock exchange, the same being illegal under Section 18A of the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act, 1956 (SCRA).
Upholding the order of the Single Judge where it had set aside the arbitral award, the Division Bench held that merely because the contract contains a “put option” in respect of securities, the contract cannot be termed as a trade or contract in derivatives. Thus, the Court held that the option contemplated under the SPA was not prohibited in law.
Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Bom) 84
A woman doesn’t have the right to obstruct the sale of her estranged husband’s home if he is willing to provide her a rented accommodation with similar facilities, the Bombay High Court has held.
The court made the observation while refusing to interfere with an order of the Family Court permitting the husband to sell the flat for clearing an outstanding loan. The Family Court had also directed the wife to move out of the accommodation and choose a suitable two-bedroom rental flat, failing which she would be handed over Rs. 50,000 per month.
The court observed that such an order takes care of the rights of both parties and the wife can’t be heard to say that she would obstruct sale merely because she is habituated to the flat.
Case Title: Yasin Gulab Shikalkar v. Maruti Nagnath Aware and Ors.
Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Bom) 85
Observing that a plaintiff cannot be made to suffer if a Court Commissioner did not follow the procedure while making a report, the Bombay High Court has held that the Appellate Court can appoint another Court Commissioner if the one appointed by the Trial Court failed to present a correct picture of the suit land and same will not attract res judicata
Justice Sandeep V. Marne set aside District Court’s order refusing to appoint another Court Commissioner in a case where trial court had appointed one to measure the suit land. The trial court had discarded the Court Commissioner’s report as he had not issued notice to adjacent landholders before taking measurements of the suit land. Court added that even the trial court could have appointed another Commissioner.
Case Title: Ashokrao s/o Uttamrao Pawar v. State of Maharashtra
Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Bom) 86
Observing bail has to be granted or rejected by a speaking order, the Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court directed the subordinate Courts to desist from using rubber stamps to decide bail applications.
A bail order produced before a bench of Justice Vinay Joshi and Justice Valmiki Menezes reflected it had been "rendered on a rubber stamp with blank spaces" in which the Magistrate had filled in the bond amount without mentioning any other details.The court said that there is no apparent authorization for the use of such rubber stamps to enable a Magistrate to grant bail. Grant of bail is a matter of discretion to be exercised by the concerned Magistrate, who is expected to apply his mind after considering the material on record and is required to be granted or rejected by a speaking order.
The court directed the Registrar to circulate its judgement to all District and Sessions courts.
Case Title: Sudam s/o. Ganpat Kothambire and Ors. v. State of Maharashtra and Ors.
Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Bom) 87
The Bombay High Court held that grant of membership of a cooperative society to any person can be challenged only by filing a dispute before the co-operative court under Section 91 of the Maharashtra Co-Operative Societies Act, 1960.
Justice Arun R. Pednekar of the Aurangabad bench observed that such a challenge does not lie under section 79A as State cannot pass any direction in public interest which contravenes Section 23 of the Act.
Case Title: Hasmukh Solanki v. State of Maharashtra
Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Bom) 88
The Bombay High Court rejected a plea seeking transfer of advocate Shahid Azmi’s murder trial.
"I do not find any reason to come to the conclusion that the learned Judge was biased against the applicant. There is no material to apprehend for the applicant that he would not get fair trial before the learned Judge. Hence, no case is made out for transferring the proceedings to any other Sessions Judge," said Justice Prakash D. Naik, while dismissing the petition filed by accused Hasmukh Solanki.
Case Title: M/s. Ashok Commercial Enterprises and Anr. v. Rajesh Jugraj Madhani
Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Bom) 89
The Bombay High Court held that the application for summary judgment before the Civil Court under Order 13-A of the CPC by a person, whose summary suit is converted to commercial suit, is maintainable.
Justice Sandeep V. Marne held that such conversion would not cause the petitioner to lose both right to seek summary judgment under Order 13-A and pronouncement of judgment under Order 37 Rule 3.
Case Title: Harikesh @ Guddu Madan Kattilwar v. Deputy Police Commissioner
Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Bom) 90
The Bombay High Court held that subjective satisfaction for passing an externment order cannot be recorded on the basis of a crime in which the accused was acquitted.
Justice G. A. Sanap sitting at Nagpur quashed an externment order and noted that no reason has been given for ordering externment for two years from the entire Amravati District even though all the registered crimes were within the jurisdiction of Frezarpura Police Station, Amravati City.
The court said that the order of externment suffers from the “virus of excessiveness” as the Divisional Commissioner confirmed it despite recording the fact of the petitioner’s acquittal in four of the crimes.
Other Developments
No Police Mock Drills Depicting Members Of A Particular Community As Terrorists: Bombay High Court
Case Title: Sayed Usama S/O. Abdul Kadir v. State Of Maharashtra And Ors
A Public Interest Litigation filed before the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court seeks guidelines for police mock drills citing three mock drills where a police constable playing the role of a terrorist was dressed as a Muslim and was shouting “Nara-E-Takbeer, Allah-u-Akbar” after being arrested during the drill.
Hearing the PIL on February 3, 2022, a division bench of Justices Mangesh Patil and S G Chapalgaonkar, has directed that no mock drills be conducted depicting persons of a particular community as terrorists till the next date of the hearing. The bench has also directed the Public Prosecutor to take instructions and inform the court if there are any guidelines for holding of the mock drills.