Punjab And Haryana High Court Monthly Digest: January & February 2023
Athira Prasad
6 March 2023 1:00 PM IST
Nominal Index [Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 1-37]M/s Simplex Infrastructure Ltd. & Anr. versus M/s J.P. Singla Engineers and Contractor 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 1Jagjit Singh @ Jaggi v. State of Punjab 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 2Sandeep Singh Sandhu vs. State of Punjab along with connected matters 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 3M/s. G.D. Goenka School v. Parveen Singh Shekhawat and Others and M/s. G.D. Goenka School...
Nominal Index [Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 1-37]
M/s Simplex Infrastructure Ltd. & Anr. versus M/s J.P. Singla Engineers and Contractor 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 1
Jagjit Singh @ Jaggi v. State of Punjab 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 2
Sandeep Singh Sandhu vs. State of Punjab along with connected matters 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 3
M/s. G.D. Goenka School v. Parveen Singh Shekhawat and Others and M/s. G.D. Goenka School v. Ajay Singh Shekhawat and Others 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 4
Rahul v. Shalini 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 5
Hari Ram Hans Vs Smt Deepali & Ors. 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 6
Sunil Sachdeva v. Rashmi and Another 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 7
Sunil Kumar Chauhan v. State of UT, Madhukar Dubey v. State of UT, and Akarm Mohmmad v. State of UT 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 8
Ajay Mehra v. Gauri 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 9
Sarjeet Singh @ Surjeet Singh and others vs. State of Haryana 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 10
Balbir Singh Versus State of Punjab 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 11
Ravinder Singh Gill v. State of Punjab, Mohinder Pal v. State of Punjab, Sanjeev Kumar v. State of Punjab, Satnam Singh v. State of Punjab 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 12
ABC v. State of Haryana 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 13
Sukhjeet Kaur v. Union of India and Others 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 14
Arun Kumar v. State of Haryana & Ors. and Other Related Matters 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 15
Subhash @ Makkar and Ors. v. State of Haryana and Related Matter 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 16
Kalpana Komal Bhati v. State of Punjab & Ors. and other related matters 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 17
Simarjit Singh Bains versus State of Punjab 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 18
Dr XXX v. State Information Commissioner, Haryana and Ors. 2023 LiveLaw(PH) 19
State of Punjab and Another v. Amarjit Kaur 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 20
Ajit Singh vs. State of Punjab 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 21
Bhajan Singh v. PRTC 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 22
Parkash Singh vs. State of Punjab 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 23
Rupinder Singh vs. Kiran and Anr 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 24
Kuldeep Singh v. Shiromani Gurudwara Parbhandhak Committee; Dharminder Singh v. Shiromani Gurudwara Parbhandhak Committee 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 25
M/s. Punjab Wool Syndicate Versus The State of Punjab and another 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 26
Hussain Abbas alias Tippu v. State of Haryana 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 27
ABC v. State of Haryana and Another 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 28
Krishan Dev Dubey v. State of Punjab 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 29
M/s Schlumberger Asia Services Ltd versus Union of India & Anr. 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 30
Court on its Own Motion vs. Union of India and others 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 31
Praveen Kumar vs. State of Punjab and connected matters 2023 LiveLaw(PH) 32
Vijay Garg v. the State of Haryana and another 2023 LiveLaw(PH) 33
Daulat Ram Khan v. State of Haryana 2023 LiveLaw(PH) 34
Harbhajan Singh and Ors. v. State of Punjab 2023 LiveLaw(PH) 35
Tek Chand vs. State of Punjab and others 2023 LiveLaw(PH) 36
Varinder Kumar @ Vicky vs. State of Punjab and another 2023 LiveLaw(PH) 37
Orders/Judgments
Case Title: M/s Simplex Infrastructure Ltd. & Anr. versus M/s J.P. Singla Engineers and Contractor
Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 1
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has ruled that where the liability to pay dues under a Contract is admitted by the parties, the dispute between them relating to non-payment cannot be said to be a dispute that ‘arose out of’ or ‘in connection with’ the Contract and thus, it cannot be referred to arbitration.
While holding that it was a simple case of non- payment of the final amount due under the Contract, the bench of Justice Nidhi Gupta ruled that the Civil Judge had rightly dismissed the petitioner’s application under Section 8 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (A&C Act) in a recovery suit filed before it. The Court added that in view of Section 8 of the A&C Act, the arbitration clause comes into operation only ‘in a matter which is the subject of an Arbitration Agreement’.
Case Title: Jagjit Singh @ Jaggi v. State of Punjab
Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 2
In an attempt to prevent violation of Section 82 of the CrPC dealing with issuance of ‘proclamations,’ the Punjab and Haryana High Court has advised the Courts of Judicial Magistrates to give two separate dates in the proclamation; the first within 15-20 days to ensure publication of proclamation and the second after 30 days to ensure appearance of the accused.
Case title - Sandeep Singh Sandhu vs. State of Punjab along with connected matters
Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 3
The Punjab and Haryana High Court granted anticipatory bail to the former Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to the state's former Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh, who has been booked in the alleged streetlight scam involving Rs. 65 lacs.
The bench of Justice Gurvinder Singh Gill noted that though the petitioner (Sandeep Singh Sandhu) was the OSD to the former State CM, however, on the date of occurrence, he was not holding any office and since the CM had resigned by then, it can't be said that he exercised any kind of undue influence.
Case Title: M/s. G.D. Goenka School v. Parveen Singh Shekhawat and Others and M/s. G.D. Goenka School v. Ajay Singh Shekhawat and Others
Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 4
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has recently ordered G.D. Goenka School, Gurugram to pay ₹50 Lakh as compensation to a teacher couple, who were illegally terminated by the school in violation of the rules and without following proper procedure for disciplinary action.
The dispute arose when in 2015, a notice was issued to the couple, Parveen Shekhawat and Ajay Singh Shekhawat, both Physical Education Teachers at G.D. Goenka School, informing them of their performance being sub-standard. Subsequently, they were both terminated by serving a one-month notice.
Case Title: Rahul v. Shalini
Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 5
Upholding the grant of interim custody of a minor son to his mother, the Punjab and Haryana High Court recently observed that extended family members of the child can never take place of either the father or the mother, when it comes to taking care of the minor.
The court was commenting on the father's argument that his parents and other family members are there to look after the minor child. The bench further said that since he is stated to be working in a private sector, he steps out of the house to follow his avocation and as such, may not be having ample time to look after the minor child.
Case Title: Hari Ram Hans Vs Smt Deepali & Ors.
Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 6
Punjab and Haryana High Court has held that the word "Widow" under the Section 19 of the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956 includes minor grand children staying with her, for the purpose of maintenance from father-in-law.
While dealing with the petition the bench of Justice Anil Kshetarpal found it worthwhile to appreciate the mandate of the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956 and observed,
"The 1956 Act is a beneficial legislation enacted in order to take care of the destitute daughter-in-law who, on account of unfortunate circumstances, becomes a widow. The word “widow” would include the minor grand children who are staying with their mother".
Case Title: Sunil Sachdeva v. Rashmi and Another
Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 7
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has observed that a wife can file a plea for maintenance under Section 125 of the CrPC, notwithstanding the fact that she already received a lump sum payment by way of alimony from her husband.
The single bench of Justice Amarjot Bhatti, while holding that the plea under Section 125 was maintainable, despite the settlement in 1993, said that:
“It cannot be disputed that it was not possible for a lady and her two children to survive in a meagre amount of Rs. 3 lacs … it is not possible to survive in a meagre salary of Rs.17,000 and to bear the responsibility of her two children who were going in professional colleges. She was to look-after their daily expenditure, food, clothing, transportation, medical expenditure as and when required and other social obligations. Therefore, she was justified in filing the petition under Section 125 CrPC.”
Case Title: Sunil Kumar Chauhan v. State of UT, Madhukar Dubey v. State of UT, and Akarm Mohmmad v. State of UT
Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 8
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has denied bail to three men in a case of blackmail and phone hacking. The accused would send links for download of a loan application, access the entire phone data and then blackmail those trapped by threatening to share their 'intimate' photographs with their contacts.
Justice Anoop Chitkara said the accused were able to take advantage of loopholes in the process of procurement of Aadhar cards and SIM cards. The allegations against the accused persons are that of "active participation in the gang activities by alluring the complainant to download the app by sending it on his mobile phone and subsequently enticing him to pay money", said the bench.
Case Title: Ajay Mehra v. Gauri
Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 9
The Punjab and Haryana High Court recently allowed a man's divorce plea, observing that when a spouse has an incurable mental ailment, leading to "irresponsible and violent behavior, it certainly makes the life of the victim spouse, a living hell".
Setting aside the findings of the trial court that had dismissed the man's plea for divorce, the division bench of Justice Ritu Bahri and Justice Deepak Gupta said that the trial court failed to appreciate the medical evidence on his wife's mental health.
Case title - Sarjeet Singh @ Surjeet Singh and others vs. State of Haryana [CRM-M-60673-2022]
Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 10
"The Gurudwara is a pious place and the misappropriation of its funds hurts the sentiments of several people," the Punjab and Haryana High Court observed recently as it denied anticipatory bail to certain persons accused of siphoning off the funds of Gurudwara Singh Sabha in Barwala town of Hisar District in Haryana.
Noting that the petitioners are required for custodial interrogation to recover the amount and to take the investigation to its logical conclusion, the bench of Justice Harnaresh Singh Gill added that setting the petitioners free would set a bad example and would give oxygen to the fraudsters.
Title: Balbir Singh Versus State of Punjab
Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 11
Observing that there is a likelihood of them threatening witnesses and apprehension of justice being thwarted because of an "unholy political nexus", the Punjab and Haryana High Court has denied bail to four accused in a 2014 case of murder of a youth from Tarn Taran.
"Merely because the petitioners are behind the bars for more than three years and trial is not likely to conclude in near future, are no ground for grant of regular bail to the petitioners," Justice Ashok Kumar Verma said in the order.
High Court Directs Punjab Govt To Streamline Procedure For Issuing Vehicle Fitness Certificates
Case Titles: Ravinder Singh Gill v. State of Punjab, Mohinder Pal v. State of Punjab, Sanjeev Kumar v. State of Punjab, Satnam Singh v. State of Punjab,
Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 12
The Punjab and Haryana High Court, while disposing of anticipatory bail applications of persons working for the Regional Transport Authority in Punjab’s Sangrur accused of charging bribe amount for giving fitness certificates to commercial vehicles without physical inspection, has directed the Punjab Government to streamline the process of issuance of such certificates.
Plea Of Juvenility Can Be Raised Even After Conviction, Sentence: Punjab & Haryana High Court
Case Title: ABC v. State of Haryana
Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 13
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has observed that the plea of juvenility can be raised by a person even after the disposal of the case in terms of conviction and sentence, as per which plea, the authorities shall be bound to conduct an age determination inquiry.
The Court was dealing with a petition filed by a person who had committed an offence at the age of a little over 16 years in the year 1995. As per the Juvenile Justice Act, 1986, a male was considered to be a juvenile till the age of 16 years and female till the age of 18 years, which was raised to 18 years for males through the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000.
Case Title: Sukhjeet Kaur v. Union of India and Others
Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 14
The Punjab and Haryana High Court recently directed the Centre to restore pension to a woman, whose husband - an employee of the Indian Air Force, had died in service in 1975. Her family pension was stopped in April 1982 when the authorities came to know that she had remarried the younger brother of her deceased husband.
The division bench of Justice M.S. Ramachandra Rao and Justice Sukhvinder Kaur ordered the authorities to restore the pension to her from 29.04.2011 with interest @ 6% from the said date till the date of payment.
Case Title: Arun Kumar v. State of Haryana & Ors. and Other Related Matters
Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 15
Ruling that the part-time B.Tech Program lacking the approval of AICTE cannot be treated on par with the regular degree, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed the Haryana government to exclude the in-service Junior Engineers, with such degrees, from the zone of consideration of promotion to the position of Sub Divisional Officer under the quota meant for degree holders.
Justice Arun Monga in a ruling said the employees, who had taken admission in the 4-year B.Tech (Civil Engineering) Weekend Course at Deenbandhu Chhotu Ram University of Science and Technology for academic Session 2011-2012 in the ‘Weekend Programme for Working Professionals’ cannot be said to possess the eligibility for promotion as Assistant Engineer against the quota for Graduate Engineers.
Case Title: Subhash @ Makkar and Ors. v. State of Haryana and Related Matter
Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 16
The Punjab and Haryana High Court recently held that the credible eye witness account "is to be assigned preponderance and precedence" over the medical account in case of contradiction between the two.
The court also said that the effect of minimal digressions or contradictions between the previously made statements in writing by the eyewitness and "his echoings in his testification recorded before the Court, are insignificant, especially when the echoing made by the ocular witness about the presence of all the accused, at the crime site, remains unrebutted and uncontroverted through adduction of cogent evidence."
Case Title: Kalpana Komal Bhati v. State of Punjab & Ors. and other related matters
Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 17
The Punjab and Haryana High Court recently held that the non-domicile women cannot be considered for appointment against the 33% reserved posts for women belonging to Punjab.
The issue before the court was whether the reservation is confined to the women of the State of Punjab or it is applicable to all the women belonging to other states also.
Title: Simarjit Singh Bains versus State of Punjab
Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 18
Granting bail to former MLA Simarjit Singh Bains in a rape case, the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Wednesday observed that there is no evidence that the victim reflected any trauma through her body language or conduct or complained to anyone about the forcible assault.
"There is no allegation that she did not do so because she was under a shock. There is no evidence that the consent was obtained by misconception of facts. Thus, a reading of the allegations, more particularly the fact that Kamalpreet Singh [neighbour of accused] contradicted the victim’s statement and that despite numerous opportunities, she remained quiet for a long time, would dent her credibility, and such a dent would not justify any further pre-trial incarceration," said Justice Anoop Chitkara in the bail order.
Case Title: Dr XXX v. State Information Commissioner, Haryana and Ors.
Citation: 2023 LiveLaw(PH) 19
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has held that the information with regard to the employee's place of posting, period of deputation, working hours, place of headquarter during deputation, any type of leaves availed along with the permission to leave the headquarter, copy of attendance register and movement register is personal in nature and cannot be disclosed under the RTI Act.
The division bench of Justice Ritu Bahri and Justice Manisha Batra, while setting aside the impugned orders of Single Judge and the Commission, observed that only information with regard to the date of appointment can be supplied under the RTI Act in this case.
Case Title: State of Punjab and Another v. Amarjit Kaur
Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 20
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has held that the policy excluding married daughters from the benefit of compassionate appointment upon the death of their fathers is unconstitutional on account of being violative of Articles 14 and 15 of the Constitution of India.
The division bench of Justice G.S. Sandhawalia and Justice Harpreet Kaur Jeewan said:
“We are of the considered opinion that the exclusion at the outset in the case of a married daughter is apparently arbitrary. The rejection at the threshold only on the ground of gender would be violative of Articles 14 and 15 of the Constitution of India since in contrast similarly situated sibling like the son who may be married and living separately would come within the zone of consideration since in his case, under Clause (b) of Note-I, it is not that his consideration is excluded being the married son.”
Case title - Ajit Singh vs. State of Punjab [CRM-M-21645-2022]
Case Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 21
While denying Anticipatory Bail to a man accused of conning another person with a promise of a job in the Indian Army, the Punjab and Haryana High Court recently observed that getting Government Job is not just a dream but also a sign of being a winner and this weakness of people is being exploited by the Thugs.
Specifying its opinion regarding the difference between the Government and Private jobs, the bench of Justice Anoop Chitkara observed thus:
"...the ground reality is that there is a massive difference in the salaries of equivalent jobs at the lower rung, in the government sector and private sector, and also with the highest level of job security, irrespective of performance in the government sector and productivity linked job that too at the will of the employer in the private sector. Consequently, getting government jobs is not just a dream but also a sign of being a winner and success, making the end more important than the means. Thugs have started exploiting this weakness and getting easy prey."
Title: Bhajan Singh v. PRTC
Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 22
Observing that use of notional breaks against an employee has been repeatedly deprecated as unfair practice at the hands of the employer, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has granted relief to an employee of PEPSU Road Transport Corporation (PRTC)
Justice Pankaj Jain said that the petitioner was working as a daily wager with PRTC and was not in a position to avoid such breaks. There is no allegation that the said notional breaks was owing to the fact that the petitioner was not willing to work, said the court.
Case title - Parkash Singh vs. State of Punjab [CRA-S No.496-SB of 2005]
Case Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 23
The Punjab and Haryana High Court last week asked the state to devise a mechanism to remove the uncertainty regarding the place, date, and time of preparation of consent/non-consent memo qua compliance of Section 50 NDPS Act.
The bench of Justice Pankaj Jain observed that in order to remove the uncertainty w.r.t. this important aspect of the investigation, Investigating Agencies need to be more proactive and the investigation needs to be more robust.
Case title - Rupinder Singh vs. Kiran and anr [TA No.326 of 2020(O&M)]
Case Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 24
Granting relief to the husband in a matrimonial dispute case, the Punjab And Haryana High Court observed that it isn't the case that transfer of a case is always allowed in favor of the wife.
With this, the bench of Justice Nidhi Gupta allowed the transfer plea filed by a husband (suffering from brain cancer) and ordered to transfer oa case filed by the wife in Gurdaspur to the Ludhiana court.
Case Titles: Kuldeep Singh v. Shiromani Gurudwara Parbhandhak Committee; Dharminder Singh v. Shiromani Gurudwara Parbhandhak Committee
Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 25
The Punjab and Haryana High Court, while disposing of two writ petitions filed by terminated employees of the Shiromani Gurudwara Parbhandhak Committee, has ruled that once an employee admits to his misconduct or guilt, such employee cannot invoke the non-observance of principles of natural justice or absence of an inquiry at a later stage.
The single bench of Justice Pankaj Jain said:
“To say that despite the petitioners having admitted their misconduct in the aforesaid terms, still the inquiry was required to be held cannot be accepted. Once the delinquent employee admits his guilt, he cannot be allowed to turn back and plead violation of principles of natural justice.”
Case Title: M/s. Punjab Wool Syndicate Versus The State of Punjab and another
Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 26
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has held that non-appearance before the Information Collection Centre (ICC) cannot be made a ground to initiate penalty proceedings if no attempt to evade tax is made.
The division bench of Justice Ritu Bahari and Justice Manisha Batra has observed that the driver had produced the documents at I.C.C. and subsequently, at the time of checking, he showed all the invoices. There was no attempt to evade tax. Hence, the VAT appeal was allowed, and no case for the imposition of a penalty is made out under Section 51(7)(c) of the Punjab VAT Act, 2005.
Case Title: Hussain Abbas alias Tippu v. State of Haryana
Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 27
While granting bail to an accused, the Punjab and Haryana High Court recently imposed several conditions on the person: procure a smartphone, always keep the GPS turned on and do not format the phone or delete its WhatsApp chats or call logs.
Justice Anoop Chitkara has imposed similar conditions in a number of orders passed in last one year.
Case Title: ABC v. State of Haryana and Another
Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 28
The Punjab and Haryana High Court, while upholding an order of acquittal passed by trial court in a rape case, said that the allegation of commission of rape on the pretext of marriage loses significance if the woman continues to be in a sexual relationship with the man even after his marriage with some other woman.
A division bench of Justice Sureshwar Thakur and Justice Kuldeep Tiwari, said:
“The allegation that consent was obtained under the pretext of marriage, loses its significance and becomes shattered, simply in light of the fact that the sexual relationship continued even after the marriage of respondent No. 2.”
Case title - KRISHAN DEV DUBEY vs. STATE OF PUNJAB [CRM-M-6514-2023]
Case Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 29
The Punjab and Haryana High Court recently granted bail to a 65-year-old man who allegedly referred to Lord Valmiki as a 'Dacoit' and 'Thief'.
The bench of Justice Jasjit Singh Bedi granted bail to Krishan Dev Dubey booked under Section 295A IPC after it noted that he is a first-time offender and has been in custody since 23.01.2022 and that his further incarceration is not required.
S. 124 of Finance Act, 2019 Not Violative of Article 14: Punjab & Haryana High Court
Case Title: M/s Schlumberger Asia Services Ltd versus Union of India & Anr.
Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 30
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has upheld the constitutional validity of Sections 124(2) and 130(2) of the Finance Act, 2019, which deal with the ‘Vivad se Vishwas Scheme’ (VSV Scheme), dismissing the contention that the said provisions were violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India since they deny refund to the assessee/ declarant even if the amount already deposited by it exceeds the amount payable under the Scheme.
The bench of Justices Tejinder Singh Dhindsa and Pankaj Jain remarked that the legislature, in order to achieve the objective of encashing the disputes without creating liabilities, has repeatedly reiterated the condition that no refund can be granted to the declarant/ assessee under the Scheme.
Case title - Court on its Own Motion vs. Union of India and others
Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 31
The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Monday directed the Commissioner of Police, Ludhiana to arrest dismissed Punjab Police DSP Balwinder Singh Sekhon and one Pardeep Sharma and produce them before Court to answer the charge of contempt on Feb 24 for circulating 'malicious', 'libelous', and 'derogatory' videos on social media pertaining to judicial proceedings of the Judges of the HC.
The bench of Justice G. S. Sandhawalia and Justice Harpreet Kaur Jeewan also directed Social Media platforms Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to remove/block/restrict/disable access on a global basis to all such videos/web links/URLs uploaded from I.P. addresses pertaining to Balwinder Singh Sekhon pertaining to Court proceedings.
Case Title: Praveen Kumar vs. State of Punjab and connected matters
Citation: 2023 LiveLaw(PH) 32
The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Monday granted bail to IFS Officer Vishal Chauhan and others in connection with the Punjab Forest Scam and WWICS resorts extortion case.
Chauhan was nominated in the FIR last year after the vigilance department busted the forest scam with the arrest of Guramanpreet Singh, divisional forest officer (DFO), Mohali, and forest department contractor Harmahinder Singh.
Case Title: Vijay Garg Versus the State of Haryana and another
Citation: 2023 LiveLaw(PH) 33
The Punjab and Haryana High Court granted bail to the person accused of forging bills worth Rs. 367 crores and evading GST payments worth Rs. 26 crores.
The single bench of Justice Deepak Sibal has observed that the petitioner has already undergone actual custody for nearly one year and five months. Even if he is convicted, the maximum sentence that can be imposed on him is five years. At the pre-charge stage, the majority of the prosecution's material witnesses are examined. The proceedings that the petitioner faces are presently at the pre-charge stage, in which 37 prosecution witnesses still remain to be examined, and if the petitioner is even put on trial, the same is likely to take a long time to conclude.
Case Title: Daulat Ram Khan Versus State of Haryana
Citation: 2023 LiveLaw(PH) 34
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has held that if Dharamshala is provided at a nominal rent for conducting marriages, it will not amount to a commercial purpose.
The division bench of Justice Rintu Bahri and Justice Manisha Batra has observed that Dharamshalas are not liable to pay the property tax.
Case Title: Harbhajan Singh and Ors. v. State of Punjab
Citation: 2023 LiveLaw(PH) 35
The Punjab & Haryana High Court recently found that the seniority list of Master cadre affecting more than 50,000 Masters/ Mistressess prepared by the Punjab Education Department in 2019 is de hors statutory rules.
It has directed the State government to prepare a fresh seniority list in accordance with the Rules framed in 1978, within six months. "Rules have been framed under proviso to Article 309 of the Constitution of India which are in the nature of statutory law...the statutory law is required to be given primacy," Single bench of Justice Anil Kshetarpal said.
Case title - Tek Chand vs. State of Punjab and others [CRM-M-5992-2023]
Case Citation: 2023 LiveLaw(PH) 36
In a significant observation, the Punjab and Haryana High Court last week said that Swayamvar i.e. marriage by one's own choice is not a modern phenomenon and that its roots can be traced in ancient history including holy books like Ramayana Mahabharata.
Adding that Article 21 is enforcing this human right as a Fundamental Right, the bench of Justice Jagmohan Bansal quashed an FIR lodged against a man on the allegations of kidnapping a girl and later solemnizing marriage with her.
Case title - Varinder Kumar @ Vicky vs. State of Punjab and another
Case Citation: 2023 LiveLaw(PH) 37
The Punjab and Haryana High Court last week quashed an FIR registered against a man on the allegations of committing gang rape against the alleged victim as it observed that at the time of the commission of the alleged offence, the accused was out of the Country.
Noting that as per the Investigating Officer, the accused was in London at the time when the offence of rape has been alleged to have taken place, the bench of Justice Jagmohan Bansal termed it to be a case of blackmailing as well as misuse of the process of law.
Other Significant Development
Case Title: Council of Engineers and Another v. V.K. Januja and Another
Citation: COCP-2736-2022
The Council of Engineers, an all-India Association and its President, have recently moved a contempt petition before the Punjab and Haryana High Court against alleged inaction of State authorities to remove signboards, hoardings and advertisement boards facing highways, main roads and on road side lanes in violation of a two decades old order.
The petitioners approached the High Court under Section 12 of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 for the initiation of contempt proceedings against the Chief Secretary of the Punjab Civil Secretariat as well as the Municipal Commissioner, Zone-D, Sarabha Nagar, Ludhiana.
Case Title: GSPL India Gasnet Ltd. and Another v. State of Punjab and Others
The Punjab and Haryana High Court directed the Punjab government to take a decision on the representation moved by Gujarat State Petronet Limited, a Gujarat government-owned Public Sector Undertaking against the local authorities' failure to extend support in implementation of the Central Government sanctioned Mehsana-Bathinda-Jammu Gas Pipeline Project.
A single bench of Justice Aman Chaudhary, while passing the order, said: "In view of the limited prayer made and without expressing any opinion on the merits of the case, this petition is disposed of with a direction to respondent no. 1 to look into the representation … and decide the same expeditiously, preferably within a period of 03 weeks from today, in accordance with law.”
Punjab & Haryana High Court Bar Association Election Results Challenged
Case Title: Chouhan Satvinder Singh Sisodia v. Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana and Chandigarh and Others
Advocate Chouhan Satvinder Singh Sisodia, one of the candidates who contested for the post of President of the Punjab and Haryana High Court Bar Association in the election held last month, has moved the high court challenging the results of the elections as well as the procedure followed for holding the polls.
Case Title: Charanjit Singh @ Channi v. State of Punjab
The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Monday directed the trial court to adjourn the proceedings against Punjab's former Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, in the case alleging that he along with singer Sidhu Moosewala campaigned beyond the permissible time limit during the assembly elections held last year, to a date after February 20.
Moosewala - who was killed in May last year, was Congress' candidate from Mansa constituency. Channi had received summons to appear before the trial court on January 12.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court last week issued a notice to the Central Information Commission (CIC), Prime Minister's Office (PMO) and others in an appeal moved challenging Single Judge's order upholding the Chief Information Commission's order denying information regarding the PM CARES Fund details.
It may be noted that dismissing the appeal against the CIC order, the Single Judge had observed that since both the authorities, the office of CPIO and the CIC, are situated in New Delhi, and since they do not fall within the territorial jurisdiction of the High Court, therefore, it was not possible to entertain the instant plea.
Case Title: Master Eric Thind and Another v. UOI and Others
The Punjab and Haryana High Court Tuesday issued notice to the Centre and Punjab government in a case where the petitioner, a commissioning parent, was refused Visa for the surrogate child as Australia's Department of Home Affairs asked him first to get a court order confirming that he has a right to remove the child from India.
Justice Sanjay Vashisth listed the matter for consideration on February 02 and asked the respondents to file their reply, if any, on or before the next date of hearing.
Case Title: Pushpender & Ors. v. The Hon’ble Building Committee & Ors.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has stayed the cancellation of the chambers that had been allotted to some young members of the Sohna Bar Association in Gurgaon in April 2022.
Hearing a petition challenging the decision, Justice Vinod Bhardwaj issued notice to the high court's Building Committee (Haryana) and Bar Association Sohna. The court listed the matter for hearing on May 08.
Case title - DEEPAK CHAURASIA V/S STATE OF HARYANA
The Punjab And Haryana High Court on Tuesday granted interim relief to Zee News Anchor Deepak Chaurasia in the POCSO Case while ordering him to appear before the trial court on March 3 to furnish fresh bail bonds.
The court passed this order on Chaurasia's plea seeking quashing of the Feb 4 order of the Gurugram POCSO Court declining his application seeking permanent exemption from personal appearance and issuing an arrest warrant against him.
