Madras High Court Weekly Round-Up: October 24 to October 30, 2022
Upasana Sajeev
31 Oct 2022 8:45 AM IST
A weekly round-up of important cases from Madras High Court and its subordinate courts. Citations: 2022 LiveLaw (Mad) 441 To 2022 LiveLaw (Mad) 447 NOMINAL INDEX Sahil Raj v State of Tamil Nadu and others, 2022 LiveLaw (Mad) 441 M/s ES Mydeen and Co. v. The Designated Officer and others, 2022 LiveLaw (Mad) 442 All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam v The...
A weekly round-up of important cases from Madras High Court and its subordinate courts.
Citations: 2022 LiveLaw (Mad) 441 To 2022 LiveLaw (Mad) 447
NOMINAL INDEX
Sahil Raj v State of Tamil Nadu and others, 2022 LiveLaw (Mad) 441
M/s ES Mydeen and Co. v. The Designated Officer and others, 2022 LiveLaw (Mad) 442
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam v The Branch Manager, Bank of India and others, 2022 LiveLaw (Mad) 443
RKR. Gold P. Ltd Versus ACIT, 2022 LiveLaw (Mad) 444
The Union of India v. R.K. Constructions, Arb. O.P. (Com Div) No. 148 of 2022, 2022 LiveLaw (Mad) 445
Rahul Dinesh Surana v. The Senior Assistant Director, Serious Fraud Investigation Office, 2022 LiveLaw (Mad) 446
Tamil Nadu Pondy Plastic Association v. Government of Tamil Nadu and others, 2022 LiveLaw (Mad) 447
REPORT
1. Bank Account Cannot Be Frozen By Way Of Summons U/S 91 CrPC: Madras High Court
Case Title: Sahil Raj v State of Tamil Nadu and others
Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Mad) 441
The Madras High Court has held that the police have no jurisdiction to freeze bank accounts while issuing summons under Section 91 of CrPC. While issuing such summons, the investigating officer can only summon a person to produce the document or other things.
Justice GK Ilanthiraiyan thus observed as under:
Thus, it is clear that the first respondent (Inspector of Police, Cyber Crime) has no jurisdiction. In the summons issued under Section 91 of Cr.P.C., the investigation officer summons the person to produce the document or other things. On the summons issued under Section 91 of Cr.P.C., account cannot be freezed.
Case Title: M/s ES Mydeen and Co. v. The Designated Officer and others
Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Mad) 442
Dealing with the State's argument that consumption of tobacco is causing a serious health hazard and Article 47 of the Constitution imposes a duty on it to improve public health, the Madras High Court said the government's contention would have impressed it had the law been enforced into totality.
"Unfortunately, that is not the case. The State has monopolized the privilege of selling liquor. The government of Tamil Nadu is raising huge revenue through liquor sale. Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (TASMAC), a wholly government owned company, has thousands of retail outlets throughout the State," said the court
Justice G R Swaminathan compared the state's argument on Article 47 against tobacco to "devil quoting the scripture or pot calling the kettle black."
Case Title: All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam v The Branch Manager, Bank of India and others
Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Mad) 443
The Madras High Court has directed the District Revenue Officer (RDO), Madurai to take possession of the 13kg gold armour to be adorned on the statue of late freedom fighter Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar during the Guru Pooja Celebrations of his birth anniversary.
The Madurai bench of Justice Bhavani Subbaroyan observed that since there were claims and counter-claims going on between AIADMK factions of O Paneerselvam and Edappadi Palanisamy, it was difficult to operate the locker facility of joint account along with the Pasumpon Thevar Ninaivalayam and receive the golden armour that has been kept in the locker facility of the respondent bank.
Case Title: RKR. Gold P. Ltd Versus ACIT
Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Mad) 444
The Madras High Court has held that the criminal investigation wing is separate and distinct from the assessment wing and that disclosure made before one wing will not exonerate the assessee from the requirement of making a "full and true disclosure" before the assessing officer in an assessment.
The single bench of Justice Anitha Sumanth has observed that in the absence of full and true disclosure in the first instance, the assumption of jurisdiction by the assessing authority beyond the period of four years is not barred by limitation, and cannot be faulted.
Case Title: The Union of India v. R.K. Constructions, Arb. O.P. (Com Div) No. 148 of 2022
Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Mad) 445
The Madras High Court has held that the arbitral tribunal can award interest despite there being a contractual prohibition if no pleading as to the prohibition was made by the aggrieved party.
The bench of Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy held that a party cannot rely on a Clause under GCC for challenging the arbitral award for awarding interest contrary to the said clause if it had not taken such an objection before the arbitral tribunal during the arbitral proceeding.
Case Title: Rahul Dinesh Surana v. The Senior Assistant Director, Serious Fraud Investigation Office
Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Mad) 446
Denying bail to the former CEO of Surana Group of Companies in the alleged case of defrauding various banks to the tune of Rs 10,000 Crore, the Madras High Court recently observed that white-collar crimes are particularly harmful to the society as they are committed by well-educated and influential persons who understood the consequence of their actions.
Justice AD Jagadish Chandira in the order said:
Among other crimes, this sort of white-collar crimes are particularly harmful to society as they are committed by not just literated, but, well educated and influenced persons, who are expected to set a moral example and behave responsibly. The fraudulent activity in siphoning of pubic money by defrauding the financial institutions is unlike any other offence which could have been committed by sudden provocation as it is a well calculated one with the deep understanding as to the consequences and with the ideology to conquer them.
Case Title: Tamil Nadu Pondy Plastic Association v. Government of Tamil Nadu and others
Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Mad) 447
Lamenting the manner in which the venue of a recent enrolment ceremony was turned into a litter zone, the Madras High Court has directed the Bar Council to submit a report on how it proposes to ensure that such functions in future are conducted without the presence of the family members and friends of candidates.
The court has issued the direction in a matter related to the ban on use of plastic in Tamil Nadu. Noting that it had earlier instructed the Bar Council and bar associations to ensure that hgh court also should march towards an eco-friendly and plastic-free zone, the division bench of Justice S Vaidyanathan and Justice PT Asha said:
"However, it has been brought to our notice on the very same day, the Bar Council has held its Enrolment Ceremony at the Auditorium within the precincts of the High Court. The entire place after the Enrolment Ceremony was turned into a litter zone. SUP, garlands, papers, etc. were strewn not only before the Auditorium, but around the entire campus. This is a very serious matter which requires attention."
OTHER DEVELOPMENTS
In a trademark infringement suit filed by Indian digital payments and financial technology company PhonePe, the Commercial Division of Madras High Court has temporarily restricted "MobilePe" from offering any UPI or BHIM services.
Justice M Sundar passed the interim order after prima facie satisfaction that a case of deception has been made out by PhonePe, which is in similar business. The Court said that instead of a side by side comparison, it stepped into the shoes of an average man with "ordinary prudence"and "imperfect recollection" and found a prima facie case of deception against MobilePe.
2. Coimbatore Car Blast: Litigant Approaches Madras HC Challenging BJP Bandh On October 31
A litigant has approached the Madras High Court against the alleged call for Bandh in the Coimbatore District by the Bharatiya Janata Party following the Car Cylinder Blast that happened on 23rd October.
Senior Advocate Mr. V Prakash appearing for the petitioner Mr Venkatesh, a resident of Coimbatore submitted before a bench of Justice Paresh Upadhyay and Justice Bharatha Chakravarthy that following the Blast, BJP called for a bandh on the pretext that the State government has failed to take stern action against the terror attacks and the offenders.
Nearly two weeks after a case of sexual harassment was quashed against the self-styled godman Shiv Shankar Baba, the Tamil Nadu government has approached the Madras High Court seeking recall of the decision.
Additional Public Prosecutor A Damodaran on Friday made a mentioning before the bench of Justice RN Manjula for an urgent hearing. The bench agreed to hear the matter and decided to take it up on Monday.
On October 17, the bench had allowed a questioning petition filed by Baba after observing that no application to condone the delay was filed under Section 473 of CrPC.
On the second day of the hearing of former minister SP Velumani's petitions seeking quashing of the two FIRs alleging irregularity in grant of tenders, the State argued that he cannot rely on the preliminary inquiry report to state that he was innocent.
The submission was made by Advocate General R Shunmughasundaram before a division bench of Justice PN Prakash and Justice RMT Teeka Raman. The AG also argued that the court cannot make a decision in the quashing petitions only on the basis of a preliminary report, adding same would set a bad precedent.
