Bombay High Court Letters Patent — Cl. 12 — Original jurisdiction as to suits — Territorial jurisdiction: “Suits for land”, to be determined considering averments in plaint with reference to reliefs claimed therein and other facts. Bombay High Court would have original jurisdiction in “suit for land” only if land is situated within its territorial jurisdiction. [Sumer Builders (P) Ltd. v. Narendra Gorani, (2016) 2 SCC 582]
Copyright Act, 1957 — Ss. 13(1)(a), 2(y), 2(o) and 63(a) — Copyright protection: Copyright in India is a statutory right and it has to satisfy statutory conditions. Protection is available only if claimed work is a literary work. Title comprising of a few words generally has not been considered as literary work. Title expressed on whole page with some expressive features, is protectable. Alternative remedy, if any, available where copyright protection cannot be availed. Title might be protected if proprietary right can be established in it as a registered mark or by way of goodwill. [Krishika Lulla v. Shyam Vithalrao Devkatta, (2016) 2 SCC 521]
Income Tax — Depreciation — Depreciation on plant — Benefit of — Availability — Definition of “plant” — Scope of: Intellectual property such as trade marks, copyrights and know-how, covered within the definition of “plant” (AY 1995-1996). [Mangalore Ganesh Beedi Works v. CIT, (2016) 2 SCC 556]
Income Tax Act, 1961 — Ch. XX-C and Ss. 269-UA(2)(f)(ii) & 269-UD: In case of undervaluation of compulsory purchase of immovable property in case of transfer by way of an agreement or arrangement which has the effect of transferring or enabling enjoyment of immovable property, to evade tax, valuation, to arrive at inference of undervaluation, has to be proportionate to value of rights transferred. Expression “transfer” is wide enough to include within its scope, agreements or arrangements which have the effect of transferring all important rights in land for future considerations such as part acquisition of shares in buildings to be constructed, even though the transfer does not sale, lease exchange. [Unitech Ltd. v. Union of India, (2016) 2 SCC 569]
Insurance Act, 1938 — S. 38 (as it stood prior to 2015 Amendment) — Assignment of insurance policy — Permissibility of: Prior to 2015 Amendment, insurer was bound by the provisions of S. 38 to accept a transfer or endorsement except in cases where it could establish fraud. Only limitation placed on transferring a policy was in terms of the procedure laid out in S. 38, and subject to the terms of policy itself. Further, S. 38 left no scope for insurer to dispute the right to transfer or assign the policy except in cases where it could establish fraud. Thus, S. 38 was mandatory and substantive. In cases of fraud, assignment could still be challenged on that ground even after being recorded. [LIC v. Insure Policy Plus Services (P) Ltd., (2016) 2 SCC 507]
Maharashtra Recognition of Trade Unions and Prevention of Unfair Labour Practices Act, 1971 (1 of 1972) — Ss. 19, 11, 12, 13, 14, 19 and 30 — Recognition of Trade Union: Exercise of examining application of Union seeking status of recognised Union is neither a routine ritual nor an idle formality. Not only must applicant Union be eligible to apply as per prescription of membership for relevant period, but it must also be a bona fide application in interest of employees, and such Union must not have indulged in instigating, aiding or assisting commencement or continuation of strike during said period. Furthermore, burden is on applicant Union to decisively establish its claim. Duty is cast upon investigating officer for verification of membership of Unions, and inquiry undertaken by Industrial Court to strictly comport to prescripts of relevant provisions. [Poona Employees Union v. Force Motors Ltd., (2016) 2 SCC 531]
Penal Code, 1860 — S. 304 Pt. I or S. 302 — Modification of conviction to one under S. 304 Pt. I IPC from S. 302: Facts should be appreciated collectively rather than individually or randomly. So doing it, none of the findings of trial court and High Court appeared to be perverse. Therefore, order of High Court altering conviction from S. 302 to S. 304 Pt. I IPC, upheld. [State of Rajasthan v. Daud Khan, (2016) 2 SCC 607]
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 — Ss. 2(b), 5-A, 9(f), 13, 38(1) and (2): Directions for control of stray dogs, issued. [Animal Welfare Board of India v. People for Elimination of Stray Troubles, (2016) 2 SCC 598]
Service Law — Recruitment Process — Examination: Methodology for evaluation in a multi-disciplinary format, adopted by State Public Service Commission (PSC) in common public examination cannot be interfered with simply on the ground that in a multi-disciplinary examination format PSC did not adopt system of scaling. [Sunil Kumar v. Bihar Public Service Commission, (2016) 2 SCC 495]
