Holding the Bihar Government and a stone-block bidder equally responsible for a nine-year delay in executing a mining lease in Sheikhpura, a Division Bench of the Patna High Court set aside forfeiture of the bidder’s Rs 2.90 crore deposit, ordered its refund with 12% interest, and laid down binding timelines for future mining tenders.
A Division Bench of the Patna High Court held that a 2018 notification appointing Divisional Commissioners as arbitrators under the National Highways Act operates prospectively and does not affect pending arbitrations, but set aside an award on Gaya land acquired for NH-82 and ordered compensation reassessed with solatium and interest under the 1894 Act.
The Patna High Court acquitted Ranjit Mahto, sentenced to life for a 2005 double murder in a bus firing in Begusarai, holding that the sole eyewitness was not wholly reliable, an injured witness and a jail register contradicted her presence, Section 34 IPC could not bridge the gap, and the police investigation was lacking.
The Patna High Court acquitted Rajesh Gupta, sentenced to life for the 2003 kidnapping and murder of a 10-year-old boy in Saharsa, holding that the alleged extra-judicial confession was never put to him under Section 313 CrPC, the last-seen evidence was weak, the motive flimsy, and the Investigating Officer was never examined.
The Patna High Court has disposed of a writ petition by a Gaya PDS dealer whose licence was ceased by the Sub-Divisional Officer, directing her to file a complaint before the Divisional Commissioner under Rule 5(iv) of the Bihar Targeted Public Distribution System (Control) Order, 2016, with the delay to be liberally condoned and a reasoned order to follow within three months.
The Patna High Court has held that a writ petition by a widow who says she is neither borrower nor guarantor, challenging a Darbhanga Collector’s 2019 order giving Punjab National Bank possession of a property that includes her dwelling house, is not maintainable because Section 17 of the SARFAESI Act provides an effective remedy before the Debts Recovery Tribunal.
Justice Soni Shrivastava of the Patna High Court has quashed a Magistrate’s 2022 cognizance order and the entire prosecution of two members of the Jhunjhunwala family under Sections 448, 341, 323 and 506 of the IPC, holding that the FIR was vague, belated, attended with mala fide and lodged amid a dispute over ancestral property.
A Division Bench of the Patna High Court has held that Rule 52(5) of the Bihar Minor Mineral Concession Rules, 1972 permits 24 per cent simple interest on a delayed instalment only up to two months, after which the Rule contemplates cancellation, and quashed the Mines and Geology Department’s demands for further interest on three Rajouli stone blocks in Nawadah.
The Patna High Court has cancelled the bail granted by a Naugachia Sessions Judge to Tunna Yadav @ Tuntun Yadav, accused of shooting a man dead in a weekly market, holding that the order ignored the High Court’s earlier rejection and wrongly recorded that he had no criminal history, and has referred the judicial officer’s conduct to the Chief Justice.