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 Supreme Court has set aside the appointment of an arbitral tribunal, and the drastic Section 17 interim orders it passed freezing bank accounts and permitting takeover of properties, as non est in law, holding that the tribunal had been appointed without the appellants’ consent and in the face of a clear objection alleging its close links with the opposite party. Observing that arbitration, though it rhymes with the word, cannot result in an arbitrary measure, the Court appointed a fresh arbitrator and ordered restitution of the amounts and properties.
The Supreme Court has clarified the scope of Order XIV Rule 2 of the CPC, holding that the question of limitation is ordinarily a mixed question of law and fact and cannot be tried as a preliminary issue of law, and that once a suit has proceeded to a composite trial with all issues framed, an issue cannot be detached and decided preliminarily. Restoring a 2013 suit to the trial court, the Court approved the Himachal Pradesh High Court’s Full Bench decision in Prithvi Raj Jhingta and clarified its earlier ruling in Sathyanath v. Sarojamani.
The Patna High Court has set aside the Central Bank of India’s rejection of a compassionate-appointment claim by the married son of a deceased Safai Karamchari, made on the sole ground that he was married. The Court held that the Bank’s own scheme defines a ‘dependent family member’ as a ‘wholly dependent son’ without the word ‘unmarried’, and that the Bank cannot supplement that self-contained definition by importing ‘unmarried’ from other regulations or policies.
