LAW OFFICE ONLINE

Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) -- Claim for reimbursement – Whether claim can be rejected as the Superspeciality hospital is not included in the Government Order – Held: The right to medical claim cannot be denied merely because the name of the hospital is not included in the Government Order.

Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973; S. 154 – Registration of F.I.R. – The mandate upon the Police – Held: (i) Registration of FIR is mandatory under Section 154 of the Code, if the information discloses commission of a cognizable offence and no preliminary inquiry is permissible in such a situation. (ii) If the information received does not disclose a cognizable offence but indicates the necessity for an inquiry, a preliminary inquiry may be conducted only to ascertain whether cognizable offence is disclosed or not. (iii) If the inquiry discloses the commission of a cognizable offence, the FIR must be registered. In cases where preliminary inquiry ends in closing the complaint, a copy of the entry of such closure must be supplied to the first informant forthwith and not later than one week. It must disclose reasons in brief for closing the complaint and not proceeding further. (iv) The police officer cannot avoid his duty of registering offence if cognizable offence is disclosed. Action must be taken against erring officers who do not register the FIR if information received by him discloses a cognizable offence. (v) The scope of preliminary inquiry is not to verify the veracity or otherwise of the information received but only to ascertain whether the information reveals any cognizable offence. (vi) As to what type and in which cases preliminary inquiry is to be conducted will depend on the facts and circumstances of each case. The category of cases in which preliminary inquiry may be made are as under: (a) Matrimonial disputes/ family disputes (b) Commercial offences (c) Medical negligence cases (d) Corruption cases (e) Cases where there is abnormal delay/laches in initiating criminal prosecution, for example, over 3 months delay in reporting the matter without satisfactorily explaining the reasons for delay. The aforesaid are only illustrations and not exhaustive of all conditions which may warrant preliminary inquiry. (vii) While ensuring and protecting the rights of the accused and the complainant, a preliminary inquiry should be made time bound and in any case it should not exceed 7 days. The fact of such delay and the causes of it must be reflected in the General Diary entry. (viii) Since the General Diary/Station Diary/Daily Diary is the record of all information received in a police station, we direct that all information relating to cognizable offences, whether resulting in registration of FIR or leading to an inquiry, must be mandatorily and meticulously reflected in the said Diary and the decision to conduct a preliminary inquiry must also be reflected, as mentioned above.

Passport Act – Whether father’s is mandatory in Passport --- Being divorced the wife brought up the child as single mother -- Biological father had completely abdicated his responsibilities – Passport authority insisted upon petitioner No. 2 mentioning her father's name in the application -- Name of the biological father in the Passport only if it is a requirement in law, like standing instructions, manuals etc. In the absence of any provision making it mandatory to mention the name of one's biological father in the Passport, the respondents cannot insist upon the same -- Court is of the view that mother's name is sufficient in certain cases like the present one to apply for Passport, Especially as a single woman can be a natural guardian and also a parent -- Directed to modify software and accept the application and issue her a Passport without insisting upon mentioning her father's name.

Limitation Act, 1963; S. 27— Limitation Act, 1963; Art. 65 and 66 -- Adverse Possession -- It is a settled principle of law of adverse possession that the person, who claims title over the property on the strength of adverse possession and thereby wants the Court to divest the true owner of his ownership rights over such property, is required to prove his case only against the true owner of the property -- It is equally well-settled that such person must necessarily first admit the ownership of the true owner over the property to the knowledge of the true owner and secondly, the true owner has to be made a party to the suit to enable the Court to decide the plea of adverse possession between the two rival claimants.

Agreement ----- Whether conditions printed at back of rent receipt constitute agreement between landlord and tenant?

Held: it cannot be said on the basis of what is printed on the back side of the rent receipt that the parties had accepted it as a condition of the lease. The rent receipt is a document issued by the landlord acknowledging receipt of payment of rent by him. Conditions printed at the back of rent receipt cannot be said to be a conscious decision taken by the parties governing the lease of premises. Terms and conditions of a lease result from conscious decision of parties.

Consumer Protection Act, 1986; Buyer’s Agreement dated 16.04.2010 was executed between them ------ The Builder was required to deliver possession of the flat to the Complainants within 36 months from the date of the Buyer’s Agreement ----- The grievance of the Complainants was that the Builder had failed to offer possession to them within the time period stipulated in the Buyer’s Agreement ------ Commission found that none of the reasons given by the Builder for the delay, such as non-availability of construction material or labour, were tenable ----- The Commission also rejected the argument of the Builder regarding government regulations and economic recession being a justification of the delay ----- The Buyer’s Agreement was entered into by Complainants with almost no bargaining power and under the threat of losing the earnest money ------ Further, under the Buyer’s Agreement, in case of delay in payment by the Complainant, an interest at a rate ranging from 18% to 24% per annum compounded annually was charged.

Writ Petition -- Minor rape victim prayed for termination of pregnancy – Held: we feel that the ends of justice will be met by issuing following directions to the opposite parties:-
(1)We direct and allow the Child Welfare Committee of District Lucknow to take over the cause of adoption of the child born to "A" on 26th October, 2015, who is presently in the care of Paediatrics Department of King George's Medical University, Lucknow. The Department shall handover the child as and when the doctors find that the child is medically fit to be handed over to the committee. The committee shall, thereafter, act in the manner provided in the judgment. The Member Secretary of the State Legal Services Authority in consultation with the amicus curiae shall supervise the process of adoption.

(2)As soon as "A" regains her mental balance and equilibrium, she will be allowed admission in a proper class in an appropriate school. The first and foremost preference should be given to any Kasturba Gandhi Girls' School. These are residential schools in which girls are allowed to stay and taken care of completely. They are given food, shelter, books, uniforms and matterial for recreation also. If "A" or her parents approach the authorities of Kasturba Gandhi Residential School of her choice, admission should be allowed to her. If an application is made to the Basic Shiksha Adhikari of the District it shall be his duty to ensure admission of "A" in one of the best run schools of Kasturba Gandhi Residential Schools of the District.

(3)If "A" chooses not to go to residential school then a Government Girls' Inter College of her choice will allow her admission without insisting on any entrance examination or the criteria of selection on merit basis. The State Government should ensure that education is provided free of costs to "A". She will be allowed full freeship of fees and other charges whatsoever.

(4)It shall be the duty of the Principal of the college concerned to ensure that the teachers of the college, staff and the students do not discriminate her in any manner. All possible mental, moral and psychological help should be given by the teachers to help her gain strength to face the challenges of life. The principal should also ensure that the past life of "A" is not propagated and she is treated as another normal student of the school.

(5)If "A" wants to continue her studies after 10+2 Standard (Intermediate), admission should be given to her in any government degree college with full free ship of fee. This will continue till graduation.

(6)In addition to payment of Rs.3,00,000/- as compensation under Rani Lakshmi Bai Mahila Samman Kosh Rules, 2015, the State Government shall make a fixed deposit of a sum of Rs.10,00,000/- (Rupees Ten lacs) in favour of "A" in any nationalized bank which will be given to her only when she reaches the age of 21 years. The District Magistrate of the District where the family of "A" chooses to live henceforth will ensure that bank account is opened in the name of "A" in any nationalized bank, chosen by her father. It is made clear that at the maturity of the aforesaid fixed deposit, only "A" will be entitled to get the money.

(7)Superintendent of Police of the District where "A" and her family choose to reside will ensure the safety, security and dignity of the family. No one from the society should be allowed to degrade, discriminate or excommunicate the victim or her family on the ground of unfortunate incident of rape.

(8)If "A" applies for any apprenticeship in any available scheme or in any vocational course of any Government department or any other instrumentality of the State, preference should be given to her in such matters.

(9)After attaining the age of majority, some suitable job be also provided to her according to her ability / qualifications. Such security of job is the surest way of bringing her up in the main stream once again. When occasion arises the petitioner shall have the liberty of moving an application to the Chief Secretary of the State to ensure that a suitable job is provided to her.

(10)The N.G.O.s or any other agency which wants to help the victim and her family in any manner, will be welcome to do so and earn the appreciation of this Court as well as of the society in general.

Arbitration And Conciliation Act, 1996; S. 8 ----- Whether termination of agreement by one party on account of breach committed by the other can make the arbitration clause inoperative ----- Held: where an agreement is terminated by one party on account of the breach committed by the other, particularly, in a case where the clause is framed in wide and general terms, merely because agreement has come to an end by its termination by mutual consent, the arbitration clause does not get perished nor is rendered inoperative.
Arbitration And Conciliation Act, 1996; S. 8 ----- Whether termination of agreement by one party on account of breach committed by the other can make the arbitration clause inoperative ----- Held: the prerequisites for an application under Section 8 are fulfilled, viz., there is an arbitration agreement; the party to the agreement brings an action in the court against the other party; the subject matter of the action is the same as the subject-matter of the arbitration agreement; and the other party moves the court for referring the parties to arbitration before it submits his first statement on the substance of the dispute ----- the civil court had no jurisdiction to entertain a suit afteran application under Section 8 of the Act is made for arbitration.

Consumer Protection Act, 1986; Delay in delivery of possession – Direction to refund the entire amount along with 10% simple interest per annum and compensation.

Land Encroachment Act, 1905; S. 6, 7 – Evidence Act, 1872; S. 90, 110 – Presumption of title as a result of possession, can arise only where facts disclose that no title vests in any party -
- Possession of the plaintiff is not prima facie wrongful, and title of the plaintiff is not proved -- It certainly does not mean that because a man has title over some land, he is necessarily in possession of it -- if at any time a man with title was in possession of the said property, the law allows the presumption that such possession was in continuation of the title vested in him -- person must establish that he has continued possession of the suit property -- other side claiming title, must make out a case of trespass/ encroachment etc -- mere acceptance of municipal tax or agricultural tax by a person, cannot stop the State from challenging ownership of the land -- Nor can such a presumption arise in case of grant of loan by a bank upon it hypothecating the property -- revenue records confer title, for the reason that they merely show possession of a person -- Held: A revenue record is not a document of title -- It merely raises a presumption in regard to possession