Award of Interest by Arbitrator

The discretion of the arbitrator to award interest must be exercised reasonably.

An arbitral tribunal while making an award for Interest must take into consideration a host of factors, such as:

(i) the ‘loss of use’ of the principal sum;

(ii) the types of sums to which the Interest must apply;

(iii) the time period over which interest should be awarded;

(iv) the internationally prevailing rates of interest;

(v) whether simple or compound rate of interest is to be applied;

(vi) whether the rate of interest awarded is commercially prudent from an economic standpoint;

(vii) the rates of inflation,

(viii) proportionality of the count awarded as Interest to the principal sums awarded.

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Specific Performance of Development Agreement between Builder and Owner

Meaning of “development agreement”:

The expression “development agreement” has not been defined statutorily. In a sense, it is a catch-all nomenclature which is used to be describe a wide range of agreements which an owner of a property may enter into for development of immovable property. As real estate transactions have grown in complexity, the nature of these agreements has become increasingly intricate. Broadly speaking, (without intending to be exhaustive), development agreements may be of various kinds:

(i) An agreement may envisage that the owner of the immovable property engages someone to carry out the work of construction on the property for monetary consideration. This is a pure construction contract;

(ii) An agreement by which the owner or a person holding other rights in an immovable property grants rights to a third party to carry on development for a monetary consideration payable by the developer to the other. In such a situation, the owner or right holder may in effect create an interest in the property in favour of the developer for a monetary consideration;

(iii) An agreement where the owner or a person holding any other rights in an immovable property grants rights to another person to carry out development. In consideration, the developer has to hand over a part of the constructed area to the owner. The developer is entitled to deal with the balance of the constructed area. In some situations, a society or similar other association is formed and the land is conveyed or leased to the society or association;

(iv) A development agreement may be entered into in a situation where the immovable property is occupied by tenants or other right holders. In some cases, the property may be encroached upon. The developer may take on the entire responsibility to settle with the occupants and to thereafter carry out construction; and

(v) An owner may negotiate with a developer to develop a plot of land which is occupied by slum dwellers and which has been declared as a slum. Alternately, there may be old and dilapidated buildings which are occupied by a number of occupants or tenants. The developer may undertake to rehabilitate the occupants or, as the case may be, the slum dwellers and thereafter share the saleable constructed area with the owner. Continue reading “Specific Performance of Development Agreement between Builder and Owner” →

criminalisation of sex between consenting adults

Carnal intercourse against the order of nature:

The fallacy in the Judgment of Suresh Kumar Koushal & Anr. v. Naz Foundation & Ors. (supra) is that:

i. The offence of “carnal intercourse against the order of nature” has not been defined in Section

377. It is too wide, and open-ended, and would take within its sweep, and criminalise even sexual acts of consenting adults in private.

In this context, it would be instructive to refer to the decision of a Constitution Bench of this Court in A.K. Roy v. Union of India [ (1982) 1 SCC 271] wherein it was held that:

“ 62. The requirement that crimes must be defined with appropriate definiteness is regarded as a fundamental concept in criminal law and must now be regarded as a pervading theme of our Constitution since the decision in Maneka Gandhi. The underlying principle is that every person is entitled to be informed as to what the State commands or forbids and that the life and liberty of a person cannot be put in peril on an ambiguity. However, even in the domain of criminal law, the processes of which can result in the taking away of life itself, no more than a reasonable degree of certainty has to be accepted as a fact. Neither the criminal law nor the Constitution requires the application of impossible standards and therefore, what is expected is that the language of the law must contain an adequate warning of the conduct which may fall within the proscribed area, when measured by common understanding….” (emphasis supplied) 56 The Judgment does not advert to the distinction between consenting adults engaging in sexual intercourse, and sexual acts which are without the will, or consent of the other party. A distinction has to be made between consensual relationships of adults in private, whether they are heterosexual or homosexual in nature.

Furthermore, consensual relationships between adults cannot be classified along with offences of bestiality, sodomy and non-consensual relationships.

Sexual orientation is immutable, since it is an innate feature of one’s identity, and cannot be changed at will. The choice of LGBT persons to enter into intimate sexual relations with persons of the same sex is an exercise of their personal choice, and an expression of their autonomy and self-determination.

Section 377 insofar as it criminalises voluntary sexual relations between LGBT persons of the same sex in private, discriminates against them on the basis of their “sexual orientation” which is violative of their fundamental rights guaranteed by Articles 14, 19, and 21 of the Constitution. Continue reading “criminalisation of sex between consenting adults” →

Conviction on the basis of Extra Judicial Confession.

Conviction under Prevention of Corruption Act.

Extra-judicial confession is a weak piece of evidence and the court must ensure that the same inspires confidence and is corroborated by other prosecution evidence. In order to accept extra-judicial confession, it must be voluntary and must inspire confidence. If the court is satisfied that the extra-judicial confession is voluntary, it can be acted upon to base the conviction.

Misappropriation of funds u/s 409 of IPC:

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Proof of medical negligence by Doctor

Gall bladder surgery:

Initially Doctor proceeded to perform the laparoscopy surgery of the Gall Bladder of respondent No.1 as advised but while so performing he noticed some inflammation, adhesion and swelling on the Gall Bladder and, therefore, decided to perform the conventional surgery, which he actually did on respondent No.1, to remove the Gall Bladder.

Allegations that even the surgery performed was not successful inasmuch as respondent No.1 thereafter suffered for several days with various ailments, such as dysentery, loss of appetite, reduction of weight, jaundice etc., Thirdly, in June 1997, she was, therefore, required to undergo another Surgery in Ganga Ram Hospital, Delhi for removal of stones which had slipped in Common Bile Duct. It was alleged that all these ailments were incurred due to the negligence of the appellant, who did not perform the surgery properly. Continue reading “Proof of medical negligence by Doctor” →

Biometric identification for adhaar card is not unconstitutional

Right of Privacy:

the right to privacy may be justifiable in the following circumstances subject to the principle of proportionality:

(a) Other fundamental rights: The right to privacy must be considered in relation to its function in society and be balanced against other fundamental rights.

(b) Legitimate national security interest.

(c) Public interest including scientific or historical research purposes or statistical purposes. Continue reading “Biometric identification for adhaar card is not unconstitutional” →