Civil law

The principles to guide courts while considering applications for setting aside abatement and consequent impleading are laid down by the Supreme Court (SC) Om Prakash Gupta Alias Lalloowa (Now Deceased) v Satish Chandra (Now Deceased) based on the judicial precedents.

The Supreme Court (SC) in its judgment  in Mithailal Dalsangar Singh v Annabai Devram Kini says that the courts have to adopt a justice-oriented approach dictated by the uppermost consideration that ordinarily a litigant ought not to be denied an opportunity of having a case determined on merits unless he has, by gross negligence, deliberate inaction or something akin to misconduct, disentitled himself from seeking the indulgence of the court. 

A preliminary inquiry must be conducted before registering a criminal case against a teacher for any bonafide act done in the school to discipline their students and the accused teacher should not be arrested during the preliminary enquiry. Such an enquiry is essential to ensure that teachers are not unfairly targeted, says the High Court of Kerala (HCK) in Sibin SV v State of Kerala [2025: KER:20847].

Proposed Enhancement of Court Fee in Kerala from 1st April 2025. The enhanced amount of court fee proposed to be enforced from 1st April 2005 in Kerala state as per the budget proposals for the current financial year would be as provided on the page.

The permission to donate human organs cannot be rejected by the Authorization Committee unless there is cogent material to establish a commercial element, says the High Court of Kerala in Uvais Muhammad K.C. & Another v State of Kerala & Another [2025: KER:195].

The owner or the person in custody of any paddy land or wet land in Kerala shall not have any power to convert or reclaim such lands, since the enactment of the Kerala Conservation of Paddy Land and Wetland Act, 2008 (2008 Act) on 12th August 2008 and the allied rules enacted in 2008. The removal of sand from wetland is also prohibited by the 2008 Act. However, there are two exceptions to this general rule. One is that the owner of the land can seek permission to convert paddy land and construct a residence, and the other is conversion of land for public purposes.

The delay in filing application for confirmation of the provisional attachment of property by the Competent Authority, under Section 14(1) of the Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes (BUDS) Act, 2019 (BUDS Act), to the Designated Court cannot be condoned, as Section 5 of the Limitation Act is not applicable to the Section, says the High Court of Kerala, in paragraph 19 in the judgement in Highrich Online Shoppe Private Limited v The Competent Authority.

The issue whether the Principal District Courts can modify arbitral awards under Section 34 and Section 37 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (A C Act) has led to conflicting decision of the Supreme Court.

Before summoning a witnesses to court in an ongoing civil suit, the party to the case has to disclose the relevancy of that particular piece of evidence with regard to the issues arising in the suit, says the Kerala High Court in Infant Jesus Church v Southern Law Chambers, [2024 KER 87181].

The widely acknowledged Golden Principles, collectively known as the Triple-Test, are followed by the the courts in India as the pre-requisites before a party can be granted mandatory injunction, directing him to do or not to do a specific thing.

Using loudspeakers, for prayers or for reciting religious discourses, is not an essential part of any religion. Therefore, the Bombay High Court, in Jaago Nehru Nagar Residents Welfare Association v Commissioner of Police [2025:BHC-AS:3288-DB], ordered the Mumbai Police to strictly implement the Noise Pollution Rules, 2000 and ensure that no religious place creates noise pollution by using loudspeakers.

In land acquisition under the National Highways Act, 1956 ( NH Act), the First Schedule of the Right to Fair Compensation in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act 2013 (2013 Act) and its relevant sections are squarely applicable since 1-1-2015, based on a notification under Section 105 (3) of the 2013 Act.