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In Satheesh Sankaranarayanan Namboothiri (Dr) v State of Kerala the Kerala High Court decided that a property that remains irreparably fragmented by government acquisition, lies landlocked by roads and fallow with the scattered vegetation, and continues to remain unsuitable for cultivation, cannot be classified as paddy or wetland under the Kerala Conservation of Paddy and Wetland, 2008 & its Rules.

The Supreme Court (SC), in Shaurabh Kumar Tripathi v Vidhi Rawal [2025 INSC 734], states that High Courts can quash complaints filed under Section 12 of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 (DV Act), in exercise of their inherent powers under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), now S.528 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023.

The construction made in contravention of the Acts / Rules would be construed as illegal and unauthorized construction, which has to be necessarily demolished and it cannot be legitimized or protected solely under the ruse of the passage of time or citing inaction of the authorities or by taking recourse to the excuse that substantial money has been spent on the said construction, says the Supreme Court (SC) in Rajendra Kumar Barjatya & Another v U P Avas Evam Vikas Parishad & Ors [2024 INSC 990].

Every Magistrate and Sessions judge to inform its jurisdictional Principal District judge about any form of non-compliance by the police in following the arrest guidelines laid down in the Satender Kumar Antil v Central Burea of Investigation & Another within one week of recording such non-compliance.

In an accident the compensation is assessed based on his earning capacity and his age. But when a child dies in an accident, then while deciding the compensation child’s educational qualification, his performance in school will have to be considered. If the child was good in his studies, then he would get more compensation. But there is no standard way of calculating claim in case of death of a child.

n proving that an executant in a sale deed is of sound mind, mere production of a medical certificate is not enough while determining the mental state at the time of the execution of a sale deed, and capacity of the executant, but the opinion of the doctor who treated the executant brought on record by examining and cross examining him in the court is necessary, the High Court of Kerala states in Kunhalima vs Mahammed [2024(3)KHC SN 15(Page No 70].

A Power of Attorney holder can depose only about the facts within his personal knowledge, but not about those facts which he himself does not know directly, or the person whom he represents alone knows, says the Supreme court (SC) in Manisha Mahendra Gala v Shalini Bhagwan Avatramani [2024 INSC 293].

Suppression of details regarding the illness suffered by the insurance proposer/assured, the previous treatment administered to him including hospitalization, and so on, which are raised as specific queries in the proposal form of the insurance company are material facts, and in the event of any material suppression or furnishing of false information by the proposer/assured regarding the same, the Insurance Company would be entitled to repudiate the policy, says the Kerala High Court in Life Insurance Corporation v Rosamma Varkey.

The terms illegal and unlawful have slight difference in meanings, as per Oxford English dictionary. But nowadays both terms are often used interchangeably. Something that is Illegal is against the law in force such as illegal immigrants, whereas an unlawful act merely contravenes the rules that apply in a particular context such as an unlawful assembly. The term unlawful often implies an act that is done without lawful justification or authority.