All about Succession Certificate

1 December 2021Posted inProperty & Succession
The term succession refers to the process by which the legal heirs acquire the property of the deceased. A Succession Certificate (SC) however is the one that is granted exclusively in respect of “debts and securities” such as Provident Fund, Bank Deposit, Insurance, Shares etc to which the deceased was entitled to, as per Section 370 read with Section 214 of the Indian Succession Act. Therefore, one can apply for a SC only in respect of debts and securities.

Attestation Unnecessary for Many Legal Instruments

30 November 2021Posted inCivil law, Evidence law
Every instrument under the law in India does not require attestation. Even if it is attested the court may not be conducting the examination of them unless the document is required to be attested as per law. However, attestation of the instrument and consequent examination of the attesting witnesses as part of proving it are essential requirements in instrument such as a Will when law prescribes so.

Legal Validity of Plain Paper Agreements

26 November 2021Posted inProperty & Succession
The essential conditions of a valid contract are informed consent, consideration and lawful object and such agreements are enforceable under the Indian Contract Act, 1872. Even oral agreements are valid in India, as per the act. The Contract Act does not make stamping of agreements compulsory. It does not make an unstamped agreement/contract thereby invalid or unenforceable. Therefore, an agreement does not require mandatory stamping to make it a legal and valid instrument.

Continuation of a Criminal Case when the Complainant dies

25 November 2021Posted inCriminal law
When a complainant dies, the Magistrate cannot proceed with the case merely on the ground that the pleader, appointed by the deceased-complainant, is present in the court to continue the proceedings. In such a scenario, his pleader retains no authority and cannot, therefore, be allowed to continue to proceed with the complaint in the capacity of the pleader of the deceased-complainant. Therefore, he cannot be allowed to represent the complaint, under Section 256(2) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).

Recall of Witness u/s 311 CrPC & 165 IEA

24 November 2021Posted inCriminal law, Evidence law
The Judge has unfettered authority to summon any material witness, or examine any person attending the court, though he is not summoned as a witness, or recall or re-examine any person already examined, if his evidence appears to be essential to the just decision of the case, under Section 311 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).

Law on Co-owner selling his Undivided Share

22 November 2021Posted inCivil law, Property & Succession
A co-owner in a joint property can sell his undivided share of property to anyone. But he cannot sell the specific piece of land with marked boundaries from the joint property. A selling of a share of property by co-owner in essence means the buyer steps into the shoes of his seller. The buyer is clothed with all the rights and liabilities of his transferor. So, the buyer becomes as much a co-owner as his transferor was before the property transfer.

Legality of a Person’s Will in regard to his Dead Body

21 November 2021Posted inWill & Related Matters
Dead men are no longer persons in the eye of the law. They are devoid of much rights and no sort of liabilities. They no longer remain as the owners of their property even till their successors enter upon to take care of their inheritance. They have inheritable and uninheritable rights. Personal rights are uninheritable and they are wholly extinguished by his death. Proprietary rights on the other hand are usually inheritable. The successors step in as owners of his property at the moment he dies.

Trial in India for an Offence Committed Outside

18 November 2021Posted inCriminal law
The criminal courts in India can conduct trial against an Indian citizen for the offences he has committed outside India but the trial cannot commence without previous sanction of the Central Government under Section 3 and 4 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) and Section 188 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (CrPC).

Suit against Public Nuisance u/s 91 CPC

17 November 2021Posted inCivil law
When a public nuisance or other wrongful act affecting or likely to affect the public occurs, two or more persons or the Advocate General can file a suit for a declaration and injunction or for such other appropriate relief in a civil court, after obtaining leave of the court, under Section 91 of the Civil Procedure Code, 1908 (CPC).

Termination for hiding facts during Selection

14 November 2021Posted inCivil law, Constitutional law
In  Avtar Singh v Union of India & Ors delivered on 21 July, 2016, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court (SC) considered various decisions on the question of suppression of information or submitting false information in the verification form as to the question of having been criminally prosecuted, arrested or as to pendency of a criminal case. In the judgement the SC resolved the conflict of opinion in the various earlier decisions of its Division Benches and arrived at some guidelines in deciding such issues.