Case 1 : Motor accident claim can be made at the jurisdiction of residence as well
The Supreme Court in a recent matter — Pramod Sinha vs Suresh Singh Chauhan — held that it is not mandatory for a claimant under Motor Accident Claim Tribunal Act to lodge his complaint with the jurisdictional tribunal of the place of accident. He/she can as well do so with the tribunal where they normally resides or works.
The Apex Court found no merit with the submission that in the case on hand the witnesses will not be able to adduce evidence in Hindi as the accident site was Siliguri West Bengal where Bangla is the language spoken.
The Court pivoted and said if such an argument were to be accepted, the victim or claimant would have difficulty in adducing evidence in Bangla should the case be heard at Siliguri. To be sure, India is a multilingual country but that need not come in the way of quick, cheap and accessible justice. It is the convenience of the claimant that is paramount. Agony of hurt should not be compounded by the agony of making repeated pilgrimage to the accident site as the balance of convenience in such matters clearly lies with the claimant.
Moreover, in this day and age, with video-conferencing increasingly gaining popularity with judges and tribunals, the place where the claim is filed should hardly matter especially with good translators around to offer their services to address the linguistic barrier.
Case 2 : Newspaper report only hearsay evidence
In Dinesh B.S v. State of Karnataka appeal matter, the Supreme Court reversed the judgement of the Karnataka High Court which had convicted the appellant on charges of murder based on newspaper reports. The newspaper correspondent who appeared as witness against the appellant claimed that his claim was based on the mea culpa of the appellant inside the jail.
Describing newspaper reports howsoever widespread as only constituting secondary evidence, the SC said such hearsay evidence, an extra judicial confession does not meet the test of beyond reasonable doubt in criminal matters.
At best it could have buttressed the primary evidence which was sadly not there. The Court recorded the wry quotation from Mark Twain made by the senior advocate representing the appellant — if you don’t read the newspaper, you’re uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you’re misinformed — that of course was made in a lighter vein given the fact that while newspaper report by itself does not pass muster under the law of evidence, it otherwise did yeoman service to the nation. The cynic in Mark Twain was speaking in a lighter vein. Media reports especially of the electronic media have often been the trigger for further investigation by the police. Of course, the SC rightly held that newspaper reports by themselves are not the clinchers.
Case 3 : Compensation paid for delay in completion should pass muster
In Jayant Hari Mulay vs. DCIT case, the Pune bench of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) held that when a builder is obliged to compensate the buyers of flats for delay in completion, it is very much a legitimate business expenditure passing muster as incidental to the trade and accordingly makes the grade as part of work in progress. Therefore it can be added to the cost of project.
The ITAT order was a very sagacious verdict indeed. In fact, there is a mistaken view that all fines and penalties are inadmissible in computing business income as they suffer from a stigma. This is not correct.
While a penalty for bringing in contraband goods is violation of Indian law in this regard and hence the penalty paid therefore is inadmissible as a legitimate business expenditure, compensation paid to a flat booker for delay in handing over the flat on time suffers from no such stigma or vice. In other words, fine or penalty paid for violating law is not a legitimate business expenditure but compensation paid for delayed completion of project is a legitimate business expenditure.
—The column, Legal Digest, interprets various case verdicts and their implications in the current social and business scenario. The author, S Murlidharan, is a CA by qualification, and writes on economic issues, fiscal and commercial laws. The views expressed are personal.
(Edited by : C H Unnikrishnan)
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