Squatters’rights

The estate officer passed an eviction order against unauthorised occupants of railway premises. This was set aside by the appellate authority on the ground that a notice for joint inspection had not been issued to the encroachers. Setting aside the order of the appellate authority, the Madras High Court held that the only purpose of a joint inspection is to ascertain whether the premises belong to the state government or the railways. It further held that the very purpose of the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act, 1971, would be defeated by such procedure as this Act was passed specifically to speed up the process. The court pointed out that in this case, reasonable opportunity had been provided to the encroachers in accordance with the law (Union of India vs Principal District Judge, Vellore).

Fear is the key

Some people accused of murder challenged their conviction on the ground that the eyewitness (victim’s wife) had given a different version before the village administrator. The Supreme Court upheld the order of conviction, stating that initially, the woman was too terrified to narrate what had actually happened. She gave the real version only after gathering courage when her father arrived. Also, medical evidence and the evidence of other witnesses was consistent with her version (Nadimuthu and Ors vs State).

Quest for more

A student who had scored only 28 in Sanskrit in the Board exams applied for scrutiny. When there was no change, she approached the high court. A Single Bench rejected the application, stating that revaluation could not be permitted as there was no provision for it. Relying on an earlier decision, a Division Bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court held that even in the absence of such provision, revaluation could be permitted, considering the brilliant academic record of the student. The court directed that the answer scripts be evaluated by two independent examiners, who awarded the student 45 marks and 47 marks, respectively. The court ruled that she be awarded 45 marks for the paper (Priyanka Pandey vs Secretary Board of Secondary Education, MP).

SOLON