The Supreme Court has stated that if irregularity was detected in the selection of candidates for dealership of public sector Indian Oil Company, it was better to have a fresh selection instead of rearranging the panel which is found to be vitiated. In this case involving tussle for dealership for seven years, there were allegations of irregularity in the selection two times, and investigation was ordered in both cases.

M J Antony: Indian Oil dealership row

Business Standard

The Supreme Court ruled last week that an insurance policy of a motor vehicle did not cover employees of a person who hired the vehicle to carry goods. &ldquo;Someone who travels, not being an authorised agent in place of the owner of goods, and claims to be an employee of the owner of goods, cannot be covered by the statutory policy,&rdquo; the court stated in the judgment, Sanjeev Kumar vs National Insurance Company. The dispute arose when a person hired a vehicle to carry his goods and took along with him two employees. All of them died in a road accident. The Himachal Pradesh High Court, modifying the order of the accident claims tribunal, asked the insurance company to pay compensation and allowed it to recover from the owner of the vehicle. Therefore, the owner appealed to the Supreme Court. The appeal was dismissed.

M J Antony: Labourers not covered by insurance

The Supreme Court dismissed last week the appeal of the Kerala Finance Corporation which had claimed a right to demand higher rate of interest from defaulting borrowers. The corporation argued that according to the agreement, it has a right to enhanced rate of interest on loan from time to time. In this case, Kerala Finance Corporation vs C G Narayanan, the original rate was 5.5 per cent. But when the borrower defaulted, the corporation demanded a rate of 11.75 per cent.

M J Antony: Lenders can't hike rate on defaulters

An executive going in the company car is entitled to compensation in a road accident only if the vehicle is insured under the &lsquo;package policy&rsquo;, earlier known as comprehensive policy. The Supreme Court last week rejected the argument of National Insurance Company that it was not liable to indemnify the managing director of a company who was injured in an accident while riding the company car.

M J Antony: Package insurance policy for honchos

The Supreme Court last week upheld the view of the commissioner of central excise and ruled that the &lsquo;soft serve&rsquo; provided by McDonalds is in fact ice cream for purposes of excise. The firm had argued that it was liable to pay less duty since the product is marketed and sold around the world as &lsquo;soft serve&rsquo;.

M J Antony: Ice cream by any other name

Though several telecom companies are before the Supreme Court with a spectrum of complaints against licensing policies and roving investigations against them, they have all the while claimed immunity from consumer law. The court has been on their side on this issue. It has ruled that complaints about deficiency in service cannot be moved before the consumer forums. Though consumer forums largely follow this fiat, there appears to be some dissidence below against this decision.

M J Antony: Disconnect with consumers

The Supreme Court deals with cases involving big money that even the judges say they cannot read &mdash; like that cached in foreign banks. It can be used for taxless Budgets for 30 years, according to a Swiss bank director. Politicians who can juggle figures are still debating over the loss in the 2G spectrum scam. These unwieldy numbers look as if a cat had rolled over on the calculator.

M J Antony: Justice at its cheapest

M J Antony: Lenders can't hike rate on defaulters

M J Antony: Labourers not covered by insurance

Sleep deprivation is the oldest mind-bending method used in interrogation and extraction of confessions. However, science has placed in the hands of inquisitors new tools &mdash; which even they don&rsquo;t understand well. Some of them are compulsory brain mapping, narco-analysis, truth drugs, lie detectors and voice recognition methods.

M J Antony: Invasive routes to truth

A decade-old experiment of the Supreme Court to reduce fratricidal litigation between various arms of the government has fallen flat, and the battles within the camp have resumed with greater vigour.

M J Antony: Back to costly bickering

M J Antony: Indian Oil dealership row

The Supreme Court has asked the government to amend the Merchant Shipping Act and Rules &ldquo;to ensure that the life of seafarers employed in different ships in the high seas is made more secure and safe and in case of loss of life their kith and kin are paid adequate amount of compensation.&rdquo; In this case, Sabeeha Faikage vs Union of India, some seafarers were presumed dead after a mishap while they were towing a dead ship from Namibia to Alang in Gujarat.

M J Antony : SC for changes in shipping law

There was a time when statesmen were criticised for taking a holier-than-thou attitude.

M J Antony: Why pick me, M'lord?

A decision to wind up an insolvent company is closely followed by a mad scramble of creditors, secured and unsecured. Along with the secured creditors are the workers, whose claims for payment have been given high priority by the Companies Act. However, Sections 529 and 529A dealing with the disbursement of sums from the sale of assets of the company are couched in complex clauses that have been a cause of incessant litigation.

M J Antony: Scramble of creditors

The Supreme Court last week set aside the judgment of the Bombay high court on the appeal of Voltas Ltd and stated that the company had not violated any of the terms of change of use of surplus land allotted to it 25 years ago. The authorities had issued forfeiture show cause notice to the company for giving the land to developers. The judgment stated that the Maharashtra government had allowed the company to change the use of the land for housing.

 M J Antony: Voltas wins land use case

Lawmakers have been tinkering with a new land acquisition regime for a cynically long number of years. However, there is no change at the ground level. The news that a displaced woman in Madhya Pradesh immolated herself last week, starting a Chita (funeral pyre) satyagraha, was buried below the fold in the last page of newspapers. Meanwhile, more and more gross cases of forcible land acquisition are being decided by the Supreme Court and other courts.

M J Antony: Land grabbing, officially 

The Supreme Court last week dismissed the appeal of North-East Electricity Company of Orissa demanding arrears from a company which had bought a wound-up unit that had not cleared its power bills. In this case, Raghunath Paper Mills had bought in auction Konark Paper &amp; Industries Ltd which was in liquidation on &ldquo;as is where is and whatever there is&rdquo; basis.

M J Antony: Buyer not liable for old power bills 

The principle of open court may be well accepted, but one cannot easily see the details of what happens before or after a case comes to court. It is like the dark side of the moon. The lady in blindfold perhaps knows more than the commoner with open eyes.

M J Antony: Behind the black curtain

The angst over the imagined collapse of Right to Information (RTI) commissions following the recent Supreme Court judgment is still persisting. The government has filed a petition to review that judgment in the case, Namit Sharma vs Union of India. The fear is that a seat for judges in the RTI commissions will erode the independence of these panels.

M J Antony: Babus in black robes

The appointment of the chairperson of the UP State Electricity Regulatory Commission has been struck down by the Supreme Court as the selection committee did not follow the rule that &ldquo;such person does not have any financial or other interest which is likely to affect prejudicially his functions as chairperson or member.&rdquo; This is a condition under Section 82(5) of the Electricity Act.

M J Antony

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