Law. Developments. Perspective.

AI-generated precedent: verification is not optional

The Supreme Court set aside NCLT and NCLAT decisions after fake or hallucinated citations entered the adjudicatory process, and adopted a zero-tolerance approach to unverified AI-generated precedent.

Deal structuring and treaty substance: Supreme Court on the Tiger Global transaction

The Court examined the treaty and statutory framework governing the transaction and the availability of treaty protection in a cross-border exit structure. The decision is significant for transaction structuring because tax consequences turn on the governing legal framework and the substance evidenced by the record, not labels alone.

Specific performance remains an equitable remedy tied to the proved bargain

The Supreme Court dealt with a long-running agreement-to-sell dispute and the plaintiff’s entitlement to specific performance, including the requirement of proving readiness and willingness. The Court declined to mechanically restore specific performance and moulded equitable relief on the proved record.

Public power, public resources and the discipline of Article 14

The Court reiterated that exercise of public power and allocation of public resources remain subject to constitutional discipline, fairness and transparency. In considering the plea for an independent investigation, it focused on legality, institutional confidence and the Article 14 character of State action.

Seat and venue are not interchangeable: supervisory jurisdiction follows the juridical seat

The Supreme Court revisited the distinction between the juridical seat and the physical venue of arbitration when determining which court exercises supervisory jurisdiction over a challenge to the award.

Land-acquisition appeals: limitation, appellate route and a justice-oriented approach

In a large batch of land-acquisition appeals, the Court clarified the appellate route under Section 74 of the 2013 Act and held that the Limitation Act is not excluded. It also directed a pragmatic approach to condonation while emphasising administrative accountability for delay.

DRT jurisdiction is powerful, but it does not absorb every antecedent title dispute

The Supreme Court examined the scope of the remedy under Section 17 of the SARFAESI Act and the boundary between DRT jurisdiction and civil-court adjudication where antecedent title and the validity of underlying documents are in issue.

IBC is not a substitute for ordinary debt recovery

The Court examined whether the asserted transaction satisfied the statutory character of financial debt for a Section 7 proceeding and reiterated the distinction between insolvency resolution and using the Code as a mere recovery device.

Enforcement cases turn on the statutory scheme, charge and legally operative schedule

The Supreme Court addressed prosecution under the NDPS Act in relation to psychotropic substances, the interaction between the Act and Rules, the effect of precedent, and the consequences of the legally operative charging framework.

Bail orders must engage with the material factors, not merely recite general principles

The Court scrutinised the grant of bail against material circumstances including allegations of abscondence, threats to witnesses and the evidentiary record, reiterating that a bail order must demonstrate application of mind to factors relevant to the particular case.

The economic value of domestic care cannot be treated as invisible

In motor-accident compensation, the Supreme Court recognised the economic, managerial and caregiving contribution of a homemaker and addressed systemic delay in claims adjudication.

Pending judicial proceedings can matter to the timing of terminal benefits

The Court interpreted the applicable pension rules and held that pending judicial proceedings operated as a bar to release of gratuity in the circumstances before it, notwithstanding the status of departmental proceedings.

Section 74 GST notices need foundational facts—not copy-pasted allegations

The Supreme Court held that the extended Section 74 route cannot be sustained by mechanically repeating expressions such as fraud, wilful misstatement or suppression. The notice must contain foundational facts capable of supporting the statutory allegation; a protective demand cannot cure a limitation problem.

Trade mark comparison is about the mark as encountered in the market

The Court revisited overall similarity, anti-dissection, dominant features, trade dress and equitable considerations governing interim relief in trade mark infringement and passing-off disputes.

SRA redevelopment rights: Supreme Court protects the landowner’s preferential right to redevelop

The Supreme Court clarified the statutory sequence for redevelopment of a Slum Rehabilitation Area: the private landowner’s preferential right must be respected through notice and opportunity before acquisition can be pursued, while the scheme remains directed to rehabilitation of eligible occupants.

Customs custody and statutory port functions: Supreme Court clarifies responsibility for imported goods

The Supreme Court considered the legal relationship between customs control and statutory port functions in a dispute concerning imported goods and liability arising from pilferage while the goods were within the customs area.

Probate is not a closed room: interested parties and suspicious circumstances matter

The Court examined revocation of probate, participation of persons claiming an interest in the estate, proof of the Will and suspicious circumstances under the succession and evidence framework.

The Constitution may be amended, but its basic structure cannot be destroyed

Parliament's amending power is wide, but it does not extend to altering the basic structure or identity of the Constitution.

Judicial review by the High Courts and Supreme Court forms part of the basic structure

Tribunals may perform a specialised adjudicatory role, but they cannot exclude the constitutional judicial-review jurisdiction of the High Courts and Supreme Court.

Procedure affecting liberty must be fair, just and reasonable

Article 21 is not satisfied by the mere existence of a procedure: the procedure affecting life or personal liberty must meet constitutional standards of fairness and non-arbitrariness.

Alternative remedy does not create an absolute bar to writ jurisdiction

The rule of alternative remedy is a rule of judicial restraint, not a rigid jurisdictional prohibition.

A public order must stand or fall on the reasons recorded in it

An administrative or statutory order cannot ordinarily be improved later through fresh reasons supplied in affidavits or litigation.

Forfeiture and liquidated damages remain tied to the law of compensation

Section 74 does not convert every contractual sum into an automatic windfall; compensation must remain legally supportable on the facts and the nature of the breach.

Civil procedure is intended to manage disputes efficiently, not multiply delay

The CPC amendments and Section 89 framework were sustained with guidance aimed at effective case management, costs and alternative dispute resolution.

Section 89 CPC requires the right ADR route for the right dispute

A court may facilitate ADR under Section 89, but reference to arbitration cannot be imposed without the legal basis and consent required for arbitration.

The juridical seat anchors the court's supervisory jurisdiction

BALCO placed the territoriality principle at the centre of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act and distinguished the legal significance of the seat from the physical venue.

Referral courts undertake a limited review of arbitrability

At the referral stage the court generally conducts a prima-facie examination, leaving contested issues to the arbitral tribunal unless non-arbitrability is manifest.

Non-signatory participation turns on consent, not corporate proximity alone

The Group of Companies doctrine survives in Indian arbitration law, but its application is rooted in determining the parties' intention to be bound.

Transaction structure must be examined as a whole before it is recast

The legal character of a genuine corporate transaction cannot be displaced merely by looking through its form without the statutory and factual basis to do so.

Market transactions are judged by economic reality as well as form

Artificial or synchronised transactions capable of creating a misleading appearance of trading can attract securities-law consequences even where their mechanics appear formally matched.

Corporate power must be exercised for a proper purpose and assessed in its commercial setting

Share issues, director conduct and allegations of oppression require close attention to purpose, fairness and the actual effect of corporate action.

A successful resolution applicant cannot treat an approved plan as an open-ended option

The IBC's time-bound architecture and the binding nature of the resolution process leave no general power for unilateral withdrawal of a plan after CoC approval.

Section 7 focuses the admission inquiry on financial debt and default

For a financial-creditor application, the adjudicating authority examines whether a financial debt exists and whether default has occurred within the statutory framework.

A genuine pre-existing dispute can stop an operational-creditor insolvency trigger

Section 9 is not a substitute for adjudicating a real commercial dispute: the tribunal asks whether a plausible pre-existing dispute exists, not whether the debtor will ultimately win it.

SARFAESI created a powerful recovery mechanism, but statutory power remains reviewable

The Supreme Court substantially upheld the SARFAESI framework while invalidating the then-existing pre-deposit condition that operated as an oppressive barrier to challenge.

Writ jurisdiction should not routinely bypass the statutory SARFAESI remedy

Where the recovery statute supplies an effective specialist remedy, High Courts should ordinarily insist that the statutory route be used before invoking Article 226.

RERA does not extinguish the additional remedy available under consumer law

The availability of a remedy under RERA does not by itself oust a homebuyer's statutory consumer remedy.

Hardship cannot become a licence to preserve unauthorised construction

Planning law loses meaning if serious violations of sanctioned plans are routinely regularised after construction.

One-sided builder terms do not erase the homebuyer's substantive remedies

Contractual clauses drafted by a developer cannot be applied mechanically where delay, unfairness and the statutory consumer framework point to effective relief.

Planning permissions and completion controls are rule-of-law safeguards

Unauthorised construction cannot be normalised through administrative inaction; planning authorities have continuing obligations to enforce sanctioned development.

Courts should not convert unauthorised construction into a claim for equitable regularisation

Where construction is unauthorised, judicial discretion cannot be used to defeat the planning regime merely because demolition will cause hardship.

Illegal construction and planning collusion attract strict judicial scrutiny

Development permission must comply with planning law, building regulations and the rights affected by the sanctioned plan; collusion cannot cure illegality.

Grounds of arrest are a substantive safeguard, not an administrative formality

The power to arrest under the PMLA carries procedural safeguards that must be meaningfully observed; an arrestee must be enabled to know the grounds on which liberty is taken away.

The meaning of 'industry' turns on the nature of the activity, not the label of the institution

The Industrial Disputes Act looks to the character and organisation of the activity when deciding whether an undertaking falls within the statutory concept of an industry.

A daughter is a coparcener by birth with the same rights and liabilities as a son

The substituted Section 6 of the Hindu Succession Act confers coparcenary status on daughters by birth; the father's survival on the amendment date is not a condition for the right.

Electronic evidence: authenticity must be proved through the statutory route

Section 65B governs proof of computer outputs and reinforces the need to preserve a legally verifiable source for electronic material.