Supreme Court: appeals on land compensation attract ad valorem court fees

The Supreme Court has ruled that appeals under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, which seek to reduce or exclude statutory benefits without challenging the compensation amount, must pay ad valorem court fees under Section 8 of the Court Fees Act, 1870. A bench of Justice R. Mahadevan and Justice Manmohan upheld the Uttarakhand High Court's decision in a case involving the Tehri Hydro Development Corporation. The case relates to compensation for oustees of the Tehri Dam rehabilitation.

In separate rulings, the Supreme Court also held that inadequate grounds of arrest do not automatically invalidate an arrest unless prejudice to the accused is shown. The court set aside bail granted to Sonam Raghuvanshi, the prime accused in the Meghalaya honeymoon murder case, on this ground. The court further extended the protection of Section 498A IPC to women in live-in relationships that are 'in the nature of marriage', ruling that excluding them would be discriminatory.

The court quashed a cheating case against a man for covering his vehicle's number plate, stating that such an act is only a Motor Vehicles Act violation, not a criminal offence. It also restored 280 acres of Gurugram land to the Wazirabad Gram Panchayat, ruling it was village common land.