{"id":120177,"date":"2003-09-02T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2003-09-01T18:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/dev-singh-vs-punjab-tourism-development-on-2-september-2003"},"modified":"2018-03-21T02:18:05","modified_gmt":"2018-03-20T20:48:05","slug":"dev-singh-vs-punjab-tourism-development-on-2-september-2003","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/dev-singh-vs-punjab-tourism-development-on-2-september-2003","title":{"rendered":"Dev Singh vs Punjab Tourism Development &#8230; on 2 September, 2003"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"docsource_main\">Supreme Court of India<\/div>\n<div class=\"doc_title\">Dev Singh vs Punjab Tourism Development &#8230; on 2 September, 2003<\/div>\n<div class=\"doc_author\">Author: S Hegde<\/div>\n<div class=\"doc_bench\">Bench: N.Santosh Hegde)B.P.Singh<\/div>\n<pre>           CASE NO.:\nAppeal (civil)  6918 of 2003\n\nPETITIONER:\nDev Singh\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\n\nRESPONDENT:\nVs.\n\nPunjab Tourism Development Corporation Ltd. &amp; Anr. \n\n\nDATE OF JUDGMENT: 02\/09\/2003\n\nBENCH:\nN.Santosh Hegde)B.P.Singh\n\n\nJUDGMENT:\n<\/pre>\n<p>J U D G M E N T<\/p>\n<p>Arising out of S.L.P.\u00a9No.8462 of 2002)<\/p>\n<p>SANTOSH HEGDE,J.\n<\/p>\n<p>\tLeave granted.\n<\/p>\n<p>\tHeard learned counsel for the parties.\n<\/p>\n<p>The appellant while serving as a Senior Assistant in the <\/p>\n<p>respondent-Corporation was subjected to a disciplinary inquiry on <\/p>\n<p>the ground that he was responsible for the misplacement of a file <\/p>\n<p>which was entrusted to him, which according to the Corporation <\/p>\n<p>amounted to a misconduct under By-Law 18 of The Punjab <\/p>\n<p>Tourism Development Corporation Ltd. Service By Laws. In the <\/p>\n<p>inquiry that was held pursuant to the above said charge, the <\/p>\n<p>appellant was found guilty of the said misconduct and the <\/p>\n<p>disciplinary authority as per his order dated 6th November, 2001 <\/p>\n<p>while confirming the finding of the Inquiry Officer found the case <\/p>\n<p>to be a fit one in which a punishment of dismissal was called for <\/p>\n<p>and accordingly he ordered the dismissal of the appellant from the <\/p>\n<p>service of the Corporation with immediate effect. The appellant <\/p>\n<p>challenged to the said order by way of a writ petition before the <\/p>\n<p>Punjab and Haryana High Court which came to be dismissed by <\/p>\n<p>the impugned order, hence, the appellant is in appeal before us.<\/p>\n<p>\tThough learned counsel for the appellant has challenged the <\/p>\n<p>finding of the Inquiry Officer on various grounds, having heard the <\/p>\n<p>arguments in this regard and having perused the record, we find no <\/p>\n<p>reason to disagree with the findings as to the misconduct <\/p>\n<p>committed by the appellant.\n<\/p>\n<p>Learned counsel for the appellant, however, contended that <\/p>\n<p>the appellant has been serving the Corporation since 1981 with <\/p>\n<p>unblemished record and there was no earlier charge of misconduct <\/p>\n<p>prior to the present charge. He also contended that the charge <\/p>\n<p>against the appellant was that of misplacement of a file and no <\/p>\n<p>motive was attached for such misplacement of file. In such a <\/p>\n<p>situation to award the extreme punishment of dismissal according <\/p>\n<p>to the learned counsel would not only amount to a disproportionate <\/p>\n<p>punishment but also should disturb the conscience of this Court. <\/p>\n<p>The learned counsel in support of his argument, that it is open to <\/p>\n<p>the superior court to interfere with the quantum of punishment in a <\/p>\n<p>given set of facts, has relied upon the judgments of this Court in <\/p>\n<p>the case of Bhagat Ram vs. State of H.P (1983 2 SCC 442), <a href=\"\/doc\/1572927\/\">Ranjit <\/p>\n<p>Thakur vs. Union of India<\/a> (1987 4 SCC 611) and <a href=\"\/doc\/1122193\/\">U.P.State Road <\/p>\n<p>Transport Corporation &amp; Anr. vs. Mahesh Kumar Mishra &amp; Ors.<\/a> <\/p>\n<p>(2000 3 SCC 450)   <\/p>\n<p>\tA perusal of the above judgments clearly shows that a court <\/p>\n<p>sitting in appeal against a punishment imposed in the disciplinary <\/p>\n<p>proceedings will not normally substitute its own conclusion on <\/p>\n<p>penalty, however, if the punishment imposed by the disciplinary <\/p>\n<p>authority or the appellate authority shocks the conscience of the <\/p>\n<p>court, then the court would appropriately mould the relief either by <\/p>\n<p>directing the disciplinary\/appropriate authority to reconsider the <\/p>\n<p>penalty imposed or to shorten the litigation its may make an <\/p>\n<p>exception in rare cases and impose appropriate punishment with <\/p>\n<p>cogent reasons in support thereof. It is also clear from the above <\/p>\n<p>noted judgments of this Court, if the punishment imposed by the <\/p>\n<p>disciplinary authority is totally disproportionate to the misconduct <\/p>\n<p>proved against the delinquent officer, then the court would <\/p>\n<p>interfere in such a case.\n<\/p>\n<p>\tApplying the said principles laid down by this Court in the <\/p>\n<p>cases noted herein above, we see that in this case the appellant has <\/p>\n<p>been serving the respondent Corporation for nearly 20 years with <\/p>\n<p>unblemished service, before the present charge of misconduct was <\/p>\n<p>levelled against him. The charge itself shows that what was alleged <\/p>\n<p>against the appellant was of a misplacement of a file and there is <\/p>\n<p>no allegation whatsoever that this file was either misplaced by the <\/p>\n<p>appellant deliberately or for any collateral consideration. A reading <\/p>\n<p>of the charge sheet shows that the misplacement alleged was not <\/p>\n<p>motivated by any ulterior consideration and at the most could be an <\/p>\n<p>act of  negligence, consequent to which the appellant was unable to <\/p>\n<p>trace the file again. The disciplinary authority while considering <\/p>\n<p>the quantum of punishment came to the conclusion that the <\/p>\n<p>misconduct of the nature alleged against the appellant should be <\/p>\n<p>viewed very seriously to prevent such actions in future whereby <\/p>\n<p>important and sensitive records could be lost or removed or <\/p>\n<p>destroyed by the employee under whose custody the records are <\/p>\n<p>kept. Therefore, he was of the opinion a deterrent punishment was <\/p>\n<p>called for. Forgetting for a moment that no such allegation of <\/p>\n<p>misplacing of important or sensitive record was made in the instant <\/p>\n<p>case against the appellant and what he was charged of was <\/p>\n<p>misplacement of a file importance or sensitiveness of which was <\/p>\n<p>not mentioned in the charge sheet. Therefore, in our opinion, the <\/p>\n<p>disciplinary authority was guided by certain facts which were not <\/p>\n<p>on record, even otherwise, we are of the opinion that when the <\/p>\n<p>Service By-Laws applicable to the Corporation under Service By-<\/p>\n<p>Laws 17 provide various minor punishments, we fail to appreciate <\/p>\n<p>why only maximum punishment available under the said By-laws <\/p>\n<p>should be awarded on the facts of the present case. We think the <\/p>\n<p>punishment of dismissal for mere misplacement of a file without <\/p>\n<p>any ulterior motive is too harsh a punishment which is totally <\/p>\n<p>disproportionate to the misconduct alleged and the same certainly <\/p>\n<p>shocks our judicial conscience. Hence, having considered the basis <\/p>\n<p>on which the punishment of dismissal was imposed on the <\/p>\n<p>appellant and the facts and circumstances of this case, we think to <\/p>\n<p>avoid further prolonged litigation it would be appropriate if we <\/p>\n<p>modify the punishment ourselves. On the said basis, while <\/p>\n<p>upholding the finding of misconduct against the appellant, we <\/p>\n<p>think it appropriate that the appellant be imposed a punishment of <\/p>\n<p>withholding of one increment including stoppage at the efficiency <\/p>\n<p>bar in substitution of the punishment of dismissal awarded by the <\/p>\n<p>disciplinary authority. We further direct that the appellant will not <\/p>\n<p>be entitled to any back wages for the period of suspension. <\/p>\n<p>However, he will be entitled to the subsistence allowance payable <\/p>\n<p>upto the date of the dismissal order.\n<\/p>\n<p>\tWith the above modifications, this appeal is allowed, the <\/p>\n<p>impugned order of the disciplinary authority in so far as it directs <\/p>\n<p>the dismissal of the appellant, stands substituted as ordered by us  <\/p>\n<p>herein above.\n<\/p>\n<p>\tThe appeal is allowed partly.\n<\/p>\n<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Supreme Court of India Dev Singh vs Punjab Tourism Development &#8230; on 2 September, 2003 Author: S Hegde Bench: N.Santosh Hegde)B.P.Singh CASE NO.: Appeal (civil) 6918 of 2003 PETITIONER: Dev Singh RESPONDENT: Vs. Punjab Tourism Development Corporation Ltd. &amp; Anr. DATE OF JUDGMENT: 02\/09\/2003 BENCH: N.Santosh Hegde)B.P.Singh JUDGMENT: J U D G M E N [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-120177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-supreme-court-of-india"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Dev Singh vs Punjab Tourism Development ... on 2 September, 2003 - Free Judgements of Supreme Court &amp; High Court | Legal India<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/dev-singh-vs-punjab-tourism-development-on-2-september-2003\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dev Singh vs Punjab Tourism Development ... on 2 September, 2003 - Free Judgements of Supreme Court &amp; High Court | Legal India\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/dev-singh-vs-punjab-tourism-development-on-2-september-2003\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Free Judgements of Supreme Court &amp; High Court | Legal India\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/LegalindiaCom\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2003-09-01T18:30:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-03-20T20:48:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/09\/legal-india-icon.jpg?fit=512%2C512&ssl=1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"512\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"512\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Legal India Admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@legaliadmin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Legal_india\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Legal India Admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/dev-singh-vs-punjab-tourism-development-on-2-september-2003#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/dev-singh-vs-punjab-tourism-development-on-2-september-2003\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Legal India Admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0bfdffe9059fb8bb24a86d094609c5ea\"},\"headline\":\"Dev Singh vs Punjab Tourism Development &#8230; on 2 September, 2003\",\"datePublished\":\"2003-09-01T18:30:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-03-20T20:48:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/dev-singh-vs-punjab-tourism-development-on-2-september-2003\"},\"wordCount\":1070,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Supreme Court of India\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/dev-singh-vs-punjab-tourism-development-on-2-september-2003#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/dev-singh-vs-punjab-tourism-development-on-2-september-2003\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/dev-singh-vs-punjab-tourism-development-on-2-september-2003\",\"name\":\"Dev Singh vs Punjab Tourism Development ... on 2 September, 2003 - Free Judgements of Supreme Court &amp; High Court | Legal India\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2003-09-01T18:30:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-03-20T20:48:05+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/dev-singh-vs-punjab-tourism-development-on-2-september-2003#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/dev-singh-vs-punjab-tourism-development-on-2-september-2003\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/dev-singh-vs-punjab-tourism-development-on-2-september-2003#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Dev Singh vs Punjab Tourism Development &#8230; on 2 September, 2003\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/\",\"name\":\"Free Judgements of Supreme Court & High Court | Legal India\",\"description\":\"Search and read the latest judgements, orders, and rulings from the Supreme Court of India and all High Courts. A comprehensive database for lawyers, advocates, and law students.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/#organization\"},\"alternateName\":\"Free judgements of Supreme Court & High Court of India | Legal India\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Judgements of Supreme Court & High Court | Legal India\",\"alternateName\":\"Legal India\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/5\\\/2025\\\/09\\\/legal-india-icon.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/5\\\/2025\\\/09\\\/legal-india-icon.jpg\",\"width\":512,\"height\":512,\"caption\":\"Judgements of Supreme Court & High Court | Legal India\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/LegalindiaCom\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/Legal_india\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0bfdffe9059fb8bb24a86d094609c5ea\",\"name\":\"Legal India Admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4faa9d728ed1af3b73d52225c7f12901ac726fe6f7ea0a3348a1d51f3a930987?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4faa9d728ed1af3b73d52225c7f12901ac726fe6f7ea0a3348a1d51f3a930987?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4faa9d728ed1af3b73d52225c7f12901ac726fe6f7ea0a3348a1d51f3a930987?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Legal India Admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/legaliadmin\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/author\\\/legal-india-admin\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Dev Singh vs Punjab Tourism Development ... on 2 September, 2003 - Free Judgements of Supreme Court &amp; High Court | Legal India","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/dev-singh-vs-punjab-tourism-development-on-2-september-2003","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Dev Singh vs Punjab Tourism Development ... on 2 September, 2003 - Free Judgements of Supreme Court &amp; High Court | Legal India","og_url":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/dev-singh-vs-punjab-tourism-development-on-2-september-2003","og_site_name":"Free Judgements of Supreme Court &amp; High Court | Legal India","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/LegalindiaCom\/","article_published_time":"2003-09-01T18:30:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-03-20T20:48:05+00:00","og_image":[{"width":512,"height":512,"url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/09\/legal-india-icon.jpg?fit=512%2C512&ssl=1","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Legal India Admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@legaliadmin","twitter_site":"@Legal_india","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Legal India Admin","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/dev-singh-vs-punjab-tourism-development-on-2-september-2003#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/dev-singh-vs-punjab-tourism-development-on-2-september-2003"},"author":{"name":"Legal India Admin","@id":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/#\/schema\/person\/0bfdffe9059fb8bb24a86d094609c5ea"},"headline":"Dev Singh vs Punjab Tourism Development &#8230; on 2 September, 2003","datePublished":"2003-09-01T18:30:00+00:00","dateModified":"2018-03-20T20:48:05+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/dev-singh-vs-punjab-tourism-development-on-2-september-2003"},"wordCount":1070,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Supreme Court of India"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/dev-singh-vs-punjab-tourism-development-on-2-september-2003#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/dev-singh-vs-punjab-tourism-development-on-2-september-2003","url":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/dev-singh-vs-punjab-tourism-development-on-2-september-2003","name":"Dev Singh vs Punjab Tourism Development ... on 2 September, 2003 - Free Judgements of Supreme Court &amp; High Court | Legal India","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/#website"},"datePublished":"2003-09-01T18:30:00+00:00","dateModified":"2018-03-20T20:48:05+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/dev-singh-vs-punjab-tourism-development-on-2-september-2003#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/dev-singh-vs-punjab-tourism-development-on-2-september-2003"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/dev-singh-vs-punjab-tourism-development-on-2-september-2003#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Dev Singh vs Punjab Tourism Development &#8230; on 2 September, 2003"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/","name":"Free Judgements of Supreme Court & High Court | Legal India","description":"Search and read the latest judgements, orders, and rulings from the Supreme Court of India and all High Courts. A comprehensive database for lawyers, advocates, and law students.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/#organization"},"alternateName":"Free judgements of Supreme Court & High Court of India | Legal India","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/#organization","name":"Judgements of Supreme Court & High Court | Legal India","alternateName":"Legal India","url":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/09\/legal-india-icon.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/09\/legal-india-icon.jpg","width":512,"height":512,"caption":"Judgements of Supreme Court & High Court | Legal India"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/LegalindiaCom\/","https:\/\/x.com\/Legal_india"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/#\/schema\/person\/0bfdffe9059fb8bb24a86d094609c5ea","name":"Legal India Admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4faa9d728ed1af3b73d52225c7f12901ac726fe6f7ea0a3348a1d51f3a930987?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4faa9d728ed1af3b73d52225c7f12901ac726fe6f7ea0a3348a1d51f3a930987?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4faa9d728ed1af3b73d52225c7f12901ac726fe6f7ea0a3348a1d51f3a930987?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Legal India Admin"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.legalindia.com","https:\/\/x.com\/legaliadmin"],"url":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/author\/legal-india-admin"}]}},"modified_by":null,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120177"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120177\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}