Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 — Ss. 11, 12(5) and 18 — Unilateral appointment of sole arbitrator/curating panel of arbitrators: Unilateral appointment of sole arbitrator, not permissible. Law clarified on scope of party autonomy under the A&C Act, 1996. Unilateral appointment clauses in public-private contracts are violative of Art. 14, [Central Organisation for Railway Electrification v. ECI SPIC SMO MCML (JV), (2025) 4 SCC 641]
Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 — S. 154 — Registration of FIR — Prayer for conducting a preliminary inquiry: Preliminary inquiry not required before registering FIR in cognizable offences, [Pradeep Nirankarnath Sharma v. State of Gujarat, (2025) 4 SCC 818]
Evidence Act, 1872 — S. 32(1) — Dying declaration — Sufficiency for conviction and duty of court: Dying declaration, held, an important piece of evidence. Therefore, a conviction, held, can be made by relying solely on a dying declaration alone as it holds immense importance in criminal law. However, such reliance, held, should be placed after ascertaining the quality of the dying declaration and considering the entire facts of a given case, [Suresh v. State of T.N., (2025) 4 SCC 794]
Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 — S. 138 — Reduction in amount of compensation: Direction for reduction in amount of compensation when entire amount under the post-dated cheques, not proved as legally enforceable debt against the appellant, [M.S. Nagabhushan v. D.S. Nagaraja, (2025) 4 SCC 810]
Penal Code, 1860 — Ss. 306 and 107 — Abetment of suicide: Determining factors for term “a person abets the doing of a thing”, stated, [Mahendra Awase v. State of M.P., (2025) 4 SCC 801]