Know Your Rights!!

In what can only be described as a case of forum shopping (trying to find the friendliest court), an apartment owner in Shiv Vihar CHS, Dombivali (East), took his complaints on a legal tour. The petitioner, Vilas Gopal Dongare member of the society was unhappy. Why? Because his water supply was cut off. The reason? He had not paid his maintenance bills, which had piled up to a whopping Rs. 7 Lakhs! Despite making several complaints about the alleged harassment by the society and even a water tank causing structural issues in his building, his cries were heard and promptly dismissed. The Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission looked into his case and, on 05.02.2020, decided it was not a human rights violation. They said, “Pay your bills first.” The society initiated proceedings under Section 101 of the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act, 1960 (MCS Act) to recover arrears and got a Recovery Certificate issued in its favour. When the petitioner’s appeal against this certificate wa...

As a lawyer, I've seen many cases of cheating and deception. Recently, I've been following news about the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) exam paper leak and an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) probationary officer falsely presenting herself as an Other Backward Classes (OBC) candidate for her Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) exam. These events made me think about which legal provisions would apply to such cases. Are these covered under the new Bhartiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS) (भारतीय न्याय संहिता), 2023, formerly the IPC (Indian Penal Code), 1860? Absolutely — they fall under the category of cheating… I explored the Bhartiya Nyay Sanhita and found Section 318 (formerly Section 420 of IPC). It’s like the all-new “cheating watchdog” (pardon my chartered accountant lingo...) on duty, keeping a sharp lookout for tricksters and making sure they don’t slip through the cracks! What is Cheating? Section 318 of BNS defines cheating as: Deception: Tricking or deceivin...