Assam Judiciary — Prelims 2022

Correct answer: C

Marie Curie was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize (Physics, 1903), and remains the only person to win in two sciences.

Correct answer: B

Baroness Bertha von Suttner was the first woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, in 1905.

Correct answer: D

Air Marshal Padmavathy (Padma) Bandopadhyay was the first woman to attain the three-star rank of Air Marshal in the IAF, promoted on 1 October 2004.

Correct answer: A

Sir Muhammad Saleh Akbar Hydari was the first Governor of Assam after independence (1947). Gopinath Bardoloi was the first Chief Minister, not Governor.

Correct answer: C

The Khanikar Barua was the chief artificer/superintending officer in charge of the kingdom's artisans and industries (construction and manufacturing) under the Ahom administration.

Correct answer: D

Yanam, a part of the Union Territory of Puducherry, lies in the delta of the Godavari river in Andhra Pradesh.

Correct answer: A

The Space Physics Laboratory (SPL), part of ISRO/VSSC, is located at Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum).

Correct answer: A

The first complete and synchronous census of India was conducted in 1881 under W.C. Plowden (an earlier non-synchronous attempt was 1872).

Correct answer: B

Reli-Ki is a reed/wind instrument commonly associated with Meghalaya and Manipur per the official key, but reliable independent sourcing on this exact name is thin, hence flagged.

Correct answer: D

Afanasy Nikitin, a Russian (Tver) merchant, visited India around 1469 and recorded the Bahmani (Brahmani) kingdom in his travelogue 'A Journey Beyond the Three Seas'.

Correct answer: C

A 'hymn' is a song embodying religious and sacred emotions.

Correct answer: D

A 'past master' is one who is thoroughly expert/proficient in a chosen field.

Correct answer: A

'Impasse' means a deadlock or situation in which no progress is possible.

Correct answer: B

'Anonymously' is nearest to 'incognito' (with one's identity concealed).

Correct answer: A

'Incorrigible' means that which cannot be corrected or reformed.

Correct answer: D

'Reticent' means reserved or reluctant to speak; synonym is 'reserved'.

Correct answer: B

Reckless is a synonym of rash; likewise anomalous is a synonym of deviant (departing from the norm).

Correct answer: A

One who walks in sleep is a 'somnambulist'.

Correct answer: C

'Specious' (superficially plausible but actually wrong) fits an argument a judge sees through.

Correct answer: B

The antonym ('autonym' is a typo) of 'exacerbate' (to worsen) is 'pacify'/to ease; aggravate and heighten are synonyms.

Correct answer: A

The principles governing repugnancy under Article 254 were authoritatively summarised in M. Karunanidhi v. Union of India, AIR 1979 SC 898.

Correct answer: B

The Fifth Schedule deals with administration of Scheduled Areas/Tribes; under it the Governor's regulations can restrict and declare void transfers of tribal land to non-tribals.

Correct answer: C

Order I Rule 8 CPC provides for representative suits where numerous persons have the same interest.

Correct answer: B

On an application under Order XXIII Rule 1 CPC for withdrawal with liberty to file afresh, the court may reject it or allow it in toto (grant withdrawal with the liberty sought); it cannot grant withdrawal while severing/refusing the leave prayed for.

Correct answer: D

Article 136 SLP is discretionary; the Supreme Court ordinarily does not disturb concurrent findings but interferes where grave/gross injustice or miscarriage of justice has occurred.

Correct answer: A

OCR-fragmented match-the-list header; options shown are List-I items (A. Freedom of press, B. Minority rights, C. Just/fair/reasonable, D. Special Courts), not answer choices. The matching code is asked in n=27. Best guess 'a' as the List-I header option.

Correct answer: C

Continuation of n=26 match-list (code row). Standard pairing: Freedom of press=Bennett Coleman, Minority rights=Ahmedabad St. Xavier's, Just/fair/reasonable=Maneka Gandhi, Special Courts=Kedarnath Bajoria, giving code 1 4 3 2 = option (c). OCR-split question; lists not fully reproduced.

Correct answer: A

OCR-fragmented match-list header; options are List-I items (A. Ecology/pollution, B. Speedy trial, C. Freedom of religion, D. Arbitrary arrest/detention), not real choices. The code is asked in n=29. Best guess 'a' as the List-I header.

Correct answer: A

Continuation of n=28 (code row). Standard pairing: Ecology=M.C. Mehta, Speedy trial=Hussainara Khatoon, Freedom of religion, Arbitrary arrest=D.K. Basu, giving 1 2 3 4 = option (a). OCR-split; full lists not reproduced.

Correct answer: B

The right to acquire, hold and dispose of property [old Art. 19(1)(f)] was deleted by the 44th Amendment, 1978; it ceased to be a fundamental freedom under Article 19.

Correct answer: A

The doctrine of territorial nexus (Art. 245) permits a State law to operate extra-territorially where there is a sufficient/real connection (nexus) between the State and the object/persons sought to be regulated; only option (a) captures this. State of Bombay v. R.M.D.C.

Correct answer: D

Res judicata does not bar a fresh habeas corpus petition to the Supreme Court under Art. 32 after the High Court refused under Art. 226; the writ goes to personal liberty and the two jurisdictions are independent. Ghulam Sarwar v. Union of India.

Correct answer: B

Under the RFCTLARR Act, 2013, the preliminary notification for land acquisition is issued under Section 11.

Correct answer: A

Section 7 of the Court Fees Act, 1870 is titled 'Computation of fees payable in certain suits' and lays down how ad valorem court fees are calculated for various categories of suits.

Correct answer: C

Under Section 20 of the Court Fees Act, 1870, the High Court frames rules to fix the process fees (table of fees for service/execution of process), subject to State Government sanction; the rule-making competence vests in the High Court.

Correct answer: B

The 17th Lok Sabha (constituted after the 2019 general election) has 543 elected members, the maximum permissible being 543 directly-elected (out of 552 total constitutional ceiling).

Correct answer: A

Justice Uday Umesh Lalit was the 49th Chief Justice of India (27 Aug-8 Nov 2022), the period this 2022 paper refers to; the correct full name is 'Uday Umesh Lalit'.

Correct answer: B

The Code on Wages, 2019 was the labour code enacted in 2019; the other three codes (OSH, Industrial Relations, Social Security) were enacted in 2020.

Correct answer: B

Section 3 of the Limitation Act, 1963 (bar of limitation) is not independent in operation; it is subject to and controlled by Sections 4 to 24, which provide for exclusion, extension and computation of the limitation period.

Correct answer: A

Section 5 (extension/condonation of delay) applies only where the period is 'prescribed' by the Act/statute (the Schedule); it does not apply to periods fixed by agreement of parties.

Correct answer: B

Under Section 4 of the Limitation Act, 1963, the day the court is 'closed' includes any day during which the court remains closed during any part of its normal working hours; it need not be closed for the whole day.

Correct answer: A

Sections 14 (exclusion of time of bona fide proceeding in wrong court) and 5 (condonation of delay) of the Limitation Act, 1963 operate independently of each other; neither controls or excludes the other.

Correct answer: D

The Letters Patent (Charter) establishing the Supreme Court of Judicature at Fort William, Calcutta, under the Regulating Act 1773 was issued on 26th March, 1774.

Correct answer: B

Under Section 31(5) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, after the arbitral award is made a signed copy of the award shall be delivered to each party.

Correct answer: A

Under Section 16(2) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, a plea that the arbitral tribunal lacks jurisdiction must be raised not later than the submission of the statement of defence.

Correct answer: D

Section 9 expressly lists interim measures including appointment of a guardian for a minor/person of unsound mind, appointment of a receiver, and securing the amount in dispute; all are included, so the answer is 'None of the above'.

Correct answer: B

Under the proviso to Section 34(3) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, delay beyond the three-month period may be condoned for a further period of not more than thirty days, 'but not thereafter'.

Correct answer: A

Section 30 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 ('Settlement') encourages and permits the parties to settle their dispute during arbitral proceedings, the settlement being recorded as an award on agreed terms.

Correct answer: B

Inability of counsel to attend an arbitral sitting due to illness is a ground only for adjournment of the proceedings, not for setting aside the award or other reliefs.

Correct answer: A

Under Section 148 of the Contract Act, 1872, bailment is delivery of goods by one person to another for some purpose, upon a contract that they shall, when the purpose is accomplished, be returned or otherwise disposed of according to the directions of the person delivering them (bailor). Returning an equivalent in money/commodities is not bailment.

Correct answer: B

Since X expressly communicated to A that the iron was needed to fulfil the contract with Y, the special loss (loss of profit on the Y contract plus damages payable to Y) was within the contemplation of both parties under the second limb of Hadley v Baxendale (Section 73, Contract Act). X can recover both heads.

Correct answer: A

Under Section 2(d) of the Contract Act, 1872, consideration may move from the promisee 'or any other person'. Hence a third person from whom the consideration has actually proceeded can sue (Chinnaya v Ramayya), even though a stranger to consideration.

Correct answer: C

Explanation to Section 16(3) of the Contract Act makes inadequacy of consideration a relevant factor in determining whether consent was obtained by undue influence; it is not itself voidable but is evidence of undue influence.

Correct answer: D

Section 18 of the Contract Act (the question's reference to s.16 is a typo for misrepresentation) covers all three: a positive but innocent unwarranted assertion, an innocent breach of duty gaining an advantage, and innocently causing a mistake as to the subject matter.

Correct answer: C

A representation made honestly believing it to be true, without knowing it to be false, is innocent misrepresentation (s.18), not fraud. Fraud under Section 17 requires absence of belief in truth or intent to deceive.

Correct answer: A

Section 46 of the Contract Act provides that what is a reasonable time is, in each particular case, a question of fact.

Correct answer: D

Per the explanation to Section 17 of the Contract Act, mere silence is not fraud unless there is a duty to speak, or where silence is in itself equivalent to speech (deceptive), or where circumstances change requiring disclosure. All the listed situations apply.

Correct answer: B

Section 5 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 prescribes the conditions for a valid Hindu marriage.

Correct answer: B

Sapinda relationship (s.3(f), HMA) bars marriage between persons within prohibited degrees of kinship; it is based on the principle of exogamy, which forbids marriage within one's own kinship group.

Correct answer: C

Section 18(a) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 (as amended) punishes contravention of the age condition in s.5(iii) with imprisonment which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both. Hence 'imprisonment or fine or both'.

Correct answer: B

Under Section 9 of the Hindu Marriage Act, restitution of conjugal rights can be claimed when one spouse has withdrawn from the society of the other without reasonable cause.

Correct answer: A

A decree affecting matrimonial status (judicial separation/divorce/nullity) is a judgment in rem, binding on the whole world as to the status it determines.

Correct answer: D

Section 13(1A) of the Hindu Marriage Act (inserted 1964) introduced the breakdown theory by allowing divorce on non-resumption of cohabitation/non-restitution for one year after a decree of judicial separation or restitution of conjugal rights.

Correct answer: A

Section 23(2) of the Hindu Marriage Act imposes a duty on the court, before granting relief, to make every endeavour to bring about reconciliation between the parties (in matrimonial cases except those founded on certain grounds like conversion or unsoundness of mind).

Correct answer: A

Permanent alimony under Section 25 of the Hindu Marriage Act is incidental to the grant of substantive matrimonial relief; the court can order it at the time of passing any decree or subsequently. It is ancillary to the main relief.

Correct answer: A

Under Section 9 of the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956, a child can generally be given in adoption by the father, mother or guardian as provided; an adopted child being a child can also be given in adoption. Court permission is required only for a guardian's giving (s.9(4)), not generally.

Correct answer: A

Section 12(c) of the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act provides that an adopted child cannot renounce his adoptive parents and return to the family of his birth; the adoption severs ties with the birth family irrevocably.

Correct answer: B

Under Section 7 of the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, a Hindu male with a living wife can adopt only with the consent of his wife (unless she is incapacitated as listed in the proviso).

Correct answer: B

Under Section 9(3) of the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, the mother of an illegitimate child may give the child in adoption; her right does not require the consent of the putative father.

Correct answer: C

Under Section 11 of the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, the bar is on adopting a son when the adopter already has a Hindu son, son's son or son's son's son, whether by legitimate blood relationship, adoption or otherwise; an illegitimate son is not such a bar for either a male or female Hindu adopting a son.

Correct answer: C

Section 12, proviso (c) of the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act: any property vested in the adopted child before adoption continues to vest in him subject to the obligations, if any, attaching to such ownership.

Correct answer: A

On adoption out of the family, a Mitakshara coparcener severs from his natural family; his interest in the joint family property ceases on his adoption (his interest devolves on the remaining coparceners), as the adoption transplants him into the adoptive family from the date of adoption (s.12, HAMA).

Correct answer: C

Under Muslim law, a child must be born within a valid (or at least continuing) marriage to be legitimate. The offspring of a Muslim woman who marries a second husband while the first marriage subsists (a void/bigamous union for a woman) is illegitimate, and an illegitimate child under Muslim law cannot be legitimised by acknowledgment.

Correct answer: C

Under Muslim law, the marriage of a Muslim woman with a non-Muslim (a man not of her faith) is void (batil), unlike a Muslim man marrying a kitabia which is merely irregular.

Correct answer: B

The marriage of a Muslim man with a fire-worshipper or idolatress (a woman who is neither Muslim nor kitabia) is irregular (fasid), not void, under Hanafi law; it can be regularised.

Correct answer: B

On a valid Muslim marriage the wife's status DOES change and she becomes subject to her husband's school of law; option (b) states the opposite, so it is NOT a legal effect. Options (a), (c) and (d) are correct effects (Mulla, Principles of Mahomedan Law).

Correct answer: B

Dower (mahr) is an unsecured debt; the widow ranks only as an ordinary unsecured creditor of her deceased husband's estate, along with other unsecured creditors, with no preference or priority (Mulla, Mahomedan Law; settled position).

Correct answer: C

Section 2(iii) of the Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act, 1939 permits a wife to seek divorce where the husband has been sentenced to imprisonment for a period of seven years or upwards (decree passable only after the sentence becomes final).

Correct answer: C

Under Section 2(ii) of the Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act, 1939, failure of the husband to perform his marital obligations for a period of three years is a ground for dissolution of marriage.

Correct answer: A

Under Muslim law a gift (hiba) of property where the donor reserves only possession of the corpus to himself (e.g., reserving usufruct) is valid; reservation of usufruct does not invalidate the gift, unlike reservation of dominion over the corpus (Mulla, Mahomedan Law).

Correct answer: A

A valid gift under Muslim law can be made through the medium of a trust (waqf/trust), provided the three essentials of hiba (declaration, acceptance, delivery of possession) are satisfied (Mulla, Mahomedan Law).

Correct answer: A

Under Mohammedan law a disposition inter vivos (gift/hiba) is unfettered as to quantum; a Muslim may gift away the whole of his property during his lifetime. The one-third restriction applies only to testamentary dispositions (wills/wasiyat), not to inter vivos gifts.

Correct answer: A

Under Order VIII Rule 6 CPC, legal set-off is permitted only where the defendant's claim is for an ascertained sum of money legally recoverable, raised in a suit for recovery of money, at the first hearing.

Correct answer: D

A second appeal under Section 100 CPC lies to the High Court only where the case involves a substantial question of law; it must be formulated by the Court.

Correct answer: B

Under Order XX Rule 11/Order II Rule 2 principles, where a decree is silent as to future interest (e.g., pendente lite/future mesne profits or interest), it is deemed refused and a separate suit will not lie for the same; relief not granted is deemed refused (Order II Rule 2 bar).

Correct answer: B

The rule of Damdupat is a rule relating to interest: under it the amount of interest recoverable at any one time cannot exceed the principal amount of the loan.

Correct answer: C

In a representative suit, no agreement or compromise can be entered into without the leave of the Court (Order XXIII Rule 3B CPC); leave of the Court is mandatory.

Correct answer: C

The earliest inhabitants of Assam were the Austro-Asiatic peoples, who were later assimilated by the incoming Tibeto-Burman peoples; the first cultural assimilation was thus between the Austro-Asiatic and Tibeto-Burman races.

Correct answer: A

Flagged: the decisive Battle of Saraighat (March 1671) technically fell in the reign of Udayaditya Singha (succeeded 1670), but the war was launched and Lachit Borphukan was appointed by Chakradhwaj Singha, whom most APSC answer keys credit. Best guess: (a) Chakradhwaj Singha.

Correct answer: D

Relative displacement gained by the car in 20 s = 40 m + 60 m = 100 m, so relative speed = 100/20 = 5 m/s = 18 km/hr. Bus speed = 38 - 18 = 20 km/hr.

Correct answer: A

'O Mur Apunar Desh' (by Lakshminath Bezbaruah) was adopted as Assam's state song in 1927 at the Assam Chhatra Sanmilan (Assam Students' Conference) held at Tezpur (formal government notification came later in 2013).

Correct answer: A

Let younger son = y, elder = y+15, father = 2(y+15). Then 2(y+15)+10 = 3(y+10) gives y = 10, so elder = 25 and father = 50. Check: 50+10 = 60 = 3 x (10+10). Father is 50 years.