Odisha Judiciary — Prelims 2012

Correct answer: C

R.C. Cooper v. Union of India (1970) is the famous Bank Nationalisation Case, which struck down the Banking Companies (Acquisition) Act and propounded the effect-test for fundamental rights.

Correct answer: B

Six fundamental rights are guaranteed only to citizens (and not aliens): Articles 15, 16, 19, 29 and 30 — counted as 6 rights conferred exclusively on citizens.

Correct answer: D

The Twelfth Schedule (added by the 74th Amendment) lists the powers and functions of Municipalities under Article 243W.

Correct answer: B

Per S.R. Bommai v. Union of India (1994), a Presidential proclamation under Article 356 is subject to judicial review; satisfaction can be examined and the proclamation struck down if mala fide or on irrelevant grounds.

Correct answer: A

The Lokpal Bill was introduced relying on Parliament's residuary power under Article 248 (read with Entry 97, List I), to legislate on a matter not enumerated in the State or Concurrent Lists.

Correct answer: C

Article 304 permits a State Legislature to impose reasonable restrictions on freedom of trade, commerce and intercourse with or within that State (subject to Presidential assent for restrictions on imports under 304(b)).

Correct answer: A

Article 245 (extent of laws made by Parliament/Legislatures, including extra-territorial operation) is interpreted using the Doctrine of Territorial Nexus.

Correct answer: C

The 42nd Amendment (1976) amended the Preamble at three places, inserting the words 'Socialist', 'Secular' and 'and integrity'.

Correct answer: B

Among the options, Karnataka has a bicameral legislature (Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council); Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Arunachal Pradesh are unicameral.

Correct answer: C

Provisions concerning the Supreme Court fall under Article 368 proviso, requiring a special majority of Parliament plus ratification by not less than one-half of the State Legislatures.

Correct answer: B

Order 1 Rule 9 CPC provides that no suit shall be defeated by reason of misjoinder or non-joinder of parties — but the proviso bars a suit for non-joinder of a necessary party.

Correct answer: D

Section 2(11) CPC defines 'legal representative' as a person who in law represents the estate of a deceased person.

Correct answer: A

Order X Rule 1A CPC (inserted by the 2002 amendment) directs the court to give parties the option to opt for any of the ADR modes specified in Section 89.

Correct answer: B

Order XI CPC deals with discovery by interrogatories, and inspection of documents.

Correct answer: A

Section 152 CPC permits correction of clerical or arithmetical mistakes in judgments, decrees or orders arising from accidental slip or omission.

Correct answer: C

Section 35A CPC provides for compensatory costs in respect of false or vexatious claims or defences.

Correct answer: B

Order XXII CPC governs death, marriage and insolvency of parties, i.e. abatement of suits/proceedings (the question's 'abetment' is an OCR error for 'abatement').

Correct answer: D

A temporary injunction requires a prima facie case, irreparable injury, and balance of convenience — all three (Order XXXIX CPC; Dalpat Kumar v. Prahlad Singh).

Correct answer: C

Section 96 CPC provides the right of appeal from an original decree (first appeal).

Correct answer: D

Order XVII Rule 1 CPC empowers the court to grant adjournments to parties at any stage of the suit.

Correct answer: B

Per Section 2(l) CrPC, a non-cognizable offence is one in which a police officer has no authority to arrest without a warrant.

Correct answer: D

Section 25 CrPC provides for the appointment of Assistant Public Prosecutors for conducting prosecutions in the courts of Magistrates (the stem's 'Cr.P.CM' is an OCR error for CrPC).

Correct answer: D

Arrest may be made by a police officer (Ss. 41, 42), a private person (S. 43), and a Magistrate (S. 44) — hence all of the above.

Correct answer: A

Section 50(2) CrPC mandates informing of the right to bail only where a person is arrested without warrant for a bailable offence; it is not mandatory where arrest is made with a warrant (the warrant/bail-bond endorsement under S. 71 covers that).

Correct answer: C

Section 61 CrPC requires every summons to be in writing, in duplicate, signed by the presiding officer and bearing the court's seal.

Correct answer: B

Under Section 167(2A) CrPC an Executive Magistrate may authorise detention for a term not exceeding 7 days in the aggregate, after which records go to the nearest Judicial Magistrate.

Correct answer: D

Section 223 CrPC enumerates the persons who may be charged and tried jointly (joint trial of several persons).

Correct answer: A

Section 259 CrPC empowers a Magistrate to convert a summons-case into a warrant-case where the offence is punishable with imprisonment exceeding six months. (Option (a) labels Section 258; the section that actually permits this conversion is 259, so the intended key is the one reading 'Section 259'.)

Correct answer: B

Section 313 CrPC empowers the court to examine the accused (power to question the accused on circumstances appearing in evidence).

Correct answer: C

Under Section 357 CrPC an order of compensation may be made by the trial court and also by an appellate court, High Court or Court of Session exercising revisional powers; hence both (a) and (b).

Correct answer: A

The Preamble to the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 states it is an Act to consolidate, define and amend the law of evidence, with the enacting clause repealing certain enactments; option (a) captures this fully.

Correct answer: B

The Law of Evidence is procedural/adjective law (it governs proof of rights, not the rights themselves).

Correct answer: C

Under the Indian Evidence Act a fact must be both logically relevant (connected per Sections 6-55) and legally relevant (declared relevant by the Act) to be received.

Correct answer: D

Section 30 of the Evidence Act allows a confession of one accused to be taken into consideration against a co-accused only when they are tried jointly for the same offence.

Correct answer: D

Section 32(1) of the Evidence Act makes a dying declaration relevant in both civil and criminal proceedings (unlike English law which limits it to homicide cases).

Correct answer: A

Section 45 of the Evidence Act allows expert opinion on points of foreign law (among others); Indian law is for the court to determine, so opinion lies only as to foreign law.

Correct answer: C

Secondary evidence (Sections 63-65) is admissible only where the non-production of primary evidence has been duly accounted for under one of the grounds in Section 65.

Correct answer: D

This is the illustration to Section 106 of the Evidence Act: the fact (possession of a ticket) being especially within A's knowledge, the burden of proving he had a ticket lies on him.

Correct answer: B

Section 114 illustration (does not say 'shall'), making it a rebuttable presumption of fact: the court may presume that an obligation in the obligor's hands has been discharged.

Correct answer: C

Section 120 of the Evidence Act makes the husband and wife competent witnesses for or against each other in both civil and criminal proceedings.

Correct answer: B

'Fraudulently' is defined in Section 25 IPC: a person does a thing fraudulently if he does it with intent to defraud but not otherwise.

Correct answer: B

Section 34 IPC (common intention) creates no substantive offence; it is only a rule of evidence/principle of joint liability.

Correct answer: A

'Ignorantia juris non excusat' means ignorance of law is no excuse.

Correct answer: B

Section 84 IPC provides the defence of legal (not medical) insanity, i.e. unsoundness of mind such that the accused is incapable of knowing the nature or wrongfulness of the act.

Correct answer: A

The right of private defence (Sections 96-106 IPC) is founded on the natural instinct of self-preservation.

Correct answer: A

Chapter XX of the IPC (Sections 493-498) deals with offences relating to marriage.

Correct answer: C

The two essential ingredients of a crime are actus reus (the guilty act) and mens rea (the guilty mind); motive is not an essential ingredient.

Correct answer: A

Best guess (a) Appa Salve v. State of Maharashtra AIR 2007 SC 763. Flagged: the exact AIR 2007 SC citation cannot be reliably matched among the OCR-garbled options; the well-known intoxication ruling of that era (Mavari Surya Satyanarayana / Basdev line) holds intoxication is a defence only if it negatives the requisite intention, but the specific cite in the options is not independently verifiable.

Correct answer: D

Consent obtained by fraud/misconception of fact is no consent; sex on such fraudulent consent amounts to rape under Section 375 IPC.

Correct answer: A

Every murder is culpable homicide but not every culpable homicide is murder (murder is the aggravated form under Section 300 IPC); the statement is true.

Correct answer: A

Statutes dealing with the same subject-matter (here, procedure) are 'pari materia' and read together; Limitation Act and CPC are in pari materia.

Correct answer: A

Article 1 of the Schedule to the Limitation Act, 1963 prescribes 3 years for the balance due on a mutual, open and current account with reciprocal demands, running from the close of the year.

Correct answer: B

Article 67 of the Limitation Act, 1963 provides 12 years for possession of immovable property when the plaintiff has become entitled by forfeiture or breach of condition, running from when forfeiture is incurred or the condition broken.

Correct answer: B

Section 4 of the Limitation Act allows institution on the day the court reopens where the prescribed period expires when the court is closed; it operates as an exception to the bar in Section 3.

Correct answer: D

Section 4 of the Limitation Act, 1963: where the period expires on a day the court is closed, the suit/appeal/application may be instituted on the day the court reopens.

Correct answer: B

Under the old Limitation Act schedule, an appeal from an acquittal under Section 417 CrPC carries a 90-day limitation from the date of the order.

Correct answer: B

Section 15 of the Indian Easements Act, 1882 (and Article 64 framework): an easement by prescription is acquired after 20 years of uninterrupted enjoyment as of right.

Correct answer: A

Article 127 of the Limitation Act, 1963 prescribes 60 days (from the date of sale) to set aside a sale in execution of a decree, including an application by the judgment-debtor.

Correct answer: B

Limitation bars the remedy (the right to sue in court) but not the right itself; it does not bar a defence — a defendant may still set up a time-barred claim by way of defence.

Correct answer: D

Article 113 of the Limitation Act, 1963 is the residuary article: any suit for which no period is provided elsewhere has a 3-year limitation, running from when the right to sue accrues.

Correct answer: D

Section 3 of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882 defines 'attached to the earth' as things rooted in, imbedded in, or attached to what is imbedded in the earth — all of the above.

Correct answer: C

The transfer to C, which takes effect on failure of the prior interest to B, is an ulterior transfer under Section 27 of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882.

Correct answer: B

Under Section 11/40 TPA, restrictive covenants are conditions imposed by the transferor restricting the use or enjoyment of the property by the transferee.

Correct answer: B

Section 43 of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882 embodies the rule of feeding the grant by estoppel (transfer by an unauthorised person who subsequently acquires interest).

Correct answer: D

Mahomed Musa v. Aghore Kumar Ganguli (1914, PC) is the leading case on the doctrine of part performance under Indian law.

Correct answer: D

Section 58(e) of the Transfer of Property Act: an English mortgage requires the mortgagor to bind himself to repay, an absolute transfer of the property to the mortgagee, with a proviso for re-transfer on payment — all of the above.

Correct answer: C

Section 118 of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882: a mutual transfer of ownership of one thing for another (neither being money only) is an 'exchange'.

Correct answer: D

Section 111 of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882: a lease determines by, among others, merger, forfeiture and surrender — all of the above.

Correct answer: C

'Redeem up, foreclose down' is the rule applicable to a mesne (intermediate) mortgagee, who may redeem mortgagees prior to him and foreclose those subsequent.

Correct answer: B

Section 93 of the Transfer of Property Act bars tacking: a mortgagee paying off a prior mortgage acquires no priority for his original security — this is the rule against tacking.

Correct answer: C

Per Section 2(h) of the Indian Contract Act, a contract is an agreement enforceable by law; the law of contract is the law of agreements creating obligations (Salmond/Anson).

Correct answer: B

An auction announced 'without reserve' is treated as an offer to sell to the highest bona fide bidder (Warlow v. Harrison), not a mere invitation to offer.

Correct answer: A

Section 2(d) of the Indian Contract Act, 1872 recognises past, present and future consideration ('has done... does... or promises to do').

Correct answer: C

Obligations resembling those created by contract are quasi-contracts, dealt with in Sections 68-72 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872.

Correct answer: C

Section 140 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872: on discharging the debt, the surety is subrogated to the rights of the creditor against the principal debtor.

Correct answer: D

Under Section 171 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872, bankers (along with factors, wharfingers, attorneys of a High Court and policy-brokers) have a general lien over goods bailed to them. A bailee/pawnee ordinarily has only a particular lien (Section 170).

Correct answer: B

The undertaking 'Let P have the goods, I will see you paid' is a primary/independent promise to indemnify the shopkeeper, not collateral to P's default; it is a contract of indemnity (Section 124) and not a contract of guarantee (the classic Birkmyr v Darnell distinction).

Correct answer: A

Under Section 19 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872, when consent to an agreement is caused by coercion, fraud or misrepresentation, the contract is voidable at the option of the party whose consent was so caused.

Correct answer: D

Hadley v Baxendale (1854) laid the foundation of the law of damages for breach of contract (rules of remoteness/foreseeability), reflected in Section 73 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872.

Correct answer: A

Under Section 63 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872, a promisee may dispense with or remit performance; in India (unlike the English Pinnel's Case rule) acceptance of a lesser sum in full satisfaction discharges the whole debt without fresh consideration.

Correct answer: A

Under the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, the property of a male Hindu dying intestate devolves according to the rules in Sections 8 to 13; Section 8 lays down the general rules of succession in the case of males.

Correct answer: C

Where a male coparcener of a Mitakshara joint family dies, his interest in the coparcenary property devolves by survivorship upon the surviving coparceners (sons B, C and D), under the proviso scheme of Section 6 as it stood before the 2005 amendment.

Correct answer: D

Section 14(1) of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 abolishes the Hindu woman's limited estate: any property possessed by a female Hindu, whether acquired before or after the commencement of the Act, is held by her as full owner and not as a limited owner.

Correct answer: B

Under Section 3(1)(c) of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, a person related to the deceased by blood or adoption wholly through females is a 'cognate'; an 'agnate' is related wholly through males.

Correct answer: B

In the Schedule to the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, both the father and a son's daughter's son are enumerated as Class II heirs (father is Entry I, son's daughter's son is in Entry II of Class II); neither is a Class I heir.

Correct answer: D

The Indian Succession Act, 1925 deals with intestate and testamentary succession; it does not govern survivorship of coparcenary property, which is outside its scope.

Correct answer: C

An administrator is appointed by the Court through a grant of letters of administration (Section 234, Indian Succession Act, 1925), as distinguished from an executor who is appointed by the testator under the will.

Correct answer: D

A holograph will is one written entirely in the testator's own handwriting.

Correct answer: A

Under Section 110 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925, where a legacy is given to A and on his death to B, the bequest to B takes effect only if A predeceases the testator; if A survives the testator, the gift over to B does not take effect.

Correct answer: B

Under Section 2(f) of the Indian Succession Act, 1925, a 'probate' is a copy of the will certified under the seal of the court of competent jurisdiction with a grant of administration to the estate of the testator.

Correct answer: C

Under the Specific Relief Act, 1963 (the version current in 2012), Section 18 deals with the non-enforcement of contracts except with variation, i.e., specific performance with the variation set up by the defendant.

Correct answer: B

Section 12 of the Specific Relief Act, 1963 (specific performance of a part of a contract) is founded on the equitable principle that equity looks to the substance of the contract and requires substantial compliance with its conditions rather than its literal fulfilment.

Correct answer: D

The doctrine of specific performance rests on all three propositions: it is refused where damages are an adequate remedy, its grant is discretionary (Section 20 of the 1963 Act), and it is refused where the contract lacked mutuality at its inception.

Correct answer: A

Section 8 of the Specific Relief Act, 1963 allows recovery of specific movable property; the statement that 'no suit can be brought against the owner' is NOT applicable, because a person with a special/present right to possession may sue even the owner.

Correct answer: C

Section 15 of the Specific Relief Act, 1963 lists who may obtain specific performance; a reversioner in remainder is generally not entitled (only a reversioner in possession may sue on a covenant). Option text is OCR-garbled ('reminder' for 'remainder'); best guess is the reversioner in remainder.

Correct answer: D

Section 14 of the Specific Relief Act, 1963 lists contracts not specifically enforceable: where compensation is an adequate remedy, contracts of a determinable nature, and contracts dependent on personal qualifications/skill of a party; hence all of the above.

Correct answer: C

Where property is sold in distinct lots under a separate contract for each lot, the contracts are divisible/independent; that is the contract held NOT to be indivisible, so a single lot may be dealt with separately.

Correct answer: C

In a suit for specific performance the defendant may resist on grounds of uncertainty, want/excess of power, and on equitable grounds such as hardship and unfair advantage; hence both (a) and (b).

Correct answer: A

Under Section 26(1) of the Specific Relief Act, 1963, an instrument may be rectified where, through fraud or mutual mistake of the parties, it does not express their real intention.

Correct answer: B

Under the Specific Relief Act, 1963, Section 27 governs rescission of contracts and Section 27(2) sets out the grounds on which the court may refuse to rescind a contract.