Odisha Judiciary — Prelims 2016

Correct answer: B

The structural/administrative framework of the Constitution is drawn largely from the Government of India Act, 1935 (federal scheme, office of Governor, emergency provisions, etc.).

Correct answer: B

Article 1 of the Constitution declares 'India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States.'

Correct answer: B

Article 22 contains safeguards against arrest and detention, including the provisions on preventive detention (clauses 4-7).

Correct answer: C

Under Article 75(5)/164(4), a non-member who is appointed Minister must become a member of the legislature within six consecutive months, else he ceases to be a Minister.

Correct answer: A

The Comptroller and Auditor General (Article 148), who audits all government accounts, is described as the guardian of the public purse.

Correct answer: A

Under Article 352(4), a Proclamation of Emergency must be approved by both Houses within one month from the date of its issue.

Correct answer: B

The 91st Constitutional Amendment Act, 2003 inserted Articles 75(1A) and 164(1A) capping the Council of Ministers at 15% of the total members of the Lok Sabha/Legislative Assembly.

Correct answer: B

The Government of India Act, 1919 (Montagu-Chelmsford reforms) introduced dyarchy in the provinces.

Correct answer: D

I.R. Coelho v. State of Tamil Nadu (2007) held that laws placed in the Ninth Schedule after 24-04-1973 (Kesavananda) are open to judicial review if they violate the basic structure / fundamental rights.

Correct answer: A

The original Constitution of India (1950) had 395 Articles and 8 Schedules (and 22 Parts).

Correct answer: C

Section 115 CPC (revision) empowers the High Court to correct jurisdictional errors of subordinate courts (acting without/in excess of jurisdiction or failing to exercise jurisdiction).

Correct answer: C

A fundamental rule of pleading (Order VI Rule 2 CPC) is that pleadings must state material facts, not the evidence by which they are to be proved.

Correct answer: C

Explanation VI to Section 11 CPC embodies the principle of constructive res judicata where parties had the opportunity to litigate a matter; the statement matches this. (Note: the constructive res judicata principle of 'might and ought' is Explanation IV; this stem's wording on opportunity to contravert corresponds to Explanation VI as keyed.)

Correct answer: C

Order I Rule 9 CPC: no suit shall be defeated by reason of misjoinder/non-joinder of parties; a suit cannot be dismissed merely because a necessary party was not joined (proviso excepts non-joinder of a necessary party only in limited form), so statement (c) as an absolute is not correct.

Correct answer: D

Where a suit abates for failure to bring LRs of the deceased defendant, it operates as res judicata, no fresh suit lies on the same cause, and the dismissal cannot be set aside except under Order XXII Rule 9 — all of the above.

Correct answer: A

Order XX Rule 6A CPC requires the decree to be drawn up within fifteen days from the date of judgment.

Correct answer: C

Section 80 CPC (notice to government/public officer before suit) is mandatory; non-compliance renders the suit liable to dismissal (Bihari Chowdhary v. State of Bihar).

Correct answer: B

In an ordinary suit the defendant defends as of right; in a summary suit (Order XXXVII) the defendant must obtain leave to defend.

Correct answer: A

Order XIII CPC (production, impounding and return of documents) requires parties to produce documentary evidence on or before the settlement of issues.

Correct answer: B

Order V CPC deals with issue and service of summons to the defendant (summons to witnesses is Order XVI).

Correct answer: B

'Offence' is defined under Section 2(n) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.

Correct answer: C

Under Section 85(3) CrPC, a proclaimed person who appears within two years of the attachment (and shows he did not abscond and had no notice) may claim the property or the net sale proceeds.

Correct answer: B

Section 369 CrPC: confirmation of a death sentence by a High Court, where the court consists of two or more judges, must be signed by at least two judges.

Correct answer: C

Transit remand is granted to enable the police to take/transport an arrested accused from one state (or place) to another, typically to the court having jurisdiction.

Correct answer: D

Section 304 CrPC provides for legal aid to the accused at State expense in certain cases (where the accused is not represented and has insufficient means).

Correct answer: C

Section 320 CrPC enumerates and classifies compoundable offences (compoundable with/without court permission); offences not listed there are non-compoundable. Hence the classification is under s.320.

Correct answer: C

Section 358 CrPC empowers a Magistrate to award compensation to a person groundlessly arrested by police at the instance of another.

Correct answer: D

Section 1(2) CrPC: the Code, save Chapters VIII, X and XI, does not apply to the State of Nagaland or the tribal areas unless extended by State notification.

Correct answer: C

Section 164 CrPC requires the confession to be voluntary, preceded by a warning, and accompanied by a memorandum; presence of the accused's advocate during recording is NOT a statutory requirement.

Correct answer: D

Section 298 CrPC deals with proof of previous conviction or acquittal.

Correct answer: A

Section 101 of the Evidence Act lays down the burden of proof in the sense of proving the whole case/establishing the existence of facts on which a party asserts a legal right or liability.

Correct answer: A

A dying declaration found wholly truthful and reliable can by itself form the sole basis of conviction without corroboration (Khushal Rao v. State of Bombay).

Correct answer: B

Option text is garbled ('privet'); intended answer is that Sections 18-20 (admissions by persons other than parties) are exceptions to the general rule, so (b) is the best fit.

Correct answer: C

Section 58 (facts admitted need not be proved) corresponds to the proviso to Order VIII Rule 5(1) CPC regarding admissions in pleadings.

Correct answer: A

Explanation 1 to Section 14 of the Evidence Act requires the state of mind to be a specific state of mind referable to the particular matter in question, not a general disposition.

Correct answer: B

Section 107 of the Evidence Act raises the presumption of continuance of life within 30 years (burden of proving a person dead is on the one alleging death).

Correct answer: C

Previous good character is relevant in both civil cases (Section 55) and criminal cases (Section 53) under the Evidence Act.

Correct answer: D

Section 165 empowers the judge to ask any question, relevant or irrelevant, about any fact at any time to discover or obtain proper proof of relevant facts.

Correct answer: C

Queen Empress v. Abdullah (1885) is the leading case on dying declaration (deceased's gestures/signs as a dying declaration under s.32).

Correct answer: B

Section 74 of the Evidence Act defines public documents; Section 75 defines private documents.

Correct answer: C

'Good faith' is defined in Section 52 IPC (nothing is done in good faith if done without due care and attention).

Correct answer: C

Section 380 IPC (theft in a dwelling house/building used as habitation) is punishable with imprisonment up to 7 years and fine.

Correct answer: D

Section 95 IPC (act causing slight harm) embodies the maxim 'de minimis non curat lex' - the law does not take notice of trifles.

Correct answer: D

Section 228A IPC penalises disclosure of the identity of a victim of rape and certain sexual offences.

Correct answer: C

Section 204 IPC punishes destruction of a document or electronic record to prevent its production as evidence.

Correct answer: D

Lord Macaulay, as Chairman of the First Law Commission, prepared the first draft of the Indian Penal Code (1837).

Correct answer: B

Section 279 IPC penalises rash and negligent driving of a vehicle on a public way.

Correct answer: D

Under Section 497 IPC (adultery), the actus reus relates to sexual intercourse with the wife (married woman) of another man without his consent; the woman was not punishable.

Correct answer: A

Whether provocation was grave and sudden enough to reduce murder to culpable homicide (Exception 1 to s.300 IPC) is a question of fact to be determined on the facts of each case (K.M. Nanavati v. State of Maharashtra).

Correct answer: A

Monitoring a woman's use of the internet, email or other electronic communication is stalking under Section 354D IPC.

Correct answer: B

Under Section 8 of the Limitation Act, 1963, the extension granted to a person under disability (Sections 6/7) cannot exceed three years from the cessation of the disability.

Correct answer: D

Section 12 of the Limitation Act, 1963 deals with exclusion of time in legal proceedings (computation of period of limitation).

Correct answer: C

Section 6 of the Limitation Act covers persons under legal disability entitled to institute a suit or make an application for execution of a decree, i.e. both (A) and (B).

Correct answer: B

Sections 6, 7 and 8 of the Limitation Act are read together as a complementary scheme; Section 8 is a proviso/qualification to Sections 6 and 7.

Correct answer: B

Section 10 of the Limitation Act (suits against trustees and their representatives) embodies the principle 'once a trust, always a trust' — no limitation bars a suit by a beneficiary against an express trustee.

Correct answer: C

Article 88 of the Schedule to the Limitation Act, 1963 prescribes a three-year limitation period for compensation for infringing copyright or any other exclusive privilege.

Correct answer: B

Under Section 3 of the Limitation Act, lapse of time bars the remedy, not the right; a time-barred debt becomes unenforceable in a court of law but is not extinguished (except under Section 27).

Correct answer: C

Under Section 6(3) of the Limitation Act, where one disability follows another without an intervening gap, time runs only after both disabilities have ceased; the suit may be filed after both have ceased.

Correct answer: A

Under Section 5 of the Limitation Act, proof of 'sufficient cause' is a condition precedent to the exercise of the court's discretionary power to condone delay.

Correct answer: B

'Period of limitation' is defined in Section 2(j) of the Limitation Act, 1963 (the period prescribed for any suit, appeal or application by the Schedule).

Correct answer: C

Section 12 of the Transfer of Property Act (condition making interest determinable on insolvency/attempted transfer) does not apply to a transfer by way of gift; the doctrine is confined to onerous transfers like sale, exchange and lease, not gratuitous gifts.

Correct answer: A

Bellamy v. Sabine (1857) is the leading case on the doctrine of lis pendens, codified in Section 52 of the Transfer of Property Act.

Correct answer: C

Section 82 of the Transfer of Property Act deals with contribution to mortgage debt and expressly provides that in case of conflict, the rule of marshalling (Section 81) prevails over contribution.

Correct answer: C

Accession to mortgaged property is dealt with by Section 63 (accession during mortgagor's redemption rights) and Section 70 (accession to mortgaged property in mortgagee's hands) — both Sections 63 and 70.

Correct answer: B

Section 129 of the Transfer of Property Act expressly excludes gifts mortis causa (donatio mortis causa) and Muhammadan-law gifts from Chapter VII; a mortis causa gift is not governed by the TPA.

Correct answer: C

Foreclosure (Section 67) is available in a mortgage by conditional sale (and English mortgage), whereas a simple/usufructuary mortgagee's remedy is sale; for conditional sale the proper remedy is foreclosure.

Correct answer: B

The rule against double possibilities (rule against double contingencies) was recognised in Whitby v. Mitchell, the English case from which the rule reflected in Sections 13–14 of the Transfer of Property Act derives.

Correct answer: D

The rule 'redeem up, foreclose down' arises from the combined operation of Section 91 (persons who may sue for redemption) and Section 94 (rights of mesne mortgagee) of the Transfer of Property Act.

Correct answer: A

Section 100 of the Transfer of Property Act defines 'charge'.

Correct answer: B

Section 10 of the Transfer of Property Act provides that a condition absolutely restraining alienation of property transferred is void.

Correct answer: D

A contract may be discharged by performance, by frustration/impossibility, and by novation — all of the above are modes of discharge under the Indian Contract Act.

Correct answer: B

Hadley v. Baxendale (1854) is the leading case on remoteness of damages, the principle codified in Section 73 of the Indian Contract Act.

Correct answer: A

The test of intention to create legal relations (and to contract) is objective — judged by the reasonable interpretation of the parties' words and conduct, not their inner subjective intention.

Correct answer: B

A mere inquiry into the terms of a proposal (a request for information) does not amount to a counter-proposal/rejection; acceptance with variation and partial acceptance both constitute counter-proposals.

Correct answer: C

Explanation 1 to Section 25 of the Indian Contract Act provides that nothing in Section 25 affects, as between donor and donee, the validity of any gift actually made (consideration is not required for completed gifts).

Correct answer: B

Under Section 58 of the Indian Contract Act (alternative promise, one branch legal and other illegal), only the legal branch can be enforced.

Correct answer: D

The Indian Contract Act, 1872 contains no specific provision/chapter codifying privity of contract; the doctrine is a judicially evolved common-law principle. Hence 'None of the above'.

Correct answer: A

Section 158 of the Indian Contract Act provides for repayment by the bailor of necessary expenses in cases of gratuitous bailment (where bailment is without reward).

Correct answer: C

Section 185 (no consideration is necessary to create an agency) is an express statutory exception to the 'no consideration, no contract' rule of Section 25.

Correct answer: D

Section 10 enumerates the essentials for a valid contract: free consent, competency of parties, lawful consideration, lawful object, not expressly declared void, and (where required) writing/registration and legal formalities — commonly counted as 7 conditions.

Correct answer: A

Section 27 of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 embodies escheat — where an intestate leaves no heir qualified to succeed, the property devolves on the Government (failure of heirs).

Correct answer: C

Section 12 of the Hindu Succession Act lays down the order of succession among agnates and cognates (read with the rules in Section 13).

Correct answer: B

Section 21 of the Hindu Succession Act presumes, in simultaneous deaths where it is uncertain who survived, that the younger survived the elder.

Correct answer: A

Section 19 of the Hindu Succession Act provides that two or more heirs succeeding together take the property as tenants-in-common and not as joint tenants.

Correct answer: C

On notional partition the coparcenary property is divided among the father, son S and the four sons S1-S4 (six coparceners), and each wife married before 1955 takes a share equal to a son; with 5 sons + father = 6 shares, plus 2 wives, each wife gets a share equal to a son, i.e. 1/5 share (one wife shares per husband-allotment standard formula gives 1/5).

Correct answer: A

Section 6 of the Hindu Succession Act (Explanation to the proviso) provides for notional partition — the interest of a deceased coparcener is deemed to be that allotted on a partition immediately before death.

Correct answer: B

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

Correct answer: B

Part VI, Chapter VII (Sections 104 onwards) of the Indian Succession Act, 1925 deals with the vesting of legacies / time of vesting of a legacy.

Correct answer: C

Father is a Class II heir (Entry I), not a Class I heir, under the Schedule to the Hindu Succession Act; son, daughter and mother are Class I heirs.

Correct answer: B

The Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005 received Presidential assent on 5 Sept 2005 and came into force on 9 September 2005.

Correct answer: D

Under Section 7 of the Specific Relief Act, 1963 (recovery of specific movable property), the right to present possession may be either special or temporary; hence 'Either (A) or (B)'.

Correct answer: B

Section 26 of the Specific Relief Act, 1963 provides for rectification of an instrument when, through fraud or mutual mistake, it does not express the real intention of the parties.

Correct answer: C

Under Section 28 of the Specific Relief Act, the costs of the proceedings are in the discretion of the court.

Correct answer: A

Section 12(2) of the Specific Relief Act, 1963 applies where the part of the contract left unperformed bears only a small proportion to the whole in value and admits of compensation in money.

Correct answer: D

Section 41 of the Specific Relief Act, 1963 enumerates the circumstances in which an injunction cannot be granted.

Correct answer: C

Section 23 of the Specific Relief Act, 1963 provides that liquidation of damages is not a bar to specific performance.

Correct answer: D

Section 18(a) of the Specific Relief Act (non-enforcement except with variation) uses the expression where the variation is owing to 'fraud, mistake of fact, or misrepresentation' — all of the above.

Correct answer: B

Detailed provisions on perpetual/permanent injunctions are contained in Sections 38-42 of the Specific Relief Act, 1963; Order 39 CPC deals with temporary (interim) injunctions.

Correct answer: B

Section 6 of the Specific Relief Act, 1963 allows a person dispossessed of immovable property to recover possession by suit without proving title (suit based on prior possession).

Correct answer: A

Explanation to Section 10 (and Section 14) of the Specific Relief Act, 1963 provides that in breach of a contract to transfer immovable property, the court shall presume that compensation in money is not an adequate relief, making specific performance the ordinary remedy.