CONTRACTS

• Ramanand & Ors v. Dr Girish Soni & Anr
  Doctrine of frustration Under Section 56 of Contract Act not applicable to Lease Agreements: Delhi High Court (HC)
  The Delhi High Court (HC) has held that the doctrine of frustration under Section 56 of the Indian Contract Act is not applicable to Lease Agreements.This ruling is based on SC precedents which held that Section 56 is applicable only to "executory contracts" and not to "executed contracts".Referring to the SC decision in Energy Watchdog v. CERC & Ors., (2017) 14 SCC 80 , the HC observed that in case the contract itself contains an express or implied term relating to a force majeure condition, the same shall be governed by Section 32 of the ICA. The Court also held that temporary non-use of premises due to the lockdown which was announced due to the COVID-19 outbreak cannot be construed as rendering the lease void under Section 108(B)(e) of the Transfer of Property Act. https://www.livelaw.in/pdf_upload/pdf_upload-375186.pdf

RIGHT TO INFORMATION

• Dr Sanjeev Goel v. CPIO, M/o External Affairs, New Delhi
  Central Information Commission (CIC) rejects Right to Information (RTI) plea seeking Rahul Gandhi's Religion and Passport details
  The Central Information Commission (CIC) has dismissed an appeal filed by a Right to Information (RTI) applicant who had sought personal information such as religion and passport details of the Congress Leader and Member of Parliament Rahul Gandhi. The Commission observed, ‘in the absence of any larger public interest in the matter, this Commission comes to a conclusion that the information sought by the appellant qualifies to be the 'personal information' of third party which is exempted under Section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act, 2005 and therefore, it cannot be provided to the appellant’.
  https://www.livelaw.in/pdf_upload/pdf_upload-374473.pdf

COVID-19

• Shakeel Qureshi v. Union of India & Ors
  Supreme Court (SC) imposes costs of ₹ 10,000 and dismisses Petition seeking for use of "Physical Distancing" Instead of "Social Distancing"
  The Supreme Court (SC) dismissed a Petition seeking for directions for use of the term "physical distancing" instead of "social distancing" and imposed costs of ₹ 10,000/-.
  https://www.livelaw.in/pdf_upload/pdf_upload-374483.pdf
• Varun Khullar v. Union of India & Ors
  Delhi High Court (HC) directs Centre to consider whether caretakers of persons with disabilities can be exempted from Lockdown
  Delhi High Court (HC) has directed the Central Government to consider whether caretakers, attendants and support staff of persons with disabilities could be granted exemption under the National Disaster Manager Act for the purposes of providing support to the persons with disability, who are unable to take care of themselves without such support.
  https://www.livelaw.in/pdf_upload/pdf_upload-374475.pdf