Supreme Court Summarises Principles On Retrospective Application Of Laws-304839

In a recent judgment, the Supreme Court summarised the principles on retrospective application of legislations.

A bench comprising Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice R Mahadevan made the discussion while holding that the 2016 amendment to Section 13(8) of the SARFAESI Act will apply to loans taken before the amendment came into force, if the default took place after the amendment.

The bench summarised the principles as follows :

(i) Presumption against retrospectivity is not applicable to enactments which merely affect procedure or change forum or are declaratory;

(ii) Retroactive/retrospective operation can be implicit in a provision construed in the context where it occurs ;

(iii) Given the context, a provision can be held to apply to cause of action after such provision comes into force, even though the claim on which the action may be based may be of an anterior date ; and

(iv) A remedial statute applies to pending proceedings and such application may not be taken to be retrospective if application is to be in future with reference to a pending cause of action ;

(v) SARFAESI Act is a remedial statute intended to deal with problem of pre-existing loan transactions which need speedy recovery.

Cause Title: M. RAJENDRAN & ORS. VERSUS M/S KPK OILS AND PROTIENS INDIA PVT. LTD. & ORS.

Citation : 2025 LiveLaw (SC) 931

https://www.livelaw.in/top-stories/supreme-court-summarises-principles-on-retrospective-application-of-laws-304839

Thin vote margins in the past make Opposition wary of SIR in Bihar Amit Bhelari PATNA

The Opposition parties have been on an aggressive campaign in Bihar against the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls especially with the results of the past elections rankling them. They lost out to rivals by thin margins — one of these by just 12 votes — in several seats in the 2020 Assembly election. Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav recently said the results in some 35 seats could be affected in the upcoming election if even just 1% of the voters were to be removed from the electoral rolls through the SIR. The Assembly has 243 seats. According to Mr. Yadav, a deletion of 1% of voters would mean removal of 7.9 lakh voters from the 7.9-crore strong electorate in the State. The party says it would result in approximately 3,251 voters being disenfranchised in every constituency. According to data from the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR), in the 2020 Assembly election, the winning margin was under 1%, or fewer than 3,000 votes, in 35 constituencies. It was fewer than 5,000 in 52 constituencies. In three constituencies, the margin was fewer than 200, and in four, fewer than 500. In four constituencies each, the margin was fewer than 1,000, 1,500, 2,000, 3,000, and 3,500. Similarly, in five, it was fewer than 2,500. An analysis published by The Hindu on November 17, 2020, a week after the results were declared, showed the NDA had won 21 seats by a margin of less than 2.5% votes, and the Opposition had won 22 such seats. In the Opposition side, Shakti Singh Yadav of the RJD lost the Hilsa seat in Nalanda district to Janata Dal(U) candidate Krishnamurai Sharan, alias Prem Mukhiya, by a margin of just 12 votes. In Chakia, Savitri Devi of the RJD lost to Independent candidate Sumit Kumar Singh by 581 votes. The RJD lost Raniganj by 2,304 votes, where the party’s Avinash Manglam was defeated by the JD(U)’s Achmit Rishidev. In Ramgarh, the party was just saved by 189 votes against a BSP candidate. The Congress’s Jitendra Singh faced defeat against the JD(U)’s Jayant Raj by 3,114 votes in Amarpur. In Belhar, the RJD’s Ramdeo Yadav lost to the JD(U)’s Manoj Yadav by 2,473 votes. In Bachwara, the Communist Party of India’s Abdhesh Kumar Rai lost to the Bharatiya Janata Party candidate by 484 votes. In Ara, the BJP’s Amrendra Pratap Singh defeated CPI(ML) Liberation candidate Aqyamuddin Ansari by 3,002 votes. The ruling coalition too faced defeats in many seats by thin margins. The JD(U)’s Narendra Kumar Singh, alias Bogo Singh, was defeated by the united Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) candidate Raj Kumar Singh by a mere 333 votes. The BJP’s Rohit Pandey lost from Bhagalpur to the Congress’s Ajit Sharma by 1,113. In Bahadurpur, the JD(U)’s Madan Sahani secured victory by 2,629 votes against the RJD’s Ramesh Choudhary. The Vikassheel Insaan Party, led by Mukesh Sahani, which was part of the NDA in 2020 and now with the Opposition, won Alinagar by defeating the RJD candidate by 3,101 votes. In Tikari, Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) candidate Anil Kumar defeated Suman Kumar of the Congress by a margin of 2,630 votes. In another close contest in Bhorey, JD(U)‘s Sunil Kumar emerged winner by defeating CPI (ML)(L)‘s Jitendra Paswan by 462 votes.