#Manifest Arbitrariness

Calcutta High Court rules that a 45-year age cap for Fair Price Shop dealerships under the West Bengal Targeted Public Distribution System Order is arbitrary and violates constitutional guarantees of equality and freedom of trade. The judgment mandates the state to consider all eligible applicants regardless of age, reinforcing that classification must have a rational nexus to the object sought to be achieved.

Supreme Court strikes down Bihar's 2015 Act seizing a century-old private trust, ruling that complete acquisition without evidence of mismanagement or public interest violates Article 14. The judgment reinforces that state intervention in private trusts must pass the 'manifest arbitrariness' test, protecting hereditary trustees' rights under the Indian Trusts Act.