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Mumbai: Taking a strong stand against frivolous litigation, the Bombay High Court has imposed a cost of Rs 5 lakh on a petitioner for filing a baseless writ petition in a land dispute related to Kolhapur airport. The court highlighted the abuse of legal processes and described it as a growing trend which not only wastes judicial time but also hinders the rights of legitimate claimants.
Criticizing the increasing trend of frivolous litigation, the bench said that “this is a new trend which we have seen in many cases.” It emphasized that such practices not only waste judicial resources but also undermine the rights of legitimate claimants and the integrity of the judicial process.
“At the cost of wasting more than 2.30 hours of precious time of the court and at the expense of other litigants waiting for their turn, the petitioner deliberately wasted the time of the court on such proceedings. We cannot ignore the fact that in the present times when the pressure on the court is increasing, the litigants continue to insist on such frivolous arguments,” a bench of Justices Girish Kulkarni and Advait Sethna said on November 28.
The case revolves around land owned by a widow Meenakshi Balasao Magadum and her family. GB Industries, the company that operated the land under a holiday and license agreement that expired in March 2020, demanded compensation and claimed tenancy rights following the expiry of the license despite having no legal basis.
During the hearing in the petition, the firm's counsel argued for about fifty minutes to try to establish legal rights over the land. The Court found these claims to be baseless and termed the petition as an attempt to harass the landowners and delay their due compensation. The bench noted that the petitioner had earlier failed to obtain an injunction in a civil suit seeking to establish a tenant-landlord relationship despite the express terms of the expired license agreement.
The judges, while imposing the fine on the petitioner, said abuse of legal processes by resourceful litigants cannot be ignored. “Such unwavering determination of the plaintiff cannot be taken lightly. The Court will certainly not tolerate abuse of the process of law. That litigants can abuse the process of law by dint of the resources available for litigation would certainly be a factor which cannot be ignored by the court in dismissing such proceedings with exemplary costs,” the bench said. Underlined.
The court has said that if the petitioner fails to pay Rs 5 lakh within two weeks, the same will be recovered as land revenue, and the property of the firm and personal property of its partners will also be attached.
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