Bombay HC Imposes Cost of Rs 3 Lakh On Petitioners for Wasting Court’s Time

A Division Bench of the Bombay High Court comprising Justice GS Patel and Justice Dr. Neela Gokhale has recently imposed a cost of Rs. 1 lakh each on three petitioners for wasting the court’s time.

The High Court was hearing a plea that challenged the order of the Enforcement Directorate passed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002 for conducting a search at a company’s premises.

Advocate Hiten Venegavkar for the respondents informed the court that there was a subsequent development and an order had been passed attaching the property of the petitioners and that the petitioner could amend the petition and challenge the latest order.

The court also asked Advocate Vijay Aggarwal and Advocate Chetan Kapadia, appearing for the petitioners, to amend the petition. However, the advocates kept on arguing for an hour and then sought leave to amend the petition. The order stated,

“Matters are worsened when, at the outset, before even arguments began, not only did Mr Venegavkar for the Respondent in complete fairness point out the possible need for an amendment, but we too, asked Mr Aggarwal if he wanted to amend. The answer was clearly no. Instead, this request for an amendment came only after more than an hour of persistent argumentation.”

The court said that it was not just a waste of the court’s time but the time was consumed at the cost of the other litigants. The order read,

“But we do believe that when we have as long a daily list as we do and others are waiting patiently with cases that range from service to pensions and to non-payment of transit rent and delayed possession in re-development cases, to consume the time of this Court is both unfair and unconscionable. It is not just a matter of ‘wasting the Court’s time’. It is the consumption of that time at the cost of other litigants, many of them in extremely dire straits, some very needy and in abject conditions.”

Before allowing the petitioner to amend the petition, the court imposed a cost of Rs. 1 lakh on each petitioner and directed them to deposit the amount with the St Jude Child Care Centres, a voluntary organization that supports cancer-affected children and their families by 17th of February 2023.

Case Title: Ali Mohammed Balwa vs Directorate of Enforcement & Ors