The law catches up with us !

This may be a wonderful pun concerning the articles that Moneylife readers have been getting in the past few months. While the idiom really means ‘catching crooks’, in this case the Bombay High Court has confirmed what we have been saying. That is how the law has caught up with us.

Properties are redevelopeden masse in Mumbai. With nearly two thirds of cases filed in the Bombay High Court being property related issues, it is fertile stomping ground for all and sundry.Especially for the unscrupulous. So, the redevelopers are bombarded with legal action. In many cases, in an interesting way. The PIL, or Public Interest Litigation.

While this author is in no way, per say, against PILs, they being an undisputed and effective tool for the poor, he has, for many years, been wary of their misuse. And this is where, readers will remember, the issue of frivolous litigation merges with the PILs.

In a recent case, a person files a PIL against a bank for money laundering, together with another person. Two is the minimum number required for the Litigation to be termed “Public”. Money Laundering is a serious crime and banks all over the world have been accused of that.

The matter landed up before the Bombay High Court. The petitioners claimed that due to money laundering the bank had acted against the interests of the public, that is the depositors and the borrowers. Since the Minister in charge of co-operation had rejected the complaint of the Petitioners, the Minister, in a personal capacity, was also made a Respondent. The RBI,too,was dragged in,as were the four auditors.

The High Court, however, found no merit in the case.

A week back, another judge of our High Court, recently elevated and against whom the author has had the privilege of arguing, rose above the normal tenor. In a case involving a redeveloper, where certain members of the public had approached the court to stay the redevelopment, the court was unfazed and unconvinced. It held the complaint was founded on air, no more than a ploy to pressurise the redeveloper. Frivolous would be the right word.

NOW YOU BE THE JUDGE.

Public Interest Litigations cost Rs. 250/- to file. Very often, realising the nature of the case, the petitioners do not appoint a lawyer. Why spend money, when the Honourable Court allows one to appear in person? Even with unfavourable orders, the Petitioners have little to lose. The author personally knows of instances where the press was informed in advance so that the issue got publicity. Some even boast of the number of PILs that they have filed, no matter the success rate. And we complain of the delays in courts, not of the unnecessary burden imposed on them.

As a judge what would you do?

In both the instant cases, the Honourable Court came down very heavily. When aPILis filed, at the cost given above, the Respondent is forced to defend the case. He has a lot of money tied up in the project. Often PILs are filed when the project is well under way. The Respondent has to pay through his nose. Even though he is totally innocent.

The Honourable Court saw through the ploys of the Petitioners. It imposed fines in both cases. One was of Rs. 5 lakhs, another was much higher. Misuse of the process of law, by knocking on the doors of the temples of justice with unclean hands, is a vile crime. It is an abuse of the process and must be dealt with harshly. Courts of law cannot be used in attempts to certify illegalities. Frivolous litigation and malicious prosecution must end.

And that is how the “LAW” has caught up with us!

Courtesy: Moneylife