Don't deny justice for the sake of rule book: SC to courts

The Supreme Court has said courts should not go strictly by the rule book to deny justice to the deserving litigant as it would lead to miscarriage of justice. "All the rules of procedure are the handmaids of justice. The language employed by the draftsman of processual law may be liberal or stringent, but the fact remains that the object of prescribing procedure is to advance the cause of justice," a Bench of Justices Arijit Pasayat and Mukundakam Sharma observed. The apex court said in an adversarial system, no party should ordinarily be denied the opportunity of participating in the process of justice dispensation. "Unless compelled by express and specific language of the statute, the provisions of CPC or any other procedural enactment ought not to be construed in a manner which would leave the court helpless to meet extraordinary situations in the ends of justice," the Bench observed. The apex court passed the ruling while upholding the appeal filed by Sambhaji, who had challenged a judgment of the Bombay High Court refusing to entertain an application moved by him after the mandatory 90 days prescribed under the civil procedure code in a civil dispute with his relatives. "The mortality of justice at the hands of law troubles a Judge's conscience and points an angry interrogation at the law reformer," the court said.

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