HYDERABAD: Filing of successive writ petitions on the same subject is not appreciable and will amount to abuse of the process of law, and such kind of litigation must definitely be discouraged, the High Court has remarked.
Pronouncing the judgement in a land acquisition case, a division bench comprising chief justice Madan B. Lokur and justice PV Sanjay Kumar, while dismissing a writ appeal, imposed exemplary costs of Rs 1 lakh on the appellant and posted the case to April 20 for reporting compliance.
The bench ordered the appellant, chairman and managing director of Dano Vaccines & Biological (P) Limited, to pay the exemplary costs of Rs 1 lakh to the Andhra Pradesh State Legal Services Authority within two months. The bench referred to the Supreme Court’s observation in the Udyami Evam Khadi Gramodyog Welfare Sanstha v State of UP case wherein it was said “a writ remedy is an equitable one. A person approaching a superior court must come with a pair of clean hands. He not only should not suppress any material facts but also should not take recourse to the legal proceedings over and over again which amounts to abuse of the process of law.”
Therefore, the court cannot ignore the unabashed and flagrant abuse of process by the appellants in initiating multiple proceedings under Article 226 of the Constitution on the same cause of action.’’ A judge had earlier dismissed the writ petition taking note of the fact that the lands of the appellants, D Suryanarayana Raju and another, were acquired for a public purpose and such acquisition was in accordance with the due process of law.