NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has strongly criticised the practise of indiscriminate filing of petitions before it against almost every order of the Delhi High Court only because both the courts are in the same city.
Noting that appeals against high court orders are rampantly filed in the apex court, a Bench of Justices Sanjay K Kaul and K M Joseph said, “We must eschew the tendency to file a Special Leave Petition against every order passed by the Delhi High Court and that too on the Original Side. Mere proximity of the Supreme Court cannot give right to every litigant of the High Court to file an appeal.”
Coming down heavily on litigants who file such unnecessary appeals, the Bench said, litigants and lawyers need to see if there is enough merit in the case for appeal or not. One prime reason why this happens is because both the courts are in the national capital and hence the distance is less, observed the bench.
The observation came while the Bench dealt with a petition arising out of an interim order passed by the Delhi High Court.
The High Court, in a civil matter, had framed certain issues for further adjudication in the matter, against which the appeal was filed in the SC.
The Bench noted that some deterrents must be in place against such misadventures, and dismissed the present appeal with a fine of Rs 10,000.
“We are of the view that it’s time some deterrent is put to such frivolous appeals and the Special Leave Petitions are dismissed with costs quantified at `10,000, to be deposited with the Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Welfare Fund within two weeks,” the bench ordered.