CUTTACK: A complainant being party to a transaction for an illegal act cannot claim redressal in monetary disputes. The court will not assist a party in recovering money if debt arises from illegal or immoral activity, a single judge bench of Orissa High Court has ruled.
Justice Sibo Shankar Mishra also expressed concern over parents adopting unfair means to get children admitted to good educational institutions despite their wards not being eligible.
“Ambitious parents indulging in the illegal methods to secure admission of their wards to a good college at the cost of meritocracy and fairness in education, is indeed a crime. Such actions not only deprive deserving candidates of their rightful opportunities but also foster an environment of dishonesty and corruption, ultimately harming the future of education and society at large,” Justice Mishra opined while considering a case in which a woman serving in police department had given cash to a person after he gave assurance to arrange admission of her son in a government medical college.
According to the case records, the woman demanded the money back when the person could not arrange the seat in the medical college for her son. To discharge the claimed liability, mother of the person issued two cheques to her. But when the cheques were presented in the bank they were dishonoured.
The woman filed a cheque bounce complaint following which criminal proceedings were initiated in the court of sub-divisional judicial magistrate (SDJM), Bhadrak. Subsequently, the mother who had issued the cheques challenged the criminal proceedings in the high court.
In his judgment on March 4, which was uploaded on March 12, Justice Mishra quashed the criminal proceedings pending before the SDJM, Bhadrak and ruled, “The cheques issued by the petitioner in favour of the complainant is not legally enforceable debt being immoral debt.
The complainant being a party to the illegal transaction out of which the present dispute has arisen, cannot encash from her own guilt. No action arises from an immoral or illegal cause. Therefore, the court will not assist a party in recovering money if debt arises from illegal or immoral activity.”
Justice Mishra also observed, “Subjecting the petitioner to the rigors of the trial is destined to be a futile exercise and will be the abuse of the process of the court. The indulgence of the parent-complainant, who serves in the police department, in such an act that contradicts the very ethos of society is highly condemnable,” he further stated.