New Delhi, Jul 5 (PTI) Litigants keeping a dispute alive for mala fide reasons makes a court’s docket heavy, which is to the detriment of other litigants whose cases have been pending for years, the Delhi High Court has said.
The court’s observations came while dealing with a cheque bounce matter in which the complaint was made in 2015 and the parties subsequently entered into a “settlement agreement” the next year.
The offender filed a petition in the high court, aggrieved by the continuation of proceedings against him for the dishonour of cheques of about Rs 80 lakh in spite of the settlement.
Before the high court, the counsel for the complainant contended that the agreement was only one of the drafts exchanged between the parties and since the same was not recorded by the trial court, it was not binding.
The court said the complainant’s statement was an “afterthought” and not bona fide, and that he was now trying to re-agitate the dispute after having pocketed an amount of Rs 30 lakh received pursuant to the settlement.
“The conduct of the litigants to keep the dispute alive for mala fide reasons has the tendency of keeping the docket of the Courts heavy to the detriment of other litigants whose cases have been pending for years together,” said Justice Amit Mahajan in a recent order.
“When, from the perusal of the record of the Trial Court/mediation proceedings, it is apparent that the parties had settled their disputes way back in the year 2016 and the complainant has also accepted the amount as agreed between the parties, continuation of the proceedings under the NI Act would be an abuse of the process of the Court,” the court said.
The court observed it was apparent the petitioner, despite having paid the amount, has been made to suffer and litigate for the last more than eight years due to dishonest attitude of the complainant.
The court quashed the cases against the petitioner and asked the complainant to pay Rs 50,000 as cost to him. PTI ADS ZMN
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