SC wants law to curb vexatious litigation

In a major judgment that may restrain unwarranted litigations responsible for the mounting 2.3-crore backlog of cases, the supreme court (SC) ruled on Wednesday that a huge monetary cost should be imposed on vexatious litigants.

Vexatious litigation differs from malicious litigation. It means habitually or persistently filing cases on issues already been decided.

“The present system of levying meagre costs in civil matters is unsatisfactory and does not act as a deterrent to vexatious or luxury litigation borne out of ego or greed, or resorted to as a buying-time tactic,” a bench of justices RV Raveendran and JM Panchal held.

The judges dismissed a plea by Ashok Kumar Mittal challenging the Rs1-lakh-each fine imposed on him and his opponent by the Delhi high court in a civil suit.

The high court fined Mittal and defendant Ram Kumar Gupta for lying on oath. Upholding the HC order, SC said, “A more realistic approach relating to costs may be the need of the hour. Whether we should adopt the western modes of awarding actual and more realistic costs should engage the urgent attention of the law commission.”

The apex court judgment underscoring the need to weed out the menace of vexatious litigations was imperative as the Centre has been sitting on a law commission report recommending a central Act to curb vexatious or frivolous litigation for five years.

The commission has suggested that this legislation should be on the lines of the Madras Act VIII of 1949.