JK Excessive Courtroom Imposes Rs 2 Lakh Penalty on Well being Director over 2003 Decree

SRINAGAR: The Jammu and Kashmir Excessive Courtroom has lately fined the Director of Well being Companies Kashmir Rs 2 lakh for participating in futile authorized proceedings to hinder the enforcement of a 2003 decree.

In an order by Justice Atul Sreedharan, the court docket rejected the plea, imposed prices, and said that the division’s “repeated frivolous litigation” over twenty years amounted to an “abuse of course of,” leaving the decree-holder in limbo.

The case originated in 2001 when authorized assistant Iqbal Ahmad Baqal filed a civil go well with towards the Director of Well being Companies and one other social gathering for an alleged breach of contract. The court docket dominated in Baqal’s favour in 2003, issuing a decree that the division did not adjust to. As an alternative of fulfilling its obligations, the division initiated a chronic authorized battle, submitting numerous appeals and petitions to delay the decree’s execution.

The division’s makes an attempt to stall justice included a time-barred first attraction, a revision petition, a writ petition, and even a second attraction filed after a staggering 13-year delay. Moreover, they filed petitions to revive the writ petition and condone the delay in its restoration, all of which have been dismissed by numerous courts.

In 2018, the respondents approached the Executing Courtroom, asserting they’d already complied with the 2003 decree. Regardless of the Executing Courtroom instructing one of many judgment debtors to seem on Might 30, 2018, to indicate trigger, the directive went unheeded. As an alternative of compliance, the petitioners opted to file the current petition, alleging that the Executing Courtroom’s order was legally flawed.

Justice Sreedharan, in his order, underscored the petitioners’ historical past of neglect and delay. Regardless of ample alternatives to current their case, the petitioner Division selected additional delay by submitting the present petition, pending for 5 years.

The court docket emphasised that the division had ample possibilities to elucidate its compliance with the decree earlier than the executing court docket however opted for frivolous litigation. Recognising the blatant disregard for court docket orders and system manipulation, the court docket imposed a Rs. 2,00,000/- nice on the petitioners, payable to the decree-holder inside 30 days. Moreover, the court docket granted the Union Territory the freedom to recuperate prices from the Director of Well being Companies, Kashmir.

Upon dismissing the plea, the matter was listed on March 11, 2024 to safe compliance. (LiveLaw)