Messer Holdings Ltd. vs Shyam Madanmohan Ruia - Supreme Court

 Messer Holdings Ltd. vs Shyam Madanmohan Ruia - Supreme Court Important Judgment 2016 - 

On 19th April, 2016, in the case of Messer Holdings Ltd. vs Shyam Madanmohan Ruia & Others [Special Leave Petition (Civil) Nos. 33429 – 33434 of 2010], the Court deprecated the abuse of judicial process by unscrupulous litigants. The Bench observed that the case in question served as a proof of the abuse of the discretionary Jurisdiction of the Supreme Court under Article 136 of the Constitution by the rich and powerful in the name of a ‘fight for justice’ at each and every interlocutory step of a suit, and that enormous amount of judicial time of the Supreme Court and two High Courts was spent on this litigation, most of it was avoidable and could have been well spent on more deserving cases. Accordingly, the Court imposed exemplary costs quantified at Rs.25,00,000.00 (Rupees Twenty Five Lakhs only) to be paid by each of the three parties i.e. GGL, MGG and RUIAS. It was also held that “the said amount is to be paid to National Legal Services Authority as compensation for the loss of judicial time of this country and the same may be utilized by the National Legal Services Authority to fund poor litigants to pursue their claims before this Court in deserving cases.”