Court imposes Rs 30K cost for frivolous appeal connected to domestic violence case

New Delhi: Noting that it is "anguished" and "appalled" by the "insidious and cavalier approach" of the appellant, a Delhi court has dismissed the petition of a father challenging a trial court order directing him to sign the transfer certificates of his two minor children for their school admission in a domestic violence case filed by his wife and has imposed a cost of Rs 30,000 on him for filing a "frivolous" application.

In his order, Additional Sessions Judge Anuj Agrawal observed that while there cannot be any second thought about the right of an individual to seek judicial redressal of his grievances by filing a petition before the appropriate court "but at the same time the right to litigate cannot be reduced into an exercise in wager or an activity of amusement."

"The menace of frivolous and luxurious litigation is damaging the cause of Justice on twin counts. On the one hand, an insouciant litigant can mischievously stall the pending Trial Court proceedings by simply filing a frivolous petition and on the other hand it is tantamount to a direct onslaught upon fundamental rights of the litigants attempting to seek speedy and effective justice, by unnecessarily over burdening the dockets and directly impinging upon the precious judicial time of the Appellate Court," the order read.

ASJ Agrawal further stated that "frivolous" and "luxurious" litigation is one of the pre-dominant cause of the mounting arrears of cases. "The Courts of this country owes a duty to the citizens to purge the system off such evil," the judge said. He further stated that unless the courts started imposing appropriate costs, "menace of frivolous and luxurious litigation would continue to mar the entire system".

The court further stated that the present appeal was not only frivolous but is evidently an insidious effort to delay the trial court proceedings and went on to impose a cost of Rs 30,000 on the petitioner.

As per case records, the man, one Anil Nimesh, had filed an appeal against an earlier order passed by a trial court, where a Domestic Violence Act case is ongoing, that he shall comply and sign the transfer certificates of his two minor children as requested by the mother of the children who sought their admission in a Gurgaon school where she resided from a school in Alaknanda. In his application, Anil had stated that the same was in contravention of his rights as a father.