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1985 Supreme(SC) 370

Supreme Court Of India
Decided On : (November 5, 1985)
Express Newspaper Private Limited
Versus
Union of India

Headnote:

Application for review and connected papers - Writ petitions seeks review of judgment delivered by this court principally on ground that there is an error apparent on face of the record as judgment turns on certain arguments and statements attributed to learned counsel appearing for respondent 1, Union of India and to Shri M. C. Bhandare, learned counsel appearing for respondent 3, Municipal Corporation of Delhi - Petitioner avers in the affidavit that the contents of paras 1 to 3 are true to his knowledge and based on information derived from counsel appearing in the case which he believes to be true. Along with the application for review he has annexed a letter addressed asserting that the learned counsel had never advanced the arguments attributed to him in the judgment and a letter of Shri M. C. Bhandare – Held, Review application is lacking in bona fides, based on false averments and constitutes a flagrant abuse of the process of court - Allegations contained in the aforesaid two letters are wholly inaccurate and totally false - Such attempts to question the sanctity of court proceedings unless ruthlessly curbed will have tendentious effect of making fearless dispensation of justice by courts in India almost impossible, we had been extremely indulgent with petitioner who was respondent 2 in the aforesaid Writ Petition - In joint counter filed by him on behalf of the respondents he made several statements which were far from accurate but we refrained from taking any action - This crude attempt on his part by filing this review application on totally false allegations is an attempt to subvert course of justice - His conduct in casting serious aspersions on court by suggesting in paragraph 10 that delay in pronouncement of judgment was responsible for facts stated and submissions made on behalf of the respondent, having a decisive bearing on case escaping attention of their Lordships virtually amounts to gross contempt of court - We cannot also help in observing that there has in this case been lamentably complete lack of candor and want of probity on part of some of the counsel in making factually incorrect statements and thereby casting aspersions on court - Review application dismissed.

( 1 ) WE have gone through the application for review and the connected papers. The application is supported by an affidavit by the petitioner Jagmohan, former Lieutenant-Governor of Delhi who was respondent 2 in Writ petitions 535-539 of 1980, decided on 7/10/1985. He seeks review of the judgment delivered by this court principally on the ground that there is an error apparent on the face of the record as the judgment turns on certain arguments and statements attributed to Shri L. N. Sinha, learned counsel appearing for respondent 1, the Union of India and to Shri M. C. Bhandare, learned counsel appearing for respondent 3, Municipal Corporation of Delhi. The petitioner Jagmohan avers in the affidavit that the contents of paras 1 to 3 are true to his knowledge and based on information derived from the counsel appearing in the case which he believes to be true. Along with the application for review he has annexed a letter dated 12/10/1985 addressed by Shri p. P. Singh who was assisting Shri L. N. Sinha asserting that the learned counsel had never advanced the arguments attributed to him in the judgment and a letter of Shri M. C. Bhandare dated 13/10/1985 addressed to Shri B. P. Maheshwari, Advocate-on-Record of respondent 3, Municipal Corporation of Delhi denying that he ever made the statement attributed to him at pp. 189-190 of the judgment delivered by one of us (A. P. Sen, J. ). In the first letter, Shri P. P. Singh writes to say :there are certain statements in the judgment which are attributed to shri Sinha having made in the course of his arguments which do not seem to be correct as having been made by him. I have discussed the matter with Mr Sinha and he agrees with me that it is not correct that he made the following statements during his course of arguments : (A) He has further submitted that the land leased under the lease deed being nazul land is exclusively owned by the Union government and the powers delegated to the former Chief Commissioner of Delhi under the lease deed were no longer exercisable by the present lt. governor of Delhi. (B ). . . . . . on the date on which the action was initiated in this case by the Lt. governor against the petitioner the Lt. governor had acted without authority or power. (C) That "the learned Counsel for the Union of India had disowned all the actions of the Lt. governor. " (D) That the learned Counsel for respondent 1 i. e. the Union of india "contended that Lt. governor, as an Administrator had no function as the lessor or its delegate". (E) That "the Lt. governor could not usurp the powers and functions of the Union of India in relation to the property of the union and therefore had no functions in relation to the lease in question". (F) That "the central government were contemplating to undertake a legislation and to provide for a forum for adjudication of such disputes. (SHRI Sinha did inform the court that he had advised the Central government to undertake a legislation for empowering the government to condone the violations of the nature involved in the present case in public interest ). . . . . . . IT is incorrect as stated at pages 90-91 of the judgment that the learned Counsel for the Union of India conceded that the impugned notice was invalid and had no legal effect. In the second letter Shri M. C. Bhandare writes to Shri B. P. Maheshwari, and states:your clients, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, have enquired from you as to how His Lordship Mr Justice A. P. Sen, in his judgment has made the following observations:shri M. C. Bhandare, learned counsel appearing for respondent 3 and 4, Municipal Corporation of Delhi and Zonal Engineer (Buildings), city Zone, Municipal Corporation, Delhi is fair enough to state that if the Express Newspapers Pvt. Ltd. , were to make an application for modification of the sanctioned plan pertaining to the new building with respect to the basement and the working platform which according to the Municipal Corporation constitute double ba










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