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2012 Supreme(Del) 844

High Court of Delhi
PRADEEP NANDRAJOG & PRATIBHA RANI, JJ.
Satyender Singh & Others (Lrs Of Hari Singh)
Versus
Gulab Singh & Others
RFA(OS) Nos. 28 of 2011, 29 of 2011, 33 of 2011
Decided On : 22-03-2012

Advocates Appeared:
For the Appellants:Sanjay Poddar, Senior Advocate instructed by Dr. B.K. Dash, Ms. Navlin and Mr.Govind Kumar, J.K.Jain, Advocates.
For the Respondents:Sandeep Agarwal, K.A.Singh, S.D.Dixit, Yashraj Singh Deora, Kirti Uppal, Senior Advocate instructed by Vaibhav Sharma, Advocates.

Headnote:

Specific Relief Act, 1963 - Section 31 - Cancellation of release deed not sought - Held that if a document on the face of it is illegal, inchoate and lacking in legal efficacy, the plaintiff can not be non-suited on the ground that it did not seek cancellation of the document in question.

Judgment

PRADEEP NANDRAJOG, J.

1. We preface our decision by extracting certain pertinent observations made by the Supreme Court in the decision reported as 2010 (2) SCC 114 Dalip Singh Vs. State of U.P. & Ors.:

1. For many centuries, Indian society cherished two basic values of life i.e., 'Satya' (truth) & 'Ahimsa' (non-violence). Mahavir, Gautam Buddha and Mahatma Gandhi guided the people to ingrain these values in their daily life. Truth constituted an integral part of justice delivery system which was in vogue in pre-independence era and the people used to feel proud to tell truth in the courts irrespective of the consequences. However, post-independence period has seen drastic changes in our value system. The materialism has over-shadowed the old ethos and the quest for personal gain has become so intense that those involved in litigation do no hesitate to take shelter of falsehood, misrepresentation and suppression of facts in the court proceedings. In last 40 years, a new creed of litigants has cropped up. Those who belong to this creed do not have any respect for truth. They shamelessly resort to falsehood and unethical means for achieving their goals. In order to meet the challenge posed by this new creed of litigants, the courts have, from time to time, evolved new rules and it is now well established that a litigant, who attempts to pollute the stream of justice or who touches the pure fountain of justice with tainted hands, is not entitled to any relief, interim or final.

2. In Hari Narain v. Badri Das: AIR 1963 SC 1558, this Court adverted to the aforesaid rule & revoked the leave granted to the appellant by making the following observations:

It is of utmost importance that in making material statements and setting forth grounds in applications for special leave made under Article 136 of the Constitution, care must be taken not to make any statements which are inaccurate, untrue and misleading. In dealing with applications for special leave, the Court naturally takes statements of fact and grounds of fact contained in the petitions at their face value and it would be unfair to betray the confidence of the Court by making statements which are untrue & misleading. Thus, if at the hearing of the appeal the Supreme Court is satisfied that the material statements made by the appellant in his application for special leave are inaccurate & misleading, and the respondent is, entitled to contend that the appellant may have obtained special leave from the Supreme Court on the strength of what he characterizes as misrepresentations of facts contained in the petition for special leave, the Supreme Court may come to the conclusion that in such a case special leave granted to the appellant ought to be revoked.”

2. As rightly observed by the Supreme Court, Satya is a basic value of life which was required to be followed by everybody and is recognized since many centuries. In spite of caution, courts are continued to be flooded with litigation with false and incoherent pleas and tainted evidence led by the parties. The judicial system in the country is choked and such litigants are consuming courts‘ time for a wrong cause. Efforts are made by the parties to steal a march over their rivals by resorting to false and incoherent statements made before the Court. Indeed, it is a nightmare faced by a Trier of Facts; required to stitch a garment, when confronted with a fabric where the weft, shuttling back and forth across the warp in weaving, is nothing but lies. As the threads of the weft fall, the yarn of the warp also collapses; and there is no fabric left.

3. We have to undertake such a voyage in the instant appeals. As would be noticed from the facts hereinafter recorded, the parties have litigated for over 50 years and have not only consumed precious judicial time; but have resorted to adopting convenient stand, as per the situation in which they found themselves, oblivious of what they had spoken earlier. The siblings of late Ra
















































































































































































































































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