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2015 Supreme(Del) 598

High Court of Delhi
PRADEEP NANDRAJOG & MUKTA GUPTA, JJ.
CE Construction Ltd. & Another –Appellant
Intertoll ICS India (P) Ltd. & Others – Respondent
FAO (OS) No. 490 of 2014
Decided On : 20-04-2015

Appearing Advocates:
For the Appellants:Deepak Khosla, Ajay Marwah, Advocates.
For the Respondents:Balaji Subramanian, Jasleen Oberoi, R8, Surbhi Mehta, R11, Vaibhav Mirg, Ateev Mathur, Advocates.

Headnote:

Falsehood in Litigation - Arbitration Dispute - Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, Section 9 - The judgment discusses the prevalence of falsehood and unethical means in litigation and the court's power to issue interim orders pending arbitration. The court emphasizes the importance of clear and specific pleadings and the need for a prima facie showing of the existence of an arbitral dispute when seeking interim relief under Section 9 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996.

Fact of the Case:

The appellants filed a petition under Section 9 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, seeking to restrain the respondents from appropriating money received from NHAI pending resolution of a dispute through arbitration. The petition was based on agreements dated July 31, 2002, August 03, 2002, March 15, 2003, and January 29, 2004. The court found the pleadings to be prolix, lacking clarity, and full of vagueness.

Finding of the Court:

The court found that the vague and prolix pleadings lacked clarity and failed to establish a prima facie showing of the existence of an arbitral dispute. The court held that the dispute raised by the appellants had no arbitrability under the agreements dated July 31, 2002 and August 03, 2002, and that the relief sought was not traceable to those agreements. The court dismissed the appeal as frivolous and vexatious and imposed costs against the appellants.

Issues: The issues revolved around the clarity and specificity of the pleadings, the existence of an arbitral dispute, and the arbitrability of the dispute raised by the appellants under the agreements.

Ratio Decidendi: The court emphasized the importance of clear and specific pleadings, the need for a prima facie showing of the existence of an arbitral dispute when seeking interim relief under Section 9 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, and the requirement for the relief sought to be traceable to the relevant agreements.

Final Decision: The court dismissed the appeal as frivolous and vexatious, imposed costs against the appellants, and found that the vague and prolix pleadings lacked clarity and failed to establish a prima facie showing of the existence of an arbitral dispute.

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) and 'Ahimsa' (nonviolence). 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 not 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 and 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 and 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 and 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; if 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 appeal.

4. The appellants are the petitioners before the learned Single Judge and had filed OMP No.1282/2014 in which the respondents in the appeal were impleaded as respondents. The Original Miscellaneous Petition (OMP No.1282/2014) was invoking remedy under Section 9 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 to, in



































































































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