Kerala High Court slaps ₹10,000 cost on litigants who secured favourable judgment by producing fake memo showing service of notice

The Kerala High Court on Monday imposed ₹10,000 costs on litigants who had obtained a judgment in their favour by producing a fake memo showing service of notice to the counsel of the opposing side [N Vanaja & Ors. v Bhanumathy & Ors.]. .Justice A Badharudeen was considering a review petition in which the counsel for the petitioners denied receipt of notice, contrary to a memo which had been produced before the Court while it was considering the original petition. Later, the other side also conceded that no notice was served, by which it was established that a false document was produced before the Court to obtain the the judgment sought to be reviewed was obtained.The Court took a dim view of the matter and decided to impose reasonable costs to be deposited with the Kerala State Legal Services Authority."Since the judgment in this matter was obtained by respondents 1 to 6 by producing a fake memo showing service of notice to Adv. MP Ramnath (counsel for review petitioners), I am inclined to impose reasonable cost on respondents 1 to 6/original petitioners. Respondents 1 to 6 herein/the original petitioners are directed to deposit Rs.10,000/-before the Kerala State Legal Services Authority(KELSA) within fifteen days from today," the order stated.The Court said that it would decide at a later in point in time on whether any further action needs to be taken against whoever was responsible for producing the fake memo. .The Court also set aside its previous judgment, reiterating the settled law that once it is established that an order was obtained by a successful party by playing fraud, it stood vitiated. "Such order cannot be held legal, valid or in consonance with law. It is non existent and non est and cannot be allowed to stand. This is the fundamental principle of law and needs no further elaboration. Therefore, it has been said that a judgment, decree or order obtained by fraud has to be treated as nullity, whether by the court of first instance or by the final court. And it has to be treated as non est by every Court, superior or inferior," the Court said in its order..[Read Order]

Kerala High Court slaps ₹10,000 cost on litigants who secured favourable judgment by producing fake memo showing service of notice

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