Delhi Court dismisses 20 pleas filed by "chronic contumelious litigant"

Dismissing 20 applications and appeals filed by a man who was termed a “chronic contumelious litigant,” a Delhi Court recently passed slew of directions in order to “check the flow of repeated complaints” by him [In the Matter of Multifarious Complaints/Applications Filed By Inder Singh]..District and Sessions Judge Dharmesh Sharma, who dealt with each of the cases, including appeals, revision petitions and applications, found them “vexatious, frivolous, reckless, scandalous and motivated.”.Complaints were filed against Inder Singh by trial court judicial officers, the Delhi Police and state officials. It also came on record that the legal aid counsel assigned to the man had found him to be non-co-operative and someone who levelled allegations against “all and sundry” without any foundation, and appeared to be mentally unfit.While dismissing the cases, the Court observed that Singh couldn’t be allowed to “abuse and misuse” the process of law and clog the “already clogged system” of administration of justice..The order passed earlier this month underscored, “It is apparent that he is resorting to repeated unsavoury tactics to cause harassment not only to the Courts but also to the staff and vitiating congenial environment of dispensation of justice. The applicant appears to be a chronic contumelious litigant filing repetitive frivolous complaints and attempting to scandalise the authority of the Courts."When Singh was called to give his version, he was stated to have shouted with "dramatic fanfare” and sought “justice against unfair treatment” by “police officials, governmental authorities and judges of this Court”..“Irrespective of the fact whether his motives may branded as purely selfish or altruistic, it must be stated that this Court tolerating his belligerent shouting and provocative mis-demeanour has refrained from imposing ‘exemplary costs’ upon him and has also not initiated proceedings for contempt of this Court. But he is strongly impressed upon to behave and conduct himself in rational manner and maintain the decorum of the Courts,” the order stated.The man was further warned to refrain from threatening the ministerial staff of the district courts, and added,"He is commanded in no uncertain word that he must understand that the doors of justice are opened to him and he is apprised in clear and categorical terms that this Court and for that matter any other Court in this District shall hear him patiently in a fair and transparent manner provided he approaches the Court for redressal of any justifiable and lawful grievances in a dispassionate manner.".Singh, it was stated, had even questioned why his complaints pending in different Courts had been called for consideration by the present Court.The Court noted that there was a very “apparent legal necessity” for calling the pending cases for consideration.“Each Court having criminal jurisdiction in West District is having huge pendency of criminal matters. These cases filed at the behest of the applicant are clogging the entire administration of criminal justice delivery system. So many stakeholders get involved unnecessarily. It is within the plenary powers of this Court under Sections 408 and 409 of the CrPC (Code of Criminal Procedure) to prevent the gross abuse and misuse of the justice delivery system,” it added..Noting that there was a plethora of case laws on the subject, the Court said, “…avoiding the temptation to venture into a long academic thesis, suffice to refer that in the above cited case, it was held that ‘frivolous litigation should not become the order of the day in India and from misusing the public interest litigation jurisdiction of the Indian courts to abusing the criminal procedure for harassing their adversaries, the justice delivery system should not be used as a tool to fulfil personal vendetta’.".On the basis of the complainant's chronic behaviour, the Court felt that it was justified in exercising plenary powers under the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).However, the Court let him off with, warning,"Irrespective of the fact whether his motives may branded as purely selfish or altruistic, it must be stated that this Court tolerating his belligerent shouting and provocative mis-demeanour has refrained from imposing “exemplary costs” upon him and has also not initiated proceedings for contempt of this Court. But he is strongly impressed upon to behave and conduct himself in rational manner and maintain the decorum of the Courts.".Directions to Filing Section.Among the many directions, the in-charge of the filing branch (West), Tis Hazari Courts, Delhi was directed to ensure that only such applications, appeals or revisions presented in the future by Singh be entertained that were properly typed in Hindi or English, as the case may be, with proper pagination, indexing and memo of parties with complete addresses and stamp or court fee.In addition, applications, appeals or revisions in the nature of photocopy were directed not to be entertained. “The handwritten complaint(s) or applications should be legible with proper pleadings. Any application/complaint against any judicial officer or the staff in the West District must be accompanied with a sworn affidavit of the petitioner as per the rules,” it stated besides other directions.The order was sent to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (West), Tis Hazari Courts, Delhi for information and passing appropriate directions to other magisterial courts and the Registrar (vigilance), High Court of Delhi for their records.