[Forum Shopping] “Petitioner engaged in bench hunting:" Rajasthan High Court upholds ₹10 lakh cost

The Jodhpur Bench of the Rajasthan High Court recently upheld an order passed by a single-judge imposing costs of ₹10 lakh on a party for forum shopping [Dhanwantri Institute of Medical Science v The State of Rajasthan]..A bench of Justices Vinod Kumar Bharwani and Manindra Mohan Shrivastava stated that a petitioner approaching the court under Article 226 of the Constitution has to do so with clean hands.“The conduct of the appellant-writ petitioner is highly condemnable and the observation made by the learned single-judge that the writ petitioner was engaged in bench hunting cannot be said to be without any basis,” the Court said. .The petitioner Dhanwantri Institute of Medical Science filed a writ petition which was dismissed by a single-judge at the Jaipur Bench with the liberty to file a fresh petition in view of subsequent developments.On the very next day, the same plea was filed at the Jodhpur bench. Interestingly, the affidavit in support of the second writ petition was prepared before first plea’s dismissal.Further, a false affidavit was also produced stating that no such petition had been filed elsewhere..On finding that the petitioners were indulging in forum shopping, the single-judge had imposed heavy costs which were appealed.It was argued that the costs were not warranted in the facts of the case since the second petition was filed only in exercise of liberty which was granted in the first round of litigation. Therefore, this could not be treated as forum shopping..However, the decision was upheld by the Court and the alternate prayer seeking reduction of costs was also denied since the single-judge’s order was upheld on merits. The Court also took into account the manner in which the appellant sought to abuse the process of law.“It being an Institution and not a poor person belonging to marginalized section of the society, even in the matter of imposition of cost, we find no ground to interfere,” it was held..The appellants were represented by Advocates Nupur Bhati and Shreyansh Mardia, while the respondents were represented by Senior Advocate Virendra Lodha assisted by Advocate Abhinav Jain..[Read Order]