Juhi Chawla Moves Delhi High Court Challenging Order Dismissing Her Suit Against 5G Roll Out With 20 Lakhs Cost

Bollywood actress and environmentalist Juhi Chawla and others have moved the Delhi High Court challenging the single judge decision which had dismissed the civil suit against 5G Roll out as being defective and not maintainable with a cost of Rs. 20 lakhs.

The appeal emerges from the civil suit which was filed by Juhi Chawla and others seeking directions to restrain the Central Government from taking any steps for the roll-out of 5G telecommunication services in the country, including, but not limited to steps for spectrum allocation, licensing, etc. on grounds of long and short term harm to human, animal and plant life and detrimental impact on the environment at large.

The appellants have challenged the impugned order on the ground of being erroneous and arbitrary for the reason that a plaint is either rejected or returned and can only be dismissed once it has been allowed to be registered as a suit by the Court.

It is also the case of the appellants that the Single Judge went ahead to impose cost without any formal application made by the respondents to such effect. 

The appellants have also questioned the 'adverse comments' made by the Single Judge viewing the same to have been filed to garner publicity.

"This being so, perhaps the learned single judge ought to have deemed it more appropriate to view the minor clerical discrepancies in the presentation of the plaint from a wider and more humane perspective, especially since all these defects, at the highest, may warrant merely a rejection' of the plaint, and, therefore, are remediable in nature, giving rights to the Appellants / Plaintiffs to remedy the defects and approach the Hon'ble Court again upon having done so," the plea reads.

The petition is listed for hearing tomorrow before a division bench comprising of Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Jasmeet Singh.

The appeal has been filed through Advocates Aadya Mishra and Deepak Khosla.

About the Single Judge Order

The Court had held that the Plaintiffs' suit was valued at at Rs. 2 crore for jurisdiction, therefore, the valuation had to be the same for Court fee. Over Rs 1 lakh should have been paid. Challenge to the Court Fee Act is not permitted under CPC.

The Court had further held that notice under S.80 CPC is a mandatory provision and the Plaintiffs' contention that it is an empty formality is rejected.

The Court had also said that the Plaintiffs have failed to make out a case for leave to institute the suit or to sue in representative capacity. Therefore, the plaint was held to be defective and not maintainable.

"They (plaintiffs) have abused and misused process of law. Plaintiffs are directed to deposit cost of 20 lakhs within one week. DSLSA to utilise it for cause of victims of road accidents. If any proceedings are instituted, this judgement be produced before the court. It appears plaintiffs have filed this suit for publicity, which is clear by the plaintiff 1 sharing links of the hearing on her social media, which lead to multiple disruptions in the hearing", the Court had noted in the order.

Case Title: Juhi Chawla and others v Science and Engineering Research Board and others