Rajasthan High Court Upholds Order Imposing ₹10 Lakh Cost On Medical Institute For "Bench Hunting"
The Principal Bench of Rajasthan High Court at Jodhpur has upheld the single judge bench order, whereby a cost of Rs. 10 lakh was imposed on a medical institution for forum shopping.After the petition filed by Dhanwantri Institute of Medical Science was dismissed as withdrawn from the Jaipur bench of the High Court in April, the institute had approached its principal seat the very next...
The Principal Bench of Rajasthan High Court at Jodhpur has upheld the single judge bench order, whereby a cost of Rs. 10 lakh was imposed on a medical institution for forum shopping.
After the petition filed by Dhanwantri Institute of Medical Science was dismissed as withdrawn from the Jaipur bench of the High Court in April, the institute had approached its principal seat the very next day, seeking similar reliefs, without disclosing the factum of the former petition.
In this light, the single judge had dismissed the second writ with 10 lakh cost. Practice of bench hunting has become common these days, the Judge had observed.
Dismissing a challenge to that order, a division bench of Acting Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice Vinod Kumar Bharwani observed,
"It is well settled that one, who seeks to invoke the extraordinary jurisdiction of High Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, is required to come with clean hands. The facts, as narrated hereinabove, and also noticed by the learned Single Judge clearly shows that 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 petitioner had, in the first petition, sought directions to restrain respondents to disaffiliate the petitioner institution, for setting aside certain notices related to admission along with the consequential proceedings.
Before the Principal Bench, it sought permission to provide B.Sc.(N), P.B.Sc., M.Sc. Course for the academic session 2021-22, in addition to the above mentioned prayers.
As the division bench expressed its disinclination to waive costs, the Appellant's counsel urged for its reduction. However, the Court remarked, "having upheld the order of the learned Single Judge on merits and 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."
The division bench also noticed that the affidavit in support of the second writ petition was prepared on April 24 whereas the case pending at Jaipur Bench was withdrawn only on April 26. This means that the writ petition was already prepared while the case was pending at Jaipur Bench and a false statement was made on oath that petitioner has not filed any such writ petition either, the High Court observed.
The counsels for the appellant include Dr. Nupur Bhati and Adv. Shreyansh Mardia. The counsels for the respondents include Sr Adv. Virendra Lodha assisted by Adv. Abhinav Jain.
Case Title: Dhanwantri Institute Of Medical Science v. State Of Rajasthan & Ors.
Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Raj) 220