Rajasthan High Court Suspects Forgery In Vakalatnama Of Joint Petition, Directs Judicial Registrar To Check Veracity Of Petitioners' Signatures

Suspecting that a single vakalatnama consisting of the signatures of 101 petitioners in a joint petition is forged, the Rajasthan High Court has directed the Registrar (Judicial) to investigate whether the petitioners themselves have affixed their signatures.

The single-judge bench of Justice Dinesh Mehta directed that the petitioners' counsel should inform all petitioners to be present before the Registrar (Judicial), with the proof of their respective identities, on 15.04.2024 during the court hours.

“The Registrar (Judicial) is directed to obtain signatures of all the petitioners on a separate sheet, without showing them the signatures already present on the Vakalatnama enclosed with the writ petition and furnish his report on prima-facie appearance”, the bench sitting at Jodhpur noted in the order.

Justice Mehta made the following observations regarding the inscribed signatures in Vakalathnama while hearing a joint writ petition filed for granting annual grade increments due on 1^st July after the retirement of petitioners. It was stated that the petitioners have retired from different state departments and belonged to different districts of the state and nearby states.

The court was initially perplexed by how such a joint petition could be filed, that too without mentioning the departments in which the respective petitioners have served and their particular dates of retirement.

Even though the counsel for the petitioners sought the court's permission to withdraw the writ petition, the court discarded this plea. The court also frowned upon the 'new normal' wherein joint writ petitions with single vakalatnama containing forged signatures are being filed before it.

“…how these 101 persons scattered in different parts of the State/Country have converged in the office of learned counsel for the petitioners and have signed on printout of one list and authorized petitioner No.1 to file and swear affidavit, is a question to be probed”, Justice Mehta opined that most of the signatures are seen to have been inscribed in 'similar handwriting, with same pen and hand'.

The matter has been listed for 23.04.2024 to receive the enquiry report of the Registrar (Judicial)r in the controversy.

Advocate Surendra Singh Choudhary appeared for all of the petitioners.

Case Title: Ranjeet Singh Chouhan & Ors. v. State Of Rajasthan, Through Secretary, Department Of Mines And Geology & Ors.

Case No: S.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 4870/2024

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