Delhi High Court Expunges Adverse Remarks Against Actress Juhi Chawla In Case Against 5G Rollout, Reduces Cost To Rs. 2 Lakhs

The Delhi High Court on Thursday expunged the remarks made by the Single Judge against Bollywood and environmentalist Juhi Chawla while dismissing her civil suit against 5G Roll.

Modifying the impugned order, Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Jasmeet Singh also reduced the cost imposed vide the impugned order from Rs. 20 Lakhs to Rs. 2 Lakhs, observing that the same may be retained as some of the applications filed in the civil suit were indeed completely meritless.

The Court was hearing a plea filed by Chawla and others challenging the single judge decision which had dismissed the civil suit as being defective and not maintainable with a cost of Rs. 20 lakhs.

'Defective, Vexatious' : Delhi High Court Dismisses Juhi Chawla's Civil Suit Against 5G Roll Out With Rs 20 Lakhs Cost

During the course of hearing today, the actress who appeared before the Bench through video conferencing, informed the Court that it would be an honour for her to render social service by featuring in DSLSA's programmes raising causes of women and children who are in need of legal aid.

The development came came after the bench earlier this week proposed that a programme may be conducted wherein the DSLSA can get in touch with Juhi Chawla and the actress can be featured while promoting the cause. 

Delhi High Court Proposes To Reduce Cost Imposed On Juhi Chawla In Suit Against 5G Rollout To ₹2 Lakh

Today, Chawla told the Court that she had filed a suit raising various issues with regards to adverse effect of radiation caused by the 5G technology on environment as well as human lives.

She also apprised the Court that she has been working for similar causes since 2010 and had even appeared before the Parliament Standing Committee raising connected issues.

Hearing the aforesaid, the Court was of the view that Chawla did not take up the issue of 5G rollout in India in a frivolous or causal manner.

"Unfortunately, what appeared to have happened is that the filing of applications particularly those seeking exemption from payment of court fees on the ground that the matters don't get decided by Courts for several years and application seeking exemption from serving notice of sec. 80 of CPC on the ground that the same is an empty formality, conveyed to the single judge an impression of the plaintiffs not taking up their cause with any seriousness," the Court said.

It added "Having perused the impugned order, it appears to us that the plaintiff themselves, who do not come from legal background, should not made to share the blame and consequences for the manner in which the suit and applications were drafted."

Senior Advocate Salman Khurshid appearing for the appellants stated that the plaintiffs have now learnt from their experience of preferring the suit in the manner in which it was done and will be able to carry the lessons from the impugned order while perusing future legal remedies.

He submitted that the appellants would like to raise similar issues in appropriate legal proceedings in the future.

"…we are of the view that the impugned order needs to be modified in the interest of justice. We therefore expunge the observations made by the single judge against Juhi Chawla, specially paragraphs 41 and 43," the Court ordered.

It added "We accordingly allow the appeal in the aforesaid terms and the impugned order is set aside and substituted by our aforesaid order."

The Court also granted appellants the liberty to approach the concerned court to seek appropriate legal remedies in future  

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

The appeal was 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

Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Del) 50