The Supreme Court on Friday emphasised the need to have a law in each State to prevent vexatious litigation.
The Bench headed by Chief Justice RM lodha said, “In Maharashtra there is a Vexatious litigation (Prevention) Act of 1971 that needs to be enacted by every state.” The court was dealing with a petition filed by one Nutan Thakur, a resident of Uttar Pradesh who was restricted from filing petitions in the Allahabad High Court unless she deposited a sum of Rs25,000.
In the event her petition was entertained, she could reclaim the demand draft submitted along with the petition. If not, the money stood forfeited in favour of the Court.This money would be received by Court in addition to any cost being imposed on her for filing the frivolous petition.Till date, she had to her credit 86 petitions filed in High Court. Her counsel Anoop Chaudhary took the plea that a citizen’s right to file a petition cannot be curtailed in this manner.
The apex Bench, which also comprised of Justices Kurian Joseph and Rohington Nariman said, “There is nothing extraordinary about this order. All that it asks you to do is to deposit Rs25,000. It does not curtail your right to file a bonafide PIl. Its only to ensure that you don’t henceforth file frivolous petitions.”
An attempt was made by the law Commission in 2005 to recommend a law on lines of the Maharashtra law and the Madras Vexatious litigation (Prevention) Act of 1949. It sought to identify litigants filing petitions “habitually and without reasonable ground” who once declared as frivolous litigant could file any petition only with leave of court.