Amar Singh vs Union Of India & Ors

9. In this matter an additional affidavit has been filed by Shri Alok Kumar, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Headquarters. In that affidavit it has been stated, that on inquiry by the Additional Police Commissioner (Crimes), it was discovered that the purported order of Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) and Principal Secretary (Home) on the basis of which interceptions were alleged by the petitioner were forged documents.

11. Here we may point out the casual manner in which the petitioner approached the Court. The affidavit filed by the petitioner in support of his petition, and relying on which this Court issued notice on 24th January, 2006, is not at all modelled either on order XIX Rule 3 of the Code of Civil Procedure, or Order XI of the Supreme Court Rules, 1966. The relevant portion of the petitioner's affidavit runs as under:

29. It appears from the detailed affidavit filed by the petitioner, pursuant to the order of this Court dated 2nd February, 2011, that the main documents on which the writ petition is based, namely Annexures A and B, the orders dated 22nd October, and 9th November, 2005 were obtained by him from Mr. Anurag Singh, who is one of the accused and was arrested in the aforesaid criminal case. It also appears that petitioner's averments in paragraphs 2(v), 2(vii), 2(viii) and 2(ix) are based on information derived from the same Anurag Singh and that part of the information relating to the averments in para 5 of the writ petition was also obtained from the same Mr. Anurag Singh. The petitioner, therefore, largely relied on information received from an accused in a criminal case while he filed his petition under Article 32.

27. That interim order continued for about four years and is continuing till now.

40. In view of the public nature of the function of a service provider, it is inherent in its duty to act carefully and with a sense of responsibility.

Paragraphs 2 (2), 2 (3), 2 (4) and 2 (6) are based on the information received from Mr. Anurag Singh.

But he did not say all these in his affidavit when he filed the writ petition on 21st January 2006.

48. It therefore appears that the petitioner has been shifting his stand to suit his convenience. In 2006, the gravamen of the petitioner's grievances was against the respondent no. 7, and the basis of his petition was the information that he derived from the said Anurag Singh. On the basis of such a petition, he invoked the jurisdiction of this Court and an interim order was issued in his favour, which is still continuing.

51. Apart from the aforesaid, in the writ petition which was filed on 21st January, 2006, there is no mention of the fact that the petitioner gave a statement under section 161, Code of Criminal Procedure in connection with the investigation arising out of FIR lodged on 30th December, 2005.

From the records of the case it appears the 36 petitioner gave 161 statement on 13th January, 2006.

In the writ petition there is a complete suppression of the aforesaid fact. A statement under Section 161 is certainly a material fact in a police investigation in connection with an FIR. The investigation is to find out the genuineness of those very documents on the basis of which the writ petition was moved. In that factual context, total suppression in the writ petition of the fact that the petitioner gave a 161 statement in that investigation is, in our judgment, suppression of a very material fact.

52. It is, therefore, clear that writ petition is frivolous and is speculative in character. This Court is of the opinion that the so called legal questions on tapping of telephone cannot be gone into on the basis of a petition which is so weak in its foundation.

53. Courts have, over the centuries, frowned upon litigants who, with intent to deceive and mislead the courts, initiated proceedings without full disclosure of facts. Courts held that such litigants have come with "unclean hands" and are not entitled to be heard on the merits of their case.

State of U.P. and others - JT 2009 (15) SC 201:

61. However, this Court is constrained to observe that those principles are honoured more in breach than in their observance.

62. Following these principles, this Court has no hesitation in holding that the instant writ petition is an attempt by the petitioner to mislead the Court on the basis of frivolous allegations and by suppression of material facts as pointed out and discussed above.

67. These rules, reiterated by this Court time and again, are aimed at protecting the Court against frivolous litigation must not be diluted or ignored. However, in practice they are frequently flouted by the litigants and often ignored by the Registry of this Court. The instant petition is an illustration of the same. If the rules for affirming affidavit according to Supreme Court were followed, it would have been difficult for the petitioner to file this petition and so much of judicial time would have been saved. This case is not isolated instance. There are innumerable cases which have been filed with affidavits affirmed in a slipshod manner.

68. This Court, therefore, directs that the Registry must henceforth strictly scrutinize all the affidavits, all petitions and applications and 45 will reject or note as defective all those which are not consistent with the mandate of Order XIX Rule 3 of the CPC and Order XI Rules 5 and 13 of the Supreme Court Rules.

69. The writ petition is, therefore, dismissed subject to the aforesaid liberty. All interim orders are vacated.

70. Parties are left to bear their own costs.