DY. GENERAL MANAGER, REDESIGNATED AS DY.

DIRECTOR, !SB ETC.

SUDARSHAN KUMAR AND ORS. ETC.

APRIL 2, 1996

IK. RAMASWAMY AND G.B. PATTANAIK, JJ.J

Leave and Licence :

C Grant of licence on compassionate grounds-Misuse of-Widow of freedom fighter granted licence of shop-Application for renewal of licence-Show cause notice issued to licensee for ejectn1ent-W!it petition filed challenging the notice-Affidavit filed not signed by writ petitioner licensee-Sig11ature of petitioner obtained by High Cowt 1101 consistent with the sig11atures on Vakalatnama and ajfidavit-Pennission for withdrawal of writ D petition with liberty to file fresh petition granted-Held, in view of the facts that renewal application was not signed by the licensee, nor were the affidavit

a1d Vakalatnania signed hy her, it is obvious that she had taken the licence and assigned the sa111e to sonieone else who conunitted forge1y and the compassionate grounds and the libe1ties given are being misused-High Coun E not light in pennitting the petitioner to withdraw the petition and to file another lVrit petition on sanie cause of action.

Notmy:

Affidavit.I-Attestation of-Notmy issuing false attestatimr-Re[; isuy F directed lo iS.\'llC notfre lo 1Vota1y to sho1v cause as lo why he should not be prosecuted and punished for attesting false affidavit and why l1is licence should 1101 be cancelled and he should 1101 be prosecuted j(Jr giving false ce1tificate . .

CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal No. 7084 of G 1996@ Special Leave Petition (C) No. 6122 of 1995 Etc.

From the Judgment and Order dated 15.11.94 of the Delhi High Court in C.W. No. 2483 of 1994.

San.iay Poddar, D.K. Malhotra, Ajay K. Jain, Pramod Dayal, V.B.

Saharaya and D. Goburdhan for the appearing parties.

DY. GENERAL MANAGER v. S. KUMAR! 1095

The following Order of the Court was delivered : A

We have heard learned counsel on both sides.

This case is a n1isuse of the compassionate ground" on which leave and licence is sought to be granted to the widows of the freedom lighter.

The appellant had granted to the first respondent leave and licence on May B 15, 1992 the shop (Sales Counter) bearing No. 'H' at Interstate Bus Terminal at a concessional rate of 51fr; of the licence fee. It is not necessary to go into the allegation regarding her encroachment and misuse of the shop allotted in the name of the respondent. An application was filed on March 21, 1994 for renewal of the leave and licence, which is now found C to be not signed by the respondent. A show cause notice was issued on 6.5.1994 to the respondent asking her to hand over vacant possession of the counter on 6.6.1994.

Awrit petition No. 2483/94 was filed in the High Court of Delhi on 23.5.1994 for restraining the appellant from ejecting her and issue a direc- D tion to renew her leave and licence. The affidavit filed by the respondent in the High Court was not even signed by her. When the notice was issued to the appellants (herein), the appellants filed a counter-affidavit on October 24, 1994 informing the High Court of Delhi of the forgery committed in the pleadings and also her application of renewal. The Court has called E upon the respondent to appear before the Court on 2.11.1994 but she did not appear. Ultimately, the respondent appeared on November 15, 1994.

The Court has taken her signatures in the open Court and compared with the signatures on the Yakalatnama and -affidavits and found to be not consistent with her admitted signatures. At that time, the respondent had sought permission for withdrawal of the writ petition with the liberty to lilc F a fresh petition on the same cause of action. Accordingly, liberty was granted vide order dated November 15, 1994. Thus this appeal by special leave. We arc informed that possesion of the Koasko was taken.

The respondent also filed a connected appeal seeking for renewal of the licence. The question, therefore, that emerges is : whether the respon- G dent is entitled to the renewal of the leave and licence and whether liberty to withdraw the W..it petition was appropriately granted by the High Court?

In the re_joinder filed in this Court it is admitted position that she did not sign the rejoinder also. Somebody seems to have signed it on her behalf and attested by a Notary. This is the third case where the Court has come H

SUPREME COURT REPORTS

[1990] 3 S.C.R.

across that the Notaries have been misusing the liberty given to them by i5'uing such false attestations and indiscriminately attesting the affidavits to be tiled by some party who have not been properly identified. We have seen original rejoinder affidavit filed in the Court. They have approached one Notary who has initially attested it and later he had cancelled it without even verifying the valid ground on which the earlier attestation came to be cancelled, same was again attested by one Sudersh<m Kumar on November 1, 1994. In view of the admitted position that she herself had not signed and as someone who had signed it, it would obvious that the person who had signed before him was not the respondent nor even the person was known to the Notary. None identified her before the Notary, yet he attested the affidavit. This would show that some Notaries are absolutely misusing the licence granted to them without any proper verification of the persons who has signed the document and are attesting false affidavits of impersonators.

In view of the admitted fact that her renewal application was not D signed by her, the affidavit, the Vakalatnama were also not signed by her, it \vould be obvious that she had taken the licence and assigned to someone who had committed forgery. When we have asked Shri Goburdhan, learned counsel for her, the name of the real person who .was actually running the shop, he has stated that the party does not divulge the person who is E running the shop.

Under: these circumstances, it is clear that the compassionate grounds and the liberties given are being abused by these persons. Therefore, the High Court was not right in giving liberty to the respondent herein to withdraw the writ petition and to file another writ petition on the same F cause of action. Hence CA No. 7084/96 (@ SLP (C) No. 6122195) is allowed and the appeal by Sudershan Kumari C.A. No. 7085/96 (@ SLP (C) No. 9464/95) is dismissed with costs. Ilcgistry is directed to issue a notice to the Notary to show cause as to Sudarshan Kumar why he should not be prosecuted and punished for attesting false affidavit of imper- G sonators and why his licence should not be cancelled and he should not be prosecuted for giving such false certificates.

R.P.

Post this mailer immediately after service of notice on the Notary.

Appeal No. 7084/96 allowed and Appeal No. 7085/96 dismissed.