Courts Burdened with Dishonest Litigants Dodging Debts by Resorting to Mercy Jurisdiction of Writ Courts: Madras HC

The Madras High court recently observed that too often courts are burdened with dishonest litigants who try to dodge debts by resorting to non-existent, mercy Jurisdiction of writ courts, one lakh rupees were imposed on one such frivolous petitioner (P Sudhakar v The Union Secretary, Ministry of Finance and ors).

In this case, the petitioner sought directions from the court so that his representation for an amicable settlement concerning the repayment of a bank loan is considered.

The Bench said, “This is another of those frivolous matters in which the Writ Court has been approached for a writ in the nature of mandamus directing the bank, even though it is a nationalised bank, to resolve its commercial dispute with its constituent in a particular manner. It is too late in the day to remind the petitioner that such authority does not vest in the Writ Court in the exercise of its power under Article 226 of the Constitution”.

A bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy passed the order and suggested that the petitioner may pursue his grievance before the appropriate forum.

The matter was dismissed and the petitioner was directed to pay INR 1 lakh as costs to the respondent bank.