J&K High Court: jugglery and manipulation have no role in judiciary

J&K High Court: jugglery and manipulation have no role in judiciary

The writ court had imposed a fine of Rs.2 lakh on the appellant

The Jammu and Kashmir High Court has held that jugglery, manipulation, manoeuvring, or misrepresentation has no place in the equitable and prerogative jurisdiction of the court.

The bench of Justice Puneet Gupta and Justice Sanjeev Kumar was hearing an appeal against the writ court of a single judge. The writ court had dismissed the petition and imposed Rs.1 lakh fine on the appellant on the ground of suppression of material facts.

The court deduced the following principles:

(i) The jurisdiction of the high court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India is extraordinary, equitable and discretionary.

(ii) To invoke this extraordinary, discretionary and equitable jurisdiction, it is of utmost necessity that the petitioner approaching the writ court must come with clean hands and put forward all facts before the court without concealing or suppressing anything.

(iii) A litigant is bound to state all facts which are material or relevant to the litigation.

(iv) The litigant must candidly state all the facts before the court without reservation. He cannot be permitted to play ‘hide and seek’ or ‘pick and choose’ the facts he prefers to disclose and keep back or conceal other facts.

(v) Jugglery, manipulation, manoeuvring, or misrepresentation has no place in the equitable and prerogative jurisdiction.

(vi) Suppression of material facts, concealment of full details of litigation, present and past, between the parties qua subject matter of dispute, distortion or manipulation of relevant facts, misleading the court by stating false facts or withholding true facts disentitle a party to invoke equitable jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Indian Constitution.

Based on the principles, the high court dismissed the appeal.