Telangana High Court slaps Rs 50k fine on LIC for frivolous appeals

Hyderabad: To send out a strong message to frivolous litigations, the High Court Chief Justice bench on Monday slapped a fine of Rs 50,000 on Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), who filed three writ appeals challenging the High Court Single Judge order.

The bench comprising Chief Justice Raghavendra Singh Chauhan and Justice Bollam Vijaysen Reddy heard the tag of three writ appeals filed by LIC against the High Court Single Judge order dated July 18, 2019 for 50 vacancies of non-joined posts in LIC to consider the temporary staff who are the meritorious candidates in the merit list.

The counsel for LIC has raised objections before the Court that the petitioners could not be appointed against the vacancies as they were not within the zone of consideration.

Chief Justice pointed out that in case the LIC wanted to plead that the petitioners were not in the zone of consideration, it was free to stick to that stand and not to make any offer before the court. Once the LIC has chosen to argue in the alternate, the appellant is unjustified in claiming that the contention raised before the single judge has not been dealt with.

The CJ bench observed that this plea was highly misplaced and an absolutely frivolous appeal to be filed against the impugned order. The impugned order fairly reveals the counsel for the LIC, while raising the petition that the petitioners are not in the zone of consideration.

Moreover, it also made an offer before the court that in case the petitioner's file for fresh representation for consideration for an appointment, the case will certainly be considered in an appropriate order. Once this offer was made by the LIC, the single judge was certainly justified and accepted the said offer and passed the order. Therefore, this court does not find any fault with the order passed by the Single Judge, CJ bench opined.

Further, the court pointed out that it seemed the present appeal was filed only to escape the rigours of the contempt of court, therefore the filing of an appeal tantamount to misuse of the process of law and process of the court. It is for the LIC to defend its case before the contempt court, CJ Chauhan added.

Since this court is of the firm view that the appeals have been filed only in order to escape the contempt petition. The bench is convinced that only the frivolous appeals have been filed before this court, CJ Chauhan stated.

The Court dismissed the three appeals of LIC and imposed a fine of Rs 50,000.

The LIC is directed to pay the said amount within a period of two weeks. In case of non-payment, the court is free to issue a contempt notice against the LIC. The proof thereof shall be submitted to the registry, the Court ordered.