The Supreme Court reprimanded a private firm on Thursday for engaging in ‘forum shopping’ in a long-standing legal battle concerning the construction of a five-star hotel in South Delhi. The court underscored the importance of integrity in legal proceedings, denying the firm interest on a significant refund due to its attempts to manipulate the judicial process.
Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan concluded a three-decade-old dispute related to the hotel project initiated by the Ministry of Urban Development in 1990 at Andrews Ganj. While the Housing and Urban Development Corporation Limited (HUDCO) was found in breach of several contractual obligations, the court ordered it to refund over Rs 28 crore to the firm but refused the requested 16 percent interest.
The verdict highlighted the firm’s misconduct, including disregarding court procedures and leveraging legal loopholes for personal gain, which led to the decision against awarding interest. “It needs no emphasis that whosoever comes to the court claiming equity, must come with clean hands,” Justice Kant wrote in the decision.
The court chastised the firm for its ‘brazen attempt at forum shopping’ to circumvent the jurisdiction of the high court, which had previously questioned the firm’s sincerity and financial capability. This behavior, the court noted, constituted an abuse of the legal process and wasted judicial resources.
The legal battle traces back to an allotment letter issued on October 31, 1994, for the hotel’s construction. Following the payment of the first installment, disputes arose over HUDCO’s fulfillment of its obligations, leading to prolonged litigation and strategic legal maneuvers by the firm to delay resolution and avoid financial commitments.
