Skip to main content

Firm to pay Rs 2L punitive damages for merit-less petition

The apex consumer commission has rejected a construction company's appeal with punitive damages of Rs two lakh, saying it was a "merit-less petition" and such "unscrupulous" litigants must be dealt with a "heavy hand".

National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) bench, presided by Justice V B Gupta, made the observation while dismissing the appeal of True Zone Buildwell Pvt Ltd against an order of Haryana State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission which had upheld a district consumer forum's order, asking the company to provide the apartment to a man.

NCDRC noted that the company had taken Rs two lakh from one Bhoop Singh in year 2006 for an apartment, without disclosing the area, location and plot number etc. And later on cancelled the allotment.

It said that no leniency should be shown to such type of litigants who in order to cover up their own fault and negligence, go on filing merit-less pleas in different foras.

"Equity demands that such unscrupulous litigants, whose only aim and object is to deprive the opposite party of fruits of the decree, must be dealt with a heavy hand. Unscrupulous builders like the petitioner, who after taking booking amount of the plot do not perform its part of obligation, should not be spared.

"A strong message is required to be sent to such type of builders that this Commission is not helpless in such type of matters," the bench said.

It held that the present petition was nothing but gross abuse of process of law and was required to be dismissed with punitive damages.

"Accordingly, present petition stand dismissed with punitive damages of Rs two lakh," the commission said.

In its appeal, the company told the NCDRC that Singh had deposited Rs two lakh with it but at that time no agreement was signed between them.

Later, Singh's registration was cancelled at initial stage and the money was also returned, hence, Singh did not come within the purview of a consumer. However, the district forum had asked the company to hand over the plot to Singh.

 Article referred: http://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/firm-to-pay-rs-2l-punitive-damages-for-merit-less-petition-114081400432_1.html

Comments

Post a Comment

Most viewed this month

Inherited property of childless hindu woman devolve onto heirs of her parents

In Tarabai Dagdu Nitanware vs Narayan Keru Nitanware, quashing an order passed by a joint civil judge junior division, Pune, the Bombay High Court has held that under Section 15 of the Hindu Succession Act, any property inherited by a female Hindu from her father or mother, will devolve upon the heirs of her father/mother, if she dies without any children of her own, and not upon her husband. Justice Shalini Phansalkar Joshi was hearing a writ petition filed by relatives of one Sundarabai, who died issueless more than 45 years ago on June 18, 1962. Article referred:http://www.livelaw.in/property-inherited-female-hindu-parents-shall-devolve-upon-heirs-father-not-husband-dies-childless-bombay-hc-read-judgment/
Post a Comment
Read more

'Seize assets to pay damages to accident victim'

Her story might be an inspiration for the physically challenged but justice has remained elusive for her. In 2008, a bus accident left research engineer S Thenmozhi, 30, paraplegic. In April 2013, the motor accident claims tribunal directed the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) to provide her a compensation of 57.9 lakh. However, TNSTC refused to budge and on Tuesday a city court ordered attaching of movable assets of the transport corporation. Thenmozhi was employed in C-DOT, a telecom technology development centre in Bangalore. On July 21, 2008, she was coming to Chennai in a private bus. Around 2am, the bus had a flat tyre and the driver parked it on the left side of the road near Pallikonda in Vellore district on the Bangalore-Chennai highway. While the tyre was being changed, a TNSTC bus of Dharmapuri division hit the stationary bus. The rear part of the bus was smashed and passengers were injured. Thenmozhi who had a seat at the back of the bus suffered...
Post a Comment
Read more

Mumbai ITAT rules income of offshore discretionary trust is subject to tax in India

The Mumbai Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) has recently determined the following issue in the affirmative in the case of Manoj Dhupelia: Should the income of an offshore discretionary trust be subject to tax in India, if no distributions have been made to beneficiaries in India? The question arose from appeals filed by individual beneficiaries in relation to a Lichtenstein-based trust, the Ambrunova Trust and Merlyn Management SA (the Trust) with the ITAT. It is important to note that the individuals in this case were amongst those first identified by the Government of India (GOI) as holding undeclared bank accounts in Lichtenstein. The ITAT ruling raises the following issues: Taxation of Trust Corpus: ITAT classified the corpus of the trust as "undisclosed income" and declared it taxable in the hands of the beneficiaries. Taxation of Undistributed Income: ITAT refused to draw a distinction between the corpus and undistributed income from the trust and declared i...
Post a Comment
Read more