Case Title: Union of India vs Sudipta Lahiri

A division bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Satish Chandra Sharma of the Supreme Court has recently levied a penalty of Rs 5 lakh on the Central government for unwarrantedly contesting a ruling of the Meghalaya High Court.

The bench in its order said that, “There was no occasion or justification for the Union of India to have challenged the said order by way of this Special Leave Petition. The present petitions are sheer abuse of the process of law. The petitioners are cautioned not to file such frivolous petitions in future.”

A sum of Rs 5 lakh was mandated to be deposited into the Armed Forces Battle Casualties Welfare Fund within a two-month timeframe.

During the court proceedings, an appeal was entertained challenging the High Court’s decision that affirmed a ruling from the Central Administrative Tribunal.

The High Court concluded the case upon acknowledging the Central government’s statement, citing the rejection of a comparable petition in accordance with established precedents.

“Accordingly, the Special Leave Petitions are dismissed with costs for the reason that before the High Court counsel for the petitioner-Union of India submitted that the matter was squarely covered by a previous decision and, accordingly, the High Court had disposed of the matter on the statement of the counsel for Union of India”.