TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2017 (3) TMI 1843
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....ve Petitions filed against the orders dated 2 December 2013 and 22 November 2013. Since the petitioners moved the High Court in a petition for review, we condone the delay and having heard counsel, proceed to dispose of the Special Leave Petitions by this judgment. 2. The subject matter of the dispute comprises of commercial premises bearing Shop No.8 A, Bhatia Bhuvan Ground Floor, D S Babrekar Marg, Off Gokhale Road (North), Dadar, Mumbai 400 028. The finding of fact (as will be elucidated hereafter) is that the premises were granted under a conducting agreement to the petitioners for carrying on the business of a laundry. The case of the original plaintiff who sued for possession was that the premises were granted on the basis of a conducting agreement on 31 July 1968 on a royalty of Rs. 260 per month. The suit for eviction was filed against the petitioners in the Court of Small Causes on 26 April 1984. Initially, the suit was decreed on 15 September 1999. In an appeal filed by the petitioners, the appellate Bench of the Small Causes Court by a judgment dated 10 January 2002 held that since the petitioners were in occupation of the premises under a conducting agreement, there wa....
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.... issued under the Bombay Shops and Establishment Act produced in the Small Causes Court relating to the business run from the suit premises has been admitted by the defendant no.1 in his evidence. It is admitted that in the licence the name of business of Kismat Laundry managed by Bluestar Art Dyers and Cleaners has been mentioned. In the licence Narayan Narvakar was shown as the owner and Naik was shown as conductor of business. Thus, on the basis of the documentary evidence and on the admissions of the defendant no.1 it has been established by the plaintiffs that the suit premises and business therein was given on conducting basis to the defendant no.1." 4. Against the judgment and order of the Trial Court, decreeing the suit for possession, the petitioners filed a First Appeal. On 22 November 2013, the learned Single Judge of the High Court passed the following order in the First Appeal : "In this Appeal, after hearing the learned counsel for the Appellants fully, I disclose that there is no merit in the Appeal. However, as the Appellants have been conducting the business at the suit premises since more than 40 years, it was suggested that some time can be given to ....
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.... 7.00 p.m. In view of the submissions, Civil Application is disposed of by passing the following order. Order Applicant shall vacate the premises and hand over possession of suit premises to respondent at 7.00 p.m. on 31st March, 2015. This is the last extension and hereafter no extension will be given. Applicant to remove any construction i.e. partition if put up at the time of handing over possession. The applicant shall give undertaking to that effect on or before 9th December, 2014. The applicant is directed to deposit the arrears of rent from September, 2014 onwards till 31st March, 2015, on or before 17th December, 2014." 6. By and as a result of the above order, the petitioners obtained an extension of time until 31 March 2015 to vacate the premises. The petitioners then filed a Review Petition before the High Court on 17 March 2015. Together with the Review Petition, the petitioners filed another application for extension of time to vacate the premises by a further period of five years. The learned Single Judge dismissed the Review Petition on 16 June 2015. 7. The petitioners moved this Court under Article 136 of the Constitution. On 28 August 2015, no....
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....t other premises for their laundry business". This sequence of events leaves no manner of doubt that the undertaking was not called for by the High Court to secure the occupation of the premises during the period that the petitioner would have required to further assail the order of the High Court in this Court. The petitioners, on the contrary, clearly indicated that they would rest content with a time of one year to vacate the premises and in fact obtained a further extension of time of four months even after the expiry of the initial term of one year. 10. The judgment of this Court in P R Deshpande (supra) lays down the following principle: "11. A party to a lis can be asked to give an undertaking to the court if he requires stay of operation of the judgment. It is done on the supposition that the order would remain unchanged. By directing the party to give such an undertaking, no court can scuttle or foreclose a statutory remedy of appeal or revision, much less a constitutional remedy. If the order is reversed or modified by the superior court or even the same court on a review, the undertaking given by the party will automatically cease to operate. Merely because a party ha....
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..... Besides this, in the earlier proceeding that was instituted in the Small Causes Court, it was found that the premises have been granted under a conducting agreement and there was no relationship of licensor and licensee. That being the position, the petitioners would not acquire status as tenants with effect from 1 February 1973, there being no licence in their favour. 13. This Court must view with disfavour any attempt by a litigant to abuse the process. The sanctity of the judicial process will be seriously eroded if such attempts are not dealt with firmly. A litigant who takes liberties with the truth or with the procedures of the Court should be left in no doubt about the consequences to follow. Others should not venture along the same path in the hope or on a misplaced expectation of judicial leniency. Exemplary costs are inevitable, and even necessary, in order to ensure that in litigation, as in the law which is practised in our country, there is no premium on the truth. 14. Courts across the legal system - this Court not being an exception - are choked with litigation. Frivolous and groundless filings constitute a serious menace to the administration of justice. They co....