High time courts dealt with frivolous pleas strictly: HC

The Delhi High Court has dismissed a plea of a man seeking appointment in the Food Corporation of India (FCI) on compassionate ground terming it a "frivolous petition" which needed to be dealt with sternly.
"It is high time that courts deal with certain frivolous petitions in a very strict manner," Justice Valmiki J Mehta said.
The court further observed that seeking compassionate appointment must ordinarily evoke sympathy, however, that sympathy has to "necessarily vanish when the same litigant unnecessarily approaches the court although earlier judicial proceedings on the same subject are unsuccessful.
"Unless courts put an effective stop, there will be blatant waste of judicial time by litigants who do not deserve either the time from the court or consideration of the reliefs claimed. The present case is one such case," the court added.

The judge, while dismissing the petition, also imposed a cost of Rs 15,000 on petitioner Vikas Kumar, who had sought appointment on compassionate ground in FCI after the death of his father, who was a former employee there, in 2001.
"This court is of the opinion that the present petition is a clear abuse of the judicial process, and ordinarily this court should burden the petitioner with heavy costs of Rs 50,000 while dismissing the petition to serve as a reminder to the litigants who waste judicial time.

"However, considering financial condition of petitioner, the present petition is dismissed with costs of Rs 15,000 and which costs shall be deposited with Friendicoes, within a period of six weeks from today," the judge said.

The court's observations came while rejecting the fresh petition of Kumar seeking appointment in Group C post of the FCI after he was denied appointment in Group D by the corporation as well as the high court several times.
The FCI had rejected his request for appointment in Group D post in 2013 saying there was no vacancy. After this, he approached the high court in 2014 but got no relief.
The high court, while dismissing his plea, also noted that his father had died in harness on November 18, 2001 and the indigency would not be relevant today.
"For the relevant period of death of the employee in harness the petitioner was entitled to compassionate appointment in Group D/ AG-IV post and for which post petitioner was rightly denied appointment on account of lack of requisite vacancy.

"The petitioner in 2017 cannot seek compassionate appointment on the ground that he has subsequently obtained higher/additional qualifications, and is therefore entitled for the higher category post," it said.
It further said that a qualification obtained much later than around the death of the employee in harness will not make an applicant entitled for being considered for compassionate appointment under the scheme of compassionate appointment.