In a strong stance against the increasing trend of filing frivolous appeals, the Punjab & Haryana High Court recently imposed a cost of ₹50,000 on litigants for filing a misconceived Letters Patent Appeal (LPA) against an interim order in a pending writ petition.
The Division Bench of Justice Sanjeev Prakash Sharma and Justice Meenakshi I. Mehta observed that there has been a growing tendency of approaching the court with LPAs against harmless or procedural interim orders issued by a Single Judge during the pendency of writ petitions.
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"Recently a tendency has arisen before this Court wherein LPAs are being filed against innocuous orders passed by the learned Single Judge in pending writ petitions," remarked Justice Sharma while delivering the oral judgment.
The case in question involved appellants who challenged an order passed by the Single Judge on January 19, 2025, and January 29, 2025. The impugned order had rejected their plea seeking a stay on promotions from the post of Block Education Officer to Deputy District Education Officer and District Education Officer, pending the final outcome of the main writ petition.
The High Court bench noted that the writ petition was still under consideration and that the Single Judge had already issued a notice of motion on March 7, 2025. However, before the respondents could even file their reply, the appellants rushed to file an application seeking interim relief, which was subsequently denied.
"We find that the course adopted by the learned Single Judge is, thus, in conformity with our view when he refused to entertain the application at that stage where there is no reply," the Court stated.
The Division Bench made it clear that once a notice of motion is issued, it is essential to await a response from the opposite party before granting any interim relief. Only in cases of urgent developments occurring after the notice of motion has been issued can the court consider passing urgent orders.
The court strongly disapproved of the appellants' approach and labelled the appeal as an abuse of the judicial process.
“Suffice it to note that the present appeal is in gross abuse and misuse of the process of law and accordingly the same is dismissed with costs of ₹50,000/- to be deposited by the appellants with the High Court Legal Services Authority as tendency of filing such misconceived LPAs should be discouraged.”
The Court also pointed out that in many such cases, litigants withdraw the LPAs after being confronted in court, which highlights the non-serious and procedural misuse by appellants.
The Bench consciously refrained from commenting on the merits of the case, stating:
"We would refrain ourselves from making any observations relating to the merits of the case as the writ petition is still pending before the learned Single Judge."
Ultimately, the Court dismissed the appeal and ordered that all pending miscellaneous applications stand disposed of.
This judgment serves as a stern reminder against misusing the legal system for unnecessary appeals and reiterates the importance of following procedural fairness during the pendency of cases. It also showcases the High Court’s commitment to curbing delays caused by such frivolous filings and protecting judicial time.
Mr. Adityajit Singh Chadha, Advocate for Mr. D.S. Patwalia, Sr. Advocate for the appellants.
Title: Subhash Chander Bhambhu and others v. State of Haryana
