Courtroom Diary: Rarest of the Rare Justice for Rich

Rarest of the Rare Justice for Rich

In Court rooms seized with some extraordinary cases I'm witness to certain unprecedented and amusing incidents and I cant restrain myself from publishing the same; even at the cost of offending the vested interests. One such incident is:

On dated: 05.05.2017 my Application for Vacation of Ex-party interim stay(without hearing the affected party) granted to the Paras Buildtech India Pvt. Limited ;a prominent Builder, was listed at Sr. No.103 before J. Amit Rawal. I had prepared my case well in the anticipation that I will be facing Senior Advocate Akshay Bhan (a son of Supreme Court Judge J. Bhan). However, I was astonished to see that despite being served advance copy in terms of the Article 226(3) of the Constitution; the Ld. Senior Akshay Bhan had chosen to absent himself. I was expecting that some junior will seek pass-over or adjournment. But nothing as such happened.

Be that as it may, I started my argument 'This is the Application for vacation of the ex-party stay granted to the Builder; without granting an opportunity of hearing to the affected party, i.e., my clients. And, the interim stay has been managed by concealment of fact.." J. Amit Rawal fired a quesntion, "Have you filed written statement/reply?" I replied, "Your-lordship I have not received the copy of the writ petition and I will file reply on the fixed date after receiving the copy of the petition" J. Amit Rawal was furious and said, "how can you filed Application for Vaction of Stay without filing reply" I replied, "Your Honour this is the Application in terms of the Article 226(3) of the Constitution and reply may not be prerequisite" Then he fired another question, "Do you practice in this Court?" I replied, 'Yes" Another question was, "Since how long in this Court" I wanted to say that I am the pass-out of the year 2005, but as Judge had specifically asked the duration of my practice in the Punjab & Haryana High Court, therefore, I replied, "Since last 4 Years" I avoided mentioning my experience in Supreme Court and other Courts/Tribunal in Delhi. Then in the apparent insulting and humiliating language J. Amit Rawal said, "Then you need to learn the basics of Law. From which University you have done Law course" I was perplexed and was not prepared to face this question; so I tried to duck this question. But again Judge repeated question, "From which University you have done Law course?" I replied, perhaps irritably "This is not the issue in the present case" Mr. J. Amit Rawal also was not prepared or accustomed to hear this answer, as I was not prepared to hear the question. Later on some lawyers told me that my answer was a verbal slap over his face, though I did not intend to do so. Perhaps I am not accustomed to bear the attack under the belt.

After hearing my unexpected reply to his irrelevant question, Mr. J. Amit Rawal stretched his chair back towards the wall and pronounced, "Application dismissed with cost of Rs. 5000/-" I arguned, "I need the equal opportunity of hearing, equal to the Petitioners" I had consciously chosen the words, "Opportunity equal to the Petitioner" to drive home the message that the Judge had granted the rarest of the rare relief of ex-party stay, by granting sufficient opportunity of hearing, to the Senior Advocate who happens to be the son of Supreme Court Judge. Then the lawyers sitting in court room started playing their part of a good obedient lawyers from the left, rights and back of my side by suggesting me, "You withdraw your Application" Another lawyer from right side virtually I pulled my coast and opined, "You apologize". From the back I heard a voice, "Seek adjournment" I wanted to reply to all, "Please stop all this. I better know the facts and how can you jump to given unsolicited opinions without knowing the complete facts?" But with a view to avoid labeling spoiled young lawyer I restrained myself. Though, all unsolicited bombardment of opinions had spoiled my vigor of my arguments. On my use of words "Equal Opportunity" J. Amit Rawal said, "Dont advise him he is very intelligent. Let him argue"

I argued, "The Builder managed the interim order by concealment of crucial of relevant fact that the Hon'ble Green Tribunal is already seized with the matter and issued notice on 28.03.2017..this Hon'ble Court may not have granted interim relief to the Petitioners; which has ramifications to eclipse the relief to be granted by the Green Tribunal. Petitioners have merely mentioned that the encroached area is only 195 Sq.Yds., whereas the actual encroached area is 6,969.113 Sq.Yds. which is clear from the registered demarcation plan bearing Tehsildar Sohna Registration No. 2532, Dated: 07.05.2015. Petitioners have failed to establish how the irreparable loss would be caused to them merely by re-demarcation by the Revenue Department of State of Haryana. Rather than the loss to an individual it was the loss to the State Govt. and public at large, as the whole city faces floods due to such kind of encroachment by builder"

Mr. J. Amit Rawal stopped me in between and pronounced, "On asking of this court whether he has filed reply to the written statement he states that he has not received the copy of petition. Then how can he filed this Application. Therefore, dismissed"

I picked up my file and found that several lawyers, the self-proclaimed well wishers of mine were waiting to ask several questions from me. But I was wondering, 'Whether rarest of the rare justice is meant only for the rich clients represented by Senior Advocates/Sons/Daughters/close family members of a elite class"

I immediately applied for the certified copy of the order, for preparing myself for the next fight in the higher forum, in the faint hope of justice. In the evening I checked for the order on the website, which as per rules should be uploaded by 06:00 PM. But so far I am unable to find any order, neither in response to my urgent application for certified copy, nor a copy of the website. The below is the latest status of case:

Case Details For Case CM-6632-CWP-2017

Diary Number

1760740

District

GURGAON

Courtroom Diary

Sunday, May 7

Rarest of the Rare Justice for Rich

Rarest of the Rare Justice for Rich

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