TMI Blog2016 (1) TMI 1358X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t. In our opinion, the imposition of costs, although somewhat steep, was fully justified given that the High Court also held that the contract in favour of the petitioner was awarded improperly and was of a commercial nature, the last two findings not being under challenge. 2. A global search of cases pertaining to the filing of a false affidavit indicates that the number of such cases that are reported has shown an alarming increase in the last fifteen years as compared to the number of such cases prior to that. This ' is illustrative of the malaise that is slowly but surely creeping in. This trend is certainly an unhealthy one that should be strongly discouraged, well before the filing of false affidavits gets to be treated as a routine and normal affair. 3. The petitioner is aggrieved by a judgment and order dated 22nd September, 2008 passed by the Division Bench of the High Court of Jharkhand in L.P.A. No. 212 of 2008 only to the extent of imposition of costs.[1] In our opinion, there is no merit in this petition and it deserves to be dismissed. 4. The Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences, Ranchi, (for short the RIMS ) issued a notice inviting tender on 10th F ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Sciemed was a question of fact. That apart, BOC had also raised several other questions of fact. The High Court was of the opinion that since the factual controversies could not be adjudicated upon in its writ jurisdiction, there was no reason to entertain the writ petition and it was, accordingly, dismissed. 12. Feeling aggrieved, BOC preferred L.P.A. No. 319 of 2007 which was heard and dismissed by a Division Bench of the High Court on 10th October, 2007 thereby upholding the view taken by the learned Single Judge that the second writ petition filed by BOC raised disputed questions of fact. 13. Feeling dissatisfied with the order passed by the Division Bench, BOC preferred a petition for Special Leave to Appeal to this Court in which leave was granted on 14th March, 2008. This Court disposed of the appeal being Civil Appeal No.2028 of 2008 on that day itself holding that there is hardly any disputed question of fact. On the contrary, the facts of the case were evident from the documents already on record and oral evidence was required to be led. Accordingly, this Court was of the view that the matter ought to be heard on merits by the High Court and an appropriate directio ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... It was also noted that cancellation of the award of contract at his stage would entail a heavy administrative and financial burden on the Government and lead to increase and double expenditure to the tune of crores of rupees. 18. However, the High Court, on the submission of learned counsel for BOC decided to verify whether the installation and supply of the complete system as per the notice of tender was near completion as stated by Sciemed in its affidavit filed in this Court. For this purpose, the High Court appointed a respected advocate of that Court as a one-man committee to visit the work site and submit a report with regard to the extent of work completed or at the stage of completion. 19. The learned advocate so appointed by the High Court submitted his Report on 3rd July, 2008. It was stated in the Report, which was accepted by the High Court, that the originating point/inlet of the main Liquid Oxygen Gas Tank of the required specification had not yet been installed. It was also found that a separate 3-Phase Electric Supply System for commissioning the project had not yet been installed. In view of these two major deficiencies, the commissioning of the complete sys ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... y given by the learned advocate appointed to make an assessment, also clearly indicated that a considerable amount of work had still to be performed by Sciemed. The Report was not ex parte but was carefully prepared after an inspection of the site and discussing the matter with Shailendra Prasad Singh the proprietor of Sciemed and an engineer of Sciemed as well as officers from the RIMS. 26. The conclusion drawn by the learned advocate after a thorough inspection and discussion of the issues is as follows:- From a detailed inspection of the entire Liquid Oxygen Gas System as required to be installed under the tender conditions land the work Order, I was able to gather that at the originating point/inlet the main Liquid Oxygen Gas Tank of the required specification has not yet been installed. I also found that a separate 3-Phase Electric Supply System for commissioning of the project has not yet been installed and is reportedly in the process. I was informed by the hospital authorities that the 3- Phase electricity connection is to be supplied by the hospital authorities and are not required under the tender conditions or work order to be done on the part of the Contractor i. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... have been different and the issue might not have even travelled up to this Court. Furthermore, apparently to ensure that work order goes through, a false or misleading statement was made before this Court on affidavit when the matter was taken up on 14th March, 2008 to the effect that the work was nearing completion. It is not possible to accept the view canvassed by learned counsel that the false or misleading statement had no impact on the decision rendered by this Court on 14th March, 2008. We cannot hypothesize on what transpired in the proceedings before this Court nor can we imagine what could or could not have weighed with this Court when it rendered its decision on 14th March, 2008. The fact of the matter is that a false or misleading statement was made before this Court and that by itself is enough to invite an adverse reaction. 30. In the case of Suo Moto Proceedings Against R. Karuppan, Advocate[(2001) 5 SCC 289] this Court had observed that the sanctity of affidavits filed by parties has to be preserved and protected and at the same time the filing of irresponsible statements without any regard to accuracy has to be discouraged. It was observed by this Court as follo ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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