Scope of review petition is not to re-argue the matter on merits, Delhi HC

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday censured a set of ‘dishonest’ litigants for abusing the process of review and imposed costs of Rs. 50,000 on them, which would be used for the welfare of army personnel..The said litigants had filed a review petition against the judgment by a Division Bench of the High Court. The Division Bench had dismissed their appeal against the order of the trial court..The subject matter of the suit was a piece of land in a village ‘Bijwasan’ which was held to be urbanized by the trial court. The same was later reiterated by the High Court..However, the appellants were persistently arguing that it should not be held to have been urbanized..The Single Judge Bench of Justice Valmiki J Mehta lamented at the misuse of the process of review and observed that the appellants were out and out dishonest persons,.“Appellants are completely dishonest people because under the subject Agreement to Sell they received the entire consideration of the property and also handed over possession of the property subject matter of the Agreement to Sell to the respondents/ defendants. This is the finding of the trial court and which has been upheld by this Court. Obviously, the appellants are trying to be clever by half.” .The Bench further stated that some litigants and advocates (inasmuch as the advocate who has argued both the review petition and the main appeal), are never satisfied..The Court also observed that the scope of the review petition is not to re-argue the matter on merits which has been decided by a detailed judgment..The Court dismissed the review petition as being an abuse of the process of law and imposed costs of Rs. 50,000 to be deposited with www.bharatkeveer.com within 6 weeks..Read Judgment: