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M/s Sciemed Overseas Inc. v. BOC India Limited & Ors.

Special Leave Petition (Civil) · Neutral citation not assigned (Special Leave Petition (Civil) No. 29125 of 2008)Decided 11 Jan 2016
Special Leave Petition (Civil) No. 29125 of 2008
Justice Madan B. Lokur · Justice R.K. Agrawal

Background

A government hospital in Ranchi, the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), invited tenders for installing a centralised medical oxygen and gas pipeline system. The petitioner (Sciemed) and the respondent (BOC India) both responded, and after BOC's challenge to the award process, the High Court of Jharkhand found that the contract had been improperly awarded to Sciemed and additionally held that Sciemed had filed a false or misleading affidavit before the High Court, imposing costs of Rs. 10 lakh on it.

Decision Breakdown

The sole question before the Supreme Court was whether the imposition of Rs. 10 lakh in costs was justified. The Court noted a rising and troubling trend of litigants filing false affidavits in Indian courts and emphasised that the purity of judicial proceedings depends on the sanctity of affidavits. Since the underlying findings, that the contract was awarded improperly and was commercial in nature, were not under challenge, and the false affidavit finding stood unrebutted, the Court held the costs were "somewhat steep" but fully justified. The petition was dismissed, with six weeks allowed for the costs to be deposited with the Jharkhand Legal Services Authority for onward transmission to BOC.

Lesson Learnt

Courts in India are increasingly willing to impose substantial monetary costs on litigants who file false or misleading affidavits, treating it as a serious attack on the integrity of judicial proceedings rather than a minor technical lapse.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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