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P. James Karunakaran v. Assistant General Manager, State Bank of India, Zonal Office Madurai

Civil Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Civil Appeal No. 5812 of 2017)Decided 1 May 2017
Civil Appeal No. 5812 of 2017
Justice Kurian Joseph · Justice R. Banumathi

Background

The appellant's grievance was that although an award in his favour had been passed in 2005, the Bank delayed implementing the monetary benefits due under it for about six years, and no interest was paid on the delayed amount. The Bank argued that since the award itself contained no direction for interest, it could not be compelled to pay any.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court granted leave and, taking into account the peculiar facts (full implementation delayed by six years) and in the interest of ending the dispute, invoked its special "complete justice" power under Article 142 of the Constitution to direct the Bank to pay Rs. 2,00,000 to the appellant in full and final settlement of all claims, within two months. The Court expressly recorded that this was a one-off order under Article 142 and would not be treated as a binding precedent.

Lesson Learnt

The Supreme Court can craft a practical, one-time monetary solution to end a long-pending dispute even where the strict legal position (no express entitlement to interest) might not otherwise support it, but such Article 142 orders are explicitly not meant to set a precedent for other cases.

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

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