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Shyam Sahni v. Arjun Prakash & Ors.

Civil Appeal · 2020 INSC 319Decided 19 Mar 2020
Civil Appeal No. 2210 of 2020
Justice R. Banumathi · Justice A.S. Bopanna

Background

Shyam Sahni sued his nephew Arjun Prakash and others over ownership and possession of floors of a family residential property in Friends Colony, Delhi, after documents purportedly transferred parts of the property away from his side of the family. While the suit was pending, Arjun Prakash and his late father repeatedly gave the court written undertakings to clear a bank charge created on the property but failed to honour them. The trial judge eventually directed Arjun Prakash to deposit his passport and not leave the country, to ensure his presence and compliance; the Delhi High Court's Division Bench set that direction aside and ordered the passport returned.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the trial judge had only directed surrender of the passport (not "impounded" it) purely to secure Arjun Prakash's presence after he broke multiple undertakings to the court, including filing an affidavit falsely claiming he still lived in Delhi when he had actually moved to Singapore. Relying on precedent allowing courts to restrict a contemnor's travel to secure compliance, the Court found the Division Bench wrongly treated this as an unjustified restraint on personal liberty. It restored the trial judge's order, allowed the appeal, and directed the long-pending 2008 civil suit to be completed within nine months.

Lesson Learnt

A court can direct a litigant who has repeatedly broken written undertakings to deposit their passport to ensure their presence and compliance: this is different from a punitive "impounding" of a passport and is a legitimate tool to make sure a person stays available to face the consequences of an ongoing case.

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

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