On Monday, the Calcutta High Court imposed a stern fine of ₹20,000 on a Defendant who requested adjournment citing the 'risk of travel during the COVID-19 pandemic.'
The Court blamed the defendant for 'unnecessarily delay' in a 2016 Commercial Suit (Pioneer Property Management Limited v. Amazon Sellers Private Limited and anr) and stated:
The AOR told the Court that his witness wasn't in a position to come to Court to continue with the Cross-Examination which begun last year in February due to pertaining Covid pandemic.
The witness had expressed unwillingness to take the risk of travel and thus urged that the matter be adjourned to be heard in February 2021.
On this, Justice Moushumi Bhattacharya noted that when the matter was taken up on the last hearing date i.e. Dec 7, 2020 and when it fixed the next hearing for January 11, 2021, no such ground of inconvenience was laid before the Court.
He further remarked,
"It is also not clear as to how the additional two weeks would encourage the witness to travel to the Court for the cross-examination."
Granting a final adjournment to the case till February 02, 2021, the Court made it clear that no further adjournment will be given in the matter. While also imposing a fine on the Defendant, the Court stated:
"The defendant no.2 is directed to pay costs at Rs.20,000/- to be paid to Bharat Sevasram Sangha, Kolkata for unnecessarily delaying the trial in a Commercial Suit."
The order has been passed by a single-Judge bench of Justice Moushumi Bhattacharya on 11-01-2021.
Read Order Here:
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