‘Can’t use court to settle private scores’: Telangana HC rejects ex-SCCL employee’s plea, fines him for wasting court’s time

The petitioner had sought termination of services of Balram from the post, since his selection and appointment and consequent extension is allegedly against Selection Rules.

Justice Rao also condemned the petitioner for a blatant “abuse of process” and imposed costs of Rs 20,000 on him to be paid to the Telangana State Legal Services Authority. The same petitioner, according to the court, had previously been imposed a cost of Rs 50,000, which he only paid after a specific direction from the court in this very case.

The officer, in January 2024, assumed full additional charge as chairman and managing director (CMD) of SCCL and the centre extended his deputation for the seventh year in 2025.

Among various other contentions, the respondent’s counsel stated that the petitioner was a “disgruntled expelled employee of SCCL” and “bearing grudge for his termination, the petitioner has been witch-hunting SCCL by making false allegations”. The counsel informed the court that the petitioner has filed 18 writ petitions against SCCL, some of which have been dismissed already, and took objection to the maintainability of the petition.

In his ruling, Justice Rao said the petitioner has no right to challenge the appointment of the respondent and the petition was not maintainable. The judgment noted that the registry had previously rejected cases filed by the petitioner due to objections, but instead of rectifying the issues, the petitioner would simply file new cases. “There is no seriousness in these cases. He is simply filing the cases for passing the time,” the court said.

The court noted that the petitioner approached the court not on bona fide grounds, but out of personal animosity and with the sole intent to harass the management by filing repetitive writ petitions. The judgment asserted that “the petitioner cannot use this court for settling his private scores with the respondents, and waste the precious time of this court.”

“The petitioner approached this court with unclean hands and did not convince this court with regard to maintainability of the writ petition; as such, the writ petition is liable to be dismissed on this score only,” the judge remarked, reinforcing the decision to dismiss the plea.

The court concluded that the case warranted dismissal with “exemplary costs,” but opted for a lesser amount given the circumstances.

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