Factual Introduction 

In the matter of IS Infrastructure and Buildcon Pvt Ltd vs Government of Maharashtra and Anr A professional builder and contractor filed a petition under Article 32 of the Indian Constitution asking the Bombay High Court for a mandate to resolve the appeal that is pending there for the year 2019 according to a set timeline.

Observation of the Court 

A builder was fined 150,000 by the Supreme Court for filing a petition under Article 32 of the Indian Constitution asking the Bombay High Court to issue a writ of mandamus directing it to decide a 2019 appeal within a specified time frame. The divisional bench of Justices Abhay S. Oka and Rajesh Bindal noted that fifteen to twenty year old appeals were pending before the High Court where the builder’s appeal was also pending.

The petitioner’s attempt to bypass the queue was condemned by the supreme court, which ruled that a party that can pay to file a case with the Supreme Court cannot be given preference over other parties. It further stated that this amounted to nothing more than a violation of the law. We deprecate the attempt made by the petitioner to jump the queue by approaching this Court in this manner. A plaintiff who can afford to approach this Court in this manner cannot receive priority over other older matters. Such petitions are being filed in violation of Article 32 of the Indian Constitution, which is nothing more than a misuse of the legal system.

Counsel for the petitioner requested permission to withdraw the plea after debating the petition.The petitioner must pay the Maharashtra Legal Services Authority 1,50,000 in costs within six weeks even though the court allowed withdrawal.