HC Fines Retired Teacher Rs 1 Lakh for Abusing Court Process

Hyderabad:The Telangana High Court has imposed costs of ₹1 lakh on a retired government school teacher for suppressing material facts and misusing the judicial process.

Justice E.V. Venugopal dismissed a writ petition filed by P. Srinivas, a retired school assistant, and directed him to pay the amount to the Government Girls' School for the Blind, Malakpet, within one month.

The petitioner, who had earlier served as headmaster of a Mandal Parishad Upper Primary School in Nirmal district, sought action against a fellow teacher alleging violations of service rules and dereliction of duty based on incidents said to have occurred in 2016.

Counsel for the petitioner argued that disciplinary proceedings should have been initiated. However, the government pleader informed the court that an inquiry had already been initiated and sought time to complete the process.

After examining the record, the court noted that the petitioner had raised the complaints only in 2022 and 2023, several years after his retirement in 2017, and had remained silent during his service.

The court also observed that cross-complaints existed between the petitioner and the respondent, which were not disclosed in the writ affidavit.

Holding that the petitioner had concealed material facts, the court said writ jurisdiction cannot be used to pursue personal disputes and that litigants must approach the court with full disclosure.

Concluding that the petition amounted to abuse of process and had led to unnecessary use of judicial time, the court dismissed the petition and imposed costs.