904-NMS-1220-15-F4.DOC
necessary because the NSE is what it says it is, but if it is truly an
organization or an institution that acts in the public interest then
this must be demonstrated. The suit and the NSE’s conduct seem
to me attempts at deflection and evasion. I also believe this entire
action to be a gross abuse of the process of this Court. The NSE
seems to have taken it more or less for granted that our Courts are
too easily cowed by self-congratulatory assertions and overblown
claims of rectitude to even consider refusing their claim. This is an
approach that must be deprecated, and there is only one way to do
that when dealing with an institution like the NSE. I intend to
award costs in two parts. I am aware that as a matter of law, the
second of these is one that is normally not done and is perhaps even
frowned on. There are, however, in my view exceptional
circumstances in which an action that is entirely and deliberately
mala fide in its intent ought to receive an award of costs, if nothing
else then at least as a matter of conveying to such a Plaintiff that
Courts do not view these matters lightly. To any protest that an
award of costs is unjustified because these costs represent ‘public
funds’, the answer is simply that so do the considerable legal costs
and court fees incurred by the NSE. Our Courts are not to be
treated as playgrounds for imagined and imaginary slights for those
who command considerable resources.
29.
There will be an order of costs in the amount of Rs. 1.5 lakhs
each in favour of Ms. Dalal and Ms. Basu separately. In addition,
the Plaintiff will pay an amount of Rs. 47 lakhs in punitive and
exemplary costs payable not to the Defendants but to public causes,
viz., in equal parts to the Tata Memorial Hospital and the Masina
Hospital, it being made clear that these amounts are to be used only
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