Chief Executive Officer, Gujarat Maritime Board Vs Asiatic Steel Industries and others
Court- Supreme Court of India
Date-24/11/2020

Sub: lackadaisical attitude of the Government authorities in functioning-Grant of interest on refund claimed by the respondent Asiatic steel due to not being able to execute the ship breaking work due to fault of the Board.

The Apex court in the above case was dealing with a matter regarding grant of interest on the refund of the deposit which was allowed to the Asiatic steel on account of delay in refund of the amount paid by it for securing contract for a piece of land for ship breaking activity. The Apex court came down upon heavily on the Gujarat Maritime Board for having not granted the refund on its own and Asiatic steel had to approach the court. The Supreme Court also noted the provisions of Section 80 of the CPC,1908 which were enacted in order to reduce the litigation which provides for mandatory notice to the Government, though the said section has outlived its utility as noted by the Court. The court noted that the number of litigations in our country is on the rise, for small and trivial matters, people and sometimes the Central and the State Governments and their instrumentalities like banks, nationalised or private, come to courts may be due to ego clash or to save the officers’ skin.
Ultimately the appeal of the Board was dismissed.

This judgement will be helpful in all branches of law where for trivial matters, government department are in appeal before higher authorities

Ramesh Patodia
24-11-2020