Subsequent to one of my earlier posts on how the Delhi High Court had continued to apply the over-ruled judgment in Time Incorporated v. Lokesh Srivastava, I received a comment informing me that the Delhi bar was well aware of the judgment and that it was cited regularly at the Delhi High Court. So I did some research and published on Live-Law a list of 25 judgments where the Delhi High Court had continued to cite Time Incorporated v. Lokesh Srivastava even after the judgment had been over-ruled by a Division Bench led by Justice Ravindra Bhat. I’ve updated that list below, to reflect the damages awarded along with the name of the judge who delivered the judgment. Of the 25 judgments which cited the overruled judgment, 22 judgments awarded punitive damages ranging from Rs. 50,000 to Rs. 1 Crore! The three remaining judgments noted the Time Incorporated case but declined to grant punitive damages. This list is not exhaustive – there could be more cases out there.
The fact that Single Judges are ignoring binding precedent to continue citing an over-ruled judgment is a troubling sign for the rule of law in a common law country like India where the principle of binding precedent is fundamental to judicial discipline.
- Glaxo Group Limited And Anr. vs Indkus Drugs & Pharma Pvt. Ltd & Ors(Justice S.P. Garg awards punitive damages of Rs. 1 lakhs) (2014)
- Rspl Health Pvt Ltd vs M/S M.D Chemicals (Justice Yogesh Khanna awards punitive damages of Rs. 2 lakhs) (2017)
- M/S Ht Media Ltd & Anr vs Navneet Chaturvedi & Anr (Justice Yogesh Khanna awards punitive damages of Rs. 5 lakhs) (2017)
- Jane Norman Limited vs Jane Norman Retail Pvt Ltd & Ors. (Justice G.S. Sistani awards punitive damages of Rs. 2 lakhs)(2014)
- Hindustan Pencils Pvt. Ltd. vs Anand Kumar Bajaj & Ors. (Justice S.P. Garg awards punitive damages of Rs. 3 lakhs) (2014)
- Pepsico, Inc & Anr. vs Psi Ganesh Marketing & Anr. (Justice G.S. Sistani awards punitive damages of Rs. 5 lakhs) (2014)
- Sap Aktiengesellschaft & Anr. vs M/S Appsone Consulting India (P) (Justice Manmohan Singh awards punitive damages of Rs. 3 lakhs) (2015)
- P. Jewellers vs Pp Gold Consultancy Pvt Ltd (Justice G.S. Sistani awards punitive damages of Rs. 2 lakhs) (2014)
- Cartier International Ag & Others vs Gaurav Bhatia & Ors (Justice Manmohan Singh awards damages of Rs. 1 crore) (2016)
- Jockey International Inc And Anr vs R Chandra Mohan And Ors (Justice G.S. Sistani awards punitive damages of Rs. 3 lakhs) (2014)
- GM Modular Pvt. Ltd. vs M/S Havells India Ltd (No punitive damages awarded) (2014)
- M/S Iacm Smart Learn Limited & Anr vs M/S Global Think Computer (Justice Najmi Wazri award punitive damages of Rs. 5 lakhs) (2015)
- Disney Enterprises Inc & Anr. vs Santosh Kumar & Anr. (Justice Sistani awards punitive damages of Rs. 5 lakhs) (2014)
- Virgin Enterprises Ltd. & Anr. vs Virgin Paradise Airlines (Justice S.P. Garg awards punitive damages of Rs. 1 lakh) (2014)
- Durian Industries Ltd. vs Pankaj Rao & Anr. (Justice G.S. Sistani awards punitive damages of Rs. 2 lakhs) (2014)
- World Wrestling Entertainment, … vs Savio Fernandes & Ors(Justice Manmohan Singh awards punitive damages of Rs. 5 lakhs) (2015)
- Honeywell International Inc. vs Pravin Thorat & Ors (Justice Manmohan Singh awards punitive damages of Rs. 3 lakhs)(2015)
- Disney Enterprises Inc. & Anr. vs Balraj Muttneja & Ors. (Justice Endlaw notes the Time Incorporated case but declines to award punitive damages) (2014)
- Super Cassettes Industries v. Sujla Channel (Justice R. K. Gauba awards punitive damages of Rs. 5 lakhs) (2017)
- Glaxosmithkline … vs Sarath Kumar Reddy G (Justice Bakhru notes the Time Incorporated case but declines to grant punitive damages)(2016)
- Burberry Limited & Anr. vs 99 Labels.Com & Ors. (Justice Manmohan awards punitive damages in terms requested by the plaintiff – the plaintiffs had requested damages of Rs. 20 lakhs)(2017)
- Hettich Marketing Und-Vertriebs … vs Anushka Gill & Ors. (Justice Manmohan had granted punitive damages of Rs. 50,000) (2017)
- Siemens Aktiengesellschaft & Anr vs Siemens Solutions (Justice Manmohan Singh had granted punitive damages of Rs. 3 lakhs) (2014)
- Pest Control (India) Pvt Ltd vs Pest Control Innovative Pvt Ltd. (Justice Indermeet Kaur had granted punitive damages of Rs. 15 lakhs) (2017)
- Sholay Media and Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. and Anr. v. Parag Sanghavi & Ors. (Justice Manmohan Singh granted punitive damages of Rs. 10 lakhs) (2015)
