Tata Motors and Tata Motor Finance have filed 10,972 cases in court no 30 here; sources allege they use summons for out-of-court settlements
Tata Motors and Tata Motor Finance have filed 10,972 cases in court no 30 here; sources allege they use summons for out-of-court settlements
Even as the phenomenal list of 'pending' cases in Indian courts seems impossible to catch up with, the burden that a particular courtroom at Kurla Court in the city is bearing credits special mention. Close to 11,000 cases filed in courtroom 30 of this court last year come from a single party. According to the reply to an RTI query filed by MiD DAY, two prominent firms of the Tata conglomerateu00a0-- Tata Motors and Tata Motors Finance Limitedu00a0-- alone have filed 10,972 cases over the year gone by. 
In the reply received last month, the Kurla Court provided the information that on an average, over two cases are being filed per day in the court. An advocate from the Bombay High Court, on condition of anonymity, said, "The courts have becoming a dumping ground to settle matters that companies cannot deal with, adding to the spiraling number of court cases in the state." With 4 million cases pending in various courts across the state, the piling files rule out clearing the arrears any time soon, she added.u00a0u00a0
'Arm-twisting tactics'
MiD DAY probes revealed that the two firms allegedly use the weight of the court summons to forcibly settle matters outside with customers whose cheques have bounced. Incidentally, almost all of the 11,000 cases pertain to Section 138 of IPC that deals with bounced cheques.
"After the company files the case, the court issues summons to the party concerned. But that is that. No appearances are made because the company resorts to out-of-court settlement. It shows the summons to the accused, arm-twisting and scaring them into settling the matter," said a customer of Tata Motors, on condition of anonymity.
Sources said the court has issued a number of summons, but hardly any of those summoned have actually appeared before the judges. The few that did also eventually negotiated with the firms out of the courtroom. The RTI reply mentions that TM and TMF had withdrawn more than 5,000 of these cases last year for reasons that are not yet known.
Commenting on the inordinately high number of cases tying up a single court, an advocate from the Bombay High Court said, "The courts would take 320 years to clear its backlog of 32 million cases pending in various courts in the country. It is surprising to hear that TM and TMF are using courts to settle matters."
Court number 30 in the Kurla Court hears cases related to TM and TMF not just from the city, but from across the country. The RTI reply revealed that the firms filed two cases in courtroom number 30 from out of Maharashtra. Sources said that the actual figure was much higher than two. Also, they revealed, the legal representatives of the two firms do not come to the court. The company has given the authority to another party for looking after its cases and make appearances on its behalf.
The Other Side
On April 6, MiD DAY got in touch with Rahul Sundaram, the legal head of Tata Motors and Tata Motors Finance Ltd, to ask what the company has to say about the high number of cases. He refused to comment, stating that his corporate department would reply, but it did not. The next day, this reporter asked for the same in an e-mail. But he received a phone call from a man who introduced himself as Advocate Subhash Rathod, who spoke roughly and threatened the reporter with his contacts. On April 14, MiD DAY sent reminders to all the above but no official from any of the two firms responded.
5,000 Number of cases that were withdrawn from the Kurla Court last year
3,11,39,022u00a0 Currently, the number of cases are pending in Indian courts
ADVERTISEMENT
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
