Whether suppression of material facts by Advocate amounts to his unbecoming conduct?

When the matter was listed before us today, we
repeatedly asked Shri Nedumpara, why he did not disclose to
us the order dated 22nd October, 2018 when the matter was
mentioned before us on 14th November, 2018. To this, there
was no answer. We then warned Shri Nedumpara that as a
counsel appearing before the Court, his primary duty is to
disclose all material facts to the Court before obtaining any
order from the Court. We have warned him that such
unbecoming conduct of an advocate who appears before this
Court, will be sternly dealt with should any future incident of a
like nature arise before this Court. We were inclined to impose
heavy costs but have not done so only because the appellant,
for whom Shri Nedumpara appears, already appears to be in
dire straits financially.

REPORTABLE
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
SPECIAL LEAVE PETITION (CIVIL) NO. 26424 OF 2018

SHASHIKANT GANPAT JOGAL RABIN MAJUMDER 
Vs
THE STATE OF MAHARASHTRA 
Dated:November 19, 2018.

1. I.A. Nos. 163019 of 2018,163020 of 2018 and 164145 of
2018 in S.L.P. (C) No. 26424 of 2018 are dismissed. Shri
Mathews Nedumpara, Advocate for the Petitioner, appeared
before us on 22nd October, 2018. He stated that Rs.80 lakhs
would be paid within a period of four weeks from 22nd October,
2018. The Court granted him a period of one week from 22nd
October, 2018 to make the necessary payment. The order
clearly stated:
“If the aforesaid payment is not made within one
week, the special leave petition shall be dismissed
without further reference to this Court.”
2. No such payment was made within the period of one
week and hence, the special leave petition stood dismissed
without further reference to this Court. However, on 14th
November, 2018, Shri Nedumpara, appearing with an AOR,
mentioned the same matter before us without informing us that
the S.L.P. had already stood dismissed without reference to
this Court. By suppressing the order dated 22nd October, 2018,
2
Shri Nedumpara obtained an order from this very Bench on
14th November, 2018 stating:
“List on Monday, the 19th November, 2018 along with
IA No. 163019/2018 - Application for Modification of
Order and IA No. 163020/2018 - Application for
Direction.”
3. When the matter was listed before us today, we
repeatedly asked Shri Nedumpara, why he did not disclose to
us the order dated 22nd October, 2018 when the matter was
mentioned before us on 14th November, 2018. To this, there
was no answer. We then warned Shri Nedumpara that as a
counsel appearing before the Court, his primary duty is to
disclose all material facts to the Court before obtaining any
order from the Court. We have warned him that such
unbecoming conduct of an advocate who appears before this
Court, will be sternly dealt with should any future incident of a
like nature arise before this Court. We were inclined to impose
heavy costs but have not done so only because the appellant,
for whom Shri Nedumpara appears, already appears to be in
dire straits financially.
…………………………J.
(R.F. Nariman)
…………………………J.
(Navin Sinha)
New Delhi;
November 19, 2018

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