Forum Shopping

Context:

The Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud recently said to a litigant appearing before him he would not permit forum shopping.

What is the practice of forum shopping?

When litigants or lawyers attempt to deliberately move their case to a particular judge or Court where they think the judgment could be more favorable, they are said to be “forum shopping.”
Webster’s dictionary defines forum shopping as the “practice of choosing the court in which to bring an action from among those courts that could properly exercise jurisdiction based on a determination of which court is likely to provide the most favorable outcome.”
Lawyers think about which is the right forum to approach as part of their litigation strategy.
- For example, one could directly approach the Supreme Court via a public interest litigation case instead of the concerned High Court because the issue could get more eyeballs.

Forum non-conveniens principle:

Many countries use the forum non-conveniens principle to prevent forum shopping, which gives the court discretionary powers to refuse to exercise its jurisdiction over a matter where another court, or forum, may more conveniently hear a case.
Using this power, the court can dismiss a case in the interests of justice and the parties while allocating it to the appropriate bench.

Supreme Court’s view on this practice

Vijay Kumar Ghai vs. State of W.B: The Supreme Court termed forum shopping as a disreputable practice by the courts that has no sanction and paramountcy in law.
Union of India & Ors. vs. Cipla Ltd. Case 201: The Supreme Court laid down a functional test to be adopted for forum shopping.

1. The Court should see whether there is any functional similarity in the proceedings between one court and another or whether there is some sort of subterfuge on the part of a litigant.
2. This functional test will determine whether a litigant is indulging in forum shopping or not.

Additional Information