The Madras High Court Bench here has imposed a cost of Rs. 10,000 on a litigant for producing a fake medical certificate to establish that he was sick for seven months and therefore could not deposit the employer’s contribution towards provident fund.
Dismissing the writ petition filed by Sri Ayyanar Transport, represented by its proprietor S. Kannan of Thanjavur district, against recovery proceedings initiated by Assistant Provident Fund Commissioner, Justice S. Vaidyanathan directed him to pay the cost to the Chief Justice Relief Fund within four weeks and ordered that the money be used for people affected in Nepal earthquake.
The judge pointed out that a medical certificate, produced by the petitioner to support his claim and reportedly issued by a doctor based in Thanjavur, stated that he was treated for jaundice and advised complete rest from December 1, 2013 to July 9, 2014.
Glaring error
However, the last sentence of the medical certificate stated that the petitioner would be fit to resume duty on July 10, 2015.
“Therefore, this court is of the view that the petitioner has approached the doctor for the purpose of only obtaining a medical certificate and the doctor in a spur of a moment has mentioned the present year. Hence, the same cannot be considered to be a genuine one,” the judge said.
He observed that filing false affidavits before courts of law would amount to criminal contempt and recalled the Supreme Court observation that “filing of false affidavits in judicial proceedings in any court of law exposes the intention of the party concerned in perverting the course of justice.”