CJI Chandrachud condemns ‘forum shopping’: What is this practice?

Subject: Polity

Section: Judiciary

Context:

I will not permit forum shopping”, said Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud last week to a litigant appearing before him

What is 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 favourable, they are said to be “forum shopping.”
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.
Similarly, “Bench hunting” refers to petitioners managing to get their cases heard by a particular judge or court to ensure a favourable order, the court added
most common law 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

What’s Supreme Court ruling regarding this?

The Supreme Court in its 1988 ruling in ‘Chetak Construction Ltd. vs. Om Prakash’ said, “A litigant cannot be permitted choice of the forum,” and that every attempt at forum shopping “must be crushed with a heavy hand
Last year, on March 22, an SC Bench of Justice S. Abdul Nazeer and Justice Krishna Murari in the case of ‘Vijay Kumar Ghai vs. State of W.B.’ termed forum shopping as a “disreputable practise by the courts” that “has no sanction and paramountcy in law”.
In the 2022 ruling, the court reiterated that forum shopping has been condemned by courts while referring to its 2017 ruling in ‘Union of India & Ors. vs. Cipla Ltd.’, which laid down a “functional test” to be adopted for forum shopping.
What has to be seen is 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.
It is this functional test that will determine whether a litigant is indulging in forum shopping or not