Pending for 41 Years, Supreme Court Asks Patna HC to Conclude Muzaffarpur Club Litigation Within Six Months

The SC directed the Patna High Court to strive to conclude the Second Appeal within a period of six months. (File)

The Supreme Court recently directed the High Court of Patna to conclude the long-standing Muzaffarpur Club litigation within a period of six months. The legal saga between the families of the late Birendra Kumar Singh and Usha Sinha and the Muzaffarpur Club Association has been pending for the past 41 years.

A division bench of the Apex Court headed by Justice Bela Trivedi and Justice Pankaj Mithal passed the orders over a Special Leave Petition (SLP) by the family of Usha Sinha, former Union Minister, and her sons for the modification of the Patna High Court order dated February 26, 2024.

In its orders passed in February this year, the Patna High Court stayed the execution proceedings pending before the lower court and had further fixed a monthly compensation amount of Rs 1 lakh to be borne by the Muzaffarpur Club Association.

Although the bench refused to intervene with the interim orders passed by the Patna High Court with respect to the quantum of monthly security, taking into account the old age of Ms Sinha, it directed the Patna High Court to strive to conclude the Second Appeal within a period of six months.

The family was represented by senior advocate Niranjan Reddy and advocate Abhimanyu Bhandari, Abhishek Singh and Abhishek Chaudhary.