Pune: Bombay High Court Criticizes Credit Suisse for Blank Verification in Legal Proceedings
Pune, 31st December 2023: In the course of hearing an interim application submitted by Credit Suisse Services (India) Pvt. Ltd., a special bench comprising Justices K. R. Shriram and Rajesh S Patil strongly criticized the absence of information in the verification clause. The bench concluded that the blank verification clause suggests that the affiant who signed the interim application did not take the effort to read its contents.
The background of the case involves Credit Suisse filing a suit against its former employee, Nishith Singh, for a data breach. In response, Singh filed a Criminal Writ for data breach and illegal termination against Credit Suisse before the Bombay High Court. Singh alleges that during the pendency of the Writ Petition, Credit Suisse filed the current Suit. An ex-parte order was initially passed against Singh, instructing him to produce certain electronic devices to the court receiver. FTI was appointed to investigate, and the devices were later returned to Singh. Credit Suisse filed again for the submission of the same devices and the deletion of any data related to Credit Suisse. Singh challenged this order, and with mutual consent, it was decided that the devices would be returned to Singh after the deletion of relevant data. Singh submitted all eighteen devices to the court receiver, four of which became corrupt or non-functional. Credit Suisse filed the present interim application for the analysis of the corrupted devices, leading to the current proceedings.
During the hearing, the court noted that the verification clause states “what is stated in paragraph ___ to ___ is true to my own knowledge,” indicating that the affiant did not bother to read the interim application.
In response, Credit Suisse’s counsel J Sagar Associates committed to having the affiant complete the missing information and initial any corrections. The corrected version will be made available to the respondent. The case is scheduled for further hearing on 2nd February 2024.
