SC junks plea challenging imposition of Rs 5 lakh cost on PIL petitioner in 2023
The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a plea of a Lucknow-based lawyer who alleged that instead of Rs 25,000, as pronounced in the open court, a fine of Rs 5 lakh was imposed on him in October 2023 for filing a “frivolous” PIL.
A bench headed by the then Chief Justice DY Chandrachud (since retired), on October 13, 2023, had dismissed the PIL filed by lawyer Ashok Pandey is seeking a direction that Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya, who is the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court now, be sworn in again as the Bombay High Court Chief Justice, as the oath was not taken as prescribed under the Constitution.
According to Pandey, the bench had also imposed Rs 25,000 as a cost on him in the open court for filing the “frivolous” PIL. He claimed later that the order contained Rs 5 lakh as the fine, and now, the collector is proposing action against him for recovery of the amount.
“We will go by the order, and it contains Rs 5 lakh,” a bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Dipankar Datta and Joymalya Bagchi said while rejecting the fresh plea of Pandey seeking modification of the 2023 order and an inquiry into the issue. “These all are publicity petitions,” the CJI remarked.
The 2023 PIL had said that when Justice Upadhyaya was sworn in as the chief justice of the Bombay High Court on July 29, that year, he did not use the word ‘I’ before taking his name, which contravened the third schedule of the Constitution.
“There is a limit to frivolity...,” the bench, also comprising justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, had said.
“The prayers raised in the plea are seeking the administration of a fresh oath to Justice D K Upadhyay as Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court. It further states that the Governor and Chief Minister of Goa, Daman and Diu were not invited for the ceremony,” the bench had said.
