SC permits petitioner to withdraw 17 PILs

A lawyer, who was reprimanded last month for “frivolous and baseless” public interest litigations, on Thursday sought the Supreme Court’s nod to withdraw 17 of the 47 separate PILs he had filed and said he would first approach concerned authorities.

A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Panchol permitted advocate Sachin Gupta to withdraw the pleas.

Appearing as a petitioner in person, Gupta said he was withdrawing the PILs as soon as the 17 pleas came up for hearing before the bench. 

“I am withdrawing the petitions. I will approach the authorities,” he said.

On April 10, when 25 separate PILs came up for hearing, the apex court told Gupta that he should approach the authorities instead of rushing to the court. The court would entertain his petitions at an appropriate stage if the need arose, the bench said.

The top court allowed him to withdraw the 25 PILs which were listed for hearing.

Before that, on March 9, the apex court trashed five “frivolous” PILs, including one seeking a scientific study on whether onion and garlic contain “tamasic” (negative) energy, and asked if he drafted them in the middle of the night.

“Aadhi raat ko yeh sab petition draft karte ho kya? (Do you draft all these petitions in the middle of the night?)” the CJI reprimanded him, terming the PILs “vague, frivolous and baseless”.

The bench also dismissed four other PILs filed by Gupta, including the one which sought directions to regulate allegedly harmful content in alcohol and tobacco products.