Supreme Court bins five ‘frivolous’ PILs filed by lawyer
The Supreme Court on Monday trashed five “frivolous” Public Interest Litigations filed by a single lawyer, including one seeking a scientific study on whether onions 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?).” Chief Justice Surya Kant reprimanded Advocate Sachin Gupta, terming the PILs “vague, frivolous and baseless”. The bench, also comprising Justice Joymalya Bagchi, pulled up the lawyer for filing a series of PILs.
One of the petitions sought directions to constitute a committee to research what constitutes “tamasic” or negative content in onion and garlic.
The petition referred to dietary practices of the Jain community, which traditionally avoids onion, garlic and root vegetables, considering them “tamasic” food.
“Why do you want to hurt the sentiments of the Jain community?” the CJI asked Gupta, who appeared in person. The petitioner replied, saying that it is a common issue and claimed that a divorce allegedly took place in Gujarat over the use of onions in food.
Expressing strong displeasure, the CJI said, “Next time you come up with this kind of frivolous petition, you will see what we will do.”
The bench also dismissed four other PILs filed by Gupta: one sought directions to regulate allegedly harmful content in alcohol and tobacco products, another sought directions to ensure mandatory registration of properties, while yet another sought guidelines on the declaration of classical languages.
The bench said the prayers in the petitions were vague and lacked a proper legal foundation.
“This petition is another example of non-application of the mind. The prayers are vague and baseless,” the bench said, adding that the filings reflected poor drafting.
The CJI said he would have imposed exemplary costs on the petitioner had he not been a lawyer.
