Man fined Rs 5 lakh by Supreme Court for challenging High Court Chief Justice’s ‘defective oath’.

Supreme Court said time has come when exemplary costs should be imposed on frivolous PILs.

New Delhi:

Supreme Court Fines Man for Frivolous PIL

The Supreme Court has imposed a fine of Rs 5 lakh on a man for claiming in a PIL that the oath taken by the Bombay High Court chief justice was “defective,” and said it was a frivolous attempt to gain publicity.

Frivolous Attempt to Gain Publicity

A bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud said the oath having been administered by the Governor and having been subscribed to after the administration of the oath, such objections cannot be raised.

The top court said this was only a frivolous attempt to use the PIL jurisdiction to propagate some publicity for the petitioner.

Exemplary Costs for Frivolous PILs

The Supreme Court stated that such frivolous PILs occupy the time and attention of the Court, diverting it from more serious matters and consuming judicial resources.

The court emphasized that the time has come when exemplary costs should be imposed on frivolous PILs.

Court’s Decision and Penalty

The petition was dismissed with a penalty of Rs 5,00,000, which the petitioner is required to deposit in the Registry of the Court within four weeks.

If the cost is not deposited within the given period, it will be collected as arrears of land revenue through the Collector and District Magistrate at Lucknow.

The Background of the PIL

The PIL was filed by Ashok Pandey, who claimed that he was aggrieved by what he described as a ‘defective oath’ administered to the Chief Justice of the High Court of Judicature at Bombay.

The petitioner alleged that the Chief Justice did not use the expression “I” before his name while taking the oath, in contravention of the Third Schedule of the Constitution. He also contended that the representatives and administrators of the Government of the Union Territory of Daman and Diu and Dadar and Nagar Haveli were not invited to the oath ceremony.

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