New Delhi: Supreme Court slaps Rs 5 lakh cost on petitioner

New Delhi : The Supreme Court has imposed a cost 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.

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. “The petitioner does not, as he possibly cannot, dispute that the oath of office was administered to the correct person. The oath having been administered by the Governor and having been subscribed to after the administration of the oath, such objections cannot be raised.

“We are clearly of the view that such frivolous PILs occupy the time and attention of the Court thereby deflecting the attention of the court from more serious matters and consuming the infrastructure of the judicial manpower and Registry of the Court,” the bench also comprising Justice JB Padriwala and Justice Manoj Misra said. It said the time has come when the court should impose exemplary costs in such frivolous PILs.