The apex court also barred the director Rajiv Dahiya from "urging a cause in public interest" in any court in the country
An NGO, Suraz India Trust, faced the Supreme Court's wrath on Monday, for "wasting precious judicial time". The bench led by the Chief Justice of India imposed a cost of Rs 25 lakh on the NGO for filing frivolous petitions.
The apex court also barred the director Rajiv Dahiya from "urging a cause in public interest" in any court in the country.
"64 litigations you have filed…all have been dismissed? How can you do this?," the Chief Justice said reprimanding Dahiya who appeared in person. In a compilation made by the registrar of the SC, it was found that Dahiya had filed almost 64 Public Interest Litigations (PILs) in the SC and various high courts across the country.
Dahiya, however, did not appreciate the registry's attempt at compiling the list of petitions and had even written them a letter asking that on whose direction the compilation was being made.
Dahiya's approach did not go down well with the bench which also comprised of Justices DY Chandrachud and Sanjay Kishan Kaul. Calling the move disturbing, the CJI said that he had directed the registry to make the compilation. "Now you are writing letters to the registry and threatening them," the CJI added.
The matter went on for a marathon three hours including an hour just to dictate a detailed order against Dahiya. The bench pursued all the cases filed by Suraz Trust where Dahiya had leveled accusations against judges in the name of public cause. However, none of the 64 cases proved their mettle on merit.
In recent times, the apex court has been fairly intolerant of anybody who comes across as wasting the court's time. Costs have been imposed on petitioners and lawyers moving the SC for "frivilous causes," or not duly complying with orders on time.
- On March 02, the SC fined a Mumbai man to the tune of Rs. 5 lakh for dragging a case against his landlord for 33 years despite losing at various forums.The SC order read that fines must be imposed to prevent petitioner from "filing frivilous cases" and "to ensure that access to courts is available to citizens with genuine grievances."
- On February11, the Supreme Court imposed a cost of Rs10 lakh on Bihar MLA Ravinder Singh for resorting to frivolous litigation over the veracity of a newspaper article that had appeared more than 22 years ago.
- On February 6, the Supreme Court fined the Union Rs 30,000 on the Centre for not filing its reply to a PIL alleging that minority benefits are being enjoyed by majority Muslims in Jammu and Kashmir.
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