The Supreme Court on Friday ordered a PIL petitioner to deposit ₹5 lakh as costs for his “frivolous” plea that said the Bombay High Court Chief Justice did not say ‘I’ while taking his oath of office.
A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud said the petitioner, advocate Ashok Pandey, has no doubt that the person who took the oath was indeed Justice D.K. Upadhyaya, the current Chief Justice of Bombay High Court. Again, there is no quarrel about the fact that it was the Maharashtra Governor who administered the oath to Justice Upadhyaya, the Bench added.
“This is only a frivolous attempt to use the PIL jurisdiction to propagate some publicity for the petitioner… We accordingly dismiss the petition with costs of ₹5,00,000,” Chief Justice Chandrachud ordered.
