CJI JS Khehar acts tough on frivolous PILs, appeals
NEW DELHI: The Chief Justice of India is acting tough on frivolous cases, throwing out public interest litigations and appeals that he finds are merely there to waste the time of the court, and imposing deterrent costs on such litigants.
On Friday, a bench headed by Justice JS Khehar ordered a sitting Bihar MLA to pay rS 10 lakh as cost after dismissing his appeal. The MLA had filed a defamation suit against a Hindi daily 21 years after a news about him was published. He approached the Supreme Court after losing the case in the Patna High Court. “Bring us a good issue, we will deal with it. But don’t waste our time,” the CJI told the MLA.
The counsel for the MLA expectedly requested the court to reduce the fee, but the CJI fobbed him off with a personal anecdote.
“When we were in the hostel, a student was fined Rs 25 for staying out late,” he said. The student protested, saying he belonged to a very influential family and shouldn’t be asked to pay such measly fines. “You tell us a figure, we will accept it. You are an MLA. So, one crore,” Justice Khehar asked the lawyer jocularly, refusing to budge.
The MLA has to deposit the amount in court within four weeks.
The top court has at least 60,000 cases pending before it, while the backlog is much larger for lower courts. The CJI’s attempts to crack down on frivolous petitions and appeals are seen as an effort to keep the numbers manageable and reduce delays in judgements. But this hasn’t gone down well with a section of the bar, with some lawyers saying that such actions infringe upon the fundamental rights of citizens.
“The court can very well dismiss frivolous petitions,” one lawyer said. “But to impose deterrent costs irrespective of the client’s ability to pay was unfair.” On Friday, minutes before the court dismissed the MLA’s appeal, the CJI took umbrage to a retired teacher from Maharashtra who had challenged a Gujarat notification on teachers in court.
“I am old. My brothers here (Justices NV Ramana and DY Chandrachud) are young. They may find it easy to read such long files. I am old. I find it very difficult to read so many long files. You are wasting our time. We are unhappy,” Justice Khehar said. “What is he doing in Delhi? He is a busybody,” the CJI quipped, and threw out the petition.
On Friday, a bench headed by Justice JS Khehar ordered a sitting Bihar MLA to pay rS 10 lakh as cost after dismissing his appeal. The MLA had filed a defamation suit against a Hindi daily 21 years after a news about him was published. He approached the Supreme Court after losing the case in the Patna High Court. “Bring us a good issue, we will deal with it. But don’t waste our time,” the CJI told the MLA.
The counsel for the MLA expectedly requested the court to reduce the fee, but the CJI fobbed him off with a personal anecdote.
“When we were in the hostel, a student was fined Rs 25 for staying out late,” he said. The student protested, saying he belonged to a very influential family and shouldn’t be asked to pay such measly fines. “You tell us a figure, we will accept it. You are an MLA. So, one crore,” Justice Khehar asked the lawyer jocularly, refusing to budge.
The MLA has to deposit the amount in court within four weeks.
The top court has at least 60,000 cases pending before it, while the backlog is much larger for lower courts. The CJI’s attempts to crack down on frivolous petitions and appeals are seen as an effort to keep the numbers manageable and reduce delays in judgements. But this hasn’t gone down well with a section of the bar, with some lawyers saying that such actions infringe upon the fundamental rights of citizens.
“The court can very well dismiss frivolous petitions,” one lawyer said. “But to impose deterrent costs irrespective of the client’s ability to pay was unfair.” On Friday, minutes before the court dismissed the MLA’s appeal, the CJI took umbrage to a retired teacher from Maharashtra who had challenged a Gujarat notification on teachers in court.
“I am old. My brothers here (Justices NV Ramana and DY Chandrachud) are young. They may find it easy to read such long files. I am old. I find it very difficult to read so many long files. You are wasting our time. We are unhappy,” Justice Khehar said. “What is he doing in Delhi? He is a busybody,” the CJI quipped, and threw out the petition.
