A bench of Chief Justice Pradeep Nandrajog and Justice Bharati Dangre dismissed a petition filed by Sapan Srivastava after finding that the petitioner was ‘misusing the process of this court’ and imposed a fine of Rs 5 lakh to be paid in four weeks.
The petition had sought to stop the operation of the Council for Indian School Certificate Examination (CISCE) which runs the ICSE and ISC boards without HRD ministry’s approval as revealed in an RTI reply filed by him. He had also sought directions that a criminal case be filed against the Council for cheating and criminal conspiracy as it was awarding fake certificates to students passing out from its boards.
Counsel Raju Subramanyam representing the CISCE informed the court that they were recognised by various states in India and filed an affidavit stating the facts. He then told the court that the petitioner was inviting funds and seeking donations online claiming to champion the cause of education and has also annexed orders of the bench while seeking donations.
Subramanyam further told the court that Srivastava was sending threats to schools that he will take criminal action against them if they do not produce proof of their recognition and had even threatened the UGC with criminal action before filing the petition.
The court said that this is yet another case of a frivolous petition, that the petitioner is misusing process of the court and that strict action must be taken against him. It added that as education comes under the concurrent list, even if the HRD ministry has informed the petitioner that the CISCE is not approved, he should have verified from the state government whether it is approved by them.
On a crowd-funding website, Srivastava claims he is a media reporter fighting against corruption and has opened a page to seek online donations. The CISCE also showed the court threats and emails they had received from him.
The court registry was directed not to allow Srivastava to file any other petition unless he pays the Rs 5 lakh to the CISCE. When the CISCE said they did not wish to accept the money, the court said it can be used for educational purpose or given to a school.
It also directed the crowd-funding website to remove his page as he was misusing the process of court using it.
Just For Publicity? |
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| The petition by Sapan Srivastava had sought to stop the operation of the Council for Indian School Certificate Examination (CISCE) which runs the ICSE and ISC boards as according to an RTI reply he had received from the HRD ministry, the CISCE did not have the ministry’s approval |
| Counsel Raju Subramanyam representing the CISCE informed the court that they were recognised by various states in India and filed an affidavit stating the facts. He said the petitioner was inviting funds and seeking donations online claiming to be championing the cause of education |