SC Fines Man Rs. 5 Lakh for Contesting Chief Justice of Bombay High Court’s “Defective Oath”

The Bombay High Court chief justice’s oath was claimed to be “defective” in a PIL by a man, who was fined Rs. 5 lakh by the Supreme Court for his foolish effort to garner attention.

Such objections cannot be brought, according to a bench presided over by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud. The oath was given by the Governor and was signed to after it was delivered.

The Supreme Court ruled that this was only an absurd effort to utilize the PIL process to get attention for the petitioner.

“The petitioner does not, and he cannot, contest that the right person was given the oath of office. Such objections cannot be made since the Governor delivered the oath and it was signed to after it was given.

The bench, which also included Justices Manoj Misra and JB Padriwala, stated, “We are clearly of the view that such frivolous PILs occupy the time and attention of the Court, deflecting the attention of the Court from more serious matters and consuming the infrastructure of the judicial manpower and Registry of the Court.”

The court should now impose exemplary costs in such bogus PILs, the document said.

“We dismiss the petition accordingly with costs of Rs. 5,00,000, which shall be deposited by the petitioner in the Registry of this Court within a period of four weeks,” the bench stated.

According to the supreme court, if the amount is not paid within the allotted time, it would be collected as unpaid land tax by the Collector and District Magistrate in Lucknow.

Ashok Pandey filed a PIL with the Supreme Court, claiming that the Chief Justice of the High Court of Judicature in Bombay gave him a “defective oath” that caused him to feel wronged.

The petitioner claimed that the Chief Justice violated the Third Schedule of the Constitution by failing to place the word “I” before his name when taking the oath. Additionally, he said that the administrators and representatives of the governments of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, both of which are union territories, were not invited to the swearing ceremony.