New Delhi:The Supreme Court Friday directed that Rs 5 lakh cost be recovered from the land of a litigant who had filed a motivated petition in 2017 challenging the appointment of the then Chief Justice Dipak Misra. Swami Om (now deceased) and Mukesh Jain had in 2017 questioned the practise of recommending to the President, the name of successor by the incumbent Chief Justice of India. A bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and M R Shah also took note of the application for reduction of cost filed by Jain, who is currently in Balasore jail in Odisha in another case and said he has again made some unfounded allegations against the judges of the top court.
The bench said the competent authority may recover the cost imposed from the arrears of land of Jain. It directed that till the recovery of the cost, he would not be allowed to file any PIL in the top court. The top court dismissed his application for reduction of costs while noting that in 2017, it had imposed Rs 10 lakh cost on Jain but last year it was reduced to Rs 5 lakh. Advocate AP Singh, appearing for Jain said that he does not have any land and he should be asked to appear before the court once he gets bail in other cases.
Jain was granted bail in one case but there are two other cases pending in Odisha. He was booked on the basis of an alleged WhatsApp message which was circulated last year related to Puri Rath Yatra in the state and three cases were registered against him, he said. The bench said it cannot keep adjourning the matter and authorities may be directed to recover the cost. Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the Centre, said that Jain's application for further reduction of cost be dismissed and authorities be directed to attach the properties of Jain and recover the cost as per law.