New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday pulled up a lawyer for not depositing a cost of Rs 50,000 imposed on him for filing a "meritless" plea, and directed him to deposit it within two weeks. A bench comprising Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih declined to entertain the contention of advocate Ashok Pandey seeking more time to deposit the amount.
The bench said he is a practising lawyer and despite his assurance to the court to pay Rs 50,000, he did not deposit the money and went abroad. “Now you cannot say that you can't pay the cost. You pay the cost or we will issue a contempt notice against you," the bench said.
The lawyer contended that he did not get any case since 2023 and his trip abroad was sponsored by his children. However, the apex court declined to accept his submissions.
In January 2023, the apex court dismissed a plea by Pandey with a cost of Rs 50,000. The plea sought a direction to not consider advocates practising in the apex court for judgeship in the High Courts, saying it is "meritless" and a "complete wastage of judicial time". The top court had observed there is nothing in the Constitution which prohibits lawyers practising in the top court to be appointed as a judges of the High Courts.
Later, another bench comprising of Justices B R Gavai and K V Viswanathan pulled up Pandey for not depositing an amount of Rs one lakh imposed on him when he had challenged the reinstatement of Lok Sabha membership of NCP MP Mohammed Faizal.
