New Delhi: The Supreme Court Friday junked a plea seeking an order for “re-oath” by justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyay, chief justice of Bombay High Court, for the reason that the word ‘I’ was not used by him while taking oath to the office.
A bench led by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and comprising justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra said there is a limit to frivolity in the Supreme Court and the petitioner wasted the time of the court, as judges burn the midnight oil to the petitions. “We have to sit down and read these (matters) and burn the midnight oil!”, said the Chief Justice. The plea was filed by Ashok Pandey, who was petitioner-in-person.
The Chief Justice told the petitioner, you are challenging the oath because the governor said "I" but the Chief Justice didn't use the word 'I' while taking the oath?
The Chief Justice said the court would begin imposing anticipatory costs to dissuade such kinds of frivolous PILs from coming before the court. The petitioner requested the court to not term his petition frivolous before hearing it and argued “without hearing your lordships cannot decide whether this is frivolous or not”.
The apex court noted that the prayers raised in the petition sought the administration of a fresh oath to Justice DK Upadhyay as chief justice of Bombay High Court. The plea further states that governors and CM of Goa and Daman and Diu were not invited to the ceremony.
The apex court said such frivolous PILs take the time of the court and deflect the court from taking up important matters, and the time has come to impose costs on such matters. The apex court imposed a cost of Rs 25,000, on the petitioner.
