SC rejects ML Sharma’s PIL against Arun Jaitley; fines lawyer Rs 50,000

On Friday, the Supreme Court of India have dismissed a PIL raising allegations against Finance Minister Arun Jaitley relating to capital reserve of the Reserve Bank of India.

SC have dismissed a PIL raising allegations against Finance Minister Arun Jaitley relating to capital reserve of the Reserve Bank of India.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice S K Kaul said, “We find no reason whatsoever to entertain this PIL,”

Earlier, ML Sharma had accused the Finance Minister of ‘plundering’ the capital reserve of the RBI. Apart from imposing a hefty penalty, the bench has also directed the apex court registry not to allow Sharma to file any PIL till he deposits Rs 50,000.

As the advocate continued with the argument even after the dismissal of the PIL, the top court was left with no other choice but to imposed the cost on the advocate. In fact, before penalising the Chief Justice had warned Mr Sharma not to continue with the submissions, saying cost will be imposed if he was unable to satisfy the court.

The apex court also expressed its displeasure that the advocate made the finance minister as the main party in the PIL.

“What is this PIL? You cannot go on with such misadventure. What exactly is this? You are saying the finance minister is plundering the capital reserve of the RBI. You are not bringing honour to this institution. Why do we permit you to go ahead with this PIL?”, said the bench.

Meanwhile, Advocate Manohar Lal Sharma (ML Sharma) is known for filing a series of PILs before several courts in India. Apparently, Mr Sharma was the first person to file a petition before the Supreme Court In the Indian coal allocation scam. He had also defended the accused in the 2012 Delhi gang rape case.

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