Bombay HC Imposes Cost Of Rs.20,000 On Advocate Who Levelled Allegations Against Sitting Judges [Read Order]

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday imposed a cost of Rs.20,000 on advocate Arvind Waghmare, who along with four others levelled allegations against sitting judges of the High Court and when suo motu contempt proceedings were started against them, they filed a contempt appeal.

Waghmare, Nagorao Ingle, his wife Jyoti and two sons filed the contempt appeal seeking recall of the order passed by Justice RK Deshpande dated June 19, 2018. They had made allegations against officials in the Law and Judiciary departments, sitting judges etc. When the registry took note of this and complained before the concerned bench, suo motu proceedings were initiated.

Apart from this, all five of the appellants sought compensation of Rs.10 lakh each for the state's 'malicious prosecution', maintaining innocence and arguing that they made a genuine complaint against judicial officers.

Previously, Waghmare was taken into judicial custody for levelling baseless allegations against sitting judges. He was released after an unconditional apology.

On Tuesday, a division bench of Justice ZA Haq and Justice Vinay Joshi noted: "At the outset, the application has to be thrown into the dustbin, because of the tenor of the application."

Turns out Advocate Waghmare had added to the cause title of his appeal and stated: "fraudulent proceedings." The court was not pleased with that. It said: "The party to the proceeding, or the Lawyer representing the party, has to show the cause title as is shown by the Registry, and the party or the Lawyer representing the party cannot introduce anything in the cause title. In the present case, the respondent no.1 has referred to Contempt Petition No.2/2018 as "Fraudulent Proceedings". Such things cannot be accepted."

Waghmare sought the matter to be referred to a larger bench as allegations are against the senior-most judge of the Nagpur bench, the Registry and Senior Officer of the Registry, therefore it would be advantageous that the matter be referred to a larger bench.

The court refused and said-

"We see no reason to report to the Hon'ble Chief Justice that, in our opinion, it will be advantageous if the matter is heard by a Larger Bench. The Application is therefore, dismissed with costs of Rs.20,000 to be paid by the respondent no.1- Arvind Waghmare."

Thus, the court directed Waghmare to deposit the money with the High Court Legal Services authority and issued contempt notice against all respondents seeking a reply by April 18.

Finally, Waghmare was warned for his behaviour-

"On 20.03.2019 and even today, it is noticed that respondent no.1 is not permitting the Court to proceed in the matter, and is not maintaining decorum. Even when this order is dictated, constant interference is there. Respondent no.1 who claims to be practicing since last 20 years as an Advocate, is cautioned that such things/acts should not be repeated henceforth." 

Read the Order Here