Supreme Court Imposes Rs 25 Lakhs Cost On Applicant For Baseless Allegations Against High Court

The Supreme Court on Tuesday imposed an exemplary cost of Rs 25 lakh on an applicant who had made allegations against the Uttarakhand High Court and High Officials of the State Government.The applicant had sought to implead in a case related to sale of assets of Khasgi (Devi Ahilyabai Holkar Charities) Trust of Indore, Madhya Pradesh, The bench of Justices AM Khanwilkar and CT Ravikumar opined that an applicant who wants to get impleaded must show some restraint and must not make unfounded allegations as made in his application.Deprecating the casual manner in which the same was drafted, the bench rejected the application for impleadment. Accordingly, the bench in its order said,"This application is filed by one Vijay Singh Pal which has been drafted by Mr Ajay Veer Pundir. Dr AM Singhvi invited our attention to the averments made in the application which to say the least are unacceptable. Applicant had the audacity to make allegations against the Uttarakhand High Court and High Officials of State Government. In our opinion, an applicant who wants to get impleaded in the by way of application before this court in matters which involve complex issues must show some restraint and must not make unfounded allegations as made in this application. We do not deem it necessary to reproduce the averments. We deprecate the casual manner in which the application has been drafted and ill-advised. We reject this application by imposing an exemplary cost on the applicant of Rs 25 lakhs to be collected by the Collector, Haridwar and the same be deposited in the Registry of this court within 4 weeks from today. We reject the application filed by the applicant herein".Objecting to the application, Senior Advocate Paramjit Singh Patwalia submitted that earlier Vijay Singh Pal had filed a PIL before Uttarakhand High Court on the same subject matter which was dismissed. He also added that the applicants were part of the same syndicate."Vijay Singh Pal who had filed this application had earlier filed a PIL before Uttarakhand High Court. They are all blackmailers. This Vijay Singh Pal is part of the same syndicate. PIL was dismissed and thus they started harassing us," submitted Senior Counsel. During the course of the hearing, Senior Advocate AM Singhvi drew Court's attention to the fact that the applicant had even made allegations against the Solicitor General."Can this application be filed in the Supreme Court? This should be dismissed", added Senior Counsel while reading the contents of the application to the bench."This practice has to stop," the bench remarked while expressing its inclination to impose an exemplary cost upon the applicant for filing the application."This practice should be deprecated", Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said.When advocate Ajay Veer Pundir for the applicant, sought liberty to withdraw the application, the bench said, "You have drafted this. This is an irresponsible application by the advocate. You make all kinds of applications, you first slap and then you say sorry."Accordingly, the bench while dismissing the application imposed a cost of Rs 25 lakhs.SC refuses to vacate stay imposed by High CourtExpressing its disinclination to vacate the stay, the bench posted the petitions assailing Madhya Pradesh High Court's order wherein the bench of Justices SC Sharma and Justice Shailendra Shukla had held that title of the properties of the erstwhile Ruler of Holkar State, Maharaja Yashwant Rao Holkar belongs to the State of Madhya Pradesh for final disposal in the third week of February."List this main matter on Non Miscellaneous Day in the 3rd week of February. We place on record that we are not inclined to grant the interim relief for vacating the stay with regards to the direction regarding initiation of criminal process as given by the HC as that was passed after hearing all concerned on 16th October 2020", the bench said.On October 16, 2020, the bench of Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice B.R. Gavai had directed the concerned parties to maintain status quo with regard to the possession and title of properties, and not to transfer or create any third-party interest. The Court also stayed the criminal proceedings ordered by the High Court of Madhya Pradesh. The Court further went on to direct the State authorities to abstain from taking any precipitative steps to take over the management of properties, if the same had not been done so far.When the matter was called for hearing, Advocate Prashant Bhushan appearing for the applicant seeking vacation of interim relief argued that now the High Court had ordered investigation by the crime branch of the State Police."Let the investigation go on. See the order passed by this court on October 16, 2020 the 3rd last paragraph- until further order. Now the High Court has ordered an investigation by the crime branch of the State Police. Prayer for CBI investigation but said that let the crime branch of the State Police....

Supreme Court Imposes Rs 25 Lakhs Cost On Applicant For Baseless Allegations Against High Court

Shruti Kakkar

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