The Bench of Justices DY Chandrachud, Hemant Gupta, and Ajay Rastogi imposed costs of Rs 5 Lakh on a social worker who had moved a PIL seeking a ban on the sale of soft drinks such as Coca Cola, Thumbs Up, among others and the Supreme Court said that the petitioner is invoking Court’s jurisdiction under Article 32.
The petitioner has been granted a period of one month to deposit those amount in the Supreme Court’s registry. The Court added that the money deposited by the petitioner shall be disbursed to the Supreme Court Advocates on Record Association (SCAORA).
After perusing the assertions made by the petitioner in his affidavit, the Court noted that in seeking a ban on the sale of these soft drinks, the petitioner had no “technical knowledge” on the issue.
The Court was critical of the petitioner having filed the plea, stating that the invocation of the jurisdiction under Article 32 of the Constitution, in this case, was an abuse of the process.
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“The petition has been filed for extraneous reasons. The invocation of the jurisdiction under Article 32 is an abuse of the process.”
The Court concluded that petitioner’s invocation of Article 32 in this matter was not “a bona fire recourse to the jurisdiction in a public interest litigation.” Therefore, the Court felt the need to also impose costs besides dismissing the plea.
“We accordingly dismiss the petition and impose costs quantified at Rs 5,00,000 on the petitioner.”
Read the order :
