Supreme Court fines NGO Rs 25 lakh over frivolous plea
The CBI had registered an FIR against former Orissa high court judge I.M. Quddusi and five others on a charge to fix judges to get a favourable order.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday slapped Rs 25 lakh as exemplary costs on Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reforms for filing a frivolous PIL seeking a probe by a special investigation team into allegations of bribery involving higher judiciary in a medical college scam.
A bench of Justices R.K. Agrawal, Arun Mishra and A.M. Kanwilkar dismissed the PIL as derogatory, contemptuous and scandalous, the petition, which wanted the court to monitor the probe by a special investigation team, headed by former Chief Justice of India.
The CBI had registered an FIR against former Orissa high court judge I.M. Quddusi and five others on a charge to fix judges to get a favourable order. Referring to this FIR, the petitioner prayed for an independent probe to dispel doubts about the alleged involvement of judges of higher judiciary in the scam.
Rejecting the petition as frivolous and contemptuous the court slapped the fine and directed it to be deposited to the fund of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA). The bench, however, refrained from initiating contempt against its convenor Prashant Bhushan, who stood by his allegations.
On November 14, the same bench had dismissed an identical petition filed by advocate Kamini Jaiswal and said, “Let the good sense prevail over the legal fraternity and amends be made as lot of uncalled for damage has been made to the great Institution in which public reposes their faith.”
The petition by Ms Jailswal sought an independent investigation in a medical institute matter that could allegedly involve corruption at high levels of the judiciary, including the SC judges who were hearing a particular matter of a medical institute. In this case, the Chief Justice Dipak Misra himself headed the said bench.
The CBI had earlier arrested the former Orissa judge on the ground that he in collusion with some private persons had collected about Rs two crore bribe promising to influence the outcome of the medical college case pending in the Supreme Court before a bench headed by the CJI.