NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court recently stayed an order of the Allahabad High Court which imposed costs of Rs 1 lakh on an advocate for wasting the court’s time and arguing a case wearing a lawyer’s robe and a band despite being a petitioner in-person.
A two-judge bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Surya Kant and comprising Justice Ujjal Bhuyan issued limited notice on whether the adverse remarks made by the high court against advocate Mehmood Pracha need to be expunged.
“Issue notice for the limited purpose as to why the observations made by the high court against the petitioner be not expunged and why the order imposing cost be not set aside, returnable on December 9,” the bench of the top court said.
“In light of the fact that this writ petition has been wrongly filed and has resulted in the loss of precious time of this court coupled with the inappropriate methodology adopted by the petitioner appearing in person, this writ petition is dismissed with cost payable for the sum of Rs 1,00,000.”
“This cost shall be paid to the Uttar Pradesh State Legal Services Authority within a period of 30 days from the date. In the event the cost is not paid, the Registrar General is directed to take necessary action for recovery of the same in accordance with law,” the high court had said.
Pracha had moved the high court seeking entire videography and CCTV footage pertaining to the conduct of elections at Rampur Lok Sabha Constituency in Uttar Pradesh.
SC bins plea on poor state of MP schools
The top court refused to entertain a plea filed by the NGO Social Jurist, which sought appropriate directions on the poor condition of state-run schools in Madhya Pradesh. The three-judge bench asked the NGO to approach the Madhya Pradesh High Court for the kind of reliefs it wanted in the issue. The plea had stressed the need for immediate intervention.