HC imposes fine on petitioner for filing PIL against food safety act (10/11/13) Filing a frivolous PIL against National Food Safety Act cost dearly to a petitioner on Saturday when the high court directed him to be detained and permitted him to leave the court only after paying a cost of Rs 10,000. Initially, the court ordered imposition of an exemplary cost of Rs 10 lakh. The lawyers then approached Chief Justice with a request to review the order looking into the intention of the petitioner. The suspense continued till late evening when the controversy over the order ended ultimately with a fine of Rs 10,000 to be deposited for filing a vexatious litigation challenging the applicability of National Food Security Act, 2013. The petitioner had demanded that since the National Food Security has been provided by using public money, one political party must be restrained from taking any credit for it and the provision of the law must be extended to all citizens equally. Else, it should be treated as bribe to the poor voters. However, a division bench of Chief Justice Amitava Roy and Justice V S Siradhana was not convinced with the logic. The PIL was filed by one Brijmohan Sarda, an 80-year-old resident of Renwal, alleging that the National Food Security Act (NFSA) has been implemented only in those states where the elections are scheduled to take place and that the act is a sort of bribe to the poor voter and it creates discrimination. The bench tried to convince the senior citizen who was appearing in person that he is wrong in understanding the objective of the law and persuaded him not to proceed with his baseless arguments and lend himself in trouble. The petitioner, however, insisted that he is justified in raising the plea against the law and even ready to go to jail if proved wrong. Upon which the bench imposed Rs 10 lakh as fine to be deposited during the course of the day and a punishment of six months in jail in lieu thereof if the petitioner failed to do the same. Immediately thereafter, the 80-year-old petitioner was taken into custody and was not allowed to leave the court premises till 6.30 pm till the court passed its final order and in the interest of justice imposed only a cost of Rs 10,000 as fine for filing a baseless PIL and directed that the cost be deposited within a period of two weeks with State Legal Services Authority. Times of India
Posted on: Sun, 10 Nov 2013 11:04:12 +0000
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