Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi today berated advocate ML Sharma for filing frivolous public interest litigation (PIL) petitions..The Bench also comprising Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul imposed costs of Rs.50,000 in a petition by Sharma seeking to restrain Finance Minister Arun Jaitley from using capital reserves of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)..Gogoi J. said that it is time to ban Sharma from filing PILs..“Mr. Sharma, the day has come to ban you from filing PILs.”.Interestingly, CJI Gogoi acknowledged that Sharma had done some good work, but he was bent on destroying his reputation by persistently filing frivolous PILs..“You have done some good work and we all acknowledge that. Why are you persisting on destroying your reputation? What kind of prayer is this – to restrain Finance Minister from using capital reserves of RBI..Now what is happening is that because of this, when you come with a good case also, we don’t entertain you”, said Gogoi J..The Court then proceeded to imposes costs of Rs.50,000 on Sharma, while also stating in its order that Sharma cannot file another PIL in Supreme Court until he deposits the costs..This is the umpteenth time ML Sharma has drawn the ire of Supreme Court judges for filing frivolous petitions. In 2015, then Chief Justice of India RM Lodha had imposed costs of Rs. 25,000 and Rs. 50,000 on him on two separate occasions..That same year, the Court issued a show cause notice to Sharma for making scandalous and irresponsible allegations against Members of Parliament..Most recently, Justice DY Chandrachud came down heavily on Sharma for filing a PIL with unfounded claims against Union Ministers including the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister in relation to the Nirav Modi scam..Follow Bar and Bench channel on WhatsAppDownload the Bar and Bench Mobile app for instant access to the latest legal news.
