Plea alleging misconduct by Gujarat judge withdrawn
By IANSThursday, August 26, 2010
GANDHINAGAR - An advocate, who alleged misconduct by a Gujarat High Court judge and the registrar in granting interim bail to a leading businessman, withdrew his petition Thursday after the court said it may impose Rs.one lakh cost on him.
A division bench of Chief Justice S.J. Mukhopadhaya and Justice Akil Kureshi allowed the petitioner Girish Das to withdraw the public interest litigation (PIL) plea.
The court came down heavily on Das for filing a frivolous petition in the name of public interest “with intention to malign the Gujarat judiciary”.
The court noted that the language used in the petition was a clear contempt of court and could not be tolerated.
It said the petitioner may have to bear the minimum cost of Rs.1 lakh for his plea raising doubts about the trustworthiness of judiciary.
The chief justice said that if the advocate would like to argue the case then the court would hear the case and pass an order in accordance with law which would lead to imposing costs on petitioner.
“If you wish to argue then we will hear you and pass an order wherein we’ll make sure that you are barred from practicing or even entering the court until you’ve paid the cost,” the chief justice told the advocate.
Das had filed the PIL challenging an order of a judge passed at her home on a non-working day and granting interim bail to Rajesh Adani of the Adani Group.
Adani was granted interim bail by the judge at her home in March in a habeas corpus matter.
Das claimed that such petitions were supposed to be heard by a division bench and sought quashing of the single judge’s order.
He said in the petition that the registrar should be dismissed and actions should be taken against the judge.
Adani was arrested in March this year by the Central Bureau of Investigation for allegedly evading customs and excise duty on petroleum products causing the state exchequer a loss of more than Rs.one crore.
Following the arrest, his brother Vasant Adani filed a habeas corpus petition in the high court. It was during the hearing on this petition that Rajesh Adani was granted interim bail.
