Lawyer fined Rs 25,000 for filing PIL to lower marriage age of men
In his plea lawyer Asok Pande requested the Supreme Court to lower the marriageable age for men from 21 to 18 years.
Filing a public interest litigation (PIL) for a noble cause is a good practice, but doing so for a frivolous case may have its own consequences. A lawyer found this today when the Supreme Court slapped a fine of Rs 25,000 on him.
But, what was his PIL about?
Apparently, the lawyer, Asok Pande, wanted the top court to lower the age of marriage for men. Yes, you read it right.
In his plea, Pande requested the Supreme Court to lower the marriageable age for men from 21 to 18 years.
According to news agency ANI, while dismissing his PIL today (October 22), the Supreme Court slapped a fine of Rs 25,000.
The court ruled that there is no merit in the petition.
NOT THE FIRST CASE
While this petition may appear bizarre, but this is not the first time that courts had to pull up lawyers for filing frivolous PILs.
In July 2017, the Supreme Court slapped a fine of Rs 1 lakh on a lawyer for filing a "frivolous" petition and wasting judicial time. He had asked the court to scrap all colonial laws and the court to monitor the exercise.
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"You have filed a PIL having 160 pages. I read it once and could not understand, and then I read again. What is your problem? We want to know what you are asking for," a bench headed by the then Chief Justice JS Khehar had said, according to a report in PTI.
Advocate Raj Balam Sharma, who had filed the PIL in his personal capacity, said he wanted all colonial laws to go and the process of abolishing them be monitored by the apex court.
"Which colonial law is creating the problem," the bench, which also had Justice DY Chandrachud, had asked. All laws are colonial laws, the lawyer responded.
ALSO READ | SC imposes Rs 1 lakh fine on lawyer for filing frivolous PIL
To this, the court said, "You are wasting your own time and you cannot waste the courts time. We will impose heavy cost on you...Tell us how much cost we should impose for this frivolous petition," the bench said.
Earlier, in March 2017, the Supreme Court bench headed by the then Chief Justice of India JS Khehar said frivolous petitions will attract a Rs 5 lakh fine.
The court went on to say, "The sanctity of the judicial process will be seriously eroded if such attempts are not dealt with firmly."
Slapping a fine iof Rs 25,000 on a woman for filing frivolous PIL, the Bombay High Court in 2016 had said that it is shocking to see that courts are being flooded with large number of so-called public interest litigations.
(With agency inputs)