The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a petition by Lucknow-based advocate Ashok Pandey, who sought modification of a 2023 court order imposing a ₹5 lakh cost on him for filing a frivolous Public Interest Litigation (PIL). Pandey had claimed the fine, as pronounced in open court, was only ₹25,000.
A bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant, along with Justices Dipankar Datta and Joymalya Bagchi, declined the plea and clarified that the official order passed in October 2023 clearly mentioned the fine as ₹5 lakh. “We will go by the order, and it contains ₹5 lakh,” the bench said.
Pandey had filed the original PIL last year challenging the swearing-in of Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya as Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court. He argued that Justice Upadhyaya’s oath on July 29, 2023, was not constitutionally valid because he allegedly omitted the word “I” before his name, in violation of the prescribed format in the Third Schedule of the Constitution.
The PIL also claimed that the Governor and Chief Minister of Goa, Daman and Diu were not invited to the swearing-in ceremony, and demanded that Justice Upadhyaya be re-administered the oath.
On October 13, 2023, a bench led by the then Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud (now retired) and comprising Justices J.B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, dismissed the PIL, calling it frivolous. “There is a limit to frivolity,” the bench observed. It noted that such PILs misuse judicial time and are often intended to gain publicity.
“This is only a frivolous attempt to use the PIL jurisdiction to get some publicity,” the bench had said, adding, “We have to sit down and read these matters and burn our midnight oil…This is quite serious.”
During Monday’s hearing, Pandey argued that the order should be corrected as the oral pronouncement was only ₹25,000 and that the recovery proceedings initiated by the district collector were based on the written order. However, the present bench rejected his claim, stating the official record was binding.
“These all are publicity petitions,” Chief Justice Surya Kant remarked before dismissing the application.
