In a significant move, the Supreme Court of India has directed its Registry to enforce the recovery of costs imposed on two Public Interest Litigations (PILs) deemed frivolous and an abuse of the judicial process. The directive came on December 9, under the scrutiny of a bench comprising Justice PS Narasimha and Justice Manoj Misra.
The controversy stems from two PILs filed by Advocate Sachin Gupta in the previous year, which were resoundingly dismissed by a bench including the then Chief Justice of India, DY Chandrachud, alongside Justice Narasimha. These PILs, which proposed the reclassification of the caste system and a phased elimination of existing reservation policies in favor of an alternate system, were dismissed on July 4, 2023.
The bench at the time criticized the petitions for lacking substantive merit and unnecessarily burdening the judicial framework. In response, the court levied a financial penalty of Rs 25,000 on each petition, intending to deter similar misuse in the future. The costs were directed to be paid to the Advocate Welfare Fund of the Supreme Court Bar Association, with specific instructions for the petitioner to submit payment receipts within two weeks.
