The Supreme Court on December 7 has rejected a public interest litigation (PIL) raising allegations against Finance Minister Arun Jaitley relating to the capital reserve of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The SC also imposed a penalty of Rs. 50,000 on the lawyer M L Sharma who had filed the petition.
The top court said that the Supreme Court registry will not accept any petitions from Advocate Sharma unless he pays the fine.
“We find no reason whatsoever to entertain this PIL,” the top court bench added.
“You file PIL naming the Fin Min and saying he was likely to plunder RBI resources…?” the top court asked. The Supreme Court expressed displeasure that the advocate made the finance minister as the main party in the PIL.
The SC bench, comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice S K Kaul, further said, “What is this PIL? You cannot go on with such misadventure. What exactly is this? You are saying the finance minister is plundering the capital reserve of the RBI. You are not bringing honor to this institution. Why do we permit you to go ahead with this PIL.”
