On Friday, the Supreme Court bench led by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi hearing a petition on the abrogation of Article 370, reprimanded advocate ML Sharma after he had presented a poorly drafted petition to the top court.
According to the reports, the Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi berated ML Sharma for the poor drafting of the petition. “What kind of petition is this? What are your pleadings, prayer. We don’t want to dismiss it because it might affect other petitions. In a matter of this nature, how can you file such a petition?” reprimanded CJI Gogoi.
“This is simply not maintainable. It could have been dismissed but there are 5 other pleas with the registry?” CJI Ranjan Gogoi scolded ML Sharma.
CJI also said that he spent 30 minutes reading the petition on Article 370 but could not make out anything. “I tried to read your petition for half an hour but could not understand it,” CJI Ranjan Gogoi said to ML Sharma.
The Supreme Court is hearing a batch of five petitions including one plea filed by ML Sharma pertaining to the abrogation of Article 370 and the restrictions placed in Jammu and Kashmir pre-empting a security threat.
CJI also said that the other four petitions on Jammu and Kashmir also have defects which are yet to be cured. He asked the petitioners that why defective petitions are filed. “We accommodate you in between Ayodhya hearing and this is what we get in return”, said CJI Gogoi.
Hearing a petition filed by Kashmir Times seeking lifting of restrictions on communication shutdown, CJI said that the Supreme Court would like to give it some time.
Advocate ML Sharma, known for his frivolous PILs, had moved Supreme Court under Article 32 of the Constitution challenging the Constitution (Application to Jammu & Kashmir) Order. Last week, the Supreme Court of India had refused to grant an urgent hearing on a petition filed by advocate ML Sharma challenging the scrapping of Article 370.
Manohar Lal Sharma is notoriously known filling frivolous Public Interest Litigations (PIL) and earning court’s wrath. The Supreme Court has time and again refused to entertain PILs filed by ML Sharma.
In July this year, he had gone to the Supreme Court questioning the use of EVMs in elections and had sought the cancellation of recently concluded Lok Sabha election. However, the Supreme Court rejected his petition.
In December last year, advocate Manohar Lal Sharma had earned court’s wrath and was asked to pay fines several times in the past. He was fined ₹50,000 and ₹25,000 by the court on two occasions in 2014 for wasting the court’s time with frivolous petitions.
Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi had said that the day has come to ban him from filing PILs. The court made such remark due to the history of Sharma’s petitions.
