New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking directions to the central government to conduct an inquiry against presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee for canvassing votes before resigning as the Union Finance Minister.
An apex court bench of Justice Aftab Alam and Justice H.L. Gokhale, dismissing the PIL by advocate Manohar Lal Sharma, said this court was not a theatre for his farcical play.
The court imposed a cost of Rs.50,000 on the petitioner – which it subsequently withdrew with a warning that any such repeat of farcical PIL in future would invite heavy cost.
As petitioner Sharma pleaded before the court that the cost of such a huge amount would destroy him, Justice Alam told him that he was destroying the system.
Right in the beginning, the court had asked Sharma if he was seriously pursuing his petition and cautioned him of the consequences it may invite.
“Mr. Sharma, are you seriously pursuing this application? We are cautioning you,” the court said, right at the outset of the hearing.
Mukherjee, meanwhile, said it would be his endeavor to protect the “values of the office of President”–integrity and impartiality.
“The President stands above party politics. Given an opportunity, it shall be my endeavor to protect the values of this office: integrity, impartiality and the promotion of `sarva dharma sambhav’ which constitutes the spirit and essence of our Constitution,” Mukherjee said in a letter to Congress MLAs and MPs here.
Mukherjee, who was here as a part of his campaign, gave a copy of the letter to every Congress MP and MLA from Gujarat.
“I was schooled in politics by the pro-poor commitment of Mrs Indira Gandhi and it remains my dream to eliminate the last vestiges of that terrifying affliction called poverty within our lifetime,” the letter said.
“I have been unwavering in my pursuit of this in whatever responsibility that has come my way in all these years.” (Agencies)
