Such petition is 'abuse of law', says SC.
The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a petition seeking direction to amend the Constitution to make Hindi as official language of work in the apex court and High Courts, dubbing it as a "frivolous PIL" and stopped short of imposing a cost of Rs one lakh on the lawyer who had filed it.
A Bench comprising Chief Justice TS Thakur and Justice UU Lalit said the petition filed by advocate Shiv Sagar Tiwari, a seasoned lawyer of the apex court, was "abuse of the process of law" and wastage of judicial time which warrants imposition of cost of Rs one lakh on him.
However, when the lawyer said he cannot even pay Rs 1000, the bench asked him "why does he file such type of petition" and also asked him "why do you waste the time of the court." The matter came after a bench headed by previous CJI H L Dattu had issued notice in the matter in 2014. Tiwari in his petition had sought for a direction to be issued to the Centre to amend Article 348 to bring it in tune with Article 343. Article 343 provides for use of Hindi as official language of the Union while Article 348 provide for language to be used in Supreme Court and High Courts.
While dismissing the PIL, the bench noted that the use of English was permitted for the first 15 years after the Indian Constitution came into force and thereafter by way of law, the same can be extended.
Senior Advocate V Mohana appearing for Centre submitted that the use of English has been authorised by way of the Official Languages Act.
The bench also noted that "apart from the fact that the prayer is fallacious, the petitioner has not carefully appreciated the scope of Articles 343 and 348." It then withdrew the cost of Rs one lakh on Tiwari.
However the bench observed "if costs are not imposed in such cases, someone will get the bright idea every morning to file such writ petitions seeking amendments to the Constitution."
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