The Madras High Court has dismissed a petition that sought directions to Tamil Nadu chief secretary and other government officials not to disturb Chief Minister MK Stalin on Sundays except in extraordinary circumstances. As expected, the Madras High Court termed the petition ridiculous saying that any sane person would have thought many times before filing such a petition.
“This is an utterly ridiculous petition that any reasonable person should have thought many times over before disturbing the Court,” noted the Bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy.
The court said that it’s a matter between the head of a government and the officials. “It is entirely a matter between the head of a government and the officials as to how files should be placed before the Chief minister and how the Chief Minister will function. The court cannot interfere in such matters and it is hoped that such frivolous petitions are destroyed long before they are carried to court in future,” the ruling said.
The High Court also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on the petitioner for filing a frivolous petition. “The petitioner will pay costs assessed at Rs 10,000 to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund for use to deal with COVID-19,” said the court.
The Madras High Court also restricted the petitioner from filing any PIL for the next one year without obtaining previous permission from the relevant bench.
In the last few years, the courts across the country had witnessed an increase in the frivolous petitions filed in the garb of Public Interest Litigations.
Last year, the Madras High Court had imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 on an Advocate for filing frivolous petitions. The advocate was also fined Rs 10,000 on an earlier occasion.
