The Delhi High Court on Friday imposed a penalty of Rs 1 lakh on a petitioner while dismissing his plea challenging the appointment of DY Chandrachud as the chief justice of India, Bar and Bench reported.
Justice Chandrachud was appointed as the 50th chief justice of India on Wednesday. He took over from Justice UU Lalit.
In his plea, the petitioner Sanjeev Kumar Tiwari had argued Justice Chandrachud’s appointment violated constitutional provisions and sought an immediate stay, according to Live Law.
Tiwari, who described himself as “a well-trained intelligent common citizen”, had also demanded a probe by security agencies against Justice Chandrachud “to ascertain he does not have any kind of relationship with the anti-nationals and Naxalite Christian terrorists”.
During the hearing on Friday, a division bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad said that the plea was filed to gain publicity.
On October 2, the Supreme Court had also dismissed a petition demanding that Justice Chandrachud be restrained from taking oath as the next chief justice of India.
The plea was based on a letter written by a man named Rashid Khan Pathan to President Droupadi Murmu, making several allegations against Justice Chandrachud.
Pathan claimed that Justice Chandrachud had heard a special leave petition related to proceedings before the Bombay High Court even as his son was among the lawyers of the litigants. Pathan had also alleged that the judge disregarded settled law while dismissing a petition questioning restrictions on citizens who had not taken the coronavirus vaccine.
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