The Supreme Court of India on Friday imposed cost of rupees one lakh on an advocate while dismissing his public interest litigation for closure of liquor shops.
The PIL was filed by Advocate Prashant Kumar who was petitioner in person who said that it is no possible for the shop owners to maintain social distancing and sought directions from the court regarding closure of liquor stores citing violations of lockdown guidelines.
Acting upon the plea, the bench comprising of Justice L. Nageswara Rao, Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul & Justice B R Gavai observed that multiple petitions of similar nature are being filed by the petitioners for the sake of publicity. The bench said that it cannot entertain petitions like these and said these are only publicity oriented.
The bench while dismissing the PIL said that such frivolous petitions cannot be allowed under article 32 of Constitution of India and it is for the Government to decide how it is planning to deal with the cases of overcrowding at liquor shops. The bench imposed a cost of Rupees One lakh on the petitioner.
-India Legal Bureau