PIL Challenging Rahul Gandhi's LS Election: Allahabad HC Seeks Registry Report On HC's 2016 Directive Against Petitioner's Advocate

The Allahabad High Court on Wednesday directed its registry to submit its report on a 2016 Judgment of the High Court passed related to the advocate representing the petitioner in a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) plea challenging Rahul Gandhi's election to the Lok Sabha.

"This court has perused the judgment of the Division Bench of this Court in the case of Hindu Personal Law Board Vs. Union of India and Others...wherein certain directions were given to the Registry of this Court to examine the writ petitions filed at the behest of learned counsel for the petitioner (Advocate Ashok Pandey)...No such report has been submitted by the Registry of this Court in compliance of the aforesaid judgment and accordingly, Registry is directed to examine the aforesaid judgment of the Division Bench of this Court and submit its report," a vacation bench of Justice Alok Mathur and Justice Arun Kumar Singh Deshwal observed in its order.

The matter will now be heard before a regular bench of the High Court on July 1. On the same day, the registry is expected to file its report, as directed by the court in its Wednesday order.

For context, in its 2016 directive to the HC Registry, the High Court had asked its Registry that each petition (filed by Advocate Pandey or Hindu Personal Law Board) be accepted for filing only if it is accompanied by a Demand Draft of Rs 25,000/-.

This direction was passed by a bench of then Chief Justice DY Chandrachud (presently the Chief Justice of India) and Justice Rajan Roy, stating that Advocate Pandey is involved in filing PILs merely as a means of publicity.

Pursuant to the Court's query, the Petitioner's counsel submitted that he had filed multiple cases before the High Court and the Supreme Court, and the Registry never objected or asked him to submit a DD. The matter was later adjourned by the bench without going into the merits of the case.

Importantly, during the course of the hearing, the bench also asked LiveLaw's reporter (Associate Editor Sparsh Upadhyay) to stop reporting court proceedings and leave the courtroom.

More details here: PIL To Set Aside Rahul Gandhi's LS Election From Rae Bareli: Allahabad HC Adjourns Hearing Sans Going Into Merits Of Case

Also read : Allahabad HC Preventing Live Reporting Of Its Hearing Raises Concerns Regarding Freedom Of Press To Cover Court Proceedings

It may be noted that the PIL plea has been filed by Karnataka BJP Worker S. Vignesh Shishir through advocate Ashok Pandey to set aside Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's election as an MP from the Rae Bareli Lok Sabha seat on the ground that he is not an Indian Citizen but a British citizen and thus ineligible to contest the LS Polls.

The petitioner has also sought a direction to the Lok Sabha speaker to not permit him to function as a member of Parliament until the issue of his foreign citizenship is settled by the Union Home Ministry.

Case title - S. Vignesh Shishir vs. Rahul Gandhi , Member Of Lok Sabha And Others

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