Bombay High Court Slaps ₹25K Costs On School Clerk For Attempting To 'Hoodwink' Judiciary

The Bombay High Court recently imposed costs of Rs 25,000 on a clerk working in an educational institution, for attempting to 'hoodwink' the judiciary.

A division bench of Justices Ravindra Ghuge and Ashwin Bhobe deprecated the practice of litigants filing "chance" petitions.

"The time has come for this Court to ensure that litigants who attempt to hoodwink the Court, should realize that they should not file chance cases for invoking the Writ Jurisdiction of the Court. So also, the Petitioner is working as a Clerk in an Educational Institution, and he should not carry the impression that he can get away with an order by hoodwinking the Court. Such message must go out loud and clear," the judges observed in the order passed on December 5.

The bench was hearing a plea filed by one Vijay Fasale seeking to change his date of birth in the records from 1968 to 1972, thereby making him four years younger. He was working as a clerk in a school in Sangli district since June 1997.

During the hearing, the judges perused the school records of Fasale, which showed that he passed his Class 10 exams in May 1984.

"If the date of birth of the petitioner is taken as June 1972 only for the sake of assumption, then it would mean that he had passed his 10th standard at the age of 12 years, thereby meaning he was admitted in the 1st standard in June 1973 when he was one year old," the bench said.

The bench, therefore, dismissed the petition and imposed a cost of Rs 25,000 on Fasale and ordered that the amount be deducted from his salary and deposited with the Kirtikar Law College library.  

Appearance:

Advocate Umesh Pawar appeared for the Petitioner.

Additional Government Pleader Priyabhushan Kakade along with Assistant Government Pleader PJ Deshpande represented the State.

Case Title: Vijay Fasale vs State of Maharashtra (Writ Petition 17441 of 2024)

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