"If Your Client File One More Improper PIL , We Will Ban Him" :SC Dismisses Plea For Imposing Rs. 2,000 Upper Limit On Cash Donations To Political Parties

The Supreme Court bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice S. K. Kaul on Monday dismissed Advocate Ashwini Upadhyay’s plea seeking a direction to the Central Government to impose an upper limit of Rs. 2,000 per person per year on political donations in cash.

He had also prayed that the exemption under Section 13A of the Income Tax Act of 1961 be given only to those political parties which contest elections and win seats in the Parliament or Legislative Assemblies in line with the recommendations of the Election Commission.

“With all sense of responsibility, why should we get into it? Is it our domain? Just look at your prayers!”, said the Chief Justice to Senior Advocate Sajan Poovayya appearing on behalf of the petitioner.

“The prayers are not drafted well....”, acceded Mr. Poovayya.

The bench also came down heavily on Mr. Upadhyay for filing PILs in context of the elections incessantly- “Just because we have heard some matters of this gentleman, three PILs are filed everyday and all regarding elections! Three PILs are coming tomorrow and one was mentioned today!”

“We should ban certain people from filing PILs. This petition is without any meaning....if some are allowed, one cannot be filed everyday. If it does not make any sense make any sense, we will not decipher it....caution your client, one more improper petition and we will ban him”, concurred Justice Kaul.

“We will ban your client”, reiterated the Chief Justice, proceeding to dictate that the court is not inclined to interfere on the PIL.

Inter alia, some of the petitions filed by Mr. Upadhyay seek a minimum qualification and maximum age limit for contesting elections, restriction on Political parties against setting up candidate with criminal antecedents and to control Misuse of Religion for Electoral Gain.