'You've Gone Too Far' : Supreme Court Grants 3 Days To Suraz India Trust Chairman Rajiv Daiya For Unconditional Apology In Contempt Case

The request to tender an apology was made by Daiya when he appeared before the Court pursuant to Court's order issuing bailable warrants against him.

A Division Bench comprising Justice SK Kaul and Justice MM Sundresh was hearing an application filed by the Trust seeking recall of the top Court's 2017 judgement imposing an exemplary cost of Rs.25 lakh on the NGO, Suraz India Trust, and restraining the trust and its chairman, Rajiv Daiya, from filing any case, including PIL, in any court. The said order was passed observing that the Trust had filed frivolous petitions, and wasted judicial time,

The Bench was also considering the issue of contempt action against Daiya for non-compliance of an Order which directed him to submit Rs. 25 lakhs cost over allegations levelled against Judges. The Court had in April this year issued a notice of contempt to Daiya.

While reserving its judgement on the recall applications in the matter today, the Bench observed that if an unconditional apology is given by Mr Daiya in the next three days, the same will be taken into consideration by the Court before passing the orders.

During the hearing, Mr Rajiv Daiya submitted before the Court that he does not have the resources to pay the costs imposed by the Court and he wishes to prefer a mercy plea before the President of India.

The Bench however told him that there is no provision for mercy petition before President in matters of recovery of cost.

The Bench also gave passed some strong remarks with respect to Mr Daiya's conduct.

"Mr Dhaiya you've gone far. You were only trying to abuse the process of court. You made an attempt to scandalize the court. If we need to send you behind bars, we'll send you behind bars. The issue was to verify whether you have resources or not. In that process you have abused the court",  the Bench said.

The Bench further said that since one of the issues was that he doesn't have enough resources, the Court had directed him to disclose his assets, however the same was not done by him.

"You have invited this situation on yourself. We'll take it to logical conclusion. Recovery is one step, you said you don't have assets and costs cannot be recovered, the issue was to determine if you have resources. In the process you have created problems." Justice Kaul remarked

"You apologise to run away. Even on the aggravated health condition, you haven't learned your lesson. You've denied yourself of the sympathetic view by type of pleadings you've made, applications you filed." the Bench added.

"All this was done by me in good faith & I want to bring on record why this trust was established." Mr Daiya said.

The Bench said, "You've taken on a path in the last year which you think is right and we think is wrong. You seem to be incorrigible. You feel you can get away with anything and that impression we will have to dispel!"

"You've tried to browbeat the court and get away with it and that we can't permit you to do. If anyone tries to derail this Institution, that we will not permit",  the Bench remarked.

Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati appearing for the Union of India submitted that a comprehensive exercise was done by the court while passing the 2017 judgement and there was summarisation of 64 proceedings filed by the Trust. The court had still taken an extremely lenient view, and wanted the order to act as a caution

ASG added that, 

"In current proceedings, the court has had hearings 9 times, letters had to be issued, he evaded the direction to place his assets, bailable warrants had to be issued for him to tell the court what job he does, State of Rajasthan had to come and explain what employment he does. In the meanwhile he continued to make scandalous remarks against both the High Court and Supreme Court. Your Lordships must deal with this in a stern manner."

On May 1, 2017, the Supreme Court's three-judge bench headed by the then Chief Justice of India, J.S.Khehar had imposed an exemplary cost of Rs.25 lakh on the NGO, Suraz India Trust, for filing frivolous petitions(64 cases across various courts), and wasting judicial time, and restrained the trust and its chairman, Rajiv Daiya, from filing any case, including PIL, in any court.

In February 2021, a Bench of Justices SK Kaul and Hrishikesh Roy had issued bailable warrants against Daiya for not depositing the cost of Rs. 25 lakh imposed on the NGO for filing 64 PILs before various High Courts and the Supreme Court without any success, and 'repeatedly misusing' the jurisdiction.

In 2020, notice was issued to the NGO for not having deposited the cost imposed in view of the observations made in its order dated May 1, 2017. The Apex Court also required the disclosure of all movable and immovable assets of the original petitioner so that the costs can be recovered.

Directing Daiya to deposit the amount with a month's time, the Bench took seriously the manner in which Daiya had even ventured to the residence of Supreme Court judges, including that of the CJI, levelling various allegations against the Supreme Court Registry staff.

"To stop this practise, we direct Suraz India Trust will not file any case. Rajiv Dahiya was restrained from filing any public cause directly or indirectly...," the Bench, also comprising Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice SK Kaul, passed the order after hearing the matter for more than three hours. The Bench took note of all the 64 cases filed by Suraz IndiaTrust in which Daiya had levelled accusations against Judges in the name of public cause, without success.

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