Madras HC Imposes 20,000 Cost On Advocate For Filing Frivolous Petition Seeking Development Of Mobile App For Online Sale Of Liquor [Read Order]

The bench was informed that the Petitioner, B. Ramkumar Adityan, a practicing Advocate of the High Court, had concealed the fact that earlier also the High Court had imposed a cost of Rs. 10,000/- on him, for filing frivolous PILs.

"We are of the opinion that such a series of alleged Public Interest Litigation writ petitions are filed unnecessarily by a professional and a practising Advocate, therefore, we are constrained to observe that filing of such frivolous petitions are nothing but wasting the time of the court rather than serving a real cause of public relating to TASMAC liquor sale

…in order to effectively dissuade the petitioner from filing such kind of petitions unnecessarily, we are constrained to impose a cost of Rs.20,000/- on the petitioner, which we direct him to deposit in the Chief Minister Public Relief Fund, within a period of one week from today," the bench of Dr. Justice Vineet Kothari and Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana ordered.

The Petitioner had sought that the High Court order dated May 8, permitting online sale/ door delivery of liquor should be enforced only after the State Government develops a Mobile App and Website for the same.

However, the bench noted that the Petitioner was in a "habit" of filing such petitions, "for whatever extraneous reasons he may have."

Pertinently, the order dated May 8 was also passed in a petition filed by Adityan, along with a similar batch of PILs.

It may also be noted that Chief Justice AP Sahi has already constituted a Full Bench to take up cases relating to closure of TASMAC shops/liquor shops in the state today, i.e. May 14.

The matter is also pending before the Supreme Court in an appeal preferred by the TASMAC, which is now listed on May 15.

Case Details:

Case Title: B. Ramkumar Adityan v. Govt of Tamil Nadu & Ors.

Case No.: WP No. 7614/2020

Quorum: Dr. Justice Vineet Kothari and Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana

Appearance: Petitioner in person; Addl. Advocate General SR Rajagopal and Government Pleader V. Jayaprakash Narayanan (for State)

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