SC Imposes Exemplary Cost Of Rs. 25 Lakh On Suraz Trust For Wasting Judicial Time [Read the Judgment]

For wasting judicial time, the Supreme Court has imposed exemplary cost of Rs. 25 lakh on NGO Suraz India Trust for filing 64 cases in various high courts and also in the apex court.

A three-judge bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) JS Khehar also restrained the trust and its chairman Rajiv Dahiya from filing any case, including PIL, in any court.

Directing Dahiya to deposit the amount with a month’s time, the bench took it seriously the manner in which Dahiya had even ventured to the residence of Supreme Court judges, including that of the CJI, levelling various allegations against the SC registry staff.

"To stop this practice, we direct Suraz India Trust will not file any case. Rajiv Dahiya was restrained from filing any public cause directly or indirectly...," the CJI 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 Trust in which Dahiya has levelled accusations against judges in the name of public cause, but not in a single case, he was successful.

Earlier, the SC had suggested Dahiya to give an undertaking to court not to file any case in court. However, Dahiya requested the court to make him as amicus.

After hearing Dahiya's submissions for nearly two hours, the bench found him to be unqualified to pursue the case as amicus.

Narrating sequence of events and all the cases filed by the trust since 2010, the CJI directed the courts not to entertain the cases.