Supreme Court Issues Contempt Notice To Suraz Trust MD For His Failure To Appear Before It Citing Covid Vaccination

A Bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Hemant Gupta noted in their Order that they strongly deprecated the conduct of Daiya and that along with not complying with the previous Order, he was seeking to "wriggle out of the proceedings by raising all kinds of objections".

Further, the Court observed that "the fact that he has been given Covishield vaccination on 26.03.2021 is no excuse not to appear today before the Court after more than a week".

"Prima facie, Mr. Daiya seems to be bent upon violating the directions of this Court and thus, we have no option but to issue notice of contempt to Mr. Daiya returnable on 12.04.2021", the Order states. He has been directed to file a Reply to the same before the next hearing.

During the course of the proceeding today, it was also submitted by Daiya that he held a government job as a stenographer for a "government advocate in Jodhpur". Noting this, the Court proceeded to issue notice to the Standing Counsel for State of Rajasthan in order to verify the same. The matter will now be heard on 12^th April.

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.

For wasting judicial time, the Supreme Court had in May 2017 imposed an exemplary cost of Rs. 25 lakh on the NGO for filing 64 cases in various High Courts and the Apex Court. A three-Judge Bench led by then Chief Justice of India JS Khehar had also restrained the Trust and its Chairman, Rajiv Daiya, from filing any case, including PILs, in any Court.

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 practice, 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.