The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Tuesday pulled up an Advocate and doubled the cost imposed on him while dismissing his petition who claimed that he ‘made’ many judges.
The bench headed by Justice Arun Monga took note of Advocate Sushil Gautam’s ‘boisterous claims’ and asserted ‘To say the least, the tone, tenor, manner, and conduct of the learned counsel for petitioner leaves a lot to desire. Yet, taking a lenient view thereof, this court rather prefers self-restraint from taking any further action. However, on the invitation of the learned counsel for the petitioner, the cost imposed is enhanced to Rs.1 lac.”
The above observations were made when one advocate, Sushil Gautam, lost a case and then turned “rowdy”, according to the court. As per sources, Gautam went on to say that he had been “instrumental in making many a judge” and asked how the court could reject his arguments. The claims were made in a petition filed against the refusal of the Police to register an FIR in connection to alleged fraudulent activities committed by the Swami Vivekananda Educational and Charitable Trust.
The plea was dismissed after the Court was informed that the entire matter was already sub-judice before Civil Court as the petitioner had already filed two civil suits in this regard. The Court opined that no satisfactory response had come from the Petitioner as to why he had concealed full facts of the case. “In any case, the conduct of the petitioner for indulging in subtle concealment, as aforesaid, does not inspire any confidence so as to exercise any jurisdiction under Section 482 of the Criminal Procedure Code,” said the court.
In view of these facts, the petition was dismissed with a cost of Rs. 50,000/- to be deposited in COVID-19 fund created by U.T. Administration, Chandigarh. However, it was then that advocate Gautam declared that he could “easily” pay more. Therefore, the court went on to double the costs in the case from Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh, citing the behavior of the advocate as ‘rowdily exuberated’.
