It was costly to file a public interest litigation in 2017 against the appointment of the then CJI

Supreme Court ordered recovery of Rs 5 lakh from the petitioner

A petition was filed in 2017 by Swami Om (now deceased) and Mukesh Jain, questioning the practice of recommending the name of a successor to the Chief Justice of India to the President. On which the Supreme Court has given its decision. The bench said that the competent authority can recover the amount of fine from Jain’s land. The court also directed that he would not be allowed to file any PIL in the apex court till the recovery of the amount.

A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and MR Shah also took note of the application moved by Jain to reduce the fine for filing the petition. He is currently in Balasore jail in Odisha in connection with another case. The top court dismissed his application for reduction in the amount of fine, saying Jain was fined Rs 10 lakh in 2017 but it was reduced to Rs 5 lakh last year. The bench said it cannot keep the matter adjourned and the authorities can be directed to recover the fine.

Lawyer’s argument, Jain does not have any land
His advocate AP Singh, appearing for Jain, submitted that he does not have any land and should be asked to appear before the court once he is granted bail in the second case. Jain was granted bail in one case but two other cases are pending in Odisha. The advocate said a case was registered against him on the basis of an purported WhatsApp message circulated last year related to the Puri Rath Yatra in the state and three more cases were registered against him. Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the Centre, said Jain’s application for further reduction in cost has been rejected and the authorities have been directed to attach Jain’s properties and recover the amount as per law. . The apex court had on July 9 said that it would not hear any of his PILs till the time the fine imposed on him was deposited. The court was earlier told that one of them, Swami Om, died last year due to corona, while Mukesh Jain is in Balasore jail for the past one year.