The Delhi High Court on Tuesday, 9 April, dismissed a lawyer's plea challenging the legality of a two-day Winter Session of the Assembly held on 17-18 January 2017 and the decisions taken during the sitting, and imposed a cost of Rs 50,000 on him for filing a "frivolous petition".
The petitioner-lawyer had contended that the two-day session was the first one of 2017 and ought to have commenced after the Lieutenant Governor's address which was not done.
Justice Vibhu Bakhru disagreed with the contention saying that the proceedings were actually a resumption of the adjourned Winter Session of 2016 and not a fresh one.
The judge, while slapping the cost of Rs 50,000 on petitioner Prashant Kumar Umrao, also said that "nobody was suffering on account of the LG not addressing the session. Only persons who suffered were those (litigants) who had to wait for this frivolous petition to be heard before their matter was taken up".
"This court is of the view that this petition warrants cost," the judge said, adding that the amount be deposited with the newly created advocates welfare trust within two weeks.
The Delhi government standing counsel Ramesh Singh said that costs be imposed in the matter for wasting the court’s time as was done against AAP government.
The Delhi government was on 30 January last year saddled with costs of Rs 5,000 for delay in filing its affidavit in the matter.
The high court in its oral order referred to a Supreme Court judgement, placed before it by Singh, which laid down the distinction between start of an adjourned session and commencement of a fresh one, and said that in view of the apex court decision the instant petition lacked any merit.
With the observation, the petition was dismissed.
During the brief proceedings, the Legislative Assembly, represented by advocate Prabhsahay Kaur, told the court that an address by LG was not required as the two-day proceedings were only a resumption of the winter session which had been adjourned sine die on 15 November, 2016.
Singh argued in the court that the first session of 2017 had actually commenced on 6 March, 2017 and with the LG’s address.
Advocate R P Luthra, appearing for Umrao, urged the court several times to reduce the cost amount, but the judge disagreed.
When the two-day session of the Assembly had commenced, Leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta had objected to it saying by not inviting Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal to address the "first session of the year", the government has "violated and misused" rules.
Speaker Ram Niwas Goel had rejected Gupta's charge, saying this sitting was not a new session in a new calender year but was part of the 2016 Winter Session.
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