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SC dismisses petition against Sonia Gandhi

May 24, 2004 12:38 IST

The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a petition seeking a direction to President A P J Abdul Kalam not to appoint Congress chief Sonia Gandhi as prime minister of the country.

A vacation bench headed by Justice Ruma Pal imposed a cost of Rs 30,000 on petitioner Ashok Pandey, a Lucknow-based advocate, after he insisted that the matter be referred to a five-judge Constitution Bench.

The bench observed that after Sonia's 'refusal' to become prime minister, the cause of action did not survive.

When the petitioner insisted that the issue of her foreign origin was very much alive and it should be decided by a Constitution Bench, the Court observed that the issue had already been settled in the Hari Shanker Jain case.

Jain had challenged Sonia's election to the Lok Sabha from Amethi on the ground that she was not a citizen of India.

However, Pandey kept on insisting that the matter should be referred to a Constitution Bench and even went on to say that the Court was in the habit of dismissing petitions without hearing.

This angered the Bench, which imposed a cost of Rs 20,000, but when the petitioner refused to leave the Court even after dismissal of his petition, it raised the cost amount to Rs 25,000 and then to Rs 30,000.

It was only after the Bench threatened that 'we will have you arrested' that the petitioner relented.

The Lucknow-based lawyer had moved the Court on May 17, contending that the Congress chief was not a citizen of India within the meaning of Article 5 of the Constitution.


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Number of User Comments: 14




Sub: Foreigner Issue.

Supreme court has rightly opined that the issue was settled once for all in an earlier judgement.Being an advocate himself,the complainant should have accepted the ...


Posted by john





Sub: it was right on sc's part

we have been given the right to decide our pm by the constitution.we do not need such petitions to the courts.if the majority in the ...


Posted by gaurav





Sub: Supreme Court's attitude

Supreme Court's attitude is one of contempt against the petitioner. It is a mystery to the common folk as to how the courts are seized ...


Posted by U.Atreya Sarma





Sub: We need to have people vote

This is shame on our part. probably while framing our constitution great people might not have thougth of this situation. for this court or parliament ...


Posted by sathish Kumar





Sub: Petition on Sonia

When everything fails, the only solace open to the people for justice is judiciary and it is an oasis in the burning desert. Certainly, it ...


Posted by raphael sebastian




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