Advocate fined Rs 1 Lakh for filing 'derogatory' PIL against governor

The Bangalore High Court yesterday levied a fine of Rs 1 lakh on a city-based advocate for filing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking action against Governor H R Bharadwaj, JD (S) spokesperson Y S V Datta and former Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde, alleging the trio of collectively conspiring against former Chief Minister B S Yedyurappa

The Bangalore High Court yesterday levied a fine of Rs 1 lakh on a city-based advocate for filing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking action against Governor H R Bharadwaj, JD (S) spokesperson Y S V Datta and former Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde, alleging the trio of collectively conspiring against former Chief Minister B S Yedyurappa.

H R Vishwanath had argued that Governor H R Bhardwaju00a0and former Lokayukta Santosh Hegde had conspired against B S Yeddyurappa to maligning the former chief minister's image, but as the lawyer could not corroborate his claims, the HC quashed his PIL

PIL quashed
After hearing the PIL filed by H R Vishwanath, the division bench of Chief Justice Vikramajit Sen and Justice A S Bopanna dismissed it and ordered Vishwanath to deposit the amount within four weeks and directed the registrar to deposit the amount with the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund (PMNRF).

While dismissing the petition, the bench observed, "The petitioner has wasted half an hour of public time and has made derogatory remarks against the division bench and the Lokayukta Court. As the petitioner filed the PIL without records to corroborate the allegations, it has been apparently done with an intention to please some one."

The accusations
During the hearing of the PIL, Vishwanath had argued that governor, Home Minister R Ashok, Cong MP Ananth Kumar and former Lokayukta Santosh Hegde, had conspired against Yeddyurappa for his character assassination.
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Accusing them of hatching a criminal conspiracy against the former CM, Vishwanath appealed the court to issue a mandamus to constitute a committee for probing the 'criminal conspiracy' against Yeddurappa that landed him in jail.
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He even accused Datta of cheating several people under the guise of getting them seats in professional colleges, and impeached Bharadwaj of not scrutinising the papers before according sanctions.

Arguing that the intentions of complainants Sirajin Basha and Balraj weren't honest, Vishwanath sought directions for a probe into the matter by a retired High Court Judge or a sitting judge or by Lokayukta Court.