HC proposes to reduce costs on Juhi Chawla from Rs 20L to Rs 2L in 5G lawsuit

The Delhi High Court Tuesday proposed to reduce from Rs 20 lakh to Rs 2 lakh the costs imposed on actress Juhi Chawla and two others by a single judge while dismissing her plea against 5G roll out with a condition that she would have to do some work for public cause considering that she is a celebrity and has presence in publicChawlarsquos counsel senior advocate Salman Khurshid on instructions from her consented to the courtrsquos suggestion which came during the hearing of an appeal by Chawla and the two others against the order dismissing her lawsuit against the 5G roll outA bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Jasmeet Singh issued notice to the Delhi State Legal Services Authority DSLSA secretary seeking his response on the appeal and listed the matter for further hearing on January 27Khurshid submitted that if the cost amount could be waived they could go back to pursue the causeTo this the bench proposed to the counsel that it could reduce the cost amount but this would come with a condition that Chawla would have to do some public workldquoWe will not waive the cost completely but we can reduce it substantially from Rs 20 lakh to Rs 2 lakh But that comes with a condition Considering your client is a celebrity and has presence in public so she should do some public work also Her image and position may be utilised by the society for some public work some good campaign and good purpose alsoldquoWill she do it She could do a programme for DSLSA here DSLSA people will contact her and they could work out something and she can feature in it and could promoterdquo the bench saidKhurshid said it would be an honour for her and it would be a life time opportunity and sought a passover to take instructions from the actress on itAfter some time he informed the bench that the actress was grateful to the court for making this suggestion and she was agreeable to itHe also said if the court could find a way of taking care of the negative impact which the press reports make sometimes it would help herWhile issuing notice to the DSLSA the bench said it was not inclined to issue notice to other respondents at this stage considering that the plaint has been returned to the appellants following the single judgersquos order and their primary grievance is relating to payment of Rs 20 lakh costs amount to the DSLSARegarding the prayer to exempt them from payment of court fees the high court asked why should there be an exception and it is not that the actress does not have means to pay itldquoEveryone pays the court fees she also has to pay it It is not that the amount is exorbitant We are not going to change it Everyone has to follow the discipline of the courtrdquo the bench saidKhurshid urged the court to allow them to voluntarily deposit the court fees which would be returned to them in the account of the DSLSAIn June last year the single judge had described the lawsuit by Chawla and two others against 5G roll out as defective abuse of process of law and filed for gaining publicity while dismissing it with costs of Rs 20 lakhIn the appeal before the division bench of the high court the actress and other appellants have contended that the single judge dismissed the plea and imposed costs without any jurisdiction and contrary to the settled lawIt is claimed that a plaint can be dismissed only after it has been allowed to be registered as a suitThe appellants have further reiterated their concerns surrounding the harmful impact of 5G technology and submitted ldquoEvery day that the 5G trials are allowed to continue constitutes a distinct and imminent danger to the health of the people who reside in the vicinity of the area where the trials are being conductedrdquo In the lawsuit the appellants had claimed that if the telecom industrys plans for 5G come to fruition ldquono person animal bird insect and plant on earth will be able to avoid exposure 24 hours a day 365 days a year to levels of RF radiation that are 10x to 100x times greater than what exists todayrdquoIt had sought a direction to the authorities to certify to the public at large how 5G technology is safe to humans animals and every type of living organism flora and faunaWhile dismissing the lawsuit the single judge had said the plaint in which questions have been raised about health hazards due to the 5G technology was not maintainable and was stuffed with unnecessary Scandalous frivolous and vexatious averments which are liable to be struck downThe single judge had said the suit filed by actressenvironmentalist and others was to gain publicity which was clear as Chawla circulated the video conferencing link of the hearing on her social media account which resulted in the repeated disruptions thrice by unknown miscreants who continued disruptions despite repeated warningsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text 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