SC imposes Rs 1 Lakh cost on a petitioner challenging restoration of NCP leader's LS membership

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday rejected a plea by a lawyer challenging the restoration of Lok Sabha membership of Nationalist Congress Party leader Mohammed Faizal with Rs 1 lakh cost.

The petitioner, advocate Ashok Pandey, contended before a bench led by Justice B R Gavai that once an MP loses office due to conviction in a criminal case, they will continue to be disqualified until their acquittal by a higher court.

The bench, also comprising justices Aravind Kumar and Prashant Kumar Mishra, asked the petitioner, why he is filing a "frivolous" petition despite being a lawyer. 

After hearing brief submissions, the bench dismissed the petition and also imposed Rs 1 lakh cost on the lawyer.

A separate bench had earlier on October 13 imposed Rs 5 lakh cost on Pandey for filing another PIL claiming that the oath administered to Bombay HC chief justice Devendra K Upadhyay was defective as he did not use the word 'I' during the swearing in.

On October 9, the Supreme Court had stayed the Kerala High Court's October 3 order which had dismissed a plea filed by Lakshadweep MP Mohammed Faizal for staying his conviction in an attempt to murder case.

Faizal was disqualified on October 4 as the NCP MP. He was first disqualified on January 13 after the sessions Court's order. On January 11, 2023, Faizal and three others were sentenced to 10 years rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs 1 lakh each by a sessions court in Kavaratti in Lakshadweep for attempting to kill Mohammed Salih, son-in-law of the late Union minister P M Sayeed, during the 2009 Lok Sabha elections.