SC dismisses PIL on Vodafone tax verdict

Holding that a PIL questioning CJI S H Kapadia being part of the bench which delivered the Vodafone tax matter verdict as "highly scandalous, frivolous and irresponsible", the Supreme Court today dismissed the plea for quashing the judgement and imposed a cost of Rs 50,000 on the petitioner.

"It is one of the most irresponsible petitions. You want to destroy the institution and want to make it dysfunctional," a bench headed by Justice Aftab Alam said. It made the remarks on the PIL by advocate M L Sharma for reconsideration of the judgment passed by a three-judge bench headed by CJI Kapadia quashing the Rs 11,000 crore tax demand on Vodafone.

The court also pointed out that unsolicited and irresponsible statements have also been made against government law officers. "You have made irresponsible statements in the petition on government law officers. You can be sued for defamation. You are just wasting time," the bench said.

Sharma, however, pleaded to be heard, saying there has been a resolution passed by Supreme Court judges and his plea should be considered in that light. "We know our resolution better than you," the bench said, adding it is strange that the PIL had been filed for quashing a Supreme Court verdict.

Sharma, however, insisted that the bench should go through his petition before passing any order but the court was not impressed with his plea. "We have gone through the petition line by line. The more we read, the more it hurts us," the bench remarked. "Enough is enough," the bench futher said when Sharma started reading out from his petition.

Sharma had, in his petition, said there was a conflict of interest as the CJI's son was working for a global consultancy firm which had in the past given its services to Vodafone.