HC imposes penalty on advocate for filing groundless PIL on Ganguly
On Monday, a branch of the Kolkata High Court fined a lawyer in the same court for filing a groundless public interest lawsuit (PIL) seeking the removal of India’s former cricket team captain Sourav Ganguly from his board chairmanship.Ganguly’s removal from his BCCI chairmanship was a political conspiracy, lawyer Rama Prasad Sarkar, who filed his PIL, split the bench of Calcutta High Court Srivastava Chief Justice Prakash and Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj. However, after the plaintiff’s appeal in this regard, the fine was later reduced to Rs.25,000.
The Senate directed petitioners to submit the amount of the fine to state legal services as soon as possible.Ganguly’s attorney, who appeared in court on Monday, said his client had no objection to Roger Binney succeeding him as BCCI president. “According to regulations, my client has completed his three-year term as BCCI president. He achieved success during his tenure there,” Ganguly’s attorney said.
The Chief Justice then questioned whether Roger Binney’s appointment as the new BCCI election was due to suffrage.In response, Ganguly’s attorneys said Roger Binney’s appointment was elected and his client had not submitted the nomination. Ganguly’s lawyer said, “Roger Binney has received no opposition and Sourav Ganguly supports him fully.” Afterwards, the Chief Justice first asked Ganguly’s attorney whether his client intended to punish the petitioner in the matter.
Ganguly’s lawyers responded in the negative, but the Division Chamber fined the petitioner Rs 1,00,000, which was later reduced to Rs 25,000, sparked a massive political exchange in West Bengal, with President Mamata Banerjee himself calling the decision a political retaliation.Meanwhile, the BJP leadership questioned why the Prime Minister made superstar Shah Rukh his Khan rather than Ganguly as the ‘brand ambassador of West Bengal’.
