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The court after dismissing the plea imposed a cost of Rs 50,000 on the petitioners for wasting precious time of the court.
A special division bench of Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Aravind Kumar directed NS Sriram and Niswarth Kochar, petitioner 2 and 3, respectively, to pay the cost within a month, while exempting Mathew Thomas (82), petitioner 1, from paying the cost as he is an ex-serviceman.
The court said, “We decline to entertain the petition only on the ground that it was not filed in public interest. It is a fit case to impose exemplary costs as it is consumed 45 minutes, which could have been devoted to deal with important issues arising out of Covid-19.”