NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a PIL against presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee and termed as "utterly fantastic"
the petitioner's allegation that by canvassing support of MPs and MLAs
while being finance minister, he had committed an offence under
Prevention of Corruption Act.
A bench of Justices Aftab Alam
and H L Gokhale initially decided to impose a cost of Rs 50,000 on
advocate petitioner M L Sharma but later accepted his request to spare
him of the financial burden by issuing a warning to him not to indulge
in such litigation in future.
The bench said, "This court is
not a theatre for your farcical plays." Sharma argued that Mukherjee had
committed an offence under the Prevention of Corruption Act for seeking
"votes" as a favour from MPs and MLAs in exchange of aid and other
benefits under various government schemes.
The bench told the
counsel to refrain from such acts and observed, "You are trying to
destroy the system. He is a candidate, he has to go to MLAs and MPs. On
what basis do you say he is seeking favours." A similar petition by
Sharma against Mukherjee was dismissed by the Delhi High Court on June
29.