HC imposes Rs 25,000 costs on lawyer for repeated allegations

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has imposed a cost of Rs 25,000 on a lawyer who is also a PhD scholar for repeatedly making what it termed 'uncalled for allegations' against senior faculty members, despite having earlier stated that she was not pressing those allegations. A division bench of Acting Chief Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Rohit Kapoor noted that the petitioner had earlier made a categorical statement that the allegations were not being pressed, leading to their expunging from the record.

The court observed that despite this, the petitioner filed another application containing similar 'scandalous and wholly uncalled for' assertions. When confronted, she tendered an unconditional apology and withdrew that application. However, the bench found that the present application again levelled similar allegations. The court said the petitioner cannot be permitted to abuse the process of the court by filing repeated applications with such assertions.

The court also noted that the university had stated the petitioner's synopsis had already been accepted and there was no objection to her continuing the PhD course. The application was dismissed with costs of Rs 25,000, to be deposited in the PGI Poor Patients Welfare Fund.