The court said the ED, by filing the petition, has not only wasted legal fees and stationery but also judicial time.
The court said the ED, by filing the petition, has not only wasted legal fees and stationery but also judicial time.
The Supreme Court has pulled up the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for challenging bail granted to a cancer patient by a lower court and ordered ₹1 lakh to be recovered from the salary of the ED officer who authorised the filing of the appeal in the top court.
A Bench led by Justice M.R. Shah said the “peculiar facts and circumstance of the case” and the fact that the man was released on bail as he was “suffering from malignancy and cancer” did not warrant any further interference from the Supreme Court.
The court dismissed the appeal of the Central agency against the bail order. The court said the ED, by filing the petition, has not only wasted legal fees and stationery but also judicial time.
“The department ought not to have filed such a special leave petition wasting the stationery, the legal fees and the court’s time. The petition stands dismissed with exemplary cost, to be borne by the concerned officer who granted the permission to file the petition, quantified at ₹1,00,000/-, to be recovered from the salary of such an officer, the order said.
The department has to deposit the money with the Supreme Court Registry in a month.
One half of the ₹1 lakh would be transferred to the National Legal Services Authority and the remaining money would be handed over to the Supreme Court’s Mediation and Conciliation Project Committee.
