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Supreme Court slams man's plea seeking to be made President of India: ‘Scurrilous'
The plea, filed by Kishore Jagannath Sawant who claimed to be an environmentalist for the past 20 years, said he was not allowed to contest the recent Presidential polls.
The Supreme Court on Friday rejected a man's petition seeking to be appointed as the President of India. Asking the registry to “not entertain his plea”, a bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Hima Kohli said the petition is “frivolous” and an “abuse of the process of the court”.
The plea, filed by Kishore Jagannath Sawant who claimed to be an environmentalist for the past 20 years, said he was not allowed to contest the recent Presidential polls. Sawant appeared before the apex court and said that he had “every right to contest the government policies”.
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The petition included three points - directions to treat him as an undisputed candidate for the 2022 Presidential election, direction for his appointment as President of India, and direction for payment of salaries paid to past presidents since 2004.
He further referred to the situation in Sri Lanka where the former president had to give in to the people's protest for the bench to consider his plea.
“I hope the court will let me put up my case and let the government realise where they are wrong. People are deprived of even contesting basic elections,” he was quoted as saying by Live Law.
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To this, the top court said the petition was "scurrilous". “What kind of scurrilous allegations have you raised against the President of India?” said Justice Chandrachud, the next Chief Justice Of India.
The apex court further said that while the petitioner can deliver speeches on the basis of his specialised knowledge, “filing such petitions is not the way”.
(With agency inputs)
