Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, Jan 29: Jitendra Kumar Rajan of Karkala origin, who had filed 11 contempt of court petitions against high court registrar general, T G Shivashankare Gowda, has been fined Rs 11 lac by the state high court.

A division bench of the high court comprising senior judge, Justice B Veerappa, and Justice M G Uma, passed the order on Friday January 28 after hearing the petitions.

Jitendra Kumar Rajan had filed 11 separate petitions. The high court imposed fine of one lac rupees each for the 11 petitions, duly ordering the same to be paid to the bar council within eight weeks. If the fine isn't paid within the prescribed time, the deputy commissioner has to take steps for recovering the dues. If the amount is not received the bar council can file contempt of court petition, the high court ordered.

The bench observed that through unnecessary contempt of court petitions, valuable time of the court was wasted and an attempt was thus made to threaten the judicial officers which cannot be overlooked. It also said that this is tantamount to making a mockery of the judicial system. Therefore, it ordered the registrar general to register a suo motu criminal contempt of court petition against the petitioner.

A single judge bench had dismissed writ petitions filed by the petitioner relating to a case. It had asked the registrar general to collect the fine. But the petitioner, instead of paying the fine, had filed civil contempt of court petitions against the registrar general.

The bench said that attempts to ride on the judiciary cannot be tolerated.