The Bombay High Court on Thursday imposed a cost of Rs 50,000 on a lawyer for filing a "frivolous" petition seeking that Bharat Ratna awarded to former prime minister Morarji Desai be withdrawn.
A division bench of Chief Justice Pradeep Nandrajog and Justice Bharati Dangre dismissed the petition filed by advocate Janardan Jaiswal.
Jaiswal had sought a direction to the government to withdraw Desai's Bharat Ratna. The country's highest civilian honour was conferred on him in 1991.
"This is the most frivolous petition. We do not wish to comment anything on this. Such petitions are not expected from members of the bar," the court said.
The judges directed Jaiswal to deposit Rs 50,000 in the account of the high court's legal aid services cell.
The petition claimed that Desai, in his autobiography, had made some controversial statements about the government giving awards such as Bharat Ratna.
"During his tenure as prime minister, the government of India suspended conferring of awards. However, by later accepting Bharat Ratna, Desai committed a fraud," the petition said.
Desai served as prime minister between 1977 and 1979. He passed away in 1995.
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