"The petition is totally motivated and is dismissed with a cost quantified as Rs 20,000," a bench of Acting Chief Justice A K Sikri and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw said while rejecting the contention that there was a mystery over the date of birth of Justice Kabir who is expected to succeed Justice S H Kapadia as CJI.
The court considered the plea of Additional Solicitor General A S Chandhiok, appearing for the Centre, that the petition was motivated one as once Justice Kabir, as a High Court judge, had decided a case against the petitioner, Nirmal Jit Singh Hoon, an NRI.
"There was no question of an inquiry to determine the age of Hon'ble Justice Altamas Kabir at this stage," the bench said, adding that a proper verification is carried out before a person is elevated as a judge of the High Court.
The court's decision came on the plea of Hoon alleging that Justice Kabir's date of birth is not clear and without determining this, he was elevated as a judge of the Supreme Court and now in due course, he would be the Chief Justice- designate.
"How the issue of the date of birth could be a mystery ? This could be mystery to you, but, it cannot be a mystery for the Government of India and the Supreme Court," the bench said.
The petition alleged that the matriculation certificate of Justice Kabir was missing from his service records and evasive responses were given to Hoon on his petitions under the RTI.
Justice Kabir, the senior most judge after CJI S H Kapadia, was the Chief Justice at Jharkhand High Court before being elevated to the apex court in 2005.
