A plea has been moved in Delhi High Court challenging provisions of the Supreme Court's 2013 rules which require an advocate as well as a litigant to cite their annual income and PAN number while filing a PIL.
The petition, filed by a lawyer, has also challenged the rules which allegedly require a litigant and a lawyer "to appear before the Registrar (of apex court) for interview to get a certificate to appear and argue before the court".
The lawyer, M L Sharma, has also submitted that a litigant cannot be compelled to engage a lawyer to have access to the court.
He has contended that compelling a litigant to disclose annual income in the writ petition is "interference in the privacy of a individual's personal right" as well as "illegal, unconstitutional and arbitrary".
The petition has sought quashing of the rule to disclose annual income and PAN number in the writ petition saying it was "arbitrary, illegal and mala fide and against the public interest and justice".
