Deprecating the practice of filing petitions by way of “chance”, the Bombay High Court has imposed a cost of Rs 25,000 on a clerk employed with a state educational institution for attempting to hoodwink the judiciary.
The court dismissed the petition filed by one Vijay Fasale seeking to change his date of birth in the government records from 1968 to 1972 thereby making him four years younger. Fasale, who has been working as a clerk in an educational institution in Sangli district since June 1997, sought for his date of birth to be changed from June 1968 to June 1972.
After going through Fasale’ school records, the court noted that he passed his standard tenth in May 1984. “If the date of birth of the petitioner is taken as June 1972 only for the sake of assumption then it would mean that he had passed his 10th standard at the age of 12 years, thereby meaning he was admitted in the 1st standard in June 1973 when he was one year old,” a bench of Justices Ravindra Ghuge and Ashwin Bhobe said on December 5.
Irked, the judges said that Fasale should not carry the impression that he can get away with an order by hoodwinking the court. “The time has come for this court to ensure that litigants, who attempt to hoodwink the court, should realize that they should not file chance cases. Such a message must go out loud and clear,” the HC added.
Dismissing the petition, the HC imposed a cost of Rs 25,000 which is to be deducted from Fasale’s salary and deposited with the Kirtikar law college library.
