Kapil Sibal undertakes to pay cost imposed by Supreme Court in Samajwadi Party MLA election case
Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal has undertaken to pay a cost of Rs.20,000/- imposed by Supreme Court in a Civil Appeal filed by Abdulla Azam Khan, Son of Samajwadi Party MP, Azam Khan challenging Allahabad High Court verdict annulling his election as an Uttar Pradesh MLA.
A bench consisting of Justices Khanwilkar , Dinesh Maheshwari and C.T.Ravikumar had dismissed the Civil Appeal on the last date of hearing (16.09.2021) on the grounds of non-prosecution. An application filed to set aside the order of dismissal passed by the court for non-prosecution.
Sibal appeared for Abdulla Azam Khan and said “I was in another hearing Milords. I informed the AoR to seek an adjournment, it appears there has been a miscommunication. I apologise for it.” Justice Khanwilkar replied saying “We waited till 11.30 for the matter to be heard. Nobody turned up. We were not even informed of the adjournment, we agree that you might have had a case elsewhere but the conduct of the AoR is unpardonable.”
Sibal apologised again and requested the court to set aside the previous order and restore the appeal. Justice Khanwilkar however opined that a cost must be imposed since the court’s time was taken for granted. The bench opined that they were neither impressed by the conduct of the AoR nor by the contents of the application and on these grounds imposed a token cost of Rs.20,000/- payable to Supreme Court Legal Aid fund.
Justice Khannwilkar said “Who is to pay the cost is upto you to decide but we are constrained to impose it.” Sibal replied to this is saying “It is a pro bono matter Milord, I will have to bear it.” Justice Khanwilkar in jest remarked “This will go to a pro-bono cause.”
The Allahabad High Court annulled Abdulla Azam’s election as an Uttar Pradesh MLA on the grounds that he was underage and therefore not qualified to fight the polls in 2017. His election Suar assembly constituency in Rampur as null and void on a plea by defeated Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate Nawab Kazim Ali Khan.
Case Title : Mohammad Abdulla Azam Khan Vs Nawab Kazim Ali Khan (CA- 104/2020)