It is a publicity-oriented litigation, apt case which should be dismissed with heavy cost, says court
Kerala High Court on Tuesday, December 21,2021, dismissed a writ petition seeking a direction to remove the photograph of Prime Minister Narendra Modi from the paid COVID-19 vaccine certificates and imposed a heavy penalty of ₹1 lakh on the petitioner. Litigation cost was levied.
Dismissing the petition, Justice PV Kunhikrishnan said, “It was a frivolous petition It has been filed with ulterior motives and I deeply doubt that the petitioner has a political agenda as well.”
The court said it was a publicity-oriented trial. Therefore, it was an apt case to be dismissed with a heavy cost.
The court further observed, “The petitioner should at least study the respect accorded to the Prime Minister and others by watching the parliamentary proceedings, which are available live on national TV. The opposition leaders will strongly protest the policies of the government. But they The Prime Minister will be addressed as ‘Honorable Prime Minister’.
The petition was filed by. Peter Mayaliparambil from Kottayam who claims to be the state level master coach of Jawaharlal Nehru Leadership Institute, New Delhi.
The court said that after the election of Members of Parliament and then when the Prime Minister is elected, the country will forget the political differences and respect the Prime Minister. Any citizen could oppose the policies of the government and the political approach of the prime minister. That was “our tradition and this should be our tradition”.
“As Bapuji said, the winner should know that he has won the race because there is a loser. The loser should know that he is the loser and he is not the winner. Controversy ends. Mutual respect is part of democracy. If it is not so, it will be a dark day for democracy”, the court said.
The court imposed a hefty fine on the petitioner, saying that thousands of cases – criminal, matrimonial and property disputes – were awaiting trial. Therefore, when frivolous petitions were filed, they should be dismissed with a heavy cost.
The court asked the petitioner to pay ₹1 lakh within six weeks to the Kerala State Legal Services Authority (KELSA), which is helping the poor genuine litigants.
The petitioner argued that carrying the photograph of the Prime Minister in the vaccination certificate with a morale boosting message in the event of a pandemic was an intrusion into his privacy and was a ‘forced viewing’. The Central Government had no right to take credit for vaccination by putting a photograph of the Prime Minister in the certificate issued to the paid vaccine recipient. They argued that it was only a certificate issued to confirm the vaccination status of a person.
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