A suit claiming damages of whopping Rs 1,111 crore  has been filed against Chief Justice of Karnataka Cyriac Joseph. The defamation suit, filed by a city-based advocate is expected to come up for hearing at the Court Hall-11 in the City Civil Court on Wednesday. Advocate Keshavan V Challam states that the remark made by the Chief Justice at a function in Chikmagalur in October was defamatory in nature and hence the damages ought to be paid. The Chief Justice had allegedly stated that advocates are responsible for corruption in the judiciary.
Interestingly this suit has been classified as “Pauper miscellaneous.” A case gets this classification when a person files the suit claiming that he is indigent which means that he cannot afford to pay the court fee. If the court finds that the person is indeed indigent, then the court fee would not have to be paid. As per rules,10 per cent of the amount claimed as damages will have to be deposited as court fee.
The magistrate would now have to decide whether the person is indigent. However it learnt that the registry of the court has raised an objection questioning as to how a practising advocate can be a pauper.