Bombay High Court pulls up petitioner for attempting to hoodwink judiciary; imposes cost of Rs 25,000

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has deprecated the practice of filing petitions in courts by way of chance and imposed a cost of Rs 25,000 on a clerk employed with an educational institution for attempting to hoodwink the judiciary.

A division bench of Justices Ravindra Ghuge and Ashwin Bhobe on December 5 dismissed a 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.

Vijay Fasale, employed as a clerk in an educational institution in Sangli district since June 1997, sought his date of birth to be changed from June 1968 to June 1972.

The court perused Fasale's school records, according to which he passed his Class 10 examination in May 1984.

The court said, "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." It noted that Fasale should not be under the impression that he could 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 realise that they should not file chance cases. Such a message must go out loud and clear," it said.

The bench dismissed the petition and imposed a cost of Rs 25,000 on Fasale and ordered that the amount be deducted from his salary and deposited with the Kirtikar Law College library.