The Gujarat high court on Friday rejected a public interest litigation seeking recall of Governor Kamla, and imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 on the petitioner.
A division bench of Chief Justice A L Dave and Justice J B Pardiwala noted that the PIL, filed by Lucknow-based advocate Asok Pande, lacked basic requirements of a public interest.
The bench observed it didn't know "if it was a personal interest litigation or a political interest litigation, but it surely did not seem to be a public interest litigation".
The HC imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 on Pande and directed him to deposit the amount within four weeks with the Gujarat State Legal Service Authority.
During the hearing on the PIL last week, the court had asked Pande to explain what the public interest in his litigation was and how the appointment of Governor was unconstitutional as alleged in his PIL.
Questioning the PIL's maintainability, the court had told Pande that it was not clear in the petition whether he wanted to recall the governor or was raising objections on her appointment itself.
Pande had filed the PIL early this month, contending the Gujarat governor needs to be recalled as her appointment was void because due process of law was not followed.
He had further submitted that Kamla was appointed without obtaining the acceptance of the state government, which he argued, was contrary to basic fundamentals of the Constitution.
