A Delhi High Court bench of
Justices Sanjeev Sachdeva and Vikas Mahajan, on Monday, dismissed a review
petition filed against an order quashing a PIL challenging the appointment
of Justice Dhananjaya Yashwant Chandrachud as the 50th Chief Justice of India
(CJI).
Dealing with Sanjeev Kumar Tiwari's plea, the bench dismissed it
as no ground was made out to review the order dated November 11, 2022, when his PIL
was set aside by Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma-led bench.
The bench said that the present review petition appears to be an
appeal disguised as review and the petitioner (Tiwari) has not been able to
point any error.
"This does not fall under review. Review is only when there
is an error. Error has not been pointed out either in your petition or your
arguments," the bench said while dismissing the petition.
Earlier, the HC through the impugned order had imposed a cost of
Rs 1 lakh on the petitioner.
On January 13, CJ-led bench recused itself from the matter as the
impugned order dismissing the PIL has also been passed by the same bench.
Petitioner's allegations being defamatory, the counsel for Centre
had submitted before the court that a strict action should be taken against
Tiwari.
A similar argument was previously rejected by the Supreme Court on
the grounds that it was ill-conceived and without merit.
The petitioner's lawyer had claimed that Justice Chandrachud does
not deem fit to take an oath since his son is appearing in a matter before the
Bombay High Court and then him passing an order in the same case.
The plea to delay Justice Chandrachud's taking the oath of office
as India's next Chief Justice was dismissed by the bench of the then CJI U.U.
Lalit after it was determined that the claims of conflict of interest against
him lacked validity.
Succeeding CJI Lalit, Justice D.Y. Chandrachud was
administered oath as the 50th Chief Justice on November 9, 2022.
CJI Chandrachud will serve till November 10, 2024.
Born on November 11, 1959, Justice Chandrachud was appointed as
the Supreme Court judge on May 13, 2016. Before that, he had served as the
Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court from October31, 2013 until his
appointment to the Supreme Court.