The Kerala High Court on Tuesday dismissed a plea seeking removal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s photograph from COVID-19 vaccination certificates and imposed a cost of Rs 1 lakh on the petitioner by terming the petition as “frivolous”, being “politically motivated” and a “publicity interest litigation”.
Justice P V Kunhikrishnan directed the petitioner — Peter Myaliparampil — to deposit the cost in favour of the Kerala State Legal Services Authority (KeLSA) within six weeks.
The court said in case of failure to deposit the cost within the stipulated period, KeLSA shall recover the amount from his assets by initiating revenue recovery proceedings against him. It said the cost was being imposed to let people and the society know that frivolous pleas like this which waste judicial time will not be entertained by the court.
The court also said that the “frivolous contentions” by the petitioner objecting to the PM’s photo and his “morale boosting message” on the vaccination certificate, was “not expected from a citizen of the country”.
“It is the duty of the citizens to respect the Prime Minister of India,” the Kerala High Court observed.
“Nobody can say Prime Minister is a Congress PM or a BJP PM,” Justice PV Kunhikrishnan said.
It also said that when there are thousands of criminal appeals, bail pleas, civil suits and matrimonial cases pending in the courts, frivolous petitions like the instant one waste judicial time.
The court had previously observed what was wrong in Covid-19 vaccination certificates carrying the photograph of the Prime Minister when he was elected to power by the people of the country.
