Plea against use of Mahatma title in notes: Cost imposed on petitioner

The first bench comprising Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice M Sundar before whom a PIL from S Muruganantham, a research scholar, came up on Monday,. said, “This type of PIL’s only clog court’s business and consume its valuable time.”

The petitioner claiming to be a human rights activist had raised the constitutional validity of prefixing the title ‘Mahatma’ before Gandhi’s name in all types of currencies in India.

Stating that the currency is imprinted and circulated by Reserve Bank of India and guaranteed by the Indian Government, the petitioner questioned how the Government allows the title ‘Mahatma’ in Indian currency notes in violation Article 14 and 18 of the Constitution which deal with equality and abolition of titles respectively. 

The Madras High Court on Monday dismissed a plea seeking the removal of ministers Dindigul Srinivasan and KC Veeramani for providing public with false details pertaining to the treatment provided to former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa. 

Justice K Ravichandrabaabu dismissed the plea on holding that the govt has already formed a commission of enquiry under a retired judge to go into details leading to Jayalalithaa’s death. The judge also noted that initiating action against ministers falls under the purview of the Governor and that the Court cannot interfere with it.