Order reserved over SC's income disclosure rules

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday reserved its order on a plea challenging Supreme Court rules requiring an advocate and litigant to cite their annual income and PAN number while filing a PIL.

A division bench of Chief Justice G. Rohini and Justice R.S. Endlaw reserved the order after hearing arguments in the case.

The petition, filed by a lawyer M.L. Sharma, challenged the Supreme Court's 2013 rules and sought their quashing. The plea said the rule was "arbitrary and illegal" and against public interest and justice.

"Compelling a litigant to disclose annual income in the writ petition is interference in the privacy of a individual's personal right as well as illegal, unconstitutional and arbitrary," Sharma argued.

 

The plea also challenged the rules which allegedly "require a litigant and a lawyer to appear before the Registrar (of the Supreme Court) for interview to get a certificate to appear and argue before the court".