New Delhi, March 10 The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by a cloth trader from Ludhiana after he admitted to using artificial intelligence tools to draft the petition and could not explain the complex legal terms used in it.
"Go, sell 2-3 more sweaters in Ludhiana… If you continue filing such petitions through others, they will end up imposing costs upon you," Chief Justice Surya Kant said while dismissing the PIL.
The bench, also comprising Justices Joymalya Bagchi and R Mahadevan, became suspicious when Rajnish Sidhu, a hosiery trader with a Class 12 education, stood up to argue his plea regarding the PM CARES Fund.
The moment Sidhu started his arguments by reading from the written text, the CJI began questioning his educational and other backgrounds.
When the petitioner said that he had not filed any petition in the past and directly came to the top court to file his first plea, the CJI sarcastically said, "Very brave of you to come straight from Ludhiana to the Supreme Court."
"I will take your English exam right here," the CJI said, adding, "If you manage to score even 30 per cent, I will believe you drafted this plea."
The moment of truth came when the CJI asked Sidhu to explain "Fiduciary Risk of Corporate Donors," a term used in the PIL.
A stumped Sidhu was unable to define the term and tried to read from his notes.
"Mr. Sidhu, this has been written and given to you by some advocate. You are just reading the script," the CJI interjected and warned that he would order an investigation by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau.
The petitioner then took the name of a typist working on the apex court premises as the person who initially helped him draft the PIL.
"The typist was very helpful… I gifted him four jackets. He was asking for Rs 1,000 per hour," Sidhu said, adding, "But I have not used his petition and drafted my own."
Eventually, he admitted to using three to four artificial intelligence (AI) tools to draft the petition because he could not afford a lawyer.
The bench dismissed the PIL with the warning that any such attempt in the future will invite penal and financial consequences.
On Monday, the CJI-led bench dismissed five "frivolous" PILs filed by a single lawyer, including one seeking a scientific study on whether onion and garlic contained "tamasic" (negative) energy, and asked if he drafted them in the middle of the night.