Mumbai: Tired of a ‘tareekh pe tareekh’ situation, a senior citizen from Pune couriered a Rs 20,000 cheque to the Bombay high court’s registry in exchange for his matter to be posted for an early hearing.
Anil Tikotekar also sent a letter to the court and an email to the registry’s official address, offering the money.
An irate division bench of Justices P B Majmudar and Amjad Sayeed on Friday called the letter “reckless”. Tikotekar apologized to the court and must now file an affidavit tendering the apology along with a request to withdraw the letter. “Nobody has a right to address any letter to the judges in any manner, as it may…interfere with the administration of justice,” the judges observed.
Tikotekar offered Rs 20,000 for a 60-minute hearing before the judges. “Tomorrow if someone deposits Rs 1 crore, should we hear him for an entire day?” said an irked Justice Majmudar.
Tikotekar, a trader in his mid-60s and a resident of Shivaji Nagar, Pune, has the power of attorney to argue on behalf of his wife Anagha, who filed an appeal in an arbitration case in 2004.
The appeal has since been heard and adjourned. The judges observed that Tikotekar told the court that “by ignorance and mistake, it has been mentioned in the letter that if 60 minutes time is given to him, he is ready to deposit Rs 20,000 with this court”.
“So far as the amount is concerned, it is for him to approach the registry and withdraw the same by filing the appropriate application,” the judges said.
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