Supreme Court Pulls Up Serial Litigant Advocate ML Sharma In Pegasus Case

Seems like this Delhi-based advocate Manohar Lal Sharma loves to court controversy. He picks up controversial cases and files Public Interest Litigations (PIL) in the Supreme Court. He hit the national headlines when he appeared as a defence lawyer for one of the accused in 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case. According to livelaw.in, a leading legal news portal, the Supreme Court on Thursday (August 5) pulled up serial litigant Advocate ML Sharma over the PIL filed by him seeking probe into the Pegasus snooping controversy. “Mr Sharma, except newspaper cuttings, what is there in your petition? What purpose you have filed the petition for? You want us to collect the material and argue your case? This is not the way of filing a PIL. We also read newspapers,” CJI expressed displeasure at his PIL. This is not the first time Sharma is being hauled up by the Apex Court. In August 2019, he got slap on his wrist for filing a shoddy petition challenging the August 5 Presidential Order on Article 370 on the very next day of its issuance. Likewise in May 2015, SC asked why he should not be debarred from filing and/or canvassing any Public Interest Litigation on account of the “irresponsible and scandalous allegations levelled by him” against the members of Parliament. He later apologised and was allowed to file PILs with certain checks.