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'Waste of time': Court slams man who wanted 'Mahatma' removed from before Gandhi's name

WION Web Team
New Delhi, Delhi, IndiaUpdated: Nov 15, 2017, 10:03 AM IST
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The petition moved as a public interest litigation (PIL) was dismissed by the court. Photograph:(Reuters)

A research scholar on Tuesday went to Madras High Court with a plea to remove the word 'Mahatma' as a prefix from Gandhi's name, reports said. The court rejected his plea and slapped a fine of Rs 10,000. 

The scholar, S Muruganantham, from Jadavpur University in Kolkata, filed his petition as a public interest litigation (PIL) but was rejected by Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice M Sundar.

According to reports, they stated that this kind of petitions only lead to wastage of time and trapped the courts business. 

Muruganantham argued that the act of the government violates Article 14 and 18 of the constitution and further questioned the gravity of adding 'Mahatma' before the name of M K Gandhi in Indian currency notes, says reports.  

Moreover, the scholar further said that when RBI uses 'Mahatma', it violates the principle of equality which constitutes a basic foundation of the constitution, reports said.