New Delhi, Jul 6 (IANS): The Supreme Court Friday dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking directions to the central government to conduct an inquiry against presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee for canvassing votes before resigning as the union finance minister.
An apex court bench of Justice Aftab Alam and Justice H.L. Gokhale, dismissing the PIL by advocate Manohar Lal Sharma, said  this court was not a theatre for his farcical play.

The court imposed a cost of Rs.50,000 on the petitioner - which it subsequently withdrew with a warning that any such repeat of farcical PIL in future would invite heavy cost.

As petitioner Sharma pleaded before the court that the cost of such a huge amount would destroy him, Justice Alam told him that he was destroying the system.

Right in the beginning, the court had asked Sharma if he was seriously pursuing his petition and cautioned him of the consequences it may invite.

"Mr. Sharma, are you seriously pursuing this application? We are cautioning you," the court said, right at the outset of the hearing.