Bombay HC: Rs 15000 costs imposed in two cases to be sent to Taloja jail, for its library books – Times of India

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court bench of Justices S B Shukre and G A Sanap imposed cumulative costs of RS 15000 in two civil cases and directed that the money be given to Taloja Central Prison to then enable the superintendent to buy books for its library.
The bench informed additional public prosecutor Sangeeta Shine on Thursday that it had imposed costs of Rs 10,000 and Rs 5000 each in two separate cases. The bench informed her so as to enable her to inform the jail authorities so that they utilize it for the library. She said she would inform the jail superintendent.
The order assumed significance since earlier this week the bench had said in lighter vein that it was ‘comical’ that the prison barred a PG Wodehouse book parcel for inmate and Elgar Parishad accused activist Gautam Navalakha last year. The bench had followed it up the next day with another quip saying “why is humour banished from jails’’ when told that Wodehouse was not in its library.
The HC had then asked Shinde who appeared in the hearing of Navalakha’s plea for House Arrest how many books the Taloja jail library had and was told 2850. The Court had then said, “That is nothing. Even a secondary school will have more books.’’ And had said inmates must be allowed to read “a wide variety of books including humour and spiritual ones’’ and the library must have books in various languages.
The orders regarding the imposition of costs will be out later and hence it is not known what the costs imposed were for. In Bombay high court the costs could be subject to the HC rules too or under the Civil Procedure Code.