New Delhi, May 23 -- The Supreme Court on Friday imposed a cost of Rs 7,000 on a petitioner who filed a PIL (public interest litigation) plea over protocol issues in connection with the Chief Justice of India (CJI) BR Gavai's first visit to his native state of Maharashtra after he took office as CJI.

A bench led by the Chief Justice of India, BR Gavai, deprecated the practice of filing such a plea and observed that it was nothing but a "publicity interest litigation" filed to gain "cheap publicity."

The plea had been filed seeking directions to the Union of India and the State of Maharashtra to conduct a preliminary inquiry over the breach of the petition and misconduct on the part of the senior state officials who remained absent while...