India, March 11 -- The Supreme Court on Tuesday witnessed an unusual courtroom exchange when Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant questioned a petitioner over a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) that the court suspected was not drafted by him but filed on behalf of someone else.

The petition, relating to the PM CARES Fund, came up before a bench comprising the CJI and justices R Mahadevan and Joymalya Bagchi. Within minutes of the hearing beginning, the court began probing whether the petitioner - a hosiery trader from Ludhiana who said he had studied only up to Class 12 -- had actually authored the legal document placed before the court.

At the outset, CJI Kant asked Rajnish Sidhu about his educational qualifications and profession. ...