HC imposes cost on petitioners for misusing PIL forum

Mumbai, Feb 20 (UNI) Taking a tough stand against misuse of Public Interest Litigation(PIL) forums of the court, the Bombay High Court today imposed costs of Rs 10,000 each on four petitioners, who had challenged a proposed Slum Rehabilitation Project in Cuffe Parade in the city.

A division bench, comprising Justice Bilal Nazki and S A Bobde, slapped costs of Rs 10,000 on Shivaji Jadhav and three other petitioners when the Judges found they were not bonafide petitioners and the PIL was filed with some ulterior motive.

The court found that first petitioner Shivaji Jadhav, who earns about Rs 5,000 a month, had spent Rs 33,000 for obtaining different documents related to the proposed project.

When the judges asked him as to how he had raised the amount, he could not give any satisfactory reply and instead questioned the judges as to how they were concerned with that.

Considering the aspect that petitioners must have spent more money for filing the petition, the Judges observed the PIL was filed by somebody else on behalf of the residents and imposed costs of Rs 10,000 each on all the four petitioners for misusing forum of PILs.

The Advocate General had stated that no Slum Rehabilitation Authority project was approved for the concerned slum dwellers by any of the State authorities but the petitioners kept on insisting that an Construction Company's proposal was approved.

UNI XR OBB MS KN1932