Allahabad High Court
Ram Dev Gupta vs State Of U.P. Thru. Prin. Secy. ... on 20 October, 2022
Bench: Ramesh Sinha, Renu Agarwal
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD, LUCKNOW BENCH
?Court No. - 1
Case :- PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION (PIL) No. - 736 of 2022
Petitioner :- Ram Dev Gupta
Respondent :- State Of U.P. Thru. Prin. Secy. Deptt. Rural Development Govt. Up Lko. And 6 Others
Counsel for Petitioner :- Alok Kumar Tripathi
Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.,Pankaj Gupta
Hon'ble Ramesh Sinha,J.
Hon'ble Mrs. Renu Agarwal,J.
Heard Shri Alok Kumar Tripathi, learned counsel for petitioner, Shri Pankaj Gupta, learned counsel for respondent no.7/Gaon Sabha and Shri Indrajeet Shukla, learned Additional Chief Standing Counsel for State/respondent nos.1, 2, 4, 5, 6.
Learned Additional Chief Standing Counsel has received instruction from Block Development Officer, Pratapgarh dated 07.10.2022, which is taken on record.
The instant Public Interest Litigation has been filed by the petitioner- Ram Dev Gupta, seeking following reliefs:-
"I. Issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of mandamus commanding and directing the opposite parties particularly the opposite party no.4 to institute a high level enquiry in the matter of misuse of government exchequer under PMAY-G scheme in Gram Sabha Deumpurab, Block Sangipur, Tehsil Lalganj, District Pratapgarh and punish the erring authorities/officers, how high so ever, in accordance with law.
II. Issue a writ, order or direction in any nature which this Hon'ble Court may deem fit and proper under the circumstances of the case."
Learned Additional Chief Standing Counsel and learned counsel for respondent no.7 have raised preliminary objection with regard to maintainability of present public interest litigation and argued that though the petition is ostensibly filed in the public interest, the petitioner has not made due disclosure as required by sub-rule (3A) of Rule 1 of Chapter XXII of the Allahabad High Court Rules, 1952 which was amended in view of the judgment of the Supreme Court passed in the case of State of Uttaranchal Vs. Balwant Singh Chaufal & Ors., 2010 AIR SCW 1029 and prays for dismissal of present petition.
In response, learned Counsel for the petitioner argued that the petitioner is a citizen of India and resident of District Pratapgarh and he does social work for the welfare of the people and makes effort to stop illegality, irregularities committed by any person, hence he is having right to raise the grievances concerned by filing public interest litigation. He further submits that there is misappropriation of government fund which was to be utilized under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana- Gramin (PMAY-G) scheme.
Having considered the rival submissions of the learned counsel for the parties and gone through the record, it is relevant to mention that it is the duty of this Court to ensure that there is no personal gain, private motive and oblique motive behind filing of P.I.L. In order to preserve the purity and sanctity of the P.I.L., the courts must encourage genuine and bona fide P.I.L. and effectively discourage and curb the P.I.L. filed for extraneous considerations.
It would also be appropriate for this Court for encouraging the genuine P.I.L. and discouraging the P.I.L. filed with oblique motives. The Courts should prima facie verify the credentials of the petitioner before entertaining a P.I.L. It is also well settled that the Courts before entertaining the P.I.L. should ensure that the P.I.L. is aimed at redressal of genuine public harm or public injury. The Court should also ensure that there is no personal gain, private motive or oblique motive behind filing the public interest litigation.
Following the judgment of the Supreme Court passed in the case of State of Uttaranchal (supra), Chapter XXII of the High Court Rules, 1952 was amended by including sub-rule (3A) in Rule 1, which is as follows:-
"(3A) In addition to satisfying the requirements of the other rules in this Chapter, the petitioner seeking to file a Public Interest Litigation, should precisely and specifically state, in the affidavit to be sworn by him giving his credentials, the public cause he is seeking to espouse; that he has no personal or private interest in the matter; that there is no authoritative pronouncement by the Supreme Court or High Court on the question raised; and that the result of the Litigation will not lead to any undue gain to him or anyone associated with him, or any undue loss to any person, body of persons or the State."
This amendment was brought out in compliance of the judgment of the Supreme Court in order to ensure that the jurisdiction in public interest is invoked for genuine purposes by persons who have bona fide credentials and who do not seek to espouse or pursue any extraneous object. Otherwise, the jurisdiction in public interest can become a source of misuse by private persons seeking to pursue their own vested interests.
A Division Bench of this Court in the case of Gurmet Singh Soni Vs. State of U.P. and others : 2021 (5) ADJ 409, noticing the aforesaid decision of the Apex Court in State of Uttaranchal (supra) and other judgments of the Apex Court on the issue, has dismissed the public interest litigation.
So far as credential of the petitioner is concerned, we are of the considered opinion that the petitioner has failed to submit before this Court regarding his own credentials and as such, we are of the considered opinion that the present writ petition is misuse and abuse of the process of the Court.
In the present case, we are not satisfied that this is a genuine petition filed in public interest so as to invoke the jurisdiction in the public interest under Article 226 of the Constitution.
This writ petition is, accordingly, dismissed.
(Mrs. Renu Agarwal, J.) (Ramesh Sinha, J.)
Order Date :- 20.10.2022
Shubhankar
