Bombay HC rejects proxy PIL by paan shop owner at SoBo

Mumbai: The Bombay high court rejected a public interest litigation and levied a cost of Rs 50,000 on the petitioner stating that he was put up as a proxy by a private builder or the petition was filed to practice extortion.

The petitioner, who is a tobacco shop owner at Mazgaon, had alleged that a 20-storeyed building was constructed on a plot other than which was earmarked for it and hence the petition was filed in public interest. A division bench of chief justice Dr Manjula Chellur and justice M S Sonak was hearing the PIL filed by Deepak Lande, the paan bidi shop owner seeking relief of setting up of special task force to enquire about serious fraud allegedly committed by a developer in undertaking redevelopment on a Mazgaon plot.

After hearing the contentions of the petitioner’s lawyer advocate Jitendra Mishra, the court observed that the petition had many flaws and adequate documents to establish the bonafide of the petitioner like the annexure of Aadhar Card and Pan Card numbers had been obliterated from the affidavits using white ink. The court also observed that as the petitioner claimed to have an annual income of Rs 1.2 lakh and that of his wife to be Rs 1 lakh, his willingness to deposit Rs 50,000 to prove his bonafide was not acceptable.  

After Mishra informed the court that the petitioner lived only half a kilometre away from the construction site and the building was constructed upto 20-storeys, the court invoked the doctrine of laches (legal right asserted after a long delay) and said that it appeared that the petitioner had a vested interest and hence the PIL was dismissed.

The court also directed the civic authority, Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) and Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) to verify whether the allegations of the PIL of construction being carried out on the plot other than on which permission was granted were valid.