The observation was made by justice DH Waghela while hearing a plea seeking cancellation of anticipatory bail of BJP MLA from Daskroi Assembly seat, Babubhai Jamnadas Patel and his son.
The Gujarat high court has said it was unfortunate that limited time and resources of the judiciary were 'disproportionately' devoted to legal battles of the rich and powerful.
The observation was made by justice DH Waghela while hearing a plea seeking cancellation of anticipatory bail of BJP MLA from Daskroi Assembly seat, Babubhai Jamnadas Patel and his son.
Babubhai and his son are accused of land grabbing, forgery and assaulting petitioner Pravinbhai Patel and his family members.
"Not only that many man-hours and days of the investigating officers are consumed in attending Courts, but also so much public time of the courts is consumed at cost of many other cases of humble litigants waiting for justice for decades," justice Waghela observed in his judgment.
"The matter has been intermittently argued by learned senior advocates appearing on both sides for nearly two weeks... for making minute and often irrelevant points," he said.
"It is but unfortunate that limited time and resources of the judiciary have to be disproportionately devoted to such fiercely fought legal battles of the rich and powerful," the court observed, after declining the petitioner's plea of canceling Babubhai and his son's anticipatory bail.
The court has asked MLA Babubhai and his son to remain present at Sanand police station on March 2 and if they are arrested they should be released on a personal bond of Rs25,000.
The court also described the investigation in the case as 'tardy and lukewarm' which was interrupted by various judicial proceedings.
During the hearing the state government also told the court that Babubhai's bail should be canceled and he needed to be taken into police custody for interrogation. The public prosecutor said the government would file a separate petition to seek their remand.
Initially, after the petitioner and his family were assaulted in September 2008, the police refused to register an FIR, which was later lodged after intervention of the court.
The petitioner had than approached the high court early last year demanding further probe in the case alleging that investigating agency was not performing his duty. The HC transferred the case to state CID (crime), which is presently probing the case.
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