Gujarat high court dismisses 3 frivolous PILs, asks petitioners to pay costs

The Gujarat high court came down heavily on the petitioners in three separate cases recently for filing frivolous petitions in the name of public interest litigation (PIL). The court dismissed the petitions and imposed costs on the petitioners. Interestingly, in one case the court asked the petitioner to pay the imposed costs to the Red Cross Society, Ahmedabad.

The division bench of chief justice SJ Mukhopadhyaya and justice Akil Kureshi of the Gujarat high court ordered a petitioner, Manoj Kumar Baktarwala, to pay Rs 20,000 towards costs, for filing a frivolous review petition and wasting the court's time. The court directed the petitioner to pay the money within six weeks to the Red Cross Society, Ahmedabad.

Baktarwala had filed a review petition with a plea to condone the delay of 906 days caused after his PIL was first dismissed by the court. The first time, the division bench had dismissed the petition observing that the petitioner had filed the petition in his personal interest, but it had not imposed any costs.

In another case, the same bench directed the South Gujarat Textile Processors Association to pay Rs 20,000 towards costs, to the state legal services committee. The court noted that there was no public interest involved in the matter and the writ petition had been filed with the intention of obtaining an interim stay to help interested parties.

In the third case, a division bench comprising chief justice Mukhopadhyaya and justice AS Dave imposed costs of Rs 20,000 on the petitioner. The petitioner had filed a frivolous writ petition with the prayer to take appropriate action against accused persons named in the FIR in a criminal case. The court noted that in many cases in which the FIR had been filed, the accused may be absconding. However, under law, that cannot be a ground for filing a PIL in the matter.