Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has observed that the stream of public interest litigations (PIL) should be kept sacred as possible and should not be misused. The observation was made by a bench of Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya and Justice Arif Doctor while dismissing a PIL petition by one Sanjay Kokate, who had sought a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into allegations of corruption against certain Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officers.
While dismissing the plea, the bench remarked that such PILs unnecessarily eat into the court’s judicial time. “It is very easy to level allegations of bribes. But where is the proof? You should refrain before making such allegations. There is nothing on corruption. These kinds of PILs are unnecessarily eating our court's time,” the bench said, adding, “Please keep the stream of PIL as sacred as possible. It should not be made an instrument.”
Kokate, who is the president of a charitable trust, claimed to have filed several representations against BMC officers. He contended that a businessman had also filed a criminal complaint with the Mumbai police. However, the first information report (FIR) was registered against only one of the accused BMC employees. The petitioner alleged that the police have not probed the case in a proper manner and sought CBI probe against the other BMC officers involved.
The bench remarked that it was for the complainant to question the probe and raise grievance, if any. Also, Kokate had not included the respective officers as respondents in the PIL, it added. The PIL only named the BMC Commissioner and the Anti-Corruption Bureau as respondents.
It found that Kokate's petition only contained a narration of allegations, without enough material to substantiate them. Also, the bench said that it could transfer the probe to the CBI only in exceptional cases and no such circumstance was found in this case.
“In very exceptional circumstances or cases, the court while exercising jurisdiction under Article 226 can transfer investigation to CBI. However, before passing such an order, this court needs to be satisfied of the circumstances that exist warranting the transfer of investigation of CBI. Such transfer of investigation of offences is normally permissible in case the reported offence has interstate or all-India repercussions. In the entire petition, nothing has been brought to our notice to persuade us to transfer the investigation to CBI,” the bench said while dismissing the PIL.
