MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court recently imposed Rs 25,000 cost on a history-sheeter from Kanniyakumari for filing a petition over personal vengeance.
As the petitioner claimed to be the chairman of an educational trust, Justice B Pugalendhi directed him to pay the cost within a month to the Kanniyakumari chief educational officer, who in turn was instructed to use the amount for the welfare of schools in remote villages.
In his petition, J Spurgeon Samuel had alleged that one Edward Raja, a neighbouring landowner, had trespassed into his land parcel and illegally cut down Rs 1-crore-worth palm trees and quarried sand worth Rs 50 crore.
When he questioned the same, the police registered a false case against him, alleged Samuel, and sought a vigilance inquiry against the police and revenue officials concerned.
However, the additional public prosecutor contended that the officials verified and reported that no quarry activity was noticed in the petitioner’s land. The prosecutor added that a criminal case was registered last year against Samuel -- a history-sheeter -- for allegedly intimidating Edward to pay Rs 20 lakh for the latter to run his quarry business peacefully.
Considering Samuel’s track record, the judge observed that he had filed the petition recklessly in a vague manner to wreak vengeance on Raja and not made out any case warranting vigilance inquiry.