Sending a clear message to all petitioners that they will face consequences if they file misleading public interest litigations before the court, a division bench of the Telangana High Court, on Monday, dismissed the PIL filed by a sarpanch and imposed fine of Rs 50,000 on him for suppressing the facts that he was named in an FIR registered at Venkatapur police station in Mulug distirct.
Why the petitioner should not be prosecuted for filing the present PIL by suppressing information which amounts to perjury and for taking the court for a ride? Even he has filed a sworn in affidavit stating that he was not involved in any civil or criminal case. The court will never accept such suppression of facts, the bench told the petitioner’s counsel.
The bench dismissed the petition filed by G Kumara Swamy, sarpanch of Laxmidevipet Gram Panchayat in Venkatapur mandal, seeking direction to the authorities concerned for registering an FIR against the Station House Officer of Venkatapur police station for allegedly harassing the poor villagers and for slapping cases against them regarding a land dispute in the village.
After perusing the contents of the affidavit, the bench termed the issue as a ‘private interest litigation’ and pulled up the petitioner’s counsel for filing a false public interest litigation. While declining the counsel’s repeated requests to pardon the petitioner, the bench directing the petitioner to deposit the fine within next two weeks.