HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court on Monday expressed its displeasure with a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) brought by former MP Chegondi Venkata Harirama Jogaiah, seeking a direction to the CBI court to expedite the trial of cases brought against YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh.
A division bench of the High Court questioned the PIL’s claim of public interest, saying that it appeared to be a personal interest lawsuit. The judge said, “It appears you are filing this PIL due to a personal grudge.” The petitioner and respondent are both politicians. The PIL was considered by Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice N Tukaramji on maintainability, and they said, “Nowadays, many of the PILs become Public Nuisance Litigation, as our Governor stated on an occasion.”
The court questioned the petitioner’s counsel: “Do you intend to make any applications to the CBI court to quicken the proceedings in the pending matters against Jagan?”
In response, the petitioner’s attorney stated that while a letter to the Chief Justice of India (CJI) had been sent, no application had been made to the CBI court. After hearing the counsel’s response, the court wanted to know whether by writing to the CJI and other higher authorities, the petitioner was expecting the courts to operate under duress.
Following a request by the petitioner’s attorney, the court ordered the Registry to provide a copy of its objections to the petitioner and adjourned the case until July 6.