Bombay High Court slaps ₹1 lakh costs for filing pleadings with oblique motives

Frivolous petitions containing pleadings with oblique motives must be dealt with sternly, observed the Aurangabad bench Bombay High recently [Naser Nahdi Mohamed v. Chief Election Commissioner & Ors.]..The Court made the observation in a March 11 order while dismissing a plea to transfer commissioner-cum-administrator, G Shrikant, out of the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Municipal Corporation on the ground that he had completed three years in the corporation.The petitioner had also alleged that the IAS officer (Shrikant) enjoyed the patronage of higher-ups, which was way he remained in the district despite completing the required service period. However, on the Court's queries, the petitioner admitted that he did not have any material to support such allegations. A division bench of Justices Ravindra V Ghuge and RM Joshi opined that it was pertinent to dismiss such cases with costs to discourage petitions with oblique motives.“When frivolous and baseless allegations are made, imposition of exemplary costs would be justified. If the pleadings give impression of oblique motives, they must be dealt with sternly in order to filter out frivolous petitions and dismiss them with costs so that the message goes in the right direction that the petitions filed with oblique motives do not have the approval of the Court," the Court said..The bench dismissed the petition by imposing costs of ₹1 lakh.This amount would be deposited in the court and then transmitted to the Government Medical College, Government Cancer Hospital, Indian India, Orphanage Home (Shantivan), Day Care Centre of High Court and Advocates Association at Aurangabad, the Court added. “In the event of failure, the said amount shall be recovered by the District Collector of this District, by resorting to the provisions of the Maharashtra Land Revenue Code, treating the said amount to be arrears of the land revenue," the Court said. .The Court was dealing with a petition filed by Naser Nahdi, an aspiring politician who had earlier made representations on the issue to several officials. After these representations went unanswered, Nahdi approached the High Court with a petition seeking the transfer of IAS officer G Shrikant. Nahdi pointed out that the commissioner had already completed the service period of over three years.Nahdi also demanded action against the Chief Secretary and Chief Electoral Officer of the State for failing to transfer the commissioner out of the district.Nahdi also alleged that the commissioner was enjoying patronage from politicians and had bribed higher officials to remain within the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district..The High Court, however, was surprised to find that the petitioner had made such allegations without any material to back them up. “We are shocked and astonished by the conduct of the petitioner. We have perused the pleadings put forth by him in the petition and the representation. His request for transferring is on the basis of wild, baseless and reckless allegations in support of which, he has no iota of evidence”, the Court observed.The Court concluded that the writ petition was not only misconceived but appeared to have been filed with oblique motives.“With such object, the Petitioner has cast grave and serious aspersions on the commissioner-cum-administrator without any substantiation or any evidence. It is quite shocking that the petitioner would dare to make such allegations when he has no material with him to substantiate even a single allegation," the Court added, before dismissing the plea..Advocates TY Syed, Mohd and Aseem Abdul Kaleem appeared for the petitioner.Advocates Alok Sharma appeared for the Chief Election Commissioner, senior Principal Secretary, and Chief Electoral Officer of the State.Government pleader AB Girase appeared for the Chief Secretary of State and Director General of Maharashtra Police.Senior Advocate SB Deshpande with advocates SP Urgunde and CB Chaudhari appeared for the commissioner-cum-administrator..[Read order]