Withdraw PIL or go to jail: Calcutta High Court to Assistant Registrar of Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad University

The Calcutta High Court on Thursday castigated the Assistant Registrar of the Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad University of Technology for misusing the official information of the varsity to pursue a public interest litigation (PIL) petition [Anup Kumar Mukherjee vs Union of India]..A bench of Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya noted that the Assistant Registrar, Anup Kumar Mukherjee (petitioner) was also the Public Information Officer (PIO) for the University.This meant he had access to information based on queries filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005, which the Court observed, appeared to have been misused by the petitioner to pursue a PIL alleging irregularities in University recruitment. "You have founded your PIL based on the information given on RTI queries. You are misusing the information you obtained as a PIL. Either withdraw this PIL or you are not going home or to university but directly to jail," the Chief Justice warned. .The bench also told the Assistant Registrar to first resign from his post if he wanted to pursue the PIL."You joined service in 2019 and now allege that several recruitments were done (irregularly) at least 10 years before your joining. This is a clear private interest. You resign and then come. Don't remain inside and shoot. It is like lying down and spitting. It will come and hit on your face. If you got guts, resign and fight," the Chief Justice remarked..The Court added that Mukherjee could not cast aspersions against the officials of the varsity and continue receiving a salary from the University at the same time "There is a breach of confidentiality on your part. You are the Public Information Officer (PIO) of the varsity and you are misusing the information obtained in your official capacity for private. Right now, we will dismiss your PIL with costs of ₹ 5 lakh payable within 48 hours. If you fail to make the payment then you are going to jail directly. Or else, withdraw," the Chief Justice threatened. .The petitioner had alleged that several irregularities had taken place in the Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad University of Technology. He worked as the Assistant Registrar in the university. He claimed that several persons were recruited in the varsity in violation of the existing rules. He claimed that the public exchequer suffered from financial losses due to such surplus recruitments. .However, after being pulled up by the bench, the petitioner withdrew his PIL.