Bombay High Court orders PIL petitioner to deposit ₹7.5 lakh as pre-condition to hear pending petitions

The Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court recently took exception to a petitioner filing multiple criminal proceedings against public officers and keeping the same pending like a ‘sword of Damocles’. [Sharad Kulkarni v. State of Maharashtra & Ors.].A division bench of Justices Ravindra V Ghuge and YG Khobragade noted on July 21 that the petitioner Sharad Kulkarni had filed seven proceedings since 2013 against public officers and had kept the same pending. The Court was not convinced about Kulkarni’s bonafides in filing these cases, more specifically the petitions before the High Court.In view of this, the Court directed him to deposit ₹50,000 per officer in each of the proceedings pending before the High Court as a pre-hearing condition. Advocate Aniruddha Nimbalkar for Kulkarni assured the court that a deposit of ₹7.5 lakh would be made within 60 days from July 21.The Court clarified that the PILs will be heard subject to this deposit, failing which the PILs will be dismissed and costs may be imposed. .The order was passed after a division bench was informed that Kulkarni had filed the following seven criminal cases against several officers of various departments. Kulkarni, a civil contractor by profession, had alleged misappropriation of ₹3 crores in one of his petitions. He arrayed nine officers and six contractors and prayed for the registration of crimes under the Maharashtra Civil Services (Discipline and Appeal) Rules against them after a thorough enquiry. .The Court noted that a common feature in these proceedings was that Kulkarni had kept the same pending ever since the court issued notice to the respondent authorities.“After issuance of notice, the matters are not conducted. The same is the case with the pending criminal cases before the trial courts wherein, the stages in the matters are at framing of charges or leading of evidence. None of these matters are taken to an logical end. Even after passage of 10 years, three criminal cases are pending and one criminal case is pending for the last nine years,” the High Court order recorded..Unconvinced with the credentials, the Court imposed a pre-hearing deposit condition..[Read Order]