Madhya Pradesh HC asks petitioner to prove bona fide before hearing his PIL [Read Order]

The High Court of Madhya Pradesh recently found it apt to first examine whether a petitioner seeking action against public encroachments was himself guilty of any encroachment..The petitioner had approached the court for removing the encroachments made by the State within the prohibited area of Adamgarh Rock Shelter situated near Hoshangabad. However, before proceeding with the matter, the Court has decided to examine the bona fides of the petitioner and evaluate if he is a law-abiding citizen or not..The order passed by a division bench of Chief Justice Ajay Kumar Mittal and Justice Vijay Kumar Shukla reads,.“Before proceeding further, it is considered appropriate to test the bonafide of the petitioner and that he himself is law-abiding citizen in as much as, the petitioner is directed to place on record the sanction plan of his construction, the construction raised by him and the no-objection certificate issued by the appropriate Authority so that the Court may get it examined from the appropriate Authorities whether there is any encroachment made by the petitioner or not on his own property.”.In doing so, the Court appears to have borne in mind the equity principle that a litigant who comes to the court for relief must come with clean hands and a clean objective..The matter is next listed to be heard on November 27..Recently, in the case of Dhakshnamoorthy v The Commissioner, the Madras High Court had also reiterated that the bonafide of the petitioner has to be examined, while s/he approaches the Court in a PIL..In that case, the Court ultimately dismissed the PIL petition, emphasising that only genuine and bona fide public interest litigation should be encouraged. This was done to ensure that people do not abuse the Court process by filing frivolous petitions with oblique motives..[Read the Madhya Pradesh High Court order here]