Wasting the court’s time in the name of unnecessary and illogical public interest litigation is not something unheard of. Often, the petitioners are reprimanded aptly for their actions and let off with warnings.
Now, one such petitioner, 65-year-old TDR Harishchandra Gowda, was ordered by the first bench of the Karnataka High Court on Thursday to pay Rs 5,000 as a fine to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund in the wake of the Kodagu floods. This comes after the petitioner had moved the High Court seeking a probe in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack in 2008.
“While going through the petition, there is no genuine cause in this PIL. We are inclined to dismiss the petition, imposing an exemplary cost,” observed the Karnataka High Court, reported The New Indian Express.
It appears that Harishchandra is a repeat offender when it comes to filing frivolous PILs. Recently, he had sought directions from the court asking the Governor to invite him to be the CM and form a corruption-free state.
The Hindu reported that the petitioner Harishchandra, a resident of Shivamogga district, was also forced to give an undertaking, stating that he will not file such petitions again.
In his latest petition, Harishchandra claimed that he had warned the Centre and Maharashtra government of a probable terror attack but the authorities failed to take action.
Recently, the first bench of the Karnataka High Court, led by Chief Justice Dinesh Maheshwari and Justice R Devdas, had fined two businessman Rs 2 lakh each with regards to relaxation of customs duty for their business rivals. The court had then contended that it amounted to “oblique motive” and “abuse of process of law”.
The heavy rains, which lashed central Karnataka, began on August 12 and triggered massive landslides in Kodagu district. Villages have been swept off, roads have been damaged and landslides have destroyed people’s homes. The death toll till Wednesday evening was 15 and could go up further as authorities are removing debris.
The rehabilitation process is in full swing with more than 90% of the rescue work completed. People have lost homes, entire villages have been consumed in landslides and roads have caved in as a result of the heavy rains.