- (1.) We have heard learned counsel appearing for parties. This Writ Petition No. 9730/2011 is filed in public interest with the following prayers:-- "It is, therefore, most respectfully prayed by the petitioner before your Lordship that; this writ petition filed by the petitioner, may kindly be allowed with, cost and; (i) By an appropriate writ, order or direction, in the nature thereof, the respondent Department of Local Bodies, Jaipur may kindly be directed to take immediate suitable action including disciplinary action, against respondent No. 7 and 8, for various irregularities committed by them, in discharge of their duties in Municipality Banner and by a suitable order, they kindly be immediately transferred or removed from Municipal Council Barmer and be posted at any other place, so that, no more injury is caused to Municipality Barmer and enquiries being undertaken in regards to various irregularities in the matter of regularisation of land and embezzlement of Municipal Funds, is not hampered or influenced by respondent No. 7 and 8. (ii) By an appropriate writ, order or direction in the nature thereof, the State of Rajasthan, may kindly be directed to carry out special audit, by Local Fund Audit or by any other suitable agency, to enquire all the cases of regularisation in regards to land of Kacchi Basti area and cases of disposal of other lands of Municipality Barmer, from year 2000 till date and report of the enquiry be placed before this Hon'ble High Court, for further action, if found needfull. (iii) By an appropriate writ, order or direction, in the nature thereof a suitable enquiry/investigation in the matter may kindly be ordered by Central Bureau of Investigation (C.B.I.) or by Anti Corruption Bureau and it may kindly be directed to seize off entire record of Municipality Barmer, in regard to various irregularities committed by the respondent No. 7 and 8 and to investigate role of respondent No. 9, Public Representatives Shri Mewa Ram Jain, MLA, Barmer, for his role in disposal of Municipal Land, as stated in this writ petition. (iv) or if deemed fit in the facts and circumstances; by an appropriate writ, order or direction, in the nature thereof, suitable action may kindly be ordered for taking disciplinary/ criminal action against all the Municipal Chairman, Barmer and other government officials/ employees, found involved in illegal regularization/grant of lease deeds in respect of land of Municipality Barmer from year 2000 till date. (v) Any other order or direction which the Hon'ble Court deems fit and proper may kindly be passed in the matter."
(2.) The petitioner has identified himself in paragraph 3(i) of the writ petition as a citizen of India and a permanent resident of District Barmer. He also produced copy of PAN Card for proof of his identity. He has stated in paragraph 3(2) to (6) as follows:-- "(2) The in this petition, the petitioner does not have any personal interest in the matter. The petition is being filed in the interest of public at large to raise voice, in regards to large scale irregularities which has been committed by the respondent No. 7 and 8 and who have been continuously causing loss to the respondent Municipality Barmer and to Government, for last more then 1 5 years, by sitting at one place in Municipality Barmer, and they have been involved in various cases of corruption, but because of political support of local MLA Shri Mewa Ram Jain (former Municipal Chairman) and other local leaders, the Government is not able to take any action against them, till date and despite, there being repeated recommendation for disciplinary action and to lodge FIR, no disciplinary action is initiated against respondent No. 7 and 8, which is a matter of serious concern. (3) That, the entire litigation cost, including the advocate's fee and other charges is being borne by the petitioner, from his personal income. The petitioner is a Tax Payer and holds Permanent Account Number AEXPJ-9924J. (4) That, a thorough research has been conducted on the subject matter, raised in this public interest litigation (all the relevant material documents, in respect of such research shall be annexed with this writ petition). (5) That, to the best of petitioner's knowledge and research, the issue raised was not dealt with or decided and that a similar or identical petition was not filed earlier by him, seeking action against private respondents. However, the attention of the higher authorities of the government was invited for taking appropriate action, by serving legal notice, but these legal notices are not even responded. (6) The Petitioner has understood that in the course of hearing of this petition, the Court may require any security to be furnished towards costs or any other charges and the petitioner shall comply with such requirements."
(3.) A preliminary objection has been taken to the maintainability of the writ petition in public interest. It is submitted by learned counsel appearing for respondent No. 9 that after the comprehensive directions issued in the judgment of Hon'ble Supreme Court to check the misuse of Public Interest Litigation, in State of Uttaranchal v. Balwant Singh, 2010 AIR(SC) 2550, various High Courts have framed strict rules for ascertaining the credentials and the object of filing the writ petitions in public interest. The Supreme Court has expressly warned that the High Courts should not allow any person to vent his. grievances in personal matters and further that strict enquiry should be made to find out whether any public interest is served in the matter. The Court should encourage genuine and bona fide PIL, and discourage PIL for extraneous considerations and win oblique motive. The observations of the Hon'ble Supreme Court are quoted as below:-- "194. We must abundantly make it clear that we are not discouraging the public interest litigation in any manner, what we are trying to curb is its misuse and abuse. According to us, this is a very important branch and, in a large number of PIL petitions, significant directions have been given by the courts for improving ecology and environment, and directions helped in preservation of forests, wildlife, marine life etc. etc. It is the bounden duty and obligation of the courts to encourage genuine bona fide PIL petitions and pass directions and orders in the public interest which are in consonance with the Constitution and the Laws. 195. The Public Interest Litigation, which has been in existence in our country for more than four decades, has a glorious record. This Court and the High Courts by their judicial creativity and craftsmanship have passed a number of directions in the larger public interest in consonance with the inherent spirits of the Constitution. The conditions of marginalized and vulnerable section of society have significantly improved on account of courts directions in the P.I.L. 196. In our considered view, now it has become imperative to streamline the P.I.L. 197. We have carefully considered the facts of the present case. We have also examined the law declared by this court and other courts in a number of judgments. 198. In order to preserve the purity and sanctity of the PIL, it has become imperative to issue the following directions:-- (1) The courts must encourage genuine and bona fide PIL and effectively discourage and curb the PIL filed for extraneous considerations. (2) Instead of every individual judge devising his own procedure for dealing with the public interest litigation, it would be appropriate for each High Court to properly formulate rules for encouraging the genuine PIL and discouraging the PIL filed with oblique motives. Consequently, we request that the High Courts who have not yet framed the rules, should frame the rules within three months. The Registrar General of each High Court is directed to ensure that a copy of the Rules prepared by the High Court is sent to the Secretary General of this court immediately thereafter. (3) The courts should prima facie verify the credentials of the petitioner before entertaining a P.I.L. (4) The court should be prima facie satisfied regarding the correctness of the contents of the petition before entertaining a PIL. (5) The court should be fully satisfied that substantial public interest is involved before entertaining the petition. (6) The court should ensure that the petition which involves larger public interest, gravity and urgency must be given priority over other petitions. (7) The courts before entertaining the PIL should ensure that the PIL is aimed at redressal of genuine public harm or public injury. The court should also ensure that there is no personal gain, private motive or oblique motive behind filing the public interest litigation. (8) The court should also ensure that the petitions filed by busybodies for extraneous and ulterior motives must be discouraged by imposing exemplary costs or by adopting similar novel methods to curb frivolous petitions and the petitions filed for extraneous considerations.";