2004 Supreme(SC) 294

2004(2) Supreme 387
SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
(Under Art. 32 of the Constitution of India)
Doraiswamy Raju & Arijit Pasayat, JJ.
Dr. B. Singh -Petitioner
versus
Union of India and Ors. -Respondents
Writ Petition (C) No. 122 of 2004
(D. No. 305 of 2004)
Decided on 11-3-2004
Counsel for the Parties :
For the Petitioner : In-person

IMPORTANT POINTS
(1) In cases of appointment of Judges, the sinister design of people intended to thwart prospects of a person likely to be appointed as a Judge has to be nipped at the bud.
(2) A time has come to weed out the petitions, which though titled as public interest litigations are in essence abuse of process of Court as Courts are flooded with large number of such litigations.

Headnote:(i) Constitution of India-Articles 32 and 217-Public Interest Litigation -Abuse of process of law-Petition filed questioning propriety of respondent No.3 being considered for appointment as a Judge-Petitioner not having any personal knowledge of allegations made against respondent 3-Public Interest Litigation filed on basis of publication in a newspaper or journal etc.-Whether maintainable-(No)-Newspaper reports per se do not constitute legally acceptable evidence-Petitioner held as a busy body bent upon self publicity sans any sense of responsibility.

       Held : This petition filed purportedly under Article 32 of the Constitution of India, 1950 (in short the Constitution ) shows to what extent the process of law can be abused. It carries the attractive brand name of "public interest litigation", but the least that can be said is that it smacks of everything what a public interest litigation should not be. (Para 1)

       According to the petitioner, as reflected in the petition, basis of the petition is a copy of the representation purported to have been received from one Ram Sarup which was addressed to the President of India with copies to the Chief Justice of India, Ministry of Law and Justice, Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court, Governor of Haryana and Bar Council of India wherein allegations were made against respondent No.3. Only on the basis of what is stated therein of which apparently the petitioner himself cannot legitimately claim to have any personal knowledge the petitioner filed a writ petition before the Punjab and Haryana High Court which was dismissed. The petitioner makes a grievance that aforesaid Ram Sarup had received acknowledgement of the representation addressed to the President of India wherein it was also noted that the same had been forwarded to the Secretary to the Government of India, Ministry of Law, Justice and Company Affairs (Department of Legal Affairs) for appropriate action. But no action was taken to look into the allegations. It is not clear from the writ petition as to whether the petitioner had sent any representation to the President and other constitutional functionaries as the enclosures to the writ petition show that aforesaid Ram Sarup had sent representations to the President with copies to the other functionaries. The copy of the representation dated 18.10.2003 shows that it was sent by Ram Sarup. The second representation is dated 13.12.2003 in which reference has been made to a representation purported to be dated 28.11.2003. In the representation dated 13.12.2003 reference is made to the acknowledgement dated 12.11.2003. This creates an impression that the acknowledgement dated 12.11.2003, of the President s Secretariat relates to the representations sent by Ram Sarup. But the copy of purported acknowledgement filed as Annexure P-2 shows as if it was sent by the petitioner. No copy of any representation dated 28.10.2003 as indicated in Annexure P-2 has been filed along with the petition. The petitioner nowhere has stated that he has any personal knowledge of the allegations made against respondent No.3. He does not even aver that he made any effort to find out whether the allegations have any basis. He only refers to the representation of Ram Sarup and some paper cuttings of news items. He has not indicated as to whether he was aware of the authenticity or otherwise of the news items. It is too much to attribute authenticity or credibility to any information or fact merely because, it found publication in a newspaper or journal or Magazine or any other form of communication, as though it is gospel truth. It needs no reiteration that newspaper reports per se do not constitute legally acceptable evidence. (Para 4)

       The affidavit shows that the contents were true and correct to his knowledge and based on records. Strangely, it has not been indicated as to what is the source of his knowledge and are based on what records. Even the copy of the order passed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court where he filed writ application on allegedly identical issues, as indicated in the petition, has not been annexed. The casual and cavalier fashion it appears to have been handled and of late attempted to be made ipse dixit, in a laconic and lackadaisical manner compels to draw the only inference that the petitioner is a busy body bent upon self publicity sans any sense of responsibility unmindful of the adverse impact, at times it may go to create at the expense of decency and dignity of constitutional offices and functionaries and there is no element or even trace of public interest involved in the petition. (Para 4)

       When there is material to show that a petition styled as a public interest litigation is nothing but a camouflage to foster personal disputes or vendatta to bring to terms a person, not of ones liking, or gain publicity or a facade for blackmail, said petition has to be thrown out. (Para 5)

       Procedure for appointment of a Judge is provided in Article 217 of the Constitution. The process is an elaborate one and involves the views of the collegium of the Court. Where a particular person is to be appointed as a Judge, the modalities and procedures to be adopted have been elaborately dealt with. (Para 22)

       The note of caution has yielded no fruitful result and on the contrary these busybodies continue to make reckless allegations and vitriolic statements against Judges and persons whose names are under consideration for judgeship. Therefore, it has become imperative to take stern actions against these persons. It is not the ipse dixit of any individual to say as to whether the recommended person is fit for appointment, by making wide allegations which has become common these days and have resulted in delaying appointment of Judges, though large number of vacancies exist in different High Courts. All possible care and caution is exercised before appointment of a Judge is made. It is true that no system is infallible, but at the same time the sinister design of people intended to thwart prospects of a person likely to be appointed as a Judge has to be nipped at the bud. The petitioner has not shown any material to show that he is really interested in the welfare of the judicial system or the institution of the judiciary. As indicated above, he appears to be a busy person seeking publicity and a person who has no genuine concern for the institution, if such type of petitions are permitted to be entertained it will cause immense damage to the system itself. High sounding words used in the petition about the desirability of a transparent judicial system cannot in our view turn a mis-conceived petition filed with oblique motives to be treated as a public interest litigation. This petition deserves to be dismissed with exemplary costs and we direct so. The petition though deserves to be dismissed with costs of Rs. 50,000/- hoping that the petitioner would mend his ways and would not hazard such vexatious litigations in future dismiss the same with costs of Rs. 10,000/- which the petitioner shall deposit in the Registry of this Court within 6 weeks from today. (Para 22)

       (ii) Constitution of India-Article 32 -Public Interest Litigation-Maintainability-There must be real and genuine public interest involved in the litigation-It should not be publicity interest litigation or private interest litigation or politics interest litigation or latest trend paise income litigation - A person acting bonafide and having sufficient interest in proceeding will alone have a locus standi and can approach the Court to wipe out violation of fundamental rights and genuine infraction of statutory provisions.

       Held : Public Interest Litigation which has now come to occupy an important field in the administration of law should not be "publicity interest litigation" or "private interest litigation" or "politics interest litigation" or the latest trend "paise income litigation". If not properly and strictly regulated at least in certain vital areas or spheres and abuse averted it becomes also a tool in unscrupulous hands to release vendetta and wreck vengeance, as well to malign not only an incumbent to be in office but demoralise and deter reasonable or sensible and prudent people even agreeing to accept highly sensitive and responsible offices for fear of being brought into disrepute with baseless allegations. There must be real and genuine public interest involved in the litigation and concrete or credible basis for maintaining a cause before court and not merely in adventure of knight errant borne out of wishful thinking. It cannot also be invoked by a person or a body of persons to further his or their personal causes or satisfy his or their personal grudge and enmity. Courts of justice should not be allowed to be polluted by unscrupulous litigants by resorting to the extraordinary jurisdiction. The credibility of such claims or litigations should be adjudged on the creditworthiness of the materials, averred and not even on the credentials claimed of the person moving the courts in such cases. A person acting bona fide and having sufficient interest in the proceeding of public interest litigation will alone have a locus standi and can approach the Court to wipe out violation of fundamental rights and genuine infraction of statutory provisions, but not for personal gain or private profit or political motive or any oblique consideration. (Para 5)

       It is depressing to note that on account of such trumpery proceedings initiated before the Courts, innumerable days are wasted, which time otherwise could have been spent for the disposal of cases of the genuine litigants. Though we spare no efforts in fostering and developing the laudable concept of PIL and extending our long arm of sympathy to the poor, the ignorant, the oppressed and the needy whose fundamental rights are infringed and violated and whose grievance go unnoticed, unrepresented and unheard; yet we cannot avoid but express our opinion that while genuine litigants with legitimate grievances relating to civil matters involving properties worth hundreds of millions of rupees and substantial rights and criminal cases in which persons sentenced to death facing gallows under untold agony and persons sentenced to life imprisonment and kept in incarceration for long years, persons suffering from undue delay in service matters - government or private, persons awaiting the disposal of tax cases wherein huge amounts of public revenue or unauthorized collection of tax amounts are locked up, detenu expecting their release from the detention orders etc. etc. are all standing in a long serpentine queue for years with the fond hope of getting into the Courts and having their grievances redressed, the busy bodies, meddlesome interlopers, wayfarers or officious interveners having absolutely no real public interest except for personal gain or private profit either of themselves or as a proxy of others or for any other extraneous motivation or for glare of publicity break the queue muffing their faces by wearing the mask of public interest litigation and get into the Courts by filing vexatious and frivolous petitions of luxury litigants who have nothing to loose but trying to gain for nothing and thus criminally waste the valuable time of the Courts and as a result of which the queue standing outside the doors of the court never moves, which piquant situation creates frustration in the minds of the genuine litigants. (Para 12)

       Public interest litigation is a weapon which has to be used with great care and circumspection and the judiciary has to be extremely careful to see that behind the beautiful veil of public interest an ugly private malice, vested interest and/or publicity seeking is not lurking. It is to be used as an effective weapon in the armory of law for delivering social justice to the citizens. The attractive brand name of public interest litigation should not be allowed to be used for suspicious products of mischief. It should be aimed at redressal of genuine public wrong or public injury and not publicity oriented or founded on personal vendetta. (Para 13)

       The Court has to be satisfied about (a) the credentials of the applicant; (b) the prima facie correctness or nature of information given by him; (c) the information being not vague and indefinite. The information should show gravity and seriousness involved. Court has to strike balance between two conflicting interests; (1) nobody should be allowed to indulge in wild and reckless allegations besmirching the character of others; and (ii) avoidance of public mischief and to avoid mischievous petitions seeking to assail, for oblique motives, justifiable executive actions. In such case, however, the Court cannot afford to be liberal. (Para 15)

       A time has come to weed out the petitions, which though titled as public interest litigations are in essence something else. It is shocking to note that Courts are flooded with large number of so called public interest litigations, whereas only a minuscule percentage can legitimately be called as public interest litigations. Though the parameters of public interest litigation have been indicated by this Court in large number of cases, yet unmindful of the real intentions and objectives, Courts at times are entertaining such petitions and wasting valuable judicial time. (Para 17)