The duty of the counsel to disclose all relevant and material facts, the need for caution and circumspection in filing Public Interest Litigations, and the consequences of deliberate suppression of facts and abuse of the process of the Court.

JUDGMENT :

Rakesh Thapliyal, J.

The present Public Interest Litigation has been preferred by the six petitioners, who are the residents of District Haridwar, with the following reliefs:-

“(1) Issue a writ order or direction in the nature of Mandamus directing the respondent authorities to conduct a fair and impartial inquiry regarding Dharmik Sthal were demolished/removed at the name of violation of law.

(2) Issue a writ order or direction in the nature of Mandamus to Shift/Reconstruct Dharmik Sthal were demolished/removed at the name of violation of law in the compliance of G.O. Dated 17.05.2016.

(3) Issue a writ order or direction in the nature of Mandamus directing the respondents not to adopt any coercive measures against any Dharmik Sthal Without Opportunity of hearing to the Parties.

(4) Issue a writ order of direction before removal/demolish any dharmik Sthal Publish Public Notice in nationalized Paper.

(5) Issue a writ or direction in the nature of mandamus not to adopt any coercive measure against any Dharmik Sthal which is protected by G.O Dated 17.05.2016 till the pendency of PIL.”

2. The petitioners submit in paragraphs 5, 6, 9 and 10 that the alleged dharmik sthal is a religious place and four to five hundred years old. It is claimed to be an ancient place and is a WAQF property and the District Magistrate is the caretaker of the said dharmik sthal. Without giving opportunity of hearing to the affected parties, the said dharmik sthal has been demolished. Neither any notice, nor any information was issued by the concerned authority. Even no publication was made in the national newspaper and, not only this, even no notice has been issued to the WAQF board prior to demolition.

3. The petitioners further submits that the petitioner no. 2 Ahsan Ansari sought information under the Right to Information Act, which is enclosed as Annexure-3 to the petition and the RTI information was supplied by the Public Information Officer of Forest Division, Haridwar. The petitioners further contend that no videography and photography was done of the demolition, which should have been kept on record. In paragraph 19 of the petition, the petitioners give the reference of WPMS No. 1323 of 2023, and further contend that the said place is covered by the Government Order dated 27.05.2016. Despite this, by illegal method, the said religious place was allegedly demolished.

4. The petitioners further contend that the demolition of the dharmik sthal is wholly illegal, arbitrary and, as such, the said dharmik sthal be reconstructed/shifted in the light of the Government Order dated 17.05.2016 and necessary action be taken against the concerned authorities.

5. In this petition, the petitioners enclosed the extract of the newspaper, and at page nos. 31, 32, 33 and 34, the petitioners enclosed certain photographs, which, it appears from the photographs, were taken on 03.05.2023 at 12:07 a.m. from GPS map camera and from these photographs, it appears that the photographs relate to the alleged religious place namely “Hazrat Chandan Waley Peer Baba”.

6. This PIL came up before this Court for hearing as fresh on 17.05.2023 and during the course of argument, Mr. C.S. Rawat, the Chief Standing Counsel informed the Court that two writ petitions i.e. WPMS No. 1323 of 2023 and WPMS No. 1421 of 2023 were filed by Mr. Bilal Ahmad, the learned counsel for the petitioners in the present PIL as well, and he also produced the copy of both the writ petitions.

7. The Writ Petition (M/S) No. 1323 of 2023 was dismissed as withdrawn by the coordinate bench of this Court vide order dated 11.05.2023. Similarly, another writ petition i.e. WPMS No. 1421 of 2023 was also dismissed as withdrawn on 16.05.2023.

8. In WPMS No. 1323 of 2023, Julfiqar (Male) aged about 40 years, S/o Akhtar, R/o Peeth Bazar Mohalla Jhadan, Jawalapur, District Haridwar, Mutwali/caretaker, Hajrat Chandan Peer Baba Mazar near Kankhal Road, Arya Nagar, Jwalapur, District Haridwar was the petitioner and the affida