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HIGH COURT OF BOMBAY
MAHARASHTRA NAVNIRMAN SENA AND 5 ORS – Appellant
Versus
UNION OF INDIA AND 3 ORS – Respondent
PIL 80/2009
1
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
ORDINARY ORIGINAL CIVIL JURISDICTION
PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION NO. 80 OF 2009
1. Maharashtra Navnirman Sena,
]
a registered political party, having
]
registered office at Krishna Kunj,
]
Dr. M.B. Raut Road, Dadar (West),
]
Mumbai 400 028, through its
]
General Secretary, Mr.Shirish Laxman Parkar, ]
Age: 47 years, Occ. Business, residing
]
at B/35/3/30, Model M.I.G. Colony,
]
Bandra (E), Mumbai 500 051
]
2. Navnirman Pratishthan, Mumbai,
]
a Trust registered under the provisions of
]
the Bombay Public Trusts Act, bearing
]
Registration No. E-25373, having office
]
at 801D, Manik-2, Anusaya Co-op.
]
Housing Society, Bhawani Shankar Road,
]
Dadar, Mumbai 40 028, through its
]
Chief Trustee Mr.Girish Narayan Dhanurkar, ]
Age: 42 years, Occ.Business, residing at
]
801D, Manik-2, Anusaya Co-op.
]
Housing Society, Bhawani Shankar Road,
]
Dadar, Mumbai 40 028
]
3. Mr. Yeshwant @ Sandeep
]
Sudhakar Deshpande,
]
Age: 35 years, Occ. Business, Residing at
]
2, Advait, Bhawani Shankar Road, Dadar,
]
Mumbai 40 028
]
4. Mr. Shashank Madhukar Nagwekar,
]
Age: 42 years, Occ.Business, residing
]
at 203, Neat House, Near Maher Hall,
]
College Lane, Dadar, Mumbai 400 028
]
2
5. Mr. Shrikant Bhalchandra Desai,
]
Age: 43 years, Occ. Business, 301,
]
Gala Shilp, D.S. Babarekar Marg, Dadar,
]
Mumbai 400 028
]
6. Mr. Santosh Balkrishna Dhuri,
]
Age: 40years, Occ. Service, Residing
]
at 3/4, Saroj Nalini Niwas,
]
Murari Ghag Marg, Prabhadevi,
]
Mumbai 400 025.
] ...Petitioners
Versus
1. Union of India,
]
through Secretary, Food and Civil Supply
]
Department, having office at New Delhi
]
(Summons to be served at
]
Maharshi Karve Road, Churchgate, Mumbai)
]
2. The Election Commission of India,
]
having office at Nirvachan Sadan,
]
Ashoka Road,
]
New Delhi 110 001
]
3. The Chief Election Officer,
]
State of Maharashtra, having office
]
at New Administrative Building,
]
Opp. Mantralaya, Mumbai
]
4. The State of Maharashtra,
]
through General Administration Department, ]
as well as through Secretary,
]
Food and Civil Supply Department,
]
Mantralaya, Mumbai
]...Respondents.
Mr. Uday Warunjikar for the Petitioners
Mrs. Rekha Rajgopal with Mr. Pradeep Rajgopal for
Respondent No.1
3
Mr. S.S. Pakale with Mr. Rajindar Kumar for Respondents No. 2
and 3
Me. D.A. Nalawade, Government Pleader, for Respondent No. 4.
CORAM: B ILAL NAZKI
and
A.R. JOSHI, JJ.
RESERVED ON: 22-9-2009
PRONOUNCED ON: 23-9-2009
JUDGMENT (Per Bilal Nazki, J.):-
This petition has been filed by the petitioners seeking
quashing of an order passed by respondent No.2 on 11th April,
2009.
2.
Petitioner No.1 is a political party, petitioner No.2 is a
Registered Trust, and other petitioners are citizens. Respondent
No.2 passed an order dated 11th April, 2009, which reads as
under:-
“In continuation of the Commission’s Order No.
3/4/ID/2009/SDR dated 6th
April, 2009, the
Commission directs that ‘Ration Cards’ issued on or
before 28-2-2009 shall also be permitted as an
additional document for establishing the identity of
4
electors at the General Election to the House of the
People in the State of Maharashtra.”
3.
Earlier to it, an order was passed on 6th April, 2009.
The order dated 11th April, 2009 is in addition to the one dated 6th
April, 2009.
4.
The grievance of the petitioners is that ration cards are
not basically identity cards, and as such, ration cards should not be
taken as proof of identity of a voter, as there are chances of
mischief since a large number of ration cards are fake. In this
case, the petitioners had also presented in the Court that some
ration cards were manifestly not genuine. The learned counsel for
the petitioners submits that even otherwise, the ration card is
never taken as proof of somebody’s identity, and other
Departments of the Government are also not takin
