The Bombay high Court has dismissed a PIL by Crimeophobia, a self-styled Criminology Firm through its founder who is allegedly a Criminologist Snehil Dhall, with a cost of Rs10,000 for “wasting precious judicial time”.
The plea contains 11 prayers along with 13 interim prayers which ranged from seeking funding for Hindu rituals in Maharashtra’s cave temples, formation of Transnational Sanatan Commission and a range of unrelated demands. The petition also sought the formation of an “Anti-Organized Crime Unit” under the Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act (MCOCA) and demanded the closure of a UNICEF-aided dairy teaching institute in Aarey, alleging that it was built on forest land.
It also sought issuing directions to respondents for constituting Anti-Organized Crime Unit to cancel/revoke all leases and allotment of properties within the Aarey Milk Colony, to issue a direction to shut UNICEF Aided Dairy Teaching Institute replacing it with Anti-Organized Crime Unit or Office of UNTOC to tackle these crimes in accordance with the requirements of 20th century.
Terming it as a “sheer abuse of the process of Court”, the court criticised the petitioner for attempting to impose personal ideas through judicial intervention.
“A writ of mandamus is issued by the superior Courts where infringement of any legal right is established. No mandamus can be issued merely for enforcing a particular thought of an individual or an organisation, if it is not supported by any legal premise. Prayers made in the PIL petition against the UNICEF (United Nations Organization) and New Zealand, cannot be entertained by the Court in exercise of its jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India,” a bench of Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya and Justice Amit Borkar said.
Imposing a cost, the HC warned the firm against the misuse of PILs for personal agendas.
The PIL made several demands including allocation of a dedicated budget for Hindu rituals at cave temples, state-paid salaries for priests, and the establishment of Gurukuls at select cave temples. It also sought the creation of a “Bombay Cave Temple Commission” and a “Transnational Sanatan Commission” to oversee religious properties and manage temple affairs.
The Court noted that the prayers made were not only “omnibus in nature” but were also multiple in number covering diverse subjects. It also said that the issues raised were a product of the petitioner’s “figment of imagination” and without any legal basis.
“The other prayers relating to establishment of ‘Anti-Organized Crime Unit’ or SIT or for establishing ‘Transnational Sanatan Commission’ or ‘Maharashtra Cave Temple Commission’ appear to be an outcome of fancies of the petitioner for the reason that no factual or legal basis, whatsoever, has been laid in the PIL petition,” the plea added.
The judges also said that it was at “loss of words” to find that the respondents to the PIL were foreign bodies over which the High Court could not exercise jurisdiction “… even the UNICEF, United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, Consulate General of New Zealand, Chief of Defence Staff, Ministry of External Affairs and President of India’s Office have been arrayed as respondents. Even the averments made in the PIL petition are full of fancies which according to the petitioner, are based on some research said to have been conducted by him,” the judges said.
Observing that the PIL is “nothing but a sheer abuse of process of Court which not only deserves to be dismissed but also calls upon us to issue a stern warning and even impose exemplary cost on the petitioner for having filed absolutely frivolous petition resulting in wastage of precious judicial time”, the HC dismissed the plea with a cost of Rs10,000.
