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The Gujarat High Court dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed raising grievances with regard to hutment dwellers.
The petitioner is a resident of District Surat and is raising an issue pertaining to the land at Shankar Faliyu, post Vyara, Taluka Vyara, District Tapi.
The Division Bench of Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal and Justice Aniruddha P. Mayee held that a vague assertion has been made in the petition, which has been filed in the nature of Public Interest Litigation that the petitioner is a Social Worker.
“Mere statement to that extent is not sufficient to entertain the Public Interest Litigation at the instance of the petitioner whose credentials cannot be ascertained from the writ petition itself. It also cannot be ascertained as to how the petitioner can have right to raise grievances with regard to hutment dwellers who are residents of another district”, the Bench observed.
The Court noted that a vague assertion has been made in the petition that 165 families are residing at the plot in question since last forty three years and the hutment dwellers whose cause is being espoused in the instant petition are extremely poor persons. However, neither the details of those hutment dwellers nor the details of their families are indicated in the petition.
For all the above noted facts, the Bench did not find any good ground to entertain the Public Interest Litigation.
Further the Bench noted that a Petition in the nature of Public Interest Litigation cannot be filed in a casual manner. The person who is approaching this Court in a Public Interest Litigation is obliged to give correct and complete details to ascertain his credential and further, the cause of action for which Public Interest Litigation is filed.
The Court also noted that with respect to same land in question, a petition of 2009 was filed in the nature of Public Interest Litigation by another person , wherein a direction has been given in the following manner :
“This public interest litigation has been filed seeking a direction to provide alternative accommodation to the hutment dwellers residing in city survey ….. and also to extend them the benefit of Sardar Patel Awas Yojna scheme. Learned Asstt. Government Pleader submitted that no material has been produced by the petitioners to show that the aforesaid persons are eligible to get alternative accommodation as per the scheme. Needless to say if the aforesaid persons are eligible and satisfy the terms and conditions of the scheme of Sardar Patel Awas Yojna or any other such scheme, it would be open for the Local Authority and the Government to consider the same. With these observations, this petition is disposed of.”
Therefore the Bench held that there is no reason to entertain the instant Public Interest Litigation which is nothing but a second Public Interest Litigation filed by a person whose credentials cannot be established before the High Court.