The Manipur High Court on May 9 dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed for preservation and protection of the village common land/State Khas land from being encroached upon by the villagers of Chingkham Kabui.
The PIL has been filed by one Md. Aslam Khan.
The Division Bench of Chief Justice Sanjay Kumar and Justice Lanusungkum Jamir noted that certain defects were pointed out in the framing and filing of the case, in the context of the High Court of Manipur Public Interest Litigation Rules, 2019, by way of Miscellaneous Case of PIL filed by the State authorities.
Thereupon, Md. Ajmal Hussain, Counsel for the petitioner, sought time to rectify the defects but no steps have been taken in that regard till date.
Md. Ajmal Hussain would seek some more time to do the needful in that regard, but High Court are not inclined to accept this request.
“When this Court framed specific rules applicable to Public Interest Litigation cases, learned counsel filing such cases are expected to abide by the procedure mentioned therein. As this case has been filed without adhering to the prescribed procedure as per the Rules, it is liable to be rejected”, observed the Court.
Therefore PIL is accordingly dismissed on this short ground by the Court leaving it open to the petitioners to file a case afresh in accordance with the procedure prescribed under the rules.