The Uttarakhand High Court has recently observed that the petitioner, being an advocate, should not have filed a frivolous PIL regarding any specific instance of mismanagement of UGC funds.
The Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice S.K. Mishra and Justice Alok Kumar allowed the petitioner to withdraw the PIL without any liberty to file any further petition.
In the PIL, the petitioner, an advocate practicing in Dehradun, has prayed for the direction to the University Grants Commission to take appropriate steps against the private respondents and the sponsoring societies, to stop the misuse of UGC funds and mismanagement committed by the sponsoring societies or any such other relief.
While considering the PIL, the Bench observed, “It is apparent from the records that the petitioner, being an advocate, should not have filed a frivolous Public Interest Litigation, in view of the fact that she alleges that there has been misuse of UGC funds and not a single whisper appearing in any paragraph of the writ petition regarding any specific instance of mismanagement of UGC funds.”
M.C. Pant, the counsel for the petitioner, submitted that he wants to withdraw the writ petition with liberty to file a fresh petition. The court allowed the petitioner to withdraw the PIL but refused to grant any liberty to file any further petition.