HC junks PIL against road tunnel project contract; says petitioner didn't come with 'clean hands'

Mumbai, The Bombay High Court on Tuesday dismissed a PIL filed by a journalist against the contract awarded for a road tunnel project between Mumbai and Thane, noting he had not come with "clean hands" and made "scandalous" comments against the court.

The public interest litigation , filed by journalist V Ravi Prakash, alleged fraud in the bank guarantees furnished by Megha Engineering Infrastructure Ltd which were accepted by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority .

The petition also sought a direction to the MMRDA to cancel the ₹16,600.40 crore contract awarded to the MEIL for the twin tube road tunnel project between Borivali and Thane.

The petitioner also demanded a CBI probe into the alleged fraud.

The MEIL and the government challenged the maintainability of the plea and also claimed that the petitioner, after filing the PIL, posted certain scandalous comments on his social media against the court.

A division bench of Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice Bharati Dangre said a person who approaches court with a PIL must do so not only with "clean hands" but also with a "clean heart, mind and objective".

It took note of the fact that the petitioner did not disclose details of the litigation pending between him and the company and hence has not approached the court with "clean hands" and was guilty of "suppression of facts".

The bench said the conduct of the petitioner was tantamount to scandalising the court.

"The petitioner is guilty of making inappropriate tweets which scandalise the court. The petitioner is also guilty of suppression of facts. The instant PIL has not been filed bona fide. Therefore, we are not inclined to examine the same on merits," the HC said.

The bench also said that Ravi Prakash, with his posts against the institution of administration of justice, has scandalised the court and undoubtedly committed criminal contempt.

He, however, took down the posts from the social media platform a few days later, the court noted.

"Therefore, we do not propose to initiate any contempt proceedings against him," the HC said dismissing the petition.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.