SC refuses to stay Jagannath Temple Corridor Project
New Delhi, June 3
The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a PIL alleging illegal construction and excavation undertaken by the Odisha Government at Shri Jagannath Temple in Puri, terming it an abuse of process of law.
A Bench led by Justice BR Gavai refused to stay the Rs 800-crore Shri Jagannath Temple Corridor Project, terming it necessary for providing public amenities and imposes a cost of Rs 1 lakh on the petitioner for wasting its judicial time.
“In the recent past, it is noticed that there is mushroom growth of public interest litigations. However, in many of such petitions, there is no public interest involved at all. The petitions are either publicity interest litigations or personal interest litigation. We highly deprecate the practice of filing such frivolous petitions,” a Bench led by Justice BR Gavai said, dismissing the petition by Ardhendu Kumar Das.
“They (such PILs) are nothing, but an abuse of process of law. They encroach upon a valuable judicial time which could be otherwise utilised for considering genuine issues. It is high time that such so-called public interest litigations are nipped in the bud so that the developmental activities in the larger public interest are not stalled,” it said.
Jain case: HC reserves order
The Delhi HC on Friday reserved its order on the ED’s plea against a special court’s order allowing the presence of Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain’s lawyers at a distance during his interrogation by the probe agency in a money laundering case. tns
