Bombay High Court on Tuesday dismissed a public interest
litigation by a builder cum activist which alleged irregularity in the sale of
Wakf land for industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s skyscraper residence Antilia on
Altamount Road.
MUMBAI:
The Bombay High Court on Tuesday dismissed a public interest litigation by a
builder-cum-activist, which alleged irregularity in the sale of Wakf land for
industrialist Mukesh Ambani's skyscraper residence on Altamount Road.
A
bench of Justice Vidyasagar Kanade and Justice Mahesh Sonak imposed a cost of
Rs 50,000 on Shadaab Patel and also Rs 25,000 on advocate Firoz Ansari who
filed an intervention plea supporting the PIL. Both have to pay the money to
Tata Memorial Hospital towards cancer patients.
Patel's
petition said the land was meant for an orphanage but sold by a trust to Ambani
in 2002 for barely Rs 21 crore when the actual value was much higher. Ansari
contended that Wakf land cannot be sold to anyone except people from the
community.
The
judges questioned the delay in filing the PIL 14 years after the land was sold.
"Why are you challenging it now?'' asked Justice Kanade. Patel's advocate
Khan Javed said the Sheikh Committee report came in 2011. The bench said if
Patel was a bona fide petitioner, he would have not come to court after such a
long time. Asked what the Patel does, his advocate replied, "He is a
social activist."
The
judges said it has become a trend to file PILs. "Time has come to dismiss
such frivolous PILs with heavy cost," said Justice Kanade. The bench
initially said it would impose cost of Rs 5 lakh on Patel but reduced it to Rs
50,000.
No comments:
Post a Comment