Justice S V Gangapurwala
Justice Sanjay V Gangapurwala, who served as Acting Chief Justice (ACJ) of the Bombay High Court from December last year, will on Sunday take oath as Chief Justice of the Madras High Court.
In his over five-month tenure as the head of Maharashtra's top court, to curb frivolous litigations, ACJ Gangapurwala-led bench directed close to 34 litigants to deposit nearly Rs 67.25 lakh as precondition to hear PILs to ensure their “locus standi” (legal standing) or as a cost imposed on dismissal of PILs.
Born on May 24, 1962, Justice Gangapurwala became judge of the Bombay High Court in March, 2010. The action by ACJ Gangapurwala is in tune with repeated observations by the Supreme Court that "false, mischievous and frivolous PILs are increasingly becoming the bane of our judicial system.”
Justice Gangapurwala, who also imposed costs on PILs including the one seeking court-monitored probe into the death of former Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry, among others, has been following such a practice to weed out 'publicity interest litigations' even prior to holding the post of ACJ.
According to Rule 7A of of the Bombay High Court PIL Rules, 2010, the court can direct the PIL petitioner to deposit amount as security deposit in its registry, which shall be subject to final or interim order and if court finds PIL 'motivated' or for 'personal gain,' then the deposited amount can be forfeited.
On December 15, just three days after he took over the mantle of Bombay HC, Justice Gangapurwala asked a litigant raising grievances against alleged construction permissions granted on salt pan land, to pay a security deposit of Rs 2 lakh to prove bonafide, setting the tone for further PILs.
Next month, ACJ Gangapurwala-led bench asked six litigants to pay a total Rs 7 lakh as precondition to hear their PILs or as costs imposed on dismissal.
In February, nearly Rs 20 lakh was asked to be deposited from 12 litigants, while in March, the bench asked seven PIL petitioners to pay nearly Rs 13.25 lakh as costs or security deposits. In April this year, Rs 19 lakh were asked to be deposited in HC registry from six litigants.
Earlier this month, councillors from a municipal corporation were asked to deposit Rs 6 lakh to prove their bonafides. However, two PILs, in which total security deposit of Rs 2.75 lakh was sought, were disposed of as the petitioners could not pay the same. While dismissing two PILs with costs, the court had not specified the amount to be paid.
Besides PILs, earlier this month, Justice Gangapurwala dismissed a plea seeking relaxation of criterion of scoring 75 per cent marks in Class 12 exams to appear for JEE (Main) for admission to the IITs, NITs and IIITs.
Last month, he had initiated a suo motu petition taking cognisance of the plight of migrant workers from drought-affected areas of Marathwada region.
On April 28, Justice Gangapurwala-led bench expressed dissatisfaction over 'faulty and defective' manner adopted by state environmental authorities to grant CRZ clearances to execute phase-1 of the Coastal Road in Navi Mumbai. However, citing 'vital public importance' of the project, the court granted 'another opportunity' to authorities to seek clearances.
Justice Gangapurwala also heard pleas that challenged the renaming of Aurangabad and Osmanabad and the one against award of Dharavi Redevelopment Project to Adani group. He had also continued efforts of his predecessors by pushing the Maharashtra government to take a decision on allotment of a plot of land at Bandra (East) for new HC complex in the city.
In February this year, stating that the eight-lane Vadodara-Mumbai Expressway will “benefit large sections of the population”, Justice Gangapurwala-led bench allowed the felling of 350 mangrove trees subject to compliance with strict conditions.
On January 27, in a relief to development projects, ACJ Gangapurwala allowed a plea by an organisation of developers and directed the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) to decide expeditiously all pending proposals in accordance with DCPR 2034 and UDCPR.
On January 20, Justice Gangapurwala set aside the writing down of Yes Bank’s Additional Tier-1 (AT1) bonds worth around Rs 8,400 crore, a move that had been allowed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as part of its rescue plan for the bank.
from The Indian Express https://ift.tt/ilakRmt
Post a Comment
Post a Comment