Gujarat High Court imposes ₹7 lakh costs on petitioner for not pursuing PIL for 7 years

The Gujarat High Court on Tuesday imposed costs of ₹7 lakh on a litigant who did not pursue his public interest litigation (PIL) petition for seven years and instead kept asking for adjournments since 2017.

 A division bench of Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal and Justice Aniruddha Mayee noted that the PIL was filed in 2017 against land allotment to a private entity for establishing an industry in 2015.

The bench underscored that a PIL petitioner should not be casual like this but must be responsible and accountable.

It proceeded to dismiss the petition with costs of ₹10 lakh. However, Chhaya urged the court to grant him some time.

Further, the Court also rejected the request of the petitioner to withdraw the plea.

The issue pertained to allotment of a mineral-rich land in favour of a private entity for establishing an industry.

The allotment was done in 2015 which the PIL petitioner argued was against the State's own policy.

However, the bench noted that since already 9 years have passed, nothing much could be done now.